Bill targeting public employee union dues advances to full Senate

Several government employees, attending a rare Sunday hearing of a Texas Senate committee, spoke against bills that would prohibit payroll deductions of labor organization dues.Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said that his bills are meant to cut out governmental entities from being used to collect dues for such groups. Supporters who spoke during the hearing accused labor organizations, including teacher’s associations, from operating in a black hole of information and operating against the will of its membership. view article  

Senate Committee Passes Texas ‘Bathroom Bill’ After 10 Hours Of Testimony

As part of state lawmakers’ second attempt at passing a bathroom bill this year, a panel of Senate lawmakers voted Friday to advance a measure to restrict bathroom use for transgender Texans.The 8-1 vote came after almost 10 hours of emotional testimony — a large majority in opposition — by transgender Texans, their families and their allies, who pleaded with lawmakers to not endanger an already vulnerable population. For the third time this year, hundreds of people streamed through the halls of the Capitol and waited in line to testify on the divisive issue that has garnered Texas national attentio view article  

Equity Center’s Special Session Legislative Update, July 20, 2017

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New From TEA

• Deadline Extended for the 2017-2018 school year New Instructional Facility Allotment (NIFA); Online Application for Funding
• Required Annual Notification of Nondiscrimination in Career and Technical Education Programs
• TEA Releases Results For Statewide End-of-Course STAAR Exams 7/10
• TEA Releases Results For Statewide 3-8 STAAR Exams
•  New STAAR Report Card provides Texas parents stronger student-specific information, helpful resources
• 2016-2017 Bus Accident Reporting Survey is open through August 31, 2017 6/30
• LEAs with Schools Identified as Priority and/or Focus for school year 2017–2018 6/27
• Open-Source Instructional Materials6/27
• Special Education Data Sharing Request - Eligibility for Reimbursement 6/20
• School Year 2015–2016 (Fiscal Year 2016) Final IDEA-B LEA MOE Compliance Reviews 6/20

Preventive Law: An Oscar-worthy Surveillance Video

When a verbal or physical altercation is recorded on the school surveillance system, it can seem easier to determine which movie won the Oscar for 2017’s Best Picture than to figure out who gets to see the video, who gets a copy of it, and whose faces need to be blurred. Below we will open the big red envelope that we have double-checked is labeled “FERPA” to get our answer.

2017 Tax Ratification Elections/Results

Election information related to all Tax Ratification Elections in 2016

Speaker Joe Straus makes only one vow on special session — Texas House will be ‘deliberate’

AUSTIN — Speaker Joe Straus is the odd man out. Not keen on school vouchers and unenthused about proposals to hammer mayors, county commissioners and school boards, he sure didn't want to be back in sultry Austin this summer — certainly, not for the "bathroom bill."  But Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick eagerly have revived debate of those and other issues, such as abortion and property taxes. Many are important to the staunch conservatives who dominate Texas GOP primaries.  Once more, Straus is playing defense. Though he's more experienced than either Abbott or Patrick as a high-impact player at the Capitol, the speaker finds himself reluctantly in the minority among them — and in the spotlight — in the special legislative session that began Tuesday. view article  

Senate panels OKs property tax restrictions, with swipe at S.A.

AUSTIN — Embracing pleas for relief from hundreds of taxpayers and dressing down cities including San Antonio, a Senate committee voted Saturday to put new limits on the ability of local governments to raise local property tax revenues unless they get a vote of the people. “It’s all about the taxpayers’ money,” said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, author of the proposed tax changes and chairman of the newly created Senate Select Committee on Government Reform. “I think it’s very important that taxpayers have a say in their tax bills.”  With strong backing from Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Bettencourt is pushing to more tightly restrict the ability of cities, counties and special districts to increase property taxes. It’s one of several measures presented in this special session that seek to impose state regulations over local controls. view article  

Texas teachers could get a pay raise

Texas educators could soon get a $1,000 pay raise. However, just who will pay for it, is stirring up some controversy. It's just one of several education related bills being considered in the summer special session. Governor Greg Abbott says the state does not need to spend more, it just needs to spend smarter. view article  

San Antonio mayor blasts latest ‘bathroom bill’ proposal

AUSTIN — Mayor Ron Nirenberg joined hundreds of people testifying Friday at the Texas Capitol on the latest “bathroom bill,” condemning the latest proposal to limit public restroom access for transgender Texans as discriminatory, bad for the economy and in conflict with San Antonio’s values.  Despite such opposition, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted 8-1 in favor of legislation that would — if it becomes law — bar cities and school districts from adopting bathroom or locker room policies that allow transgender people to use facilities that they are more comfortable with if it is opposite of what is on their birth certificates. view article  

Texas senators’ debate over private-school vouchers gets heated

AUSTIN — Senators clashed with members of the public and one another Friday as a Senate panel debated using state tax dollars to help disabled students attend private schools.  The "tax credit scholarships" for special-needs children, though just one part of a larger education bill tinkering with school finance, dominated the Senate Education Committee's discussion. Opponents said repeatedly that the bill would siphon money from hard-pressed public schools.  That irked Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican. He noted that of the $345 million that the bill would spend, mostly through delaying some Medicaid payments until the 2020-2021 budget cycle, at least $270 million would go to public schools.  "By any mathematics that I understand, that's 78.2 percent of this bill for the public schools," he said.  view article  

Turner calls school vouchers an ‘unproven gimmick’ in letter to Senate

The Texas Senate's push for school vouchers shuns needed education reforms in favor of an "unproven gimmick," Mayor Sylvester Turner wrote in a letter to the chamber's Education Committee ahead of a Friday hearing on Senate Bill 2. The proposal to let students take the funding associated with their schooling from a public school to a private or charter school would achieve the opposite of its backers' stated goal of giving students a chance to get a better education, Turner said, and also would ensure none of the protections for special needs students that public schools provide. view article  

Round Rock ISD creates area superintendent positions

Round Rock school district officials are saying a reorganization of district administrators will increase communication and relationships with district parents and students. Five new area superintendent positions will oversee district learning communities based on high school feeder patterns, said Daniel Presley, district chief of schools and innovation. view article  

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott adds school finance, retired teacher benefits to special session agenda

Texas legislators could end up passing bills to reform the state’s school finance system and help out retired teachers this special session. After the Senate voted early Thursday morning to pass a bill keeping several key state agencies alive, Gov. Greg Abbott immediately expanded the special session agenda by adding 19 items — and dramatically expanded the focus of two education-related priorities he had announced last month. view article  

Texas lawmakers must solve school funding to fix property tax problems

By championing property tax reform as the No. 1 priority during the Texas Legislature's special session, Gov. Greg Abbott and state Senate leaders have diverted everyone's attention from the most urgent issue – public school funding, which is our largest property tax burden. School funding didn't make the governor's original top 20 list for the special session, and on Thursday it was lumped in with some additional items that might be addressed this summer. view article  

Texans’ property taxes dominate ‘local control’ debates in Senate committee hearings

AUSTIN — A Senate committee on Saturday approved a bill aimed at decreasing property taxes, which local officials say would hurt their ability to provide essential services while providing only minimal relief to taxpayers. Senate Bill 1, authored by Houston Republican Sen. Paul Bettencourt, would lower the rate at which cities or counties would have to hold an election to authorize property tax increases. The current rate increase that would set off an election — called a "rollback rate" — is 8 percent. The bill would lower it to 4 percent and call for an automatic election to approve the tax increase if the rollback rate was exceeded. view article  

Clardy files teacher pay, recruitment and retention legislation

AUSTIN - This week, State Representative Travis Clardy filed HB 198 which increases teacher pay and gives greater flexibility to administrators in order to recruit and retain the best teachers in Texas public schools.  “Every Texas student deserves the opportunity for a quality education,” said Rep. Clardy. “That means we must have motivated teachers joining the ranks of the many outstanding professionals we have in Texas classrooms today. The first step to accomplishing that goal is providing competitive pay for our teachers while encouraging some of our best and brightest to work where our education needs are greatest. We must also give our school districts the tools they need to retain and reward our best teachers. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the legislature to pass meaningful teacher compensation reform that restores the teaching profession to the honored and respected status it deserves, with an increased focus on student outcomes.” view article  

Senate committee passes bills on private school choice and school finance study

The Texas Senate Education Committee passed a bill that would create a "private school choice" program to subsidize private school tuition for kids with special needs, and a bill to study the school finance system.  The Senate Education Committee got two major bills out of the way Friday, passing legislation that would create a "private school choice" program and start a commission to study the school finance system.  The committee voted 8-2 to pass Senate Bill 2, creating a tax credit scholarship subsidizing private school tuition for students with disabilities. It voted 10-0 to pass Senate Bill 16, which would task a 13-person committee of legislators and educators with developing recommendations on how to fix the beleaguered system for funding public schools before the 2019 regular session.  The bills could be taken up on the Senate floor as soon as Monday. view article  

Texas GOP pushes a dozen conservative bills over weekend

AUSTIN — Lawmakers in the Republican-led state Senate advanced more than a dozen conservative bills this weekend despite objections from hundreds of people who testified during a blitz of hearings, lining up much of Gov. Greg Abbott’s conservative special session agenda for swift passage this week. The future of many of those bills is unclear in the House which is less excited about the governor’s agenda. In addition, senators have found it difficult to muscle some of their more complicated legislation out of committee. view article  

National Episcopal Church urges defeat of Texas “bathroom bill”

As the Texas Senate prepares to consider legislation to restrict bathroom use for transgender Texans in legislative overtime, the national Episcopal Church is renewing its opposition to such proposals. Citing the “emotional and spiritual damage that discrimination does to transgender people,” top leaders of the national church — Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies — in a letter to House Speaker Joe Straus urged the speaker to remain “steadfast” in his opposition to any bathroom bill.  view article  

BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center S.J.R. 1

State statute dedicates certain revenue from the Texas Lottery to the Foundation School Fund to support public education through the Foundation School Program. Currently, there are no stipulations on how Texas Lottery revenue deposited to the Foundation School Fund is to be used. view article  

LGBTQ People Sue North Carolina Over New ‘Bathroom Bill’

The bill would require transgender students in public schools to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate, and not the one they identify with. Taylor also added a few unrelated programs to the bill, including $60 million for charter schools, $60 million for facilities funding for traditional public schools, and $150 million for a hardship grant program for struggling small, rural schools that relied on a now-expired state aid program. view article  

BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center S.B. 97

S.B. 97 amends the Government Code by adding Section 466.355 to provide enabling legislation for the constitutional amendment in S.J.R. 1. �S.B. 97 provides that of the revenue received by the state each fiscal year from the operation of lotteries, after the payment of administrative costs, amounts paid for lottery prizes, and any net proceeds paid for veterans' assistance attributable to a lottery game established by law to fund veterans' assistance, the remaining revenue will be deposited to the foundation school fund.� Of this revenue, 50 percent of the funds would be used for the following purposes: view article  

vouchers and bathroom bill this special session

Ron Simmons continues to toe the Tea Party line at the expense of the businesses and children in House District 65. His ambition to make a name for himself threatens future business growth and the ability of our children to obtain a world class education.  As the Texas Legislature heads into the special session, Simmons will take point in the House regarding two agenda items: school vouchers and the bathroom bill.  Both of these initiatives are out of step with the residents of HD 65. view article  

What if Texans cared about (local) politics?

In a dystopian political reality such as ours, it is tempting to withdraw and humor hypotheticals. Most people who voted last year for Hillary Clinton have likely fantasized about what a world would have been like in which she won. Frank Bruni, a columnist for The New York Times, recently penned his description of an alternate universe in which “liberals voted.” But the fantasy could play out closer to home. The hypothetical should be humored of what would happen if Texans paid attention to state and local politics the way they did to national politics. view article  

Speaker Straus: ‘This isn’t a race’

House Speaker Joe Straus said Thursday he’s not feeling any pressure from the Senate’s plan to pile controversy-stirring issues on the doorstep of his chamber at a breakneck pace. “We are methodical over here. We try to be deliberate,” Straus, R-San Antonio, said. “This isn’t a race. The House is going to give full consideration to the priorities here. view article  

Gov. Abbott, please stop your attack on local control

Legislators in Austin, please do no harm. We make this appeal because Republican leaders are forgetting the golden rule: Treat people the way you would like other people to treat you. The first issue is a big one. Gov. Greg Abbott is targeting cities with ordinances requiring operators of vehicles to use cellular devices “hands free.” He wants those rules rolled back, effectively saying the state will determine what is best for a community’s residents. Local leaders put those ordinances into place for safety reasons. If these ordinances are constitutional, the governor needs to back off. view article  

TASA Announces Retirement of Longtime Executive Director Johnny L. Veselka

TASA has announced the upcoming retirement of TASA Executive Director Johnny L. Veselka, who has served the association for 43 years.  “Today marks a turning point in TASA’s history,” says TASA President Buck Gilcrease, superintendent, Alvin ISD. “Dr. Veselka has steered the association through many changes and helped our organization to grow not only in numbers, but in reputation. TASA has become a highly respected and influential force in Texas under his leadership.”   Veselka will retire February 28, 2018, after having served as TASA’s executive director for 31 years.  view article  

Seguin ISD super search at an end

Matthew Gutierrez will soon take the reins of Seguin ISD. During a special meeting of the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees, Gutierrez was officially hired to fill the district’s top administrative position under a motion made by trustee Elaina Reihl and a second by trustee Ben Amador. view article  

North Lamar Superintendent contract stalls at last night’s meeting

On Thursday evening the North Lamar ISD Board of Trustees met behind closed doors with the expectation of discussing Superintendent John McCullough’scontract with the district. view article  

Rodriguez hired as Carlsbad Municipal School superintendent

Carlsbad Municipal School Board announced Friday that it has selected Dr. Gregory Rodriguez to fill the district's superintendent position. Rodriguez is currently the deputy superintendent of Huntsville Independent School District in Huntsville, Texas. view article  

This special session, Texas is working on passing a number of pro-life laws to protect the most vulnerable.

Governor Greg Abbott today announced that his call for increasing teacher pay and allowing for greater flexibility in recruitment and retention practices is generating growing support across Texas. Teacher pay, recruitment, and retention is part of the Governor's 20-item agenda for the ongoing special legislative session.  “Teachers have a profound impact on a student’s life. Day in and day out, they form the minds and souls of young Texans, and we strongly affirm that the future of our state is in their classrooms. We are encouraged by Gov. Abbott’s choice to seek an increase to teacher pay, and hope that the legislature will enact this increase.” - Michael Barba, Associate Director of Public Policy, Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops view article  

Hey lady, wanna referee a high school football game?

The Houston chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Officials is somewhere between 50 and 200 officials short for the 2017 football season. TASO Executive Director Michael Fitch has referred to the statewide shortfall of referees as ‘crisis-level,’ and the rapid expansion – particularly in Houston – of numerous districts and the opening of new schools has stretched an already-thin roster of officials even further. view article  

First day of school arrives sooner for some students

Parents and teachers in the Houston area may need to rethink those late-August family trips to Disney World or the beach. In Alief, Katy and the Channelview school districts, the first day of school has crept back up to Aug. 16. A day later, yellow school buses will roll out in the Crosby, Dayton and Spring districts to carry students "back to school." view article