Legislative Update

1-27-12 Education Committee discusses state testing requirements

 

The Public Education Committee convened for its first interim hearing Jan. 23. The committee heard two agenda items concerning the implementation of the new STAAR testing program and high school level End of Course Exams (EOC).

 

Before delving in to the agenda, Committee vice chairman Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston) had a discussion with officials from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the other committee members about Premont ISD, which has canceled all its athletics programs in an attempt to save money. Hochberg’s line of questioning clearly highlighted the direct correlation between the amount of money per student districts receive and the districts accountability rating. On average, districts rated “exemplary” receive $800 more than districts rated “recognized.” Similar disparities can be found on down to districts rated “unacceptable.”

 

The first item on the agenda was a panel of TEA officials who spoke on test development and standard setting. The discussion quickly turned to concerns regarding requiring districts to count students’ EOC results as 15 percent of the student’s final grade in each of the tested classes. The primary concern was that there is little or no guidance from the state on how districts should convert the EOC score into a grade given the variety of ways in which that grade could affect the student’s GPA and class rank. This discussion continued on into the second panel, which was made up of superintendents from around the state. The only consensus on the various policies the representative districts discussed adopting was that there was no consensus.

 

After the two panels were finished, the committee opened the meeting for public testimony. Most of the testimony was from citizens concerned about the impact of the 15-percent requirement or the negative impact of standardized testing in general.

 

This issue will likely be revisited as the committee continues interim work. It’s also likely to be revisited during the next legislative session. ATPE will continue to follow the committee’s progress and will report any pertinent developments.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

1-20-12 Redistricting update, House Public Education Committee hearing

 

The legal battles over the state’s redistricting plans have the dates and deadlines for the upcoming election season in flux. As it currently stands, the Texas primary elections will take place April 3. However, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling today stating that the panel of three federal judges in San Antonio acted inappropriately in drawing up new redistricting maps while the maps drawn up by the 82nd Legislature were being challenged in court. The Supreme Court has instructed the San Antonio judges to draw up new maps that pay greater deference to the Legislature’s intent and the federal voting rights act. The ruling did not include any type of timeline and could result in the Texas primary being delayed even further.

 

ATPE will continue to follow this case as it unfolds and provide you with the latest dates and deadlines as they become available. In the meantime, make sure you are registered to vote by March 5, the deadline for the current primary election date.

 

House Public Education Committee meeting

 

The House Public Education Committee will hold its first hearing of the interim at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23. The hearing will focus on the committee’s second interim charge:

 

Monitor state and local implementation of the new state assessment system (STAAR), specifically its impact on students, instruction, teachers and graduation or promotion rates. The committee is to review how districts are implementing the requirement that end-of-course assessments count for 15 percent of a student's course grade as well as recommend any changes to graduation or testing requirements that promote instructional rigor and support postsecondary readiness while appropriately limiting an overreliance on standardized testing.

 

ATPE will attend the hearing and be prepared to testify before the committee about our positions on state testing and offer suggestions on ways to improve the system. You can watch a live webcast of the hearing here. You can find a full list of committee interim charges here.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

1-6-12 TRS Social media pages

 

The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) is now a part of the social media world. Earlier this week, the agency went live on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. The goal is to create another way for the agency to engage and communicate with its members.

 

You can find more information on these new accounts, as well as links to the various pages, here.

 

Stay tuned for updates.   

 

12-16-11 Primary dates moved

 

In light of the ongoing legal challenges surrounding Texas’ redistricting plans, the two major parties have come to an agreement to push the Texas primary elections to April 3. The agreement must still be approved by a federal judicial panel in San Antonio, but there is no reason to believe the panel will not approve the plan.

 

Under the new plan, the state chairman for each party can elect to hold the county and Senatorial conventions on either April 14 or 21. Runoff elections will be held June 5. The new primary date will presumably give voters more time to get registered to vote as the deadline for voter registration is 30 days before the election.

 

Stay tuned for updates. 

 

12-14-11 Redistricting update

 

The U.S. Supreme Court announced last week that it has granted Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s request for a temporary stay on the implementation of the redistricting maps drawn up by a panel of three federal judges in San Antonio in November. The court granted the stay in order to allow both sides in the case to present arguments on whether the maps are valid. The announcement further complicates an already-muddled situation and could end up causing some of Texas’s primary elections to be pushed back until May 2012.  

 

From the top

Redistricting is the practice of redrawing the borders of political districts. Redistricting takes place every 10 years to account for the changes in population recorded by the national census. The Texas Legislature is in charge of redistricting, so the party in power usually attempts to redraw the districts to benefit their party. For example, districts with a high concentration of voters for the opposition party might be split into separate districts. This usually leads to a long, drawn-out process of legal challenges in order to determine what the final maps will look like.

 

The maps drawn up by the 82nd Legislature are currently being challenged in federal courts in both Washington, D.C., and San Antonio based on a belief that the new maps discriminate against minority voters and violate the Voting Rights Act. With those maps held up in court and deadlines for the 2012 election season approaching, a panel of three federal judges in San Antonio drew up interim maps to be used for the elections. This prompted Abbott’s request for a temporary stay on implementation of the interim maps while the challenges to the Legislature’s maps are considered. The Supreme Court granted the stay in order to allow both sides to present their case before deciding whether or not the panel of San Antonio judges acted appropriately in drawing up interim maps. If the Supreme Court rules that the San Antonio judges acted appropriately in drawing the interim maps, the maps will be used for the 2012 election cycle. If the Supreme Court rules against the San Antonio judges, then the case against the Legislature’s maps will likely be ruled on as quickly as possible in order to make sure new maps are in place for the 2012 elections. Clear as mud, right?

 

The Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing the case in early January. In the meantime, the major parties have agreed to extend the candidate filing deadline to Dec. 19 and suspend residency rules until legal district lines are decided. ATPE will continue to follow this development as it unfolds.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

12-2-11 New rules for financial exigency

 

Senate Bill 8, approved during the 82nd legislative session, required the commissioner of education to adopt rules that outline the minimum standards that must exist for school districts to declare financial exigency. Declaring financial exigency allows school districts to eliminate programs and staff positions. Prior to SB 8, such decisions were left to the discretion of local school boards. The new rules released by the commissioner Nov. 28 set criteria that must be met in order for school boards to declare financial exigency.

 

According to the new rules, a district must meet one of the following conditions in order to declare financial exigency:

 

·         A decrease of more than 20 percent in a district's unassigned General Fund balance per student in weighted average daily attendance over the past two years or a projected reduction of 20 percent compared to the current year.

·         A decline in enrollment by more than 10 percent over the past 5 years.

·         A reduction of more than 10 percent in total General Fund total funding per student in weighted average daily attendance or a projected reduction of 10 percent compared to the current year.

·         An unforeseen natural disaster requiring significant expenditures for repair or remediation in excess of 15 percent of the current year General Fund budget.

·         An unanticipated major expense, including significant repair costs; litigation expenses, excluding lawsuits against the state; or tax refunds in excess of 15 percent of the current year General Fund budget.

·         Any other circumstances approved in writing by the commissioner of education.

 

The new rules also state that unless the school board adopts a resolution before the end of the fiscal year declaring continuation of the financial exigency for the following fiscal year, the declaration of financial exigency expires at the end of the fiscal year in which the declaration is made. Furthermore, each time the school board adopts a resolution or an extension declaring financial exigency, the board must notify the commissioner within 20 calendar days of the adoption.

 

For more information, contact ATPE Governmental Relations.

 

11-18-11 Federal judges release new redistricting maps

 

The panel of the three federal judges assigned with reviewing the redistricting plans approved by the 82nd Texas Legislature released their proposed legislative maps Nov. 17. The new maps are a result of a lawsuit filed in the San Antonio court and also respond to the failure of the maps to pass the muster of the Department of Justice and Washington D.C. federal court under the Voting Rights Act. The new maps seek to create more minority opportunity districts in Texas Legislative districts based on population changes during the last census and are significantly different than those approved by the 82nd Legislature. The panel has not yet proposed a Congressional redistricting map; the State Board of Education maps are not under a challenge at this time.

 

The new House map will undo several pairings approved by the Legislature that would have pitted incumbent democrats against one another. For example: Democratic incumbents Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston) and Rep. Hubert Vo (D-Houston) were paired in the same district under the Legislature’s map, but have their own districts under the new maps. The proposed maps will instead pair several incumbents against those who will not seek re-election. For example: Rep. Jim Murphy (R-Houston) is paired against Rep. Beverly Wooley (R-Houston), who is retiring.

 

The big winner under the proposed Senate map is Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth). Davis’ district was redrawn by the Legislature to be largely Republican, but the new map restores most of her district to more closely match the demographic changes in Tarrant County.

 

The court has given the parties to the lawsuit an opportunity to respond to the proposed maps, but it is believed that these maps or something similar will constitute the temporary maps that will be in place during this election cycle and until a ruling in the voting rights case is made in federal court. Complicated legal issues aside, there is one thing for sure – candidates for the Texas Legislature will be working overtime to make their decisions to run once the final map is approved by the court. The filing deadline to run for election this cycle begins Nov. 28 and ends Dec. 17. 

 

Stay tuned for more analysis on the effects of these decisions.

 

11-11-11 TRS update

 

The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) Board of Trustees met Nov. 4 and reviewed the results of the latest actuarial valuation, which was conducted in August. Overall, the system is in good shape and investments are performing very well. The system’s investments had a return of 15.5 percent during the last year, almost double the projected return of 8 percent. The overall value of the fund increased from $95.7 billion to $107.4 billion, which means the system has enough money to continue paying benefits for another 60-70 years based on current contribution levels and assumptions.

 

However, the news was not all good. According to the system’s comprehensive annual financial report, the number of retirees is increasing, while the number of active members is decreasing. This could cause funding problems in the future. Furthermore, both the TRS-Care health insurance program for retirees and the TRS-ActiveCare health insurance program for active educators are in dire need of funding support. The TRS-Care trust fund will be depleted by 2014 if the Legislature doesn’t take action to address the problem during the next legislative session. Similarly, the TRS-ActiveCare funding level is at a fixed rate, while health care costs continue to rise. This will be a focal point of ATPE’s advocacy efforts during the next session.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

11-4-11 Final accountability ratings released

 

The final accountability ratings for Texas’s public schools were released Nov. 2. The results included changes in the ratings of nine districts and 63 campuses that filed appeals of their initial ratings. Two hundred and two campuses or districts appealed their ratings. Of those 202 appeals, 72 were granted. Eight campuses and one district moved up to an Exemplary rating, 16 campuses and five districts moved up to a Recognized rating and 39 campuses and three districts managed to upgrade their Academically Unacceptable rating to the Academically Acceptable level. Overall, most ratings remained unchanged. You can find full ratings for all Texas school districts and campuses here.

 

In related news, Texas public schools students performed very well on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test. Texas Hispanic and African American students ranked second among their peer group on the 2011 eighth-grade mathematics assessment. White students ranked fourth in the nation. Overall, Texas ranked tenth in the nation with an average score of 290, well above the 283 nationwide average score. Fourth-grade students also performed well; African American students ranked fourth and white students ranked seventh.

 

Texas students did not fare as well on the reading assessment. The state’s overall scores on both the fourth- and eighth-grade test were below the national average. Education Commissioner Robert Scott attributed the results to the transition to the newly implemented English and Language arts curriculum standards. He expects the new standards to result in improved scores in the future. You can find the Texas Education Agency announcement on the NAEP results here.

 

Stay tuned for updates.  

  

10-21-11 Straus issues House interim charges

 

The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Rep. Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), issued interim charges for all House committees Oct. 20. Interim charges direct legislative committees to conduct studies on various issues during the interim and often serve as a preview of the Legislature’s focus during the next session.

 

The latest round of interim charges directs all committees to study ways to increase the state’s manufacturing capabilities as well as ways to increase transparency, efficiency and accountability in state government. There are also specific charges for each committee, including some notable charges related to public education.

 

The House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee is directed to

monitor a study by the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) on the viability of the current defined-benefit plans (DBP) as well as the implications and feasibility of creating a defined-contribution plan (DCP) or a hybrid plan. Talk of converting TRS from a DBP to a DCP has been circulating around the Capitol for several years. DBPs guarantee participants a certain level of benefits for maintaining regular contributions (as does the current TRS pension plan). A DCP acts more like a 401(k) or 403(b) in which returns are not guaranteed and are subject to market fluctuations. ATPE has long been opposed to converting TRS to a DCP.

 

The House Public Education Committee was also issued several charges. The committee is to:

 

·         Conduct a review of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) and make recommendations as needed.

 

·         Monitor state and local implementation of the new state assessment system (STAAR), specifically its impact on students, instruction, teachers and graduation or promotion rates. The committee is to review how districts are implementing the requirement that end-of-course assessments count for 15 percent of a student's course grade as well as recommend any changes to graduation or testing requirements that promote instructional rigor and support postsecondary readiness while appropriately limiting an overreliance on standardized testing.

 

·         Evaluate the charter school system in Texas and examine charter school success and failure stories in Texas and other states. The committee is to review the educational outcomes of students in charter schools compared with those in traditional schools and identify any best practices and how those practices might be applied statewide. The study should include recommendations.

 

·         Review and make recommendations on the effectiveness of Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEPs) and Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs (JJAEPs) in reducing students' involvement in further disciplinary infractions. The committee is to determine the appropriate role of disciplinary alternative placements in promoting education achievement and how technology could be used to supplement education services. The committee is to also consider appropriate placements in DAEPs or JJAEPs and consistent funding models for those programs. Consider options for counties without a JJAEP or inefficiently few placements in a JJAEP; and identify positive behavioral models that promote a learning environment for teachers to appropriately instruct while addressing any behavioral issues and enforcing student discipline.

 

·         Review methods and best practices in Texas and other states to encourage more parental and community involvement in the education of Texas children.

 

·         Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction and the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 82nd Legislature.  

 

You can view the full list of House interim charges here. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has issued some specific interim charges for select Senate committees to study issues related to wildfires and drought conditions, but the full slate of Senate interim charges will not be released until later this fall.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

10-14-11 New School Finance lawsuit filed

 

Ever since the Legislature opted to cut more than $4 billion in public education funding during the 82nd legislative session, there has been talk of a new round of school funding litigation. The talk became a reality Oct. 11 when the Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition officially filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s school finance system. 

 

The Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition is a group of school districts organized by the Equity Center, a research and advocacy group focused on achieving a school finance system that provides all school districts fair and equal access to state resources. The coalition is made up of 150 school districts from around the state, though only seven of those districts are listed on the original petition for judgment; more school districts are expected to join.

 

The basis of the suit is similar to the 2004 West Orange school finance case – the current school finance system does not adequately and equitably fund public education as required by the Texas Constitution. Presiding Judge John Dietz ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in that case and found that the cap on the amount of taxes school districts can raise through local property taxes removed meaningful discretion for districts to fund their schools. Dietz also ruled that the system did not generate enough funding to provide the adequate education called for in the Texas Constitution.

 

Dietz’ ruling was partially overturned in 2005 by the Texas Supreme Court. The court maintained that the system was unconstitutional because it created a state wide property tax but overruled Dietz’ judgment on adequacy issues. To address this ruling, the Legislature opted in 2006 to lower property taxes to restore meaningful discretion and adopted the target revenue system, a hold harmless scheme meant to ensure that schools did not receive less funding due to the lowered property tax rates.

 

The new lawsuit cites the target revenue system and the massive cuts in education funding approved by the 82nd Legislature as the main culprits in creating an inequitable funding system that grants wealthy school districts greater access to state funding than poor school districts. The suit also revives the adequacy issues overturned in the West Orange case, but takes a new spin on the argument, citing civil rights violations. The suit also brings the issue of fairness to taxpayers into the fray, which is a unique angle not brought up in prior cases. Whether these arguments are compelling enough remains to be seen. Though not official yet, it is expected that this most recent case will also land in Dietz’ court. Regardless of who presides over this case, it will likely end up in a challenge before the Supreme Court.

 

Proceedings on this matter are not expected to begin until summer 2012, with a goal of reaching a decision before the start of the next legislative session in 2013. You can view the Equity Center press release on the suit, including the original petition for judgment, here.

 

Stay tuned for updates.  

 

10-5-11 Class-size waiver info coming in       

 

Everyone is well aware of the massive cuts in funding for public education that were passed during the 82nd legislative session. Those cuts are starting to have a visible effect on the number of requests for class-size limit waivers; here are the preliminary numbers for 2011-12 class-size waivers:

 

Approximately 204 districts have requested a waiver for at least one campus for 2011-12, with a large portion requesting significantly more than one waiver. This represents an 18-percent increase from the 2010-11 school year and a 29-percent increase over the number of districts that requested waivers during the 2009-10 school year. Overall, from 2009 to present, the number of districts requesting waivers has increased 67 percent. These numbers do not include the number of campus waiver requests, which have not yet been reported by TEA.

 

While ATPE and other like-minded groups were able to defeat proposals to alter the state’s class-size limit regulations during the session, the Commissioner of Education changed the criteria for waiver requests to include reduced funding from the state. Because just about every district in the state saw a decrease in funding, nearly all districts are now eligible for class-size limit waivers. 

 

It’s still too soon to know how many of these waiver requests will be granted, but historically, most of them are. ATPE will continue to follow this development as it unfolds.

 

Stay tuned for updates.