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Newly appointed State Board of Education (SBOE) chair Don McLeroy (R-Bryan) presided over an extended three-day meeting in late July with a lengthy agenda that included several contentious issues, including the proposed revision of the English Language Arts (ELA) Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS). The board and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) have struggled to coordinate the TEKS review with textbook adoption and the development of assessments, largely due to the fact that the Legislature required the board to forgo or delay textbook proclamations several times.
Additionally, recent legislation has charged the commissioners of higher education and education to establish new college readiness standards to be incorporated into the TEKS. With the ELA TEKS recently up for review, several board members took the opportunity to call in national experts to review the TEKS, and the experts concluded that many of the ELA TEKS were vague, repetitive and not measurable. At the board's direction, TEA formed workgroups of educators to make suggested revisions to the ELA TEKS, with the revised ELA TEKS posted as a discussion item during the week's board meeting so that TEA staff could get direction from the SBOE regarding the next steps.
TEA staff was simultaneously trying to coordinate revision of the ELA TEKS with the issuance of the next textbook proclamation, which would cover ELA textbooks. Public testimony expressed the desire for more educator input and led board members to delay adoption of the ELA TEKS. Instead, a workgroup of board members was formed to convene before the September meeting and work through issues presented in additional public comment. The revised ELA TEKS would then be considered on first reading at the SBOE’s November meeting, with second reading and final adoption in February. TEA confirmed that the 2010 textbook proclamation covering ELA TEKS would be issued in November and then could be subsequently amended should the ELA TEKS change.
Another curriculum-related issue was the board's recent adoption of rules related to legislation requiring students in the recommended high school program (RHSP) and distinguished achievement program (DAP) to take four credits each of English language arts, math, science, and social studies in order to graduate. One requirement would not allow students in the DAP to take Integrated Physics and Chemistry (IPC) as one of the four science courses required. However, one of the board members heard concerns from constituents with children in 8th grade during the 2006-07 school year who had taken IPC while the new graduation rules were being adopted and were now unable to count it for the DAP program. The board discussed and indicated a desire to "grandfather" students in this circumstance, and TEA staff will propose rule language to that effect at the next board meeting.
Finally, the board heard from Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson regarding recent legislation allowing the School Land Board to use proceeds from the sale of lands owned by the Permanent School Fund (PSF) for real estate investments. According to TEA's general counsel, the constitution delegates management of the PSF fund to both the School Land Board and the SBOE. Apparently the two boards are at odds regarding management of the fund and the SBOE expressed its unhappiness with the land commissioner about the recent legislation. The SBOE and the land commissioner resolved to work together to develop potential legislative language to clarify the roles of the two boards.
Web posted: 07/23/07
