The Senate Education Committee considered SB 272 by Sen. Royce West, requiring school boards to include a nonvoting student position on the board. A number of high school students testified in favor of the bill, impressing the committee with their poise and knowledge.
The committee also heard:
- SB 801 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, requiring TEA to create an agricultural education program for elementary school students
- SB 1590 by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, requiring that SBEC rules provide options for certification candidate observations to occur in virtual settings
- SB 2106 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, creating a process to appoint educational representatives for certain students with disabilities who are age 18 or older and have been certified as not being able to provide informed consent
- SB 560 by Sen. Eddie Lucio, requiring TEA to develop a strategic plan for improving and expanding high quality bilingual education
- SB 1095 by Sen. Brandon Creighton, requiring districts to notify parents of high schoolers about CTE and other work-based programs available to students
- SB 279 by Sen. Juan Hinojosa, requiring that student ID cards including contact information for suicide prevention services
Several bills heard in previous hearings were voted out, including
- SB 1063 by Sen. Carol Alvarado, creating a half credit in personal financial literacy and economics as an alternative to the currently-required half credit in economics
- SB 1267 by Sen. Royce West, the teacher training bill from the workgroup in which TCTA was heavily involved, tasked with eliminating redundancies in teacher training requirements to maximize educators’ ability to self-select relevant professional development.
- SB 1356 by Sen. Bryan Hughes, creating a program to facilitate tutoring programs
- SB 1697 by Sen. Angela, allowing parents to opt to have their student repeat a grade or course in certain circumstances.