Voucher bill not voted on in committee, but other major bills advance

While the House Public Education Committee met Tuesday to vote out several bills, no vote was taken on SB 8, the voucher proposal — most likely indicating that the bill does not have enough support to be approved.

Other bills that were voted out in the meeting included:

SB 9, formerly the Senate’s main teacher bill, but which no longer includes provisions for teacher salary increases. In its current version, which must still be approved by the House before returning to the Senate, the bill includes TCTA-initiated language intended to curb extra duties. A district requiring a teacher to perform duties for more than 30 minutes outside the instructional day for more than two days a month would need to enter into a supplemental agreement with the teacher, who would be compensated for the additional time. SB 9 also contains measures regarding:

• educator preparation, including teacher residencies
• consideration of mitigating circumstances for teachers resigning after the resignation deadline (essentially putting into statute the rules previously adopted by the State Board for Educator Certification),
• expansion of the Teacher Incentive Allotment program,
• a grant program to reimburse districts hiring retired teachers for the surcharges owed to TRS,
• a teacher time study, and
• pre-K eligibility for teachers’ children.

SB 11, addressing school safety. It includes provisions assigning education service centers as school safety resources for districts, ensuring that disciplinary records will follow a student who is transferring schools, creating a school safety and security office within TEA, enhancing the school safety allotment, and addressing truancy issues.

SB 1515, which requires that every classroom in a district display in a conspicuous place a poster of the Ten Commandments, if posters are donated for this purpose.