SBEC approves standards for teacher preparation, special education and contracts

The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) met on Feb. 14 to approve a number of rule changes around teacher certification, including changes to how educator preparation programs prepare teachers and how special education teachers demonstrate content competency if they are the teacher of record in their classroom. 

With the 2023 passage of HB 1605, a lengthy bill focused on the creation of a state-curated list of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), educator preparation programs (EPPs) were charged with preparing teacher candidates to effectively use those materials. SBEC oversees the standards that EPPs use to prepare teachers and has worked to implement new standards to include references to HQIM. Early drafts of the rule required EPPS to prioritize HQIM, but TCTA and other stakeholders worked with the Texas Education Agency and SBEC to change that to emphasize as not to imply that using HQIM is mandatory.

Special education content competency

Special education teachers currently have to demonstrate content competency through a framework called HOUSSE. This framework allows teachers to acquire points through teaching experience, college credit, professional development and more to demonstrate that they are sufficiently knowledgeable in a specific content area. 

TEA staff determined that the HOUSSE framework was no longer in compliance with federal guidelines and began to restructure those rules. Early drafts would have required that all special education teachers acquire an additional certification in the content area they teach in, but TCTA worked with TEA for over a year to shape the new rules into something much more reasonable for teachers to achieve. TCTA also ensured that teachers who met requirements in the previous HOUSSE framework would not need to meet any substantive requirements in the new framework.

Contract abandonment

Finally, SBEC debated changes to rules that govern the standards under which educators are sanctioned for misconduct, including contract abandonment. 

TCTA has worked closely with TEA staff throughout the rule-making process and successfully advocated for changes in the language to the proposed rules, so that the final language considered Feb. 14 largely incorporated the concerns TCTA initially raised. 

However, one remaining issue relates to the sanctions imposed by SBEC for contract abandonment. SBEC maintains a list of criteria that are considered good cause for abandoning a contract, precluding a sanction from being issued, as well as criteria that are considered to be mitigating factors to any sanction SBEC might issue. It is possible to avoid a sanction if the judge and TEA staff determine that enough mitigating factors are present. 

The proposed rule change would streamline how much each factor mitigates the sanction; previously, it was up to the judge to determine how much each factor would affect it, but new rules would make each factor a one-month reduction. 

TCTA expressed concern in written comments ahead of February's meeting that the rule as proposed conflicts with existing law that requires SBEC to consider a full range of sanctions prior to imposing a sanction for contract abandonment. After considering that feedback, SBEC members modified the proposed language to allow more flexibility to impose sanctions when certain mitigating factors are present. 

After some discussion, SBEC approved these rule changes, sending them to the State Board of Education for final approval at their next meeting; TCTA will continue to monitor the rule changes at SBOE.