108 days remain in the 87th Regular Legislative Session.

Don't forget about our upcoming membership meeting on Wednesday, February 17, at 2:00 p.m. (via Zoom) to provide a legislative update and answer any questions you may have. Please make plans to join us if you are able. In case you haven't already done so, please use the link below to register for the meeting and receive all the information you need to participate.

On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee began the lengthy process of hearing Senate Bill 1, the General Appropriations Act. These hearings will continue nearly every weekday for the next several weeks, with Public Education getting their full attention on Monday, February 22.  

The committee kicked off the process with an overview of bill and testimony from Comptroller Glenn Hegar as well as Legislative Budget Board (LBB) Director Jerry McGinty.  

What captured the attention of the senators on the committee most was the topic of federal funding. Some of the federal dollars received from the COVID Relief packages passed by the US Congress were included in the Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE) and the base budget bill that was filed. However, approximately $15-16 billion were not accounted for in the BRE or in SB 1. Those documents also do not yet account for any additional dollars that may still flow to Texas as a result of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package still under consideration by the US Congress. 

McGinty explained to the senators that the bulk of the federal dollars for education were used to “replace General Revenue” and “return money back to the treasury.” He further explained that was part of what changed the balance of the Comptroller’s projected deficit of $4.7 billion to less than $1 billion.

Senator Royce West (D-Dallas) pointed out that the federal funds will now erase the deficit and cause the amount the state has available to spend to grow.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee was provided with an Estimated Funding to Respond to Coronavirus Pandemic document to detail the federal funding allocations received and expected.

It was noted that the $5.5 billion allocated for Texas public schools from the December 27, 2020 Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations is still sitting in federal coffers. McGinty said Texas is seeking guidance on how the funds can be used and therefore has not yet accepted the funds. When Senator Joan Huffman (R-Houston) questioned why the state would ever choose not to receive it, Senate Finance Chair Senator Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) explained that sometimes federal funding has strings attached.

During her comments to lay out the budget bill, Nelson explained that when she began building the base budget bill, she surveyed members of the Senate Finance Committee, and that the top priority for every single senator was maintaining the commitments made for education. “We are going to in this budget maintain the commitment that we made last session to education; and that makes me proud.”

The House Appropriations Committee hasn't begun their budget work yet, but that's about to change. They will meet Tuesday, February 16, to receive a budget overview, and on Wednesday, February 17, they will hear invited testimony on Article III, including Public Education.

The Texas Tribune's Evan Smith sat down with Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath yesterday. In case you missed the 30-minute conversation, you can watch it here.

Smith began the conversation by pointing out that the Commissioner is in the business of grading schools, so he asked the Commissioner to grade his (and the Agency's) performance during the pandemic. In the end, Morath gave himself a 'B' and said there was some room for improvement.

As to remove vs. in-person instruction, Morath said there are groups of students for whom the two different styles are more effective, but that "on-campus instruction is where kids need to be the overwhelming majority of the time." When it came to addressing learning loss, Morath said it would require a "multi-year investment in changing our practices to give kids what they deserve." When it came to the STAAR test, Morath explained that the STAAR test is the tool that tells us whether students mastered what they needed to learn, and that pandemic or not "our expectations for what kids need to learn cannot change because life's expectations have not changed." He also stated that remote learners will not be required to come to school to take the STAAR test in person.

When asked about hold harmless funding, Commissioner Morath said “we’re trying to make sure districts have clarity on this as soon as possible.” He also clarified that he is the official that will issue the final hold harmless determination, for “under statute, the Commissioner is responsible in an emergency for inventing fictional enrollment or fictional attendance.”

Morath also said “Districts have been fully funded for remote instruction and fully funded for on campus instruction. This is about funding for kids who didn’t come back to school, but they were expecting.” He also agreed that schools are rightfully concerned and offered assurance that “we are working on the issue,” but Morath also said “I don’t know that I can give you a specific date at this point” in response to the question regarding when schools could expect an answer.

Additionally, Morath spoke to the “wisdom of an attendance-based school finance system.” He explained that “The policy benefit of an attendance-based system is that school districts have a financial incentive to maximize daily engagement for all of their kids.” Further, he said “If you switch to just an enrollment based system, they have resources (of course) they don’t really have an incentive.”

It’s important for legislators and other state leaders to see the efforts schools are making to find, re-engage, and educate every student. Yet some state leaders have questioned whether schools are doing all that they can. The mistaken belief that schools are not making every effort to find students not only underestimates the commitment of Texas educators, but it could also jeopardize some of the funding that schools need to meet students’ needs.

As teachers so often tell students, we need to show our work. 

Please encourage those you know who are doing this important work to use social media platforms to describe and demonstrate the work they have been doing to get students enrolled in school. Whether you are recalling past efforts to find missing students or describing those efforts in real time, we need to use our platforms to raise awareness of the heroic steps teachers, counselors, principals, and other school employees are taking. Importantly, we need you to use the #FindOurFutureTX hashtag so that we can amplify these efforts on social media and show just how many Texas educators are out their tracking down kids and what success they have achieved.  

Additionally, we previously recommended that all school districts prepare and deliver a communication to their local legislators describing the steps taken by the district to recover any missing students. We hope you have already sent that communication, and we would love it if you sent us a copy as well.

Plano ISD's letter can be found here for those who may be looking for a good example.

You may also want to take a moment to read the recent blog post from TASA's Kevin Brown on this important topic.

Last week, we provided a more detailed overview of one of our priorities, looking at COVID-19's impact on public education. We'll keep providing these documents and tools, but this week, we wanted to share some of the priorities adopted by our member districts (this is what we have been able to find online, but if we've missed your district's priorities, please send a copy our way!).

One of the things we always hear is how much you guys enjoy learning from each other and working together. Please take a look at some of these school district priorities to see what other districts might share similar priorities with yours.

Additionally, you may be interested in this thorough Overview of Legislative Priorities developed by Plano ISD. This document provides history, facts, stats, and details related to each priority. In particular, you may want to take note of the information provided in the Appendix that relates to all school districts--specifics regarding the time, frequency, and staff involved for all training requirements mandated by statute. That appendix can be found beginning on page 33.

The Texas House and Texas Senate both met briefly this week this week. Both chambers now stand adjourned until Tuesday, February 16.

The House Appropriations Committee will meet Tuesday, February 16, to receive a budget overview, and on Wednesday, February 17, they will hear invited testimony on Article III, including Public Education.

The Senate Finance Committee will continue to meet to hear Senate Bill 1. On Monday, February 22, the committee will take up Article III, relating to public education. They will hear both invited and public testimony that day.