Texas Education Policy Update

View as Webpage • March 13, 2023

Texas Education Policy Alert

Weekly Update

IDRA's weekly email alert includes legislative updates, opportunities for action to make your voice heard, bills to watch and other information through the session until it closes in late May.

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Coming Up: Week of March 13, 2023

Hearings this week will address

House funding proposals in the budget, including for K-12 and higher education
Excused attendance days in schools and accelerated learning plans
School safety interventions and expulsion alternatives to virtual settings

Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (TLEEC)

Livestream Townhall

Tuesday, March 14, 2023- 6:00- 7:00 pm

TLEEC is hosting a virtual townhall about the harms private school vouchers pose to public school students, funding, transparency and community accountability. Get info on voucher proposals that the Texas Legislature is considering. Learn how they threaten to dramatically impact classroom resources, financial transparency and accountability. Presenters will share legal concerns and the perspectives of special education advocates. In particular, we will discuss actions you and others in your school or community can take to stop vouchers from hurting our neighborhood public schools.

No registration is needed. Feel free to tune in and engage on the Facebook live event here: https://idra-resource.center/TLEEC-TownHall-StopVouchers

Panelists will include:

Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., IDRA
Kelsey Kling, Texas AFT
Jolene Sanders, Coalition for Texans with Disabilities
Ruth Kravetz, Houston Community Voices for Public Education
Diana Long, IDRA

Monday

House Youth Health & Safety Select Committee

2:30 p.m. (See notice)

Tuesday

Public Education Committee

8:00 a.m. (See notice)

Wednesday

Appropriations Subcommittee, Article III

8:30 a.m. (See notice)

Thursday

Appropriations Full Committee,8:00 a.m. (See notice)

Watch hearings live

Watch past hearings

Wednesday

Education Committee

9:00 a.m. (See notice)

Watch hearings live

Watch past hearings

Highights from Last Week

Friday marked the final day of bill filing for the Texas Legislature. Now, legislators will shift from proposing new legislation to advocating for bills to pass (or die) this session. Lawmakers filed 9,116 bills this session, compared to 10,000 in 2021 and 10,877 in 2019.

Bill Filed: Texas Must Prohibit and Prevent Racial Bullying in Schools

Texas Senate Hispanic Caucus, Texas Legislative Black Caucus and IDRA Call on the Legislature to Protect Students from Identity-based Bullying and Harassment

Thursday, Sen. José Menéndez, Chairman of the Senate Hispanic Caucus, and Rep. Ron Reynolds, Chairman of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, filed Senate Bill 2185 and House Bill 4625 to strengthen Texas laws prohibiting and preventing identity-based bullying and harassment in schools. Approximately one in four students in this country experience bullying related to their race, national origin, religion, disability, or gender or sexual orientation. Learn more

IDRA is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to achieve equal educational opportunity through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college.

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