Legislative Update

8-27-10 School Districts will not challenge court ruling on grading policy

The school districts that filed a lawsuit challenging a ban on minimum grading policies have announced that they will not challenge the June 2010 court ruling upholding the ban. Senate Bill (SB) 2033, by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), approved during the 81 legislative session, outlaws district grading policies that require teachers to give mandatory minimum grades regardless of students’ actual academic achievement or demonstrated mastery. Although the legislation seemed cut and dry, controversy erupted when several school districts adopted policies that prohibited mandatory minimum grades on individual assignments but still required mandatory minimum grades for report cards and eight-week grading periods. They argued that such policies were allowable because the legislation did not specifically reference grading periods.

In response, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) issued a letter to school districts last October stating that it was the Legislature’s intent to prohibit mandatory minimum grades for grading periods and that school districts should comply. Although the letter was not legally binding, it prompted several Texas school districts to file a lawsuit against the agency to settle the matter. Presiding Judge Gisela Triana-Doyal sided with TEA, ruling that SB 2033 is not ambiguous and thus applies to all types of grades, including cumulative grades for grading periods. The decision by the plaintiff school districts to not challenge the ruling seemingly puts the debate to rest.

For more information, contact ATPE Governmental Relations.

8-27-10 LBB discusses TRS budget

The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) and members of Gov. Rick Perry’s staff met Aug. 25 to begin discussions on a preliminary budget for the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) for the next biennium. The discussions are meant to set a starting point for the Legislature in determining the state’s budget. The actual budget won’t be determined until the Legislature meets again in 2011.

According to the discussions, TRS staff submitted a proposed budget to the Legislature that maintains the current level of state contributions to TRS at 6.644 percent of the active member payroll. However, TRS also submitted what is referred to as an exceptional item request asking for the state to increase its contribution rate by .5 percent each year for the next two years, raising the state contribution rate to 7.2 percent. The current active member TRS contribution is 6.4 percent. It is likely that the initial version of the state budget will reduce the state’s contribution to TRS to the Constitutional minimum of 6 percent. It is also possible the Legislature will propose increasing the active member rate to match the state rate if the state increases its contribution to TRS. Since the TRS fund is considered actuarially unsound, the TRS actuary has recommended that the state increase its contributions over time.

ATPE will continue to follow the budget process as it unfolds. Stay tuned for updates.

8-13-10 TRS posts strong returns

Teacher Retirement System (TRS) Executive Director Ronnie Jung appeared at a hearing of the Texas House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services committee Aug. 11 and delivered some encouraging news on the state of the TRS fund. According to Jung, the pension fund has seen a 13-percent return on investments during the last year. That figure is much stronger than the eight-percent return the system targets in order to maintain benefits for retirees. Jung also testified that the fund has exceeded the eight-percent target since it was set nearly three decades ago, making TRS one of the top performing pension funds in the country.

Unfortunately, Jung also testified that TRS will request a half-percent increase in the state’s contribution rate, which is currently set at 6.644 percent, for each year of the 2011-13 biennium. However, Jung doesn’t expect the Legislature will grant the request because of the looming budget shortfall.

For more information, contact ATPE Governmental Relations.

8-10-10 U.S. House gives final approval to supplemental education aid

The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval Aug. 10 to a supplemental spending measure that includes $10 billion to help prevent layoffs for public schools, $820 million of which would go to Texas. According to estimates, the additional funding could save more than 13,000 public school jobs. The bill also includes a provision specific to Texas that requires the money be spent on teachers and students, and distributed through the Title 1 funding formula. The provision, which was authored by Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), is meant to ensure that if Gov. Rick Perry signs off on the funding, the money may not be used to supplant state educational funding.

Perry and other state leaders called on Congress to remove the provision after the U.S. Senate approved the measure last week. However, those calls went unanswered as the House adopted rules for debating the bill that prohibited any amendments. ATPE, along with other members of the education community including statewide groups representing teachers, principals, superintendents, school boards and many superintendents across the state, signed a letter to Congressional leaders supporting the bill and the provision. "This funding isn't about politics in Washington or Austin; it's about children and getting the resources they need into their classrooms," said ATPE Governmental Relations Director Brock Gregg. "The reality is that the pledge the governor has been asked to make is no different in effect than the pledge he made when taking $16 billion in federal stimulus dollars during the last session."

ATPE will continue to monitor the progress of the bill and report on any significant developments. Stay tuned for updates.

8-6-10 TEA launches job bank

The Texas Education Agency has launched a web-based school district job bank and search tool. The bank will gather information on job openings from the state’s 1,200 public school districts and charter schools into one centralized location. Access the job bank at www.tea.state.tx.us/districtSearch.aspx.   

Contact ATPE Governmental Relations for more information.

7-26-10 SBOE approves controversial charter plan

The State Board of Education (SBOE) held its regularly scheduled meeting July 21-23 in Austin. The most notable developments from the meeting revolved around a controversial plan to use money from the Permanent School Fund (PSF) to purchase buildings that would then be leased as facilities for charter school operators.

The plan was spearheaded by board member David Bradley (R-Beaumont), who proposed using $100 million of the PSF’s $22 billion for the program. The plan was also supported by Education Commissioner Robert Scott. ATPE opposed the plan because gambling on speculative investments is not a prudent use of the PSF given the current economic state. In fact, the board's own financial experts refused to endorse the plan. As with any of the state boards charged with managing education-related trust funds, ATPE believes the SBOE owes it to taxpayers to make sound investment choices that focus on preserving the long-term health of the PSF.

The board first considered the measure during a meeting of the committee of the whole and voted against the charter plan 7-7 with Rene Nunez (D-El Paso) siding with Bradley’s faction of the board. However, the board met again the next day as a full board and reversed the previous day’s decision. The board approved the measure 7-6, when board member Rick Agusto (D-San Antonio) left the board room just prior to the vote.

Board Chair Gail Lowe, who was not in favor of the charter allocation, has said that she will be requesting an opinion from the attorney general’s (AG) office regarding the legality of the plan before any further steps are taken to implement it. A request for an AG’s opinion is likely to take six months to be answered. By then, there will be at least three and as many as six new board members, depending on the upcoming elections.

ATPE will continue to follow this issue as it unfolds. Contact ATPE Governmental Relations for more information.

7-20-10 Senate Education Committee invites ATPE testimony

The Senate Education Committee met July 20 to discuss its third interim charge: Review teacher compensation, evaluations, professional development, certification and training programs. ATPE was selected to be part of a panel of invited witnesses to testify before the committee.

ATPE’s testimony included the findings of a study commissioned by ATPE on the correlation between teacher quality and student achievement. The study, conducted by noted University of Texas researcher Dr. Ed Fuller, found that there is a positive association between teacher quality and student achievement. The study also showed that teacher quality is inequitably distributed among schools; high-poverty, high-minority and low-performing schools have much lower teacher quality than low-poverty, low-minority and high-performing schools.

The testimony also included recommendations for each area addressed in the committee’s charge. The recommendations include maintaining a strong minimum salary schedule for educators, implementing a comprehensive teacher induction plan for new educators and using multiple measures for teacher evaluations.

For more information, contact ATPE Governmental Relations.

7-20-10 ATPE featured on Equity Center Radio

ATPE Lobbyist Monty Exter was recently interviewed by Equity Center Radio, a program sponsored by the Equity Center, a research and advocacy group. The interview focused on Texas’ school finance system and what steps need to be taken in order to ensure students and teachers will be able to succeed under the state’s current model. The interview also covered ATPE’s positions on hot-button issues such as class-size limits and the Attorney General’s recent opinion on PAC payroll deductions for educators.

You can listen to the entire interview here. 

7-7-10 U.S. House approves supplemental funding for Texas school districts

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a supplemental spending measure July 1 that includes $10 billion to help prevent layoffs for public schools feeling the crunch of the struggling economy. Texas’ share of the pot is $820 million. The bill also includes a provision specific to Texas that requires the money be spent on teachers and students and distributed through the Title 1 funding formula. The provision ensures that if Gov. Rick Perry signs off on the funding, the money may not be used to supplant state educational funding–an important requirement going into the budget battles looming over the 2011 legislature.

ATPE along with other members of the education community, including statewide groups representing teachers, principals, superintendents, school boards as well as many superintendents across the state signed a letter to Congressional leaders supporting the bill and the provision, which was authored by Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin). Doggett’s provision requires Gov. Perry to certify that federal funds are not used merely to replace state education support, and education funding will not be cut proportionally more than any other item in the upcoming Texas general appropriations act, in order to receive the supplemental funding.

The bill must still be approved by the U.S. Senate and President Barack Obama before becoming law. The Senate may try to strip the added provisions. President Obama has also threatened to veto the bill because some of the funding included for schools comes from cuts in prospective funding for the Race to the Top initiative.

ATPE will continue to monitor the progress of the bill and report on any significant developments. Stay tuned for updates.