TXSBOE Archives • TechNotes Blog

SBOE Legislative Priorities

The board approved the following legislative recommendations to the 88th Texas Legislature, which convenes on January 10, 2023:

Grant the SBOE veto authority of charter school expansion.

Charter schools in the State of Texas would follow the same rules as LEA’s.

All LEA’s would use textbooks approved by the SBOE or seek a TEA waiver; combine SBOE approval process with the Texas Resource Review with SBOE approval of rubric; align instructional materials to cover 100% of the TEKS standards.

Provide SBOE members benefits and staff support.

Raise the floor of the minimum salary schedule by a minimum of 50% and fully fund it.

Reject all attempts to divert public dollars away from public schools in the form of vouchers, education savings accounts, taxpayer saving grants, tuition tax credits, a business franchise tax credit, or an insurance premium tax credit, or any other mechanisms that have the effect of reducing funding to public schools.

STAAR Redesign

The STAAR redesign is a result of House Bill 3906 passed in 2019. The TEA, working with a wide range of education stakeholders, including the Assessment Education Advisory Committee, has been exploring the most instructionally supportive approach to implementing these changes. The redesign will be implemented in the 2022–2023 school year.

Additionally, House Bill 3261, passed in 2021, requires state assessments to be administered online by the 2022–2023 school year. This transition will require nearly all students to be assessed online, with the exceptions of students taking the STAAR Alternate 2 assessment and students who require accommodations that cannot be provided online.

New School Safety Standards Rule

In light of recent events, ongoing public concern, and the charge by Governor Abbott, the TEA Commissioner is proposing a new rule to address school safety and ensure minimum school safety standards to address the safety of students and staff in public schools. The proposed rule would require that all school system instructional facilities have access points that are secured by design, maintained to operate as intended, and appropriately monitored. Specific rule text will be available via the Texas Register soon and is preliminarily posted on TEA’s website here. A one-page overview can be found here.

2023-2025 School Safety Standards Formula Grant

The TEA will release a formula-based grant application in the coming weeks to support the school safety standards and proposed rules referenced above. The grant will allow for pre-award for items purchased on or after June 1, 2022.

This grant program will calculate formula allocations based on a per-pupil amount per LEA. Grant funds will be distributed by per-pupil counts on student enrollment as reported in the October 2021 PEIMS submission. There will be a $200,000 minimum grant allocation for smaller and rural LEAs.

The grant will allow spending on a variety of security-related items identified by the needs of each LEA. The grant will allow for various costs associated with school safety and security; however, the grant will come with a requirement that money must first be spent on items necessary to comply with minimum requirements of the rule. Once the standards of the rule are met, the remaining funds can be spent on other eligible security-related costs as defined in the grant program’s allowable costs.

For more information, you can review the allocation funding, allowable costs, and grant links listed here: Allocation by LEA, Allocation by ESC, School Safety Formula Grant Allowable Costs.

SBOE TEA School Safety Standards Formula Grant Allowable Costs

Silent Panic Alert Technology (SPAT) Grant

The TEA also released a formula grant program on October 28, 2022, to provide grant funds to LEAs to purchase silent panic alert technologies for campuses as a measure of school safety. Silent panic alert technology is generally defined as a silent system signal generated by the activation of a device, either manually or through software applications, intended to signal a life-threatening or emergency situation (such as an active shooter, intruder, or other emergency situation) requiring a response from law enforcement and/or other first responders.

The grant funds support an alarm system as described in the proposed School Safety Standards Rule. The rule describes this as part of a school system communications infrastructure, which shall include a panic alert button, duress, or equivalent alarm system, via standalone hardware or integrated into other telecommunications devices.

For more information and frequently asked questions, click here.

Outgoing Members of the SBOE

The week concluded with the SBOE honoring and passing resolutions to honor outgoing State Board of Education members Lawrence Allen (D-Houston), Ruben Cortez (D-Brownsville), Jay Johnson (R-Pampa), Sue Melton-Malone (R-Robinson), Georgina Perez (D-El Paso), and Matt Robinson (R-Friendswood) for their time of service on the board. Six new members will be sworn in at the next board meeting in January 2023.

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) met the week of April 5-8. At this meeting, the board heard from the Commissioner of Education. It also dealt with several issues that pertain to technology policy that affect Texas schools.

Commissioner Update

At each meeting, the Commissioner of Education, Mike Morath, updates the board on items pertaining to Texas schools. He usually provides the board with pertinent updates and then answers questions posed to him by individual board members. At the April meeting, he provided them with a summary of the TEA’s 2021 Annual Report. The report focuses on key areas of achievement based on the Agency’s Strategic Priorities:

Recruit, Support, and Retain Teachers and Principals
Build a Foundation of Reading and Math
Connect High School to Career and College
Improve Low Performing Schools

Morath began by reviewing the historical performance data. As most people already are aware, COVID had a negative impact on student academic performance. One noteworthy observation is that, in the past, the commissioner tied the negative academic performance to virtual learning. In my opinion, in this review, he properly attributed the learning loss to the COVID pandemic. Although virtual learning is a part of that calculus, it is a false assumption to blame the academic struggles our students exhibited during the pandemic entirely on virtual learning. A myriad of factors contributed to our student’s learning loss, and each one needs to be addressed.

Morath also discussed the Teacher Vacancy Task Force, which was launched on March 10. He provided the board with the data the task force will use to frame their discussions.

I found the commissioner’s presentation and the questions that some of the board members asked after his presentation to be very enlightening. The board members’ questions seemed to reflect the issues facing teachers and the board’s constituents.

Technology Applications and Computer Science Standards Revised

*Photo created by **Patrick Amoy** on Unsplash*

The board had two agenda items related to the proposed revisions to K-8 Technology Applications TEKS and four high school computer science courses. They considered and voted to accept the proposed changes to the K-8 Technology standards on first reading. This triggers a period for public comment. When this time is published in the Texas Register, TCEA will communicate where and how individuals can provide their input through the TCEA Community and our social media accounts. This public comment period is the last chance practitioners have to provide feedback before the board votes to approve the standards in June.

The board also considered and voted to approve the proposed changes to Fundamentals of Computer Science, Computer Science I, Computer Science II, Computer Science III, Foundations of Cybersecurity, Digital Forensics, and Cybersecurity Capstone on first reading. A public comment period will also be announced in the Texas Register. TCEA will communicate this via our communication channels as well.

The Long-Range Plan for Technology Is Getting an Update

TEA is in the process of reviewing and updating the Long Range Plan for Technology. They provided the board with an update on their progress. The plan was approved by the SBOE in 2018. And state law requires it to be updated at least every five years. TEA has chosen to begin that process now because of two issues.

Device Refresh Cycles

Due to the COVID pandemic, most Texas school districts have provided each student with a device they can take home. For years, having a device for every student has been in the Long Range Plan for Technology. However, before the pandemic, it seemed almost unobtainable. COVID suddenly made this a reality due to the need for school districts to provide instruction virtually. TEA wants to update the plan to include guidance on methods for refreshing these devices. TEA and school districts have discovered that a device receives significant wear and tear when transported between home and school every day. To maintain the 1:1 device-to-student implementation, districts will need to make plans for a device refresh cycle.

Cybersecurity and Ransomware

The other issue TEA wants to update in the LRPT is the issue of cybersecurity and ransomware. School districts have increasingly become a target for cyber and ransom attacks. Therefore, it’s important for the state’s plan for technology to address this vital safety concern.

Some of the SBOE members had additional questions about at-home wi-fi access and protecting students from objectionable content. TEA indicated these issues are being addressed through other initiatives, but, more than likely, they will also be included in the LRPT.

Internet Safety Policy

There has been an increased interest in ensuring that students do not access pornographic content via the Internet. Chairman Keven Ellis announced that he plans to include an agenda item at the June SBOE meeting. This item would add a requirement to the Texas Education Code (Chapter 66.105) for districts to certify they have an Internet safety policy. This would be included in the required certification districts make to access their Instructional Materials and Technology Allotment.

He referenced the federal code that requires districts to have an Internet safety policy before accessing and using E-rate discounts. Chairman Ellis said that TEA staff indicated that 85% of Texas school districts utilize the E-rate discounts and, thus, currently certify they have such a policy. He wants to include such a requirement in the Texas Education Code. This would ensure that 100% of school districts are mandated to have and enforce an Internet safety policy.

In Conclusion

As you can see, technology policy was one of the major topics of discussion at this month’s SBOE meeting. TCEA is committed to monitoring these items as they make their way through the process. We will let you know when and how you can let your board member know what you think about these issues.

TXSBOE

State Board of Education (SBOE) Approves 88th Legislative Recommendations