Senate Education Committee hears teacher preparation bills; TCTA testifies

The Senate K-16 Education Committee met April 1st to hear testimony on bills related to school safety, teacher preparation, and the A-F accountability system, among other things.

The day began with Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) laying out SB 1262, a bill that would continue the school safety work in HB 3 from last session. In implementing a bill as expansive as HB 3, school districts have faced a number of issues, especially when it comes to funding. The bill seeks to shore up these issues and make the the intended school safety measures from last session a reality for more campuses across the state. The committee heard invited testimony from a school superintendent and a company that produces combat drones that use non-lethal weaponry to deter and disorient campus intruders. TCTA registered in support because the author accepted TCTA language about allowing the School Safety Allotment to be used for behavior intervention specialists and other discipline management practices.

Next, Committee Chairman Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) laid out SB 2252, a bill related to early childhood literacy and numeracy. The bill would require screeners for young students in reading in math, not only for learning disabilities, but also for progress to better target early interventions. SB 2252 would also require that all K-8 teachers have participated in a mathematics academy by the 2030-2031 school year, with a stipend for participation in reading or math academies. Invited testifiers touted the effectiveness of early intervention in reading and math, and said that bolstering our early math educators with math academies would pay dividends. TCTA testified neutrally on the bill, thanking the author for including stipends for participation and accepting the importance of early interventions for students, but strongly cautioning the author to take the lessons learned from the reading academies rollout into account in implementing any requirement for content academies going forward.

Creighton then laid out SB 2253, a bill related to revamping teacher certification pathways and providing incentives for uncertified teachers to become certified. The bill would streamline educator preparation and create "new" types of certificates. To implement these new certificates in a timely fashion, the bill grants the Commissioner of Education temporary authority to make rules to that effect. The commissioner would also be required to create new curriculum for educator preparation programs. To incentivize uncertified teachers to become certified, the bill would pay school districts $1,000 per teacher who becomes certified if they were hired as a new teacher in the past few years. It would also require new teachers who are certified to be paid more than those who are not for the first few years of their career. TCTA testified neutrally on the bill, thanking the author for some new restrictions on Districts of Innovation and offering incentives for teachers to become certified, but expressed concerns with some technical points in the bill's language and the broad authority issued to the commissioner to adopt rules related to the new certificates and mandate curriculum for educator preparation programs.

At time of publication, the hearing is still ongoing and will be updated in the future.

Updates from the Capitol

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