SBEC Preview: HB 2 in Action

The State Board for Educator Certification will meet in Austin on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 18-19. The meeting will take place over two days with many discussion items and will include a new component to the proceedings.

The first order of business will be for the new Temporary Suspension Committee to meet and consider formal action on the certificates of nine teachers. This will be the first official meeting of the newly established committee required by Senate Bill (SB) 571, and part of the work will be to establish the frequency that the committee needs to meet in order to carry out its responsibility to determine if the alleged misconduct of the teacher warrants suspension, thus making the teacher ineligible for employment while a full investigation is carried out.

Also related to SB 571, the board will discuss the Educators' Code of Ethics (Chapter 247) and Disciplinary Proceedings, Sanctions, and Contested Cases (Chapter 249). There are also implications for the latter based on SB 12.

House Bill (HB) 2 also contained many implications for teacher preparation, most notably establishing an allotment for teacher preparation that will be connected to preparation programs and districts that choose to enter the program and partner for the purpose of quality teacher training and certification. The work of implementing this bill will touch several chapters of SBEC's administrative rules:

• Chapter 228, Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs
• Chapter 227, Provisions for Educator Preparation Candidates
• Chapter 230, Professional Educator Preparation and Certification

While SBEC has the authority to manage how educator preparation programs (EPPs) must structure and operate in order to receive the allotment, the commissioner of education has authority over the district partnership portion. Though rulemaking for both entities is intended to take place concurrently, ensuring consistency between these rules will be something to watch over the next several meetings.

The board will also discuss its continuing approval review process for EPPs as that process moves from the pilot to operational phase of development. Finally, in another item related to HB 2, the SBEC will discuss its process for reviewing National Board Certification for the purpose of the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA).