The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) will meet in Austin for its April meeting, where the members plan to discuss various issues related to public education.
Gathering from April 11 to the 14, board members have an extensive agenda totaling nearly 300 pages.
On Tuesday, April 11, the Committee of the Full Board will hear updates from the Texas Workforce Commission chairman and commissioner representing the public.
The SBOE will then receive ethics training where the members will “discuss ethics statutes and rules that apply to SBOE members.” The day will conclude with a staff update on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) review and a discussion of various proposed amendments to the Texas Administrative Code.
Day two of the meeting will see the Committee of the Full Board convene again to consider two options for the TEKS in workplace safety and health and proposed amendments to the Texas Administrative Code regarding open-enrollment charter schools. They will then hear an update on the review of Proclamation 2024 instructional materials in addition to pending litigation.
Proclamation 2024 was issued in September 2022 “as a notice to publishers, the public, and education service centers (ESCs) that the State Board of Education (SBOE) is inviting bids to furnish instructional materials,” for a variety of courses, including science, financial literacy, and mathematics.
On April 13, the members will break into the smaller committees of Instruction, School Finance, and School Initiatives to conduct their separate responsibilities in preparation for the general meeting the next day.
On April 14, the SBOE will consider a resolution on Title IX in Texas K-12 Public Schools and approve the consent agenda items. The various committees will present to the board various proposed actions, mostly related to changes to the Texas Administrative Code.
They will also hear updates on and discuss the ongoing review of the TEKS.
The SBOE voted on April 5 to lower the reserve percentage in its Bond Guarantee Program from 5% to 0.25%, freeing up just under $6 billion in additional capacity. The program allows the SBOE to back bond packages by school districts, helping them achieve a AAA bond rating.
The increased bond rating “means that school and charter districts pay lower interest rates on bonds … allowing more money to go toward school district needs, instead of financing costs,” according to a press release.
Education has become a hot-button political issue during the 88th session of the Texas Legislature, with debates over curriculum standards, private school vouchers and teacher pay ongoing in the House and Senate.
Some SBOE members, such as Julie Pickren, have actively supported or advocated for certain bills that would affect education, such as Senate Bill (SB) 2565.
That legislation, authored and co-authored by a slate of Senators including Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas), would require schools to make curriculum accessible to parents online, stipulate that the SBOE must certify that curriculum is factual, and require a process for parent-initiated material review.
In an opinion provided to The Dallas Express, Pickren explained, “The beauty of SB 2565 is it will allow Texas to develop, write, and publish its own curriculum. Additionally, this bill brings much-needed openness and accountability to our material review process.”
“It’s time to take action to ensure that our children receive the high-quality education they deserve,” Pickren said. “I urge all Texans to support SB 2565, which will empower school districts to choose age-appropriate and high-quality materials that align with Texas laws and values.”
During the SBOE meeting in February, the board voted to recommend for a final vote at a later date to remove anti-school choice language from their legislative priorities, as reported by The Dallas Express.
This led some groups to criticize the SBOE, with the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas claiming that the decision “was done in direct response to pressure from the Texas Governor.”
The organization added, “this contributes to the erosion of public education, a slow death by a thousand cuts,” suggesting that the SBOE decision would help pave “the road for the Texas leg[islature] to pass ‘school voucher’ legislation that would allow parents to remove tax money from public education.”
