The House Subcommittee on Academic and Career-Oriented Education held a quick meeting Thursday to discuss two bills. 

The bills heard were: 

• ATPE-opposed HB 1209 by Rep. Charles Cunningham (R–Kingwood), which would add a requirement of a minimum of 175 instructional days for public schools along with the existing requirement of 75,600 instructional minutes. The bill does exempt school district with under 8,000 students. ATPE opposed the bill because the minimum days are not necessary; the minimum instructional minutes provide flexibility to school districts that are exploring alternative calendars such as four-day weeks, as well as providing flexibility in the event of a natural disaster or weather event where school is cancelled. There are currently approximately 180 school districts in Texas implementing four-day school weeks. The 75,600 minutes actually equal 180 instructional days of seven hours each, more than the minimum Cunningham is asking for, and the flexibility of the minute requirement has been helpful to school districts. Cunningham stated in his bill layout that he was filing the bill in order to prohibit schools from adopting a four-day school week. He also stated the bill sought to maintain strong academic standards by prohibiting low-performing schools from participating in four-day school weeks, but the committee substitute for this bill also exempts district under 8,000 from these academic requirements. Rep. James Talarico (D–Round Rock), while questioning witnesses on the bill, suggested that perhaps a better approach would be to study and share feedback on the impact of four-day school weeks with districts and provide guidance to them.  
• HB 4746 by Rep. Chris Turner (D–Grand Prairie), which would add students who complete high school with the Pathways in Technology Early College High School or Early College High school designation as one of the postsecondary readiness factors for which a high school campus can earn an academic distinction designation. It also ups the per-student allotment for these programs from $50 to $150. The program serves historically at-risk and underserved populations and allows them to earn a high school diploma, associate’s degree, and/or a workforce certification.  

The committee is expected to meet again next Thursday. There are only a couple weeks left for House bills to be considered in committee before the May 12 deadline.