The ATPE Governmental Relations team recaps the past week’s education news, legislative and election updates, and regulatory developments. ATPE members: Share your thoughts and ask our lobby team questions in The Rotunda on the ATPE Online Community. 

• ATPE urges public educators to begin contacting the House Public Education Committee
• ATPE testifies at Senate Finance hearing on public education appropriations
• SBEC approves three sets of rule changes
• U.S. Senate holds confirmation hearing for education department nominee McMahon
• TEA requests input on local classroom review rubrics required by 2023’s HB 1605
• DontDefundMySchool.com website goes viral
• ATPE State Vice President Jerrica Holt to speak at Feb. 22 Save Texas Schools Rally
• ATPE Podcast begins multipart series on educator leave
• Catch the latest in the ATPE Online Community

HOUSE: Speaker Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock) announced House committee assignments Thursday, and the makeup of the House Public Education Committee is disappointingly voucher-friendly. ATPE Lobbyist Tricia Cave writes in this blog post: “Outside of the voucher issue, it is an open question as to what type of reception bills addressing pro-public education priorities will receive from the committee, as well as their approach to bills in opposition to ATPE’s legislative program.” ATPE encourages all Texas public educators to begin contacting the House Public Education Committee members now to professionally but passionately express support for ATPE’s legislative priorities. You will find committee members’ contact information in the blog post. If you want to make a stronger impact and you’re an ATPE member, enroll in the ATPE Member Advocate Program (ATPE-MAP) today to learn strategies for effective public education advocacy directly from the ATPE Lobby Team.

SENATE FINANCE: The Senate Finance Committee met Monday to discuss Article III of the state budget (Senate Bill 1), which focuses on public education. ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter and ATPE Lobbyist Heather Sheffield testified in front of the committee regarding Texas Education Agency and Teacher Retirement System appropriations. Exter highlighted the need for the state to appropriate money for teacher certification and to address teacher pay. He also asked the senators to give districts programmatic and discretionary funding. Sheffield cautioned the committee about the LBB’s anticipation of higher payroll growth based on historical growth of 5% in public education given that approximately 60% of districts are facing deficit budgets and many are closing schools. ATPE also submitted written testimony to the committee. Get a full recap in this blog post by Sheffield.

SBEC: The State Board for Educator Certification met Friday in Austin to give final approval to three sets of rule changes: TAC 19 Ch. 231, which creates a special education content competency rubric; TAC 19 Ch. 235, teacher pedagogy standards, which provides guidance for educator preparation programs (EPPs) in preparing educator candidates for the classroom; and TAC 19 Ch. 249, educator disciplinary standards. The board also elected a new vice chair and secretary following the departures of board members Tommy Coleman and Scott Muri; approved new EPP programs to offer residency programs that will allow candidates to earn an enhanced educator certificate; and discussed the development of a bilingual special education certificate. ATPE Lobbyist Tricia Cave has a full report in this blog post.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: The U.S. Senate held a confirmation hearing Thursday for Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s secretary of education nominee—i.e., the nominee to lead a federal agency Trump vowed to dismantle during his presidential campaign. Rumors continue to swirl about a planned executive order to do just that, but McMahon stated in her confirmation hearing that the U.S. Department of Education could not be eliminated without congressional approval. McMahon is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. In addition to the executive order rumors, media outlets are also reporting that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk is turning its attention to the education department, with plans to increase use of artificial intelligence within the agency, lay off workers, and cancel contracts. The Washington Post has a good recap of the McMahon hearing. Her confirmation is expected to face little resistance.

HB 1605: As part of the implementation of House Bill (HB) 1605, passed by the Legislature in 2023, the Texas Education Agency is accepting online feedback regarding local classroom review rubrics that will be used to “evaluate the degree to which instructional materials in classrooms correspond with the instructional materials adopted by the school district or district campus.” In addition, TEA is holding “stakeholder engagement sessions” via Zoom—six for “parents and community members” vs. three for classroom educators. Learn more about local classroom reviews and these input opportunities on the TEA website. 

VOUCHERS: If you were on Facebook this week, you likely saw screenshots of the website DontDefundMySchool.com. This website, a project of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, uses data from nonpartisan policy organization EveryTexan to estimate the impact of reduced school district funding should a “large,” “medium,” or “small” voucher program be implemented. (EveryTexan uses percentages: 5% of students, 3% of students, and 1% of students.) For example, Plano ISD is projected to lose between $3.9 million and $19.6 million in funding depending on the scope of the voucher program implemented. It is important to note that while this is useful information to have on the potential direct loss of funding to districts based on voucher-related enrollment loss, these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true cost of a voucher program. The vast majority of voucher recipients, should a bill like SB 2 pass, would be expected to be current private school students. Funding a voucher program to subsidize private school tuition with tax dollars for existing private school students would not directly reduce enrollment/attendance-based ISD funding—but it would divert billions, potentially tens of billions, of state dollars that could otherwise go to increasing public school funding or supporting other state priorities.  

RALLY: ATPE State Vice President Jerrica Holt is a featured speaker at next week’s Save Texas Schools Rally, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Feb. 22 at the State Capitol. ATPE is proud to co-sponsor this event along with other public education advocacy organizations. Learn more about the rally on the Save Texas Schools website, including potential transportation options being offered by the rally organizers. 

PODCAST: Don’t miss the latest episode of The ATPE Podcast. In the first of a multipart series, ATPE Managing Attorney Lance Cain clarifies some of the confusing rules surrounding the types of leave available to Texas educators. 

ONLINE COMMUNITY: Please log in to the ATPE Online Community to check out the latest standings in the ATPE Regional Advocacy Challenge (RAC), as well as share your results from this week’s Texas Tribune News Quiz. (Take the news quiz, then screenshot your results to post in the community!)