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. 

• House Public Education hears invited testimony from TEA Commissioner Mike Morath
• Senate passes its vision for teacher pay, SB 26, unanimously without addressing some educator concerns
• Senate Education K-16 hears library book and omnibus parental rights bills
• TRS Board of Trustees discusses impact of current legislative proposals
• The ATPE Podcast: Fact-Checking the Fact-Checkers
• Don’t miss the conversation in the ATPE Online Community

HOUSE: The House Public Education Committee held its first meeting of the 89th Legislature Tuesday. The committee heard only invited testimony from TEA Commissioner Mike Morath and the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative: the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), and the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). ATPE Lobbyist Tricia Cave has a detailed recap of the agency testimony in this blog post. During next Tuesday’s hearing, Chairman Brad Buckley (R–Salado) will lay out his massive school finance bill, House Bill (HB) 2, and the committee will hear invited testimony. Then, on Thursday of next week, the committee will take public testimony on HB 2. Read ATPE Lobbyist Heather Sheffield's preview and stay tuned to Teach the Vote for additional updates. We encourage readers to visit ATPE’s Advocacy Central to contact lawmakers with their thoughts on public education funding.

TEACHER PAY: The Texas Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that if passed would increase pay for some classroom teachers along with a number of other provisions. Senate Bill (SB) 26, now headed to the House, includes a tiered raise based on district size and teacher years of service. The $4.3 billion bill would also expand the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) performance pay program while removing guarantees of future pay raises. The bill does not include raises for other educators, including counselors, school nurses, librarians, classroom aides, and other support staff. ATPE proposed two amendments to the bill that author Sen. Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe) declined to take. Read more in this post by ATPE Senior Lobbyist Mark Wiggins.  

SENATE: The Senate Education K-16 Committee held a lengthy day of testimony Thursday on several bills, including a bill increasing restrictions on school libraries. SB 13 by Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney) would add “indecent” and “profane” content to the list of prohibited library materials and require creation of local school library advisory councils to address challenges to library books. The committee also heard SB 12, an omnibus “parental rights” bill by Sen. Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe), which states that parents have the right to review all curriculum and instructional materials (a right parents already hold and have long held) as well as student academic and health records. ATPE Senior Lobbyist Mark Wiggins reports on these and other bills here. 

TRS: The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) Board of Trustees met this week for a regular board meeting. TRS Executive Director Brian Guthrie gave a presentation to trustees on the potential impact of current legislation on the actuarial soundness of the TRS pension fund. ATPE Lobbyist Heather Sheffield has a recap in this blog post. 

VOUCHERS: Social media has been abuzz with public education supporters and voucher proponents—most notably Gov. Greg Abbott (R)—claiming to expose “myths” about programs that would allow use of taxpayer dollars to pay for private schools. In the latest episode of The ATPE Podcast, “Fact-Checking the Fact-Check,” ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter examines Abbott’s most recent statements on the voucher issue.

GET INVOLVED: ATPE offers members multiple ways to stay engaged as public education advocates. In case you missed it, last week we launched the local advocacy module in the ATPE Member Advocate Program (ATPE-MAP). Nine members have already earned the local advocacy microcredential! Be sure to log in to the ATPE Online Community for the latest news on the Regional Advocacy Challenge and to interact with your fellow members. (For example, ATPE State Vice President Jerrica Holt first shared her speech from the Feb. 22 Save Texas Schools Rally in the community.) And don’t forget to take The Texas Tribune news quiz this week and share your results!