On Friday, July 26, 2019, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) met in Austin to take up a lengthy agenda that included approving rules to implement the EdTPA pilot program and discussing implementation of bills passed by the 86th Legislature, such as House Bill (HB) 3.

First, a note about SBEC procedure. Each agenda item that makes changes to rules takes three board meetings to move through SBEC. The board first brings up an item for discussion only, then formally proposes the rule at its next meeting and allows for a public comment period, and then finally adopts the rule at the third meeting. Additionally, under state law all adopted SBEC rules are subject to review by the elected State Board of Education (SBOE), which can take no action or veto a rule.

On Friday, SBEC approved two standard four-year rule reviews. The review of Title 19 of the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 233, which establishes the certificate classes for classroom teachers (e.g. 4-8 Science, Music EC-12, etc.), and the review of 19 TAC Chapter 244, which outlines the qualifications, training, and acceptable criteria for educator appraisers, were approved.

The board also adopted items that will now make their way to SBOE, including revisions to the criteria that school districts use to assign teachers. The assignment rules are based on the certificates held by teachers, which sometimes change, and the rules must also reflect the addition of new courses, such as Ethnic Studies. For instance, someone with an 8-12 History certification could be assigned to teach a high school Ethnic Studies classroom. Also headed to the SBOE are revisions to the program requirements for educator preparation programs (EPPs) that would create an optional, intensive pre-service preparation and certification pathway; provide guidance for EPP name changes after a change in ownership; and require educators seeking certification in two areas to have clinical teaching experience in both. Lastly, the board adopted revisions to certification and testing requirements including the incorporation of the new intensive pre-service option; including the portfolio assessment EdTPA as a testing option; and updating the fees to include EdTPA and the subject-matter-only assessments used for the Pre-Admission Content Test (PACT) route (discussed below). Interestingly, the board adopted an amendment proposed by board member Tommy Coleman to clarify in the rule language that the EdTPA assessment option is strictly a pilot.

Board members next took up agenda items for proposal of new rules and the authorization of a public comment period on those. One set of proposed rules includes changes to the Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs (ASEP), which will provide for new commendations for high-performing EPPs; adopt the EPP accountability manual into rule; clarify how EPPs are accredited; allow SBEC to require an EPP to complete an action plan as a sanction for low performance; and make additional technical changes. Additionally, the Board proposed revisions to EPP admission requirements to implement Senate Bill (SB) 1839, HB 2039, HB 3349 that were passed by the 85th Legislature in 2017. The rule changes would add admission requirements for the Early Childhood through Grade 3 (EC-3) and Grades 6-12 Trade and Industrial Workforce Training certificates created by those bills. The revisions would also allow candidates to take subject-matter-only assessments for their PACT if they don’t have the commensurate coursework and minimum 2.5 GPA that is required to enter an EPP. Currently, candidates can gain admission through a content pedagogy test, which tests for teaching strategies that the candidate hasn’t been exposed to yet. These items will be eligible for public comment from August 23 to September 23, 2019, and published in the Texas Register.

Since the 86th Legislature just ended its session in May, SBEC must act quickly to approve changes in order to meet the implementation date of several bills that were passed this year. Therefore, a couple items on the board's agenda went straight to the proposal stage, skipping the initial discussion phase in order to save time. These include rule changes to implement the following bills:

• SB 1200 by Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), which allows for military spouses licensed in other states to teach in Texas.
• HB 3 by Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Kingwood), which repeals the master teacher certificates as of September 1, 2019. Any candidate wishing to gain or renew a master teacher certificate must do so by August 30, 2019. Any current certificates will remain valid up until their expiration date. Please see the Texas Education Agency's information on master teacher certificates here for more detail.

The Board also took action on two non-rule "board items," which were discussed at the previous meeting and are effective immediately upon approval. One of these was to approve the ability of the Region 13 Education Service Center (ESC) to offer a Reading Specialist Certification, which is a different class of certification from the master teacher certification. The other item was to name members who will serve on an advisory committee for the newly proposed special education certifications. These certifications would improve upon the current, broad special education certificate by creating a deaf/blind supplemental certificate and multiple new certificates that are more specialized by grade level and the degree of support needed by students. The following items had been up for discussion at Friday's SBEC meeting but were moved instead to the board's October meeting agenda:

• Proposed changes to educator disciplinary proceedings, sanctions, and contested cases to implement the provisions of HB 3, SB 1230, SB 1476, and SB 37 as passed by the 86th Legislature. Collectively, these bills will impact reporting requirements for superintendents, principals, and directors of public and private schools regarding educator misconduct; create a do-not-hire registry; and remove student loan default as a ground for discipline by SBEC. The anticipated rule changes would also permit SBEC to deny certificates to educators who have abandoned their contract within the past 12 months. This will cover intern and probationary certificates, which SBEC loses jurisdiction over once these 12-month certificates expire.
• A board item meant to allow the Board to discuss the EPP continuing approval process, which includes procedures for review and update of EPP standards and requirements.
• A board item to discuss the upcoming educator certification test development updates to current content pedagogy tests. The Principal as Instructional Leader assessment was one of the updated tests and is set to become operational on July 29, 2019. Other new tests will roll out into 2021 and beyond.

The last agenda item, a legislative update, was skipped at Friday's meeting because members agreed that it had been adequately covered in a July 25th SBEC work group session. Bills impacting SBEC rulemaking as passed by the 86th Legislature include HB 3, HB 18, HB 403, HB 2424, SB 37, SB 241, SB 1200, SB 1230, and SB 1476. All of these except for HB 3's Science of Teaching Reading certification requirements are now set to be discussed at the October 4, 2019 SBEC meeting. See a detailed table of SBEC's proposed timeline for implementing provisions of each of these bills here. Stay tuned to Teach the Vote for future updates.