STAAR WARS: The 89th Legislative Session Terry Faucheux Toni Riester-Wood, Ph.D. The 88th Legislative Session (or When Last We Left Our Heroes Legislators) The 88th Legislative Session ended on a very contentious note after FOUR (4!)
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Presentation Transcript
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STAAR WARS: The 89th Legislative Session Terry Faucheux
Toni Riester-Wood, Ph.D.<br>
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The 88th Legislative Session (or When Last We Left Our Heroes Legislators)…
The 88th Legislative Session ended on a very contentious note after FOUR (4!) special sessions.
Property Tax Relief
The Border
Education Savings Accounts aka ESAs aka Vouchers<br>
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The Legislative Session at a Glance:
January 14th, 2025 (Tuesday) – The 89th Legislative Session Begins.
March 14th, 2025 – The 60th day of the session. This is the final day to file any new legislation.
June 2nd, 2025 – Sine Die. End of the 89th Legislative Session.
September 1st, 2025 – Most bills that passed become effective unless otherwise stated in the bill.<br>
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Some Legislative Basics:
Most bills will not become law. Typically less than 10% will be successful.
Senate Committees are fairly stable and will remain somewhat the same.
House Committees from the 88th session no longer exist.
All House members (new and old) will send in requests to the Speaker for committee assignments.
The Speaker and his team will decide who will serve on which committees and more importantly, who will serve as chairs of each committee.<br>
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The Race for Speaker:
The new Speaker (as of 1/14/2025) is Representative Dustin Burrows (R, Lubbock).<br>
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What’s the Difference Between a Priority and an Emergency Item?
According to the Texas Constitution, the House and Senate can’t pass legislation during the first 60 days of a regular session (until March 14th this year). The only exceptions are if 4/5 of either chamber votes to suspend the rule or if the governor declares the item an emergency.
In the Senate, traditionally the bills with the first 20 numbers are ones that the Lieutenant Governor considers a priority. In 2023, the Lieutenant Governor reserved the first 30 numbers for his priority bills. Bill number 1 is always the budget bill in both chambers and is the only legislation that is required to pass according to the state constitution.
FYI, vouchers will almost certainly be declared an emergency item by the Governor and will therefore come early in the session.<br>
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Your Voice Counts!
All public school employees (with limited exceptions in senior leadership) can, in their own time, using their own resources, advocate for or against or endorse any measure, candidate, or legislation.
Anyone can write, email, or phone their state representative or senator and give their opinion on a bill.
Should you go right to the top and contact the governor, the lieutenant governor, or the Speaker?
How do I find out who represents me?
Search for Texas Legislature Online
Yes, you can sign up and testify before the Committees if you feel strongly about a bill. Again, you should state that you work in a public school district but that you are there representing yourself.<br>
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The Financials:
Texas begins with a bank account of about 194.6 billion dollars, including about 4.6 billion carried over from the previous session that had been earmarked for education.
The Economic Stabilization Fund is anticipated to reach its constitutional cap of about 28.5 billion before the next biennium.
With so much money in the bank, there will be many competing interests vying for the money including:
Education
Water Rights and Conservation
The Electric Grid
The Border
Property Tax Relief (cont’d. from previous session)
Health & Human Services<br>
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What Bills Have Been Filed So Far?
So far, about 17 bills relating to Assessment & Accountability have been filed. Any bills filed so far are those from returning members, beginning after the November election.
Some of the most common themes we have seen so far:
Remove those assessments not required by ESSA, particularly EOCs (which would mean 1 ELA assessment and the U.S. History Assessment).
Fix Military Readiness in CCMR to include Jr. ROTC and/or ASVAB scores
Tweaks, not a complete overhaul of the Accountability System
Alternatives to STAAR (other national norm-referenced exams such as SAT, ACT, and even ITBS<br>
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Back to STAAR…<br>
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ACADEMIC ACCOUNTABILITY
The one thing that the Legislature appears to mostly agree upon is that letter-grade ratings are still fairly popular. It is doubtful that an accountability system along with corresponding letter grades will be leaving Texas anytime soon.<br>
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POPULAR TOPICS WITH LEGISLATORS
TTAP
Strong Foundations
Writing Portfolios
Tutoring and Acceleration (but how much?)
“Smart” Assessments<br>
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LET’S PARTNER!
Strong Foundations Planning
Strong Foundations Implementation
Research-Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS) PD
Academic Data Reviews
Risk Load Analysis
Staffing Studies
Curriculum Review Services
SPED Program Review Services
Texas Assessment Conference
Texas Legislative Session Bill Tracking, Analysis, and Implementation Support<br>
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QUESTIONS? CONTACT INFORMATION:
Terry Faucheux – tfaucheux@moakcasey.com
Toni Riester-Wood – trwood@moakcasey.com<br>
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Academics, Assessments & Accountability Team
Lloyd W. Graham
Terry Faucheux
Toni Riester-Wood, Ph.D.
Ross Gilcrease
Advocacy Services Team
Dan Huberty
Ginger Averitt
Addie Gomez
Julia Grizzard
Lauren Kulbeth
Economic Development Team
Larry Taylor
Kathy Mathias
Gretchen Hoffman
Daniel Casey School Finance Team
Leo Lopez
Josh Haney
Amber Lasseigne, Ed.D.
Justin Barlow
Lynn Moak
Mary McKeown-Moak, Ph.D.
Strategic Thought, Design, & Continuous Improvement Team
Buck Gilcrease, Ed.D.
Greg Gibson, Ed.D.
Jodi Duron, Ed.D.
Mimi Vidaurri, Ed.D.
Ronnie Kincaid
Kelly Pickle
Don Rabalais
Missy Dvorak MC Executive Team
Buck Gilcrease, Ed.D., CEO
Dan Huberty, COO Leo Lopez, CFO
Greg Gibson, Ed.D., CSO
Ginger Averitt
Lloyd W. Graham
Josh Haney
MC Board of Directors Buck Gilcrease, Ed.D., Chairman
Dan Huberty
Leo Lopez
MC Administration Team
Kari Ruehman
Brianna Huberty
Susan Moak<br>
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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA<br>
