Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 2307 amends the Education Code to establish a master reading teacher grant program to encourage teachers to become certified as master reading teachers and work with other teachers and with students to improve student reading performance. The act requires the commissioner of education to identify high-need schools based on various criteria, including student performance on the statewide reading tests; to rank schools in order of need; and to make grants to eligible school districts to pay $5,000 year-end stipends to selected certified master reading teachers who teach reading and serve as reading teacher mentors at high-need schools. The act provides that each grant awarded is in addition to any other state aid a district may receive under the Foundation School Program, that a district subject to equalization of its per-pupil wealth level is entitled to master reading teacher grants, and that an individual stipend is not considered in determining whether a district is paying the teacher the minimum monthly salary.

House Bill 2307 requires the State Board for Educator Certification to establish a master reading teacher certificate and to issue such certificates to qualified individuals who are either certified reading specialists or certified teachers with at least three years of experience and who complete a knowledge-based and skills-based course of instruction on the science of teaching children to read, pass a master reading teacher certification examination and meet other board requirements.

The act also creates a staff development account in the general revenue fund from which the commissioner may pay regional education service centers to provide staff development resources to school districts that are rated academically unacceptable, have one or more low-performing schools, or otherwise need assistance as indicated by student performance. The act requires a district receiving resources to pay half the cost of the resources to the commissioner for deposit into the fund.