BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2365

By: Eissler

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Recent legislation created three education research centers to conduct research for the benefit of education in Texas, such as the impact of state and federal education programs, performance of educator preparation programs, public school finance, and best practices with regard to classroom instruction, bilingual education programs, special language programs, and business practices. These centers have been praised as a model approach for conducting independent education research in accordance with the requirements of federal law and are predicted to become the preferred method for conducting research with state education data.

C.S.H.B. 2365 seeks to further refine this approach to education research by clarifying the responsibilities of education research centers and establishing a joint advisory board to oversee their work.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2365 amends the Education Code to require the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education to co-chair a joint advisory board to adopt policies governing the operations of centers for education research, including a process for review and approval of center research involving confidential information. The bill authorizes the commissioners to each delegate duties as co-chair, including voting, to an employee of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) or the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, as appropriate. The bill requires the commissioners to jointly appoint not more than 10 additional members to the joint advisory board to serve one-year terms and establishes that a board member serves at the pleasure of the commissioners. The bill authorizes a member to be reappointed each year to an additional term.

C.S.H.B. 2365 requires the joint advisory board to meet at the call of the co-chairs at least twice each year and requires the board to establish a schedule of fees to fund the cost of data processing by the TEA and the coordinating board; to develop a plan for establishing access at public institutions of higher education to data; to develop policies to give state agencies acting for a governmental purpose and public entities performing studies authorized by the legislature priority in access to and use of center research; to develop, in consultation with each center, a process for reviewing center research proposals and criteria for evaluating proposal quality that emphasize the benefits to education in the state and use of accepted social science research methods; to identify, in consultation with each center, the type of data that the TEA and the coordinating board send annually to each center without the necessity of a request for that data by a center and a schedule on which the data is sent; and to perform other duties as necessary to advise each center. The bill provides for the meaning of "center" by reference.

C.S.H.B. 2365 requires a center for education research to support policy and academic research, including support of graduate student research in Texas. The bill specifies, in a statutory provision requiring an established center to be funded by certain gifts, grants, and fees, that the cost of complying with the bill's provisions and statutory provisions relating to the centers, including necessary personnel costs at the TEA and the coordinating board and the costs of operation of each center be so funded. The bill requires each center to administer the process for reviewing research proposals and to forward to the board only proposals of high quality as determined using developed criteria. The bill authorizes the commissioner of education and the coordinating board, on behalf of a center, to pursue and enter data agreements with another agency of Texas and the state education agency of another state, giving priority to the agencies of those states that send the highest number of students to Texas or that receive the highest number of students from Texas.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2365 differs from the original by requiring a center for education research to support policy and academic research, including support of graduate student research in Texas, whereas the original requires a center to support the attainment of doctoral degrees in Texas.

C.S.H.B. 2365 contains a provision not included in the original, in a statutory provision requiring an established center to be funded with certain gifts, grants, and fees, specifying that certain costs of complying with certain statutory provisions and the substitute's provisions be so funded.

C.S.H.B. 2365 differs from the original by requiring each center to administer the process for reviewing research proposals developed under the substitute's provisions and to forward to the joint advisory board established by the substitute only proposals of high quality as determined using criteria developed under the substitute's provisions, whereas the original requires each center to adopt and, after approval by the joint advisory board as provided for under the original's provisions, administer a process for reviewing research proposals and forwarding to that board only proposals of high quality.

C.S.H.B. 2365 differs from the original by authorizing the commissioner of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to pursue and enter data agreements with certain agencies, whereas the original authorizes data reciprocity agreements with certain agencies.

C.S.H.B. 2365 differs from the original by requiring the joint advisory board to establish a schedule of fees to fund the cost of data processing by the coordinating board, in addition to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), whereas the original specifies the cost of data processing by the TEA.

C.S.H.B. 2365 differs from the original by requiring the joint advisory board to develop a plan for establishing access at public institutions of higher education to data, whereas the original specifies access to center research.

C.S.H.B. 2365 differs from the original by requiring the joint advisory board to develop, in consultation with each center, a process for reviewing center research proposals and criteria for evaluating proposal quality that emphasize the benefits to education in the state and use of accepted social science research methods, whereas the original requires the joint advisory board to provide for approving a process developed under the original's provisions for reviewing center research proposals and forwarding only proposals of high quality to the joint advisory board.

C.S.H.B. 2365 differs from the original by requiring the joint advisory board to identify, in consultation with each center, the type of data that the TEA and the coordinating board send annually to each center without the necessity of a request for that data by a center and a schedule on which the data is sent, whereas the original requires identification of the type of data sent by the TEA.