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BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

 

C.S.H.B. 404

By: Anchia

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

Interested parties suggest that there is a lack of oversight over the public school curriculum standards recommended to the State Board of Education for approval and that the inclusion of additional partners in the process would be in the best interest of students. C.S.H.B. 404 seeks to improve oversight and provide for such inclusion by creating an additional panel of experts to review curriculum standard recommendations for college readiness purposes.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

 

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. 404 amends the Education Code to require the State Board of Education (SBOE) to appoint a higher education curriculum review team for each subject undergoing a review for the purpose of identifying and adopting the essential knowledge and skills of a subject of the foundation curriculum to review and make recommendations to the SBOE to ensure that proposed essential knowledge and skills are factually accurate and aligned with contemporary scholarship, are aligned with college and career readiness standards and serve to prepare students for college, and serve appropriate instructional purposes. The bill sets out requirements for the nomination, qualifications, and selection of the higher education curriculum review team members.

 

C.S.H.B. 404 requires each team, before and after the SBOE considers on first reading proposed essential knowledge and skills of an applicable subject, to meet at times and places determined by the chair of the SBOE to review the proposed essential knowledge and skills and to submit to the SBOE the review's results and any recommendations for changes. The bill authorizes the SBOE to consider the recommendations in adopting the proposed essential knowledge and skills. The bill requires the Texas Education Agency to post the recommendations on its website and requires the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education to coordinate with the SBOE as necessary for the administration of the bill's provisions.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.

 

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

 

While C.S.H.B. 404 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

 

INTRODUCED

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 28.0025 to read as follows:

Sec. 28.0025. HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM REVIEW TEAMS. (a) In this section, "institution of higher education" and "private or independent institution of higher education" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.

 

 

 

(b) For each subject undergoing a review for the purpose of identifying and adopting the essential knowledge and skills of a subject of the required curriculum under Section 28.002, the commissioner of higher education shall appoint a higher education curriculum review team to review and make recommendations to the State Board of Education concerning the essential knowledge and skills to ensure that proposed essential knowledge and skills:

(1) are factually accurate and aligned with contemporary scholarship;

(2) serve to prepare students for college; and

 

 

(3) serve appropriate instructional purposes.

 

(c) Each higher education curriculum review team shall consist of not fewer than five and not more than 10 faculty members of institutions of higher education or private or independent institutions of higher education.

 

(See Sec. 28.0025(f) below.)

 

 

 

 

 

Each member appointed to a team must have:

 

(1) at least five years of higher education teaching experience in the subject under review and a terminal degree in that subject; or

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2) at least five years of higher education teaching experience in the field of education and a doctoral degree in education.

 

 

 

 

SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 28.0025 to read as follows:

Sec. 28.0025. HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM REVIEW TEAMS. (a) In this section:

(1) "Board" means the State Board of Education.

(2) "Institution of higher education" and "private or independent institution of higher education" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.

(b) For each subject undergoing a review for the purpose of identifying and adopting the essential knowledge and skills of a subject of the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1), the board shall appoint a higher education curriculum review team to review and make recommendations to the board concerning the essential knowledge and skills to ensure that proposed essential knowledge and skills:

 

(1) are factually accurate and aligned with contemporary scholarship;

(2) are aligned with college and career readiness standards and serve to prepare students for college; and

(3) serve appropriate instructional purposes.

 

(c) Each higher education curriculum review team shall consist of not fewer than 5 and not more than 10 faculty members of institutions of higher education or private or independent institutions of higher education.

 

The board shall make the appointments to each higher education curriculum review team from among persons nominated by the commissioner or the commissioner of higher education.

 

(d) Each member nominated by the commissioner must have in the subject under review:

(1) at least five years of teaching experience; and

(2) credentials that satisfy the faculty credential guidelines established by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

 

(e) Each member nominated by the commissioner of higher education must have in the subject under review:

(1) at least five years of higher education teaching experience; and

(2) credentials that satisfy the faculty credential guidelines established by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

(d) For each higher education curriculum review team, an institution of higher education or private or independent institution of higher education may nominate one faculty member qualified under Subsection (c). A nomination made under this subsection must be submitted to the commissioner of higher education together with a document of not more than one page detailing the faculty member's experience, including specific experience with the subject under review by the team.

No equivalent provision.

(e) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in collaboration with the commissioner of higher education, shall develop and post on the board's Internet website a blind scoring system, including the criteria on which the scoring is based, for ranking nominations made under Subsection (d).

No equivalent provision.

(f) The commissioner of higher education, based on the system developed under Subsection (e), shall make the appointments to each higher education curriculum review team from among persons nominated by institutions of higher education or private or independent institutions of higher education under this section.

(See Sec. 28.0025(c) above.)

(g) Notwithstanding Subsections (d) and (f), if the subject under review by a higher education curriculum review team is career and technical education, at least one member of the team must be selected from each of the following institutions:

(1) Texas State Technical College System; and

(2) Lamar Institute of Technology.

No equivalent provision.

(h) In selecting appointees for a higher education curriculum review team, the commissioner of higher education shall attempt to achieve a balanced combination of educational perspectives.

(f) In selecting their respective nominees for a higher education curriculum review team, the commissioner and the commissioner of higher education shall each:

(1) attempt to achieve a balanced combination of educational perspectives, including by geographic area, race, and sex; and

(2) give preference to nominees who have teaching experience in this state at an institution of higher education or a private or independent institution of higher education.

(i) Each higher education curriculum review team shall, before final identification and adoption of the essential knowledge and skills by the State Board of Education, make recommendations to the State Board of Education concerning the essential knowledge and skills.

 

(g) At times and places determined by the chair of the board, before and after the board considers on first reading proposed essential knowledge and skills of a subject for which a higher education curriculum review team has been appointed under this section, that higher education curriculum review team shall meet to review the proposed essential knowledge and skills. The team shall submit to the board the results of the team's review and any recommendations for changes. The board may consider the team's recommendations in adopting the proposed essential knowledge and skills.

(j) The agency shall post on the agency's Internet website the recommendations of each higher education curriculum review team.

(h) The agency shall post on the agency's Internet website the recommendations of each higher education curriculum review team.

(k) The commissioner of higher education shall coordinate with the State Board of Education as necessary for the administration of this section.

(i) The commissioner and the commissioner of higher education shall coordinate with the board as necessary for the administration of this section.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2017.

SECTION 2. Same as introduced version.