BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 884

By: King, Ken

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties have noted a need for the State Board of Education (SBOE) to review and revise the essential knowledge and skills for the foundation curriculum and they also note that the instructional materials allotment should be more flexible as school districts comply with evolving curriculum requirements. H.B. 884 seeks such a review and revision and seeks to ensure that the SBOE adopts instructional materials in a manner that offers districts flexibility in spending the instructional materials allotment.

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

H.B. 884 amends the Education Code to require the State Board of Education (SBOE) to conduct a review of the essential knowledge and skills for the foundation curriculum and to revise the essential knowledge and skills for that curriculum to narrow the number and scope of student expectations for each subject and grade level in accordance with the bill's provisions. The bill requires the scope of the essential knowledge and skills for each subject and grade level of the foundation curriculum to be more narrow than the scope of, and require less time for a demonstration of mastery than required for, the essential knowledge and skills adopted as of January 1, 2017. The bill requires the SBOE to ensure that the revision does not result in a need for the adoption of new instructional materials; to consider for each subject and grade level the time a teacher would require to provide comprehensive instruction on a particular student expectation and the time a typical student would require to master a particular student expectation; to determine whether, in light of those considerations, each essential knowledge and skill of a subject can be comprehensively taught within the minimum time required by law for student instruction, not including the amount of time required for testing; to determine whether the college and career readiness standards have been appropriately integrated in the essential knowledge and skills for each subject and grade level; and to consider whether a statewide standardized test administered to a student adequately assesses a particular student expectation. The bill requires the SBOE, not later than September 1, 2020, to complete the review and revision of the essential knowledge and skills for each subject and grade level of the foundation curriculum that was last revised before September 1, 2014. These provisions expire September 1, 2021.

H.B. 884 restricts the authority of the SBOE, for any state fiscal biennium, to issue proclamations requesting the production of instructional materials to proclamations for instructional materials in which the total projected cost of instructional materials under the proclamations does not exceed 75 percent of the total amount used to fund the instructional materials allotment for that biennium. The bill requires the SBOE, following the adoption of revised essential knowledge and skills for any subject, to determine whether issuance of a proclamation is necessary based on the significance of the changes to the essential knowledge and skills. The bill requires the SBOE, if it determines a proclamation is necessary, to issue a full call for instructional materials aligned to all of the essential knowledge and skills for the subject and grade level, a supplemental call for instructional materials aligned to new or expanded essential knowledge and skills for the subject and grade level, a call for new information demonstrating alignment of current instructional materials to the revised essential knowledge and skills, or any combination of such calls. The bill requires the SBOE, in determining the disbursement of money to the available school fund and the amount of that disbursement that will be used to fund the instructional materials allotment, to consider the cost of all instructional materials and technology requirements for that state fiscal biennium.

H.B. 884 repeals Sections 31.101(d) and (e), Education Code, which respectively require a school district or open-enrollment charter school to use instructional material not on the instructional materials list for a certain period and authorize a district or charter school to cancel a subscription for instructional material before the end of the state contract period under certain conditions.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2017.