Honorable Dan Huberty, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB884 by King, Ken (Relating to a revision of the essential knowledge and skills of the public school foundation curriculum and proclamations for the production of instructional materials.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Education Code to require the State Board of Education (SBOE) to conduct a review of the Texas essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) for the foundation curriculum; revise the TEKS to narrow the number and scope of student expectations for each subject and grade level; and define certain requirements for the scope of the TEKS in the foundation curriculum.
The bill would require the SBOE to ensure the TEKS revision would not result in a need for the adoption of new instructional materials; 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; determine whether each TEK can be comprehensively taught within the instruction time required, not including the amount of time required for testing; determine whether the college and career readiness standards have been appropriately integrated in the TEKS for each subject and grade level; and consider whether certain assessment instruments adequately assess a particular student expectation.
The bill would require, for any state fiscal biennium, the SBOE to only issue proclamation of instructional materials in which the total projected cost of instructional materials under the proclamation does not exceed 75 percent of the total amount used to fund the instructional materials allotment (IMA). In addition, following the adoption of revised TEKS, the bill would require the SBOE to determine whether issuance of a proclamation is necessary based on the significance of the changes and would define certain criteria if a proclamation is deemed necessary. The bill would require the SBOE to consider the cost of all instructional materials and technology requirements for the state fiscal biennium when determining the disbursement of money to the available school fund to be used for the instructional materials allotment.
According to the Texas Education Agency, the SBOE has already approved a process and a schedule to streamline the TEKS and has almost finished the process for two of foundation curriculum areas. TEA estimates that any costs associated with the bill could be absorbed within the agency's existing resources.
Local Government Impact
Because the bill limits the percentage that a proclamation may comprise of a district's IMA, school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and other educational entities that receive an IMA in accordance with Section 31.0211, Education Code, may choose to allocate their IMA funds differently as a result of the provisions of the bill.