THIS WEEK IN AUSTIN
- Senate unanimously passes SB 26 – $485 billion teacher pay raise bill; read the bill summary here.
- Senate Education committee heard bills ensuring parent rights, prohibiting DEI, modifying the grievance process, enabling students to transfer to any public school (with specifications)
- Senate Health & Human Services committee heard SB 25 that increases requirements for PE in grades 6-8 and prohibits withholding PE or recess for certain grades.
NEXT WEEK IN AUSTIN
- March 3 – House Ways & Means will hear HB 8 to reduce the M&O tax rate for school districts by $0.0331. Watch it here.
- March 4 – House Public Education will hear invited testimony only for HB 2 (school finance, etc.). Watch it here.
- March 5 – Senate Finance will hear SB 260 regarding school safety. The bill increases the safety allotment from $10 per student to $20 per student, and doubles the per campus allotment from $15,000 to $30,000 to help pay for the state-mandated armed security officer on each campus. Watch the livestream here.
- March 6 – House Public Education will hear public testimony for HB 2. Watch it here.
Can’t make it to Austin to testify? Texas residents who wish to electronically SUBMIT COMMENTS related to agenda items on House bills without testifying in person can do so until the hearing is adjourned by visiting: https://comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c400
Reminders
-The Senate is rapidly passing the Lt. Gov’s priority bills. Upon passage the bills will be sent to the House where they will await a hearing, which could be weeks.
-It’s still early in the session, and many bills with significant impact to RISD have not even been filed yet. The deadline to file bills is March 14.
Legislative Corner is published periodically throughout the 89th Texas legislative session. For more information about RISD’s legislative involvement and priorities, please visit the legislative page here. Other resources include Texas Legislature Online (TLO) – find legislation (bills), committee hearings, legislative member info, and more; The Quorum Report – sign-up for “Daily Buzz” or a listing of political news articles; Texas Tribune – online daily news, also a data dashboard for education.
