This Week In Austin
- House Public Education committee met twice this week to discuss House Bill 2, the school funding bill. Keep in mind the bill will likely change as it works through the legislative process.
- Senate Education committee heard several bills including:
- SB 10 – Displaying of the Ten Commandments in classrooms – passed out of Senate Education committee (HB 2696 – identical)
- SB 11 – Providing a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text in public schools – passed out of Senate Education committee
- SB 569 – Relating to the provision of virtual education in public schools – passed out of Senate Education committee. (HB 2196 – identical)
- House Education Subcommittee on Academic & Career-Oriented Education
- HB 20 – Relating to establishing the Applied Sciences Pathway program – pending
- HB 120 – Relating to CTE programs in public schools – pending
Next Week In Austin
- March 10 – House Ways & Means committee will hear HB 195 – Taxparency
- March 11 – House Public Education will hear HB 3 – Vouchers/ESAs
Want to share feedback with legislators? Texas residents who wish to electronically submit comments related to agenda items on House bills without testifying in person can do so here until a hearing is adjourned.
Reminders
- Additional legislative information was recently provided at the Mar. 6 RISD Board meeting.
- Some bills with significant impact to public education have not been filed yet – the deadline to file bills is Mar. 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.
