The 85^th is a slow-moving session. So far, the following education-related bills have passed the full House.

• HB 9 (Capriglione): Relating to cybercrime; creating criminal offenses.
• HB 21 (Huberty): Relating to the public school finance system. HB 21 increases the basic allotment to all schools, includes the transportation allotment and adds a new weight for dyslexic students. If passed by both chambers, HB 21 adds $1.5 billion to the public schools in the 2018-19 biennium.  HISD and many other school groups supported HB 21 in committee.
• HB 122 (Dutton): Relating to the age of criminal responsibility and to certain substantive and procedural matters related to that age. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 223 (Howard): Relating to use of compensatory education allotment funding to provide assistance to students at risk of dropping out of school who are pregnant or who are parents.
• HB 264 (Hernandez): Relating to public outreach materials to foster awareness of certain public school curriculum requirements.
• HB 354 (Raney): Relating to the process for establishing speed limits on roads near certain schools. The bill was revised before it passed the committee. It will be on the House floor on April 21.
• HB 357 (Huberty): Relating to the eligibility of the children of certain first responders for free prekindergarten programs in public schools.
• HB 367 (Bernal): Relating to the authority of a school district to donate food to a nonprofit organization to be served to students of the district. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 657 (Bernal): Relating to procedures for a student enrolled in a special education program who fails to perform satisfactorily on certain assessment instruments. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 728 (Guerra): Relating to the establishment by the commissioner of education of an advanced computer science program for high school students. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 755 (Parker): Relating to the use by certain tax-exempt organizations of certain payments made in connection with real property transfers to provide educational activities through certain schools. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 789 (Meyer): Relating to minimum scores required for students in certain school districts to pass an examination for acceleration or for credit.
• HB 878 (King, K.): Relating to the extension and modification of a public school district depository contract.
• HB 1270 (Smithee): Relating to excused absences from public school for the purpose of visiting a military recruitment center.
• HB 1469 (Bailes): Relating to qualifications for certain teachers employed by certain open-enrollment charter schools. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 1593 (Bohac): Relating to the engagement strategies included in a school district’s family engagement plan.
• HB 1669 (King, T.): Relating to appeals and complaints arising from school laws brought by parents and public school students; authorizing the award of attorney’s fees.
• HB 1731 (King, K.): Relating to the inclusion of students receiving treatment in a residential facility in the determination of dropout rates for purposes of public school accountability.
• HB 2263 (Gooden): Relating to continued monitoring of certain public school campuses that have been assigned a campus intervention team.
• HB 2611 (VanDeaver): Relating to broker agreements for the sale of real property by school districts.
• HB 2729 (Lucio III): Relating to an inventory of credentials and certificates that may be earned by a public high school student through a career and technology education program.
• HB 3075 (Huberty): Relating to excluding certain students from the computation of dropout and completion rates for purposes of public school accountability.
• HB 3107 (Ashby): Relating to the production of public information under the public information law.
• HB 3563 (Koop): Relating to parental notification regarding public school teacher qualifications. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 3722 (King, K.): Relating to funding adjustments for school districts that annex unacceptable school districts.

Of note, the House moved their version of the “bathroom bill” in April. The bill was heard in the House State Affairs Committee on April 19. The bill number is HB 2899 by Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton). The Governor is reportedly supportive of the bill. HISD opposed the bill during the hearing.

The House Public Education Committee held four public hearings during the month of March and five during the month of April to consider bills related to public education.  Representative Dan Huberty (R-Humble) chairs the House Public Education Committee.  This is Chairman Huberty’s first session as chair of the Committee.

A total of 440 bills were referred to the House Public Education Committee.  To date, the Committee has voted out over 70 bills, including certain bills related to school districts:

• HB 22 (Huberty): Relating to public school accountability. HB 22 tweaks the A-F accountability system that passed last session. HB 22 was amended before it was approved by the committee. The bill delays implementation of A-F until 2019, uses 3 instead of 5 domains and differentiates between D and F ratings and removes the summative A-F rating. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 23 (Simmons): Relating to a grant program to fund innovative programs for public school students with autism.
• HB 69 (Guillen): Relating to a requirement that school districts and open-enrollment charter schools report certain information regarding children with disabilities who reside in residential facilities.
• HB 79 (Guillen): Relating to the use of alternative assessment instruments for students in a special education program of a public school district. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 136 (Bell): Relating to inclusion of career and technology education and workforce training in the mission of public education. It will be on the House floor on May 2.
• HB 168 (Lucio III): Relating to creating a voluntary program to recognize licensed before-school and after-school programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 404 (Anchia): Relating to higher education curriculum review teams to review public school curriculum standards for college readiness The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 515 (VanDeaver): Relating to assessment of public school students and providing accelerated instruction and eliminating performance requirements based on performance on certain assessment instruments.
• HB 539 (VanDeaver): Relating to the ability of certain students to enroll full-time in courses provided through the state virtual school network.
• HB 545 (Anderson, C.): Relating to the opportunity of certain patriotic societies to present information regarding the society to public school students during regular school hours.
• HB 639 (Anderson, C.): Relating to authorizing the purchase of certain insurance coverage by public school districts for the benefit of businesses and students participating in career or technology training programs and providing for immunity from liability of certain public school students participating in career or technology programs. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 816 (Bernal): Relating to a school district assigning a mentor teacher to a new classroom teacher.
• HB 895 (Bohac): Relating to the removal of restrictions on funding and payment of costs for certain full-time online educational programs.
• HB 1076 (Blanco): Relating to the mandatory spinal screening of public and private school students. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 1081 (Arévalo): Relating to the new instructional facility allotment under the foundation school program. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 1291 (Geren): Relating to the inclusion of American principles in the public school curriculum and instructional materials. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 1342 (Parker): Relating to child sexual abuse prevention training for public school students. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 1645 (Lozano): Relating to requiring certain school districts to allow students who participate in Special Olympics to earn a letter on that basis. The bill was revised before it passed the committee. It will be on the House floor on May 3.
• HB 1650 (Goldman): Relating to successful completion of a United States history dual credit course as an alternative to compliance with the United States history end-of-course assessment requirement.
• HB 1720 (Phillips): Relating to parental notice regarding an incident of lice in a public elementary school.
• HB 1776 (Ashby): Relating to the United States history end-of-course assessment instrument for public high school students. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 1918 (Guillen): Relating to providing grants for professional development training for certain public school teachers.
• HB 1980 (VanDeaver): Relating to the high school graduation of a student who transfers to a public school in this state after the student’s junior year of high school. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 2039 (Huberty): Relating to creating an early childhood certification to teach students in prekindergarten through grade three. It will be on the House floor on May 3.
• HB 2051 (Huberty): Relating to the new instructional facility allotment under the foundation school program. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 2130 (Roberts): Relating to a study conducted by the Texas Education Agency regarding the impact of the statewide assessment program on students in special education programs. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 2205 (Kuempel): Relating to a report of child abuse or neglect made by an employee of a school district or an open-enrollment charter school.
• HB 2442 (King, K.): Relating to the minutes of operation required for public school districts, charter schools, and other education programs and to calculating the average daily attendance for certain education programs. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 2616 (Giddings): Relating to the discipline and behavior management of a student enrolled in a grade level below grade four at a school district or open-enrollment charter school. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 2683 (Hinojosa): Relating to a highway toll exemption for public school buses. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 2880 (Dutton): Relating to the criminal punishment for the threatened exhibition or use of a firearm in or on school property or on a school bus.
• HB 3024 (Price): Relating to the removal of a public school student from an interscholastic athletic activity on the basis of a suspected concussion.
• HB 3157 (Bonnen, D.): Relating to requirements for screenings in public or private schools to detect vision disorders of students.
• HB 3439 (Koop): Relating to a school district contract to partner with an open-enrollment charter school to operate a district campus and share education resources. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.
• HB 3769 (King, K.) and SB 7 (Bettencourt): Relating to improper relationships between educators and students; creating a criminal offense and expanding the applicability of an existing offense.
• HB 4064 (Bohac): Relating to successful completion of a United States history dual credit course as an alternative to compliance with the United States history end-of-course assessment requirement. The bill was revised before it passed the committee.

On April 18, April 25 and April 27, the House Public Education Committee held public hearings on a wide variety of bills and voted out pending bills. Of note, the committee voted out HB 1152 by Rep. Sarah Davis, which would require a local election for school name changes.

The House Ways & Means Committee heard bills related to the tax and fiscal issues of school districts. Several of those bills have been voted out of committee. Those bills are:

• HB 486 (VanDeaver): Relating to school district ad valorem tax rates. HB 486 made it to the House floor, but received a point of order. The bill was sent back to the House Ways & Means Committee and was voted out.
• HB 1454 (Rinaldi): Relating to the information required to be provided in or with a school district ad valorem tax bill.
• HB 1496 (Bonnen, G.): Relating to the date for ordering or holding an election to ratify the ad valorem tax rate of a school district.

The House Government Transparency & Operation heard public testimony on bills related to school districts, as well. Some of those bills passed the committee, including:

• HB 523 (Schofield): Relating to the requirement that certain elected school district boards make audio and video recordings of certain work sessions and special called meetings available on the Internet.

Other House committees heard bills related to public education.  The House General Investigating & Ethics and House Elections Committees passed public education related bills out of committee.  Those bills are:

• HB 505 (Geren): Relating to restrictions on lobbyist expenditures from certain political contributions. The bill was revised before it passed the committee. It will be on the House floor on May 2.
• HB 3335 (Murphy): Relating to the notice required before the issuance of certain debt obligations by political subdivisions.
• HB 3336 (Murphy): Relating to general obligation bonds issued by political subdivisions.