The education of 4.3 million public school students is one of the state's top priorities, with some of the biggest battles in the Capitol raging over private school vouchers, curriculum, graduation rates, school accountability, teacher pay and how to fund it all.
This session, lawmakers turned their attention to the quality of education and passed sweeping changes for Texas.
Funding
Lawmakers reached a deal May 26 to restore $3.9 billion in public education funding. Two years ago, more than $5 billion was cut during a budget crunch.
"The school children, parents and taxpayers of Texas have won an important first battle in the effort to restore the disastrous cuts," said Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, who forced the Legislature into a special session in 2011 to protest the cuts.
Testing changes
Both Republicans and Democrats said one of the biggest complaints they heard between sessions was that students in the state's 1,400 high schools were taking too many tests.
Another complaint: Nearly half the ninth-graders in the state failed at least one of the state's mandatory achievement tests.
Under the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness system that began with the 2011–12 ninth-grade class, students took 15 end-of-course exams in 12 subjects before they could graduate.
With House Bill 5, the state will now reduce that to five standardized tests: English I, English II, algebra I, biology and U.S. history. Districts can also offer diagnostic tests in algebra II and English III that will not count toward accountability ratings.
Tomball Republican Rep. Debbie Riddle voted for the sweeping reforms because, she said, something needed to improve.
But she said she favors a more community-based, local, multi-faceted approach to bolstering the education of young Texans—among them, she said, scrapping standardized testing altogether.
"Let's get back to the business of educating, for crying out loud," Riddle said. "I'd like to see us get back to daily tests, pop quizzes, weekly exams, final exams, giving the kids the real grades that they really earn, not the social promotion–type grades."
Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, said parents, teachers and students have told him that the excessive testing has shoved aside the chance to "learn new things," and they have asked him to work to reduce the number of tests.
"And if we're in the customer service business and listening to our customers, so to speak, then that's what we should be doing," Bohac said.
Graduation standards
The House and Senate also changed graduation standards in legislation passed just before the regular session ended May 27.
The current system with minimum, recognized and advanced degrees has been lauded as leading to record-high graduation rates but has been criticized for turning out low-performing graduates.
Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, told a judge during the school finance trial earlier this year that a lack of qualified graduates "is a looming crisis because of our aging workforce. It will be devastating."
The House and Senate agreed on a 24-credit foundation high school program that allows for endorsements—specialty designations or emphases in areas such as art, science or math—so freshmen can tailor their curriculum to suit future career choices.
Lawmakers rejected a plan favored by Houston Republican Sen. Dan Patrick, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, which would have required four years each of math, science, English and social studies but allowed for specialties in certain areas.
An idea by freshman Rep. Cecil Bell Jr., R-Magnolia, a former school board member, offers more paths to higher education by developing a program that allows students to earn trade certifications in dual-credit high school classes using resources from community colleges and trade schools.
The bill passed both chambers.
"What it does is make certain we can afford our kids access to strong career and tech opportunities through the interface with college and trade schools and things of that nature—right now," Bell said. "We don't have to wait until 2015 when HB 5 kicks in."
School accountability
Schools and districts currently undergo an annual rating system based on the EOC test scores. They then receive a rating: Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable or Academically Unacceptable.
Individual campuses will still be subject to the four-label system, but a new rating system approved by the House and Senate changes that to an A–F rating for school districts; those ratings are based on academic and financial performance as well as on community and student engagement.
Rep. John Zerwas, R-Katy, called the accountability system an important tool.
"It's a fair way to look at the schools to make sure they're delivering on what's expected of them by the public," Zerwas said.
