With Texas lawmakers returning to Austin for their third special session of the year on Oct. 9, Northwest ISD board members approved two resolutions regarding that special session during their meeting Sept. 25.

What happened

In a letter shared on social media Sept. 29, Gov. Greg Abbott notified Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, and House Speaker Dade Phelan the session will begin at 1 p.m. Oct. 9 and focus on education.

Among the items on the agenda, the special session is expected to tackle public school funding and school choice.

Sorting out details

In the first resolution, Northwest ISD board members voted unanimously to call on the Texas Legislature to:

• Reject any diversion of public dollars in the form of education savings accounts or vouchers to private entities who are not required to comply with Texas Education Code provisions for transparency and accountability
• Support an increase to the basic allotment and address crippling inflation and unfunded mandates placed on Texas public schools

According to the Texas Education Agency, education savings accounts would help parents pay for private school tuition, books and more if they pull their children out of public school. The money would come from taxes paid to the state.

The basic allotment is the legislatively mandated apportionment of funds from the general revenue funds that goes to each school district to provide a basic level of education for the district’s residents. According to a TEA website, the basic allotment per student is $6,160 and has not changed since 2019.

Diving in deeper

In the second resolution, Northwest ISD board members voted unanimously to call on the Texas Legislature to pass legislation to direct the commissioner of education to refrain from assigning A-F accountability ratings during the first year of implementation of a new ratings system and in any year there are substantial changes to the assessment instrument.

Texas Education Agency officials announced Sept. 12 there would be a delay in the release of A-F accountability ratings for Texas school districts and campuses to review student data and re-evaluate the methodology used in calculating these ratings, a news release from the agency states.

The delay comes as multiple school districts are suing the agency to block the release of the ratings. The legal petition—Kingsville ISD, et. al., v. Morath, filed in August in the Travis County 419th District Court—alleges TEA Commissioner Mike Morath would effectively lower A–F performance ratings for the 2022-23 school year in an unlawful manner by changing the way they are calculated retroactively.