This week in the Legislature has been an interesting one.
SCR 9 (Springer), which would designate the first week of April as G/T Week for 10 years is awaiting a hearing in House Public Education, and
SB 2403 (Springer), which requires TEA to collect G/T data for reporting, has passed the in the Senate and is headed to the House.
The House passed several education bills this week, including:
- SB 10 (Huffman) which would give retired teachers a bump in their pension payment.
- HB 100 (King, K) which provides for basic allotment increases and inflation adjustment starting in 2026 with 50% of the overall increase designated for teacher salaries. 14 amendments were adopted on the House floor. HB 100 will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
- HB 1605 (Buckley) relates to instructional material and technology, the adoption of essential knowledge and skills for certain public school foundation curriculum subjects, and the creation of allotments for the procurement of certain instructional materials under the Foundation School Program. HB 1605 was passed out of the House on 5/3 with 11 floor amendments. The bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee for further discussion.
Over in the Senate,
SB 418 (Paxton) was passed with bipartisan support. This bill relates to the transfer of students between public schools.
The Budget Conference Committee is busy working to finalize the numbers for the state's budget.
There are 25 days remaining in the 88th session. House deadlines are quickly approaching. They have one week to hear House bills and another week to consider bills that would be considered local and uncontested. There are many bills that are up against long calendars and the clock.