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House Bill 3932 authorized the creation of the State Advisory Council on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, which will increase coordination among state agencies, school districts, and military installations concerning the state’s participation in and compliance with the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. Eleven or more members will be added to the council to oversee the Interstate Compact and participate in the Military Interstate Children's Compact Commission (MIC3). The council may develop policy concerning operations and procedures of the Interstate Compact within the state. Further, the council will help increase knowledge of the Interstate Compact requirements for LEAs, thereby increasing educational supports for military-connected students.
House Bill 4124 allows school districts operated by Texas universities to prioritize military-connected students for enrollment or on waitlists for enrollment. These school districts may also enroll and receive funding for a student who does not technically reside in the state (due to a military deployment or transfer) if the student is a dependent of a member of the US military and has previously been enrolled in school in Texas.
LEAs should note that “dependent of a member of the US military” is not synonymous with “military-connected student,” a term that encompasses dependents of veterans and members killed in the line of duty (TEC § 25.006(d)).
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Increased Funding
House Bill 1525 updated the state compensatory education funding allotment to include more funds for students experiencing homelessness. The change entitles school districts to multiply the basic allotment by the highest weight (0.275) for each homeless student.
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House Bill 725 expands free Pre-K eligibility for students from other state foster care systems who reside in Texas. This applies to students who are currently in or were ever in another state’s foster care system. This change makes it so that all student’s currently or formerly in foster care (regardless of the state where the child was in foster care) are eligible for pre-k in Texas.
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Accelerated Instruction
House Bill 4545 provides a number of supports and services with the goal of accelerating instruction and providing tutoring for all student’s adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Highly mobile and at-risk students can benefit greatly from these educational supports to promote satisfactory progress on state assessments:
- Students cannot be retained in grades 5 & 8 for not meeting STAAR requirements.
- Accelerated Learning Committees must be in place for students who do not meet the requirements for STAAR to monitor progress using an Individual Educational Plan.
- When a student does not pass reading or math STAAR in grades 3 – 8 or EOC, the school district must provide accelerated instruction and tutoring in the failed subject area during the following school year.
- Small group instruction must be provided in a ratio of 1 instructor/tutor per 3 students.
Supplemental instruction can benefit at-risk students by providing personalized learning. Additionally, relationship building with a caring adult enhances the social-emotional development and academic progress of at-risk students. Please make sure you are tracking your at-risk students' assessment results to ensure that they are benefiting from all supports that are available due to HB 4545.
DNA Kits
Senate Bill 2158 requires the Texas Education Agency to provide inkless, in-home, DNA identification kits to all school districts and open-enrollment charter schools, to be distributed by the LEA to the parent or legal guardian (upon request) for Kindergarteners to middle school students. The DNA kits allow families to work closely with law enforcement and appropriate officials to locate their child if the child becomes missing or their whereabouts are unknown. TEA will be providing further guidance on the process for distributing DNA kits and making them available for LEAs to distribute to families.
Warning Signs for Criminal Penalties
Senate Bill 1831, also known as the Julia Wells act, requires all public and private schools to post warning signs about offenses and penalties relating to human trafficking of minors on and around school premises. The Texas Education Agency and the Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force will work together to develop rules pertaining to the warning signs information, placement, and distribution of posters that will be used for this purpose.
Adjustments to Mandatory Reporting Training
Senate Bill 1261 amends aspects of the Child Abuse and Mandatory Reporting training requirements, concerning frequency of training and tracking of employee participation. More information from TEA will be forthcoming.
For more information, please email: PreventingHumanTrafficking@tea.texas.gov
Dropout Prevention & Mental Health
House Bill 1525 provides opportunities for LEAs to integrate personal and mental health supports into innovations for COVID-19 funded recovery activities in schools.
- New Resource Campus designation for certain schools that includes personal, social, emotional supports and hiring of a licensed counselor or mental health professional in the staffing pattern to address student support needs.
- New PEIMS data elements for collecting information on truancy prevention measures, attendance truancy court filings, and the offering of high school equivalency programs, dropout recovery programs and adult education programs.
- Additional language to the school safety allotment on allowable expenditures for mental health personnel and interventions such as restorative practices in schools. The Commissioner must annually publish a report on the type and purpose of expenditures from the school safety allotment, which includes mental health services and suicide prevention and related training allowable costs.
Continuing Education and Professional Development
Senate Bill 1267 amends continuing education requirements for educators and principals by removing continuing education requirements on recognizing warning signs of mental health conditions and substance abuse.
- For all topics related to mental health and at-risk students in this section of statute, the Act changes allowable continuing education on these topics to “no more than” 25% of time on continuing education time over 5 years, from "at least" 25% focused on at-risk and mental health related training, such as grief and trauma-informed interventions, bully prevention, suicide prevention, building relationships/managing emotions/responsible decision-making, etc.
- Removes commissioner rulemaking authority for specific trainings (suicide prevention, bully prevention, building relationships, managing emotions, etc., grief and trauma informed practices, child maltreatment).
- Creates a new SBEC Clearinghouse for all Educator Training and Continuation best practices and requirements for the industry. LEA boards are to use recommendations from the Clearinghouse to develop an annual professional development policy.
Suicide Prevention Information
Senate Bill 279 requires that each student identification card issued by a public school to a student in grade six and higher must have printed on the card the contact information for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK) (8255), the Crisis Text Line (Text HOME To 741741) and may have printed on the card information for a local suicide prevention hotline, if available. Both resources provide free 24/7 confidential crisis counseling and emotional support on any topic for people in distress. LEAs should confirm the accurate contact information for printing these suicide prevention resource numbers on the ID cards for students. This new requirement applies to student ID cards issued after September 1, 2021.
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