By: Kolkhorst, et al. S.B. No. 925
(Aycock)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to providing training academies for public school teachers
who provide reading instruction to students in kindergarten through
grade three.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter J, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 21.4552 to read as follows:
Sec. 21.4552. TEACHER LITERACY ACHIEVEMENT ACADEMIES.
(a) The commissioner shall develop and make available literacy
achievement academies for teachers who provide reading instruction
to students at the kindergarten or first, second, or third grade
level.
(b) A literacy achievement academy developed under this
section:
(1) must include training in:
(A) effective and systematic instructional
practices in reading, including phonemic awareness, phonics,
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension; and
(B) the use of empirically validated
instructional methods that are appropriate for struggling readers;
and
(2) may include training in effective instructional
practices in writing.
(c) The commissioner shall adopt criteria for selecting
teachers who may attend a literacy achievement academy. In
adopting selection criteria under this subsection, the
commissioner shall:
(1) require granting a priority to teachers employed
by a school district at a campus at which 50 percent or more of the
students enrolled are educationally disadvantaged; and
(2) provide a process through which a teacher not
employed at a campus described by Subdivision (1) may attend the
academy if the academy has available space and the school district
employing the teacher pays the costs of the teacher's attendance.
(d) From funds appropriated for that purpose, a teacher who
attends a literacy achievement academy is entitled to receive a
stipend in the amount determined by the commissioner. A stipend
received under this subsection is not considered in determining
whether a school district is paying the teacher the minimum monthly
salary under Section 21.402.
(e) On request of the commissioner, regional education
service centers shall assist the commissioner and agency with
training and other activities relating to the development and
operation of literacy achievement academies.
(f) This section expires September 1, 2027.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2015.