Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB1867 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	By: González of El Paso H.B. No. 1867
2	2
3	3
4	4	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
5	5	AN ACT
6	6	relating to the creation of the Texas Commission on Assessment and
7	7	Accountability.
8	8	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
9	9	SECTION 1. TEXAS COMMISSION ON ASSESSMENT AND
10	10	ACCOUNTABILITY. (a) The Texas Commission on Assessment and
11	11	Accountability is established to develop and make recommendations
12	12	for improvements to the current public school assessment and
13	13	accountability systems.
14	14	(b) The commission is composed of 19 members, consisting of
15	15	the following:
16	16	(1) four members appointed by the governor;
17	17	(2) seven members appointed by the lieutenant
18	18	governor;
19	19	(3) seven members appointed by the speaker of the
20	20	house of representatives; and
21	21	(4) a member of the State Board of Education, as
22	22	designated by the chair of that board.
23	23	(c) The members appointed by the governor must have an
24	24	interest in public education and include at least:
25	25	(1) one person who is a current classroom teacher in a
26	26	grade and subject with a required state assessment and at least 10
27	27	years of teaching experience at a high-poverty campus;
28	28	(2) one person who is a member of the business
29	29	community; and
30	30	(3) one person who is a member of the civic community.
31	31	(d) The appointments made by the lieutenant governor and the
32	32	speaker of the house of representatives must each consist of:
33	33	(1) three members of the applicable legislative
34	34	chamber;
35	35	(2) a superintendent in the public school system;
36	36	(3) an elected member of the board of trustees of a
37	37	school district;
38	38	(4) a parent of a student in the public school system;
39	39	and
40	40	(5) a public school district staff member who serves
41	41	on the Accountability Technology Advisory Committee established by
42	42	rule.
43	43	(e) In making appointments under Subsections (b)(1), (2),
44	44	and (3), the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the
45	45	house of representatives shall coordinate to ensure that the
46	46	membership of the commission reflects, to the extent possible, the
47	47	ethnic and geographic diversity of this state.
48	48	SECTION 2. PRESIDING OFFICER AND MEMBERS. (a) The governor
49	49	shall designate the presiding officer of the commission.
50	50	(b) A member may not be an employee, contractor, consultant,
51	51	or vendor of the Texas Education Agency or a Regional Education
52	52	Service Center.
53	53	SECTION 3. COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT. A member of the
54	54	commission is not entitled to compensation for service on the
55	55	commission but is entitled to reimbursement for actual and
56	56	necessary expenses incurred in performing commission duties.
57	57	SECTION 4. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT AND FUNDING. (a) Staff
58	58	members of the Texas Education Agency shall provide administrative
59	59	support for the commission. The agency, with assistance as
60	60	necessary from the Higher Education Coordinating Board, shall
61	61	provide data and analysis as requested by the commission, including
62	62	data available in the Education Research Centers.
63	63	(b) Funding for the administrative and operational expenses
64	64	of the commission shall be provided by appropriation to the agency
65	65	for that purpose.
66	66	SECTION 5. RECOMMENDATIONS. (a) The commission shall
67	67	develop recommendations under this subchapter to address issues
68	68	related to the public school statewide assessment system,
69	69	including:
70	70	(1) test construction and administration methods that
71	71	ensure validity, readability, and fairness for all students;
72	72	(2) assessment options to inform instruction
73	73	throughout the school year;
74	74	(3) any disproportionate impact of assessments on
75	75	students receiving each tier of the compensatory education
76	76	allotment and other special populations, and appropriate policy
77	77	responses;
78	78	(4) the costs and instructional time devoted to
79	79	state-required assessments, and options to minimize those effects
80	80	and combine assessments with classroom instruction; and
81	81	(5) privacy, security, and confidentiality protocols
82	82	for student information in online instruction and assessment.
83	83	(b) The commission shall develop recommendations under this
84	84	subchapter to address issues related to the public school academic
85	85	accountability rating system, including:
86	86	(1) characteristics and measures of effective schools
87	87	beyond state-required assessments and ways to incorporate those
88	88	characteristics and measures into a fairer accountability system;
89	89	(2) the correlation of accountability results with
90	90	student special populations, including educationally disadvantaged
91	91	and not educationally disadvantaged, for each Domain Rating and
92	92	Overall Rating, and the effect of enrollment in charter schools and
93	93	magnet or other voluntary programs on the composition of campus
94	94	student populations and accountability measures; and
95	95	(3) the appropriateness and effectiveness of current
96	96	district and campus sanctions and any correlation with campuses or
97	97	districts serving particular student populations.
98	98	(c) The commission shall include and consider
99	99	recommendations made by the existing Accountability Technical and
100	100	Policy Advisory Committees established by rule.
101	101	(b) The commission may establish one or more working groups
102	102	composed of not more than five members of the commission to study,
103	103	discuss, and address specific policy issues and recommendations to
104	104	refer to the commission for consideration.
105	105	SECTION 6. REPORT. Not later than December 31, 2022, the
106	106	commission shall prepare and deliver a report to the governor and
107	107	the legislature that recommends statutory changes to improve the
108	108	public school assessment and accountability systems.
109	109	SECTION 7. PUBLIC MEETINGS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION. (a) The
110	110	commission may hold public meetings as needed to fulfill its duties
111	111	under this subchapter.
112	112	(b) The commission is subject to Chapters 551 and 552,
113	113	Government Code.