Our members are gonna come to order. I want to welcome
everyone to the September 1st 2023 Texas State Board
of Education Meeting. Um Always great to see so many
smiling faces here. This is a special day and we have
a lot of guests here that are very special also and
we will get to that item here shortly. So I want to
thank Miss Hardy for being here today with us also
and I'm gonna have her introduce our student performance
All right. Thank you very much and good morning to
everybody. The group that's performing for us today
is the Mariachi Los Leon from Castleberry Independent
School District in Fort Worth. The program is seven
years old and has blossomed into an award winning ensemble
for Castleberry Community. The current directors are
Juan Sigala Jaro Salazar and Luis Ramirez. All graduates
of the University of North Texas. The group is composed
of sophomores, juniors and seniors and has have participated
in the Mariachi band since the sixth grade. Maria Mariachi
had the port uh opportunity to compete last year in
the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo Mariachi Invitational
where they, the talented group placed second their
greatest achievement to date was participating in the
2023 uil State Mariachi competition where they received
the highest rating ensemble that they can receive from
all three judges. The, but that's not all the awards
they've won. They have won two awards for the first
time in the school district's history, which has a
long history of music. They won the best community
for music education award. They won the state where
they were known as the uh district of Distinction and
the best community for music education was a national
award. And this comes from being nominated by the Texas
Art Education Association. So they have a very, very
regal background. I would like to introduce to you
the uh people from Castleberry that make this possible
because, you know, it wouldn't be possible if you didn't
have the support of all these people too. Besides your
your directors. Uh the would y'all stand up when I
say your names? Uh uh Dianne Page who financial person
at Castleberry? Steven Moss who heads up the uh music
program? Uh oh, not music, just everything. Art, right
Mr Art. Um And who is the at Castleberry? So you've
done a great job here.
We are very blessed to have these talented students
serenading us this morning. So Mariachi Los Leone.
Take it away.
This and your
so
you,
you
Yeah.
No,
for you.
Yeah,
for you.
Oh
Yeah.
Thank
oh
morning
simple.
Mhm
Thank you so much. I'm telling you, there's no, uh
question why you won the uil and all that sort of stuff
You are fantastic. That is wonderful. I want to bring
the directors up here because we know that wouldn't
happen without them and, uh, give them this along with
uh, I would like for Mr and, uh, Miss, uh Smith, uh
Faulkner, come up as well. This is such an exciting
exciting moment for me because I taught 30 years at
Castleberry High School. And so, uh
I was, I was the famous Miss Hardy if you've ever heard
that before. Uh and and infamous, I think maybe and
I wanted to say up here while the the principal is
here, he was just really lucky not to have had me because
he knew what I mean. He wouldn't know, but I was a
tour de force at the school and this was one of the
superintendent that was one of my star pupils. And
this is what is so exciting for me to see someone doing
such a fantastic job, not only with the music and the
art program, but with everything to do with the school
and such a wonderful leader. And you were so fortunate
to have these people as your, as your vote and for
the music program. Uh What can I say? It's the proof's
in the pudding. Thank you all very much. This is a
uh state Board of Education special commendation presented
to the Mariachi Los Leone is I'm saying that right
Ok. Oh, Castleberry Independent School District and
Juan and a uh Salazar. So thank you all very much.
Yeah,
I forgot, I forgot to say one other thing chairman
is not here. Oh, he is here? Ok. Ok. I'll move on
fast. But uh how many of you have never been to the
capital of the state of Texas? Not raise your hand
So today I'm a history teacher. So I wanted that to
be a part of it. So today when they finish here, they're
gonna go over to the Capitol and get to tour the capital
Uh, the state representative for this area is Charlie
Garen and he set up the tour for the Capitol. And so
I'm so excited that you're gonna get a little history
lesson because tonight they can't stay any longer.
I'd love for him to stay longer. We could show you
Austin. But, uh, the fact is they have a football game
tonight and how many of you are in the marching band
What? So, I don't think they can go on without them
So, thank you all very much. Appreciate it.
You just don't know how lucky you are.
You can call any of them and ask him
strength.
Right.
Me too.
Thank.
Right.
I was that
you, that
congratulations,
such incredible performances. And we're so lucky to
have groups like that come to us, uh, during our meeting
So we want to thank thank them very much for being
here. Um Now I'm gonna call on Mr Tom Mayor to bring
the invitation and lead us on the pledges.
Good morning members. I'm just uh just uh I'm just
reminded as we stand for the invocation
that uh the writer of Dude Romy says in chapter six
it says these words which I command you today shall
be in your hearts and you shall teach them diligently
to your Children. And I think it's always important
to understand the context of that, of that scriptural
references is that a group of, of uh people uh people
who had been slaves in, in Egypt for 400 years were
were building a nation and, and if they were to continue
and, and to, to maintain a national identity in a,
in a national ethic that they had to teach diligently
to their Children, those, those those values. And I
think that I was kind of on the hearts of 59 delegates
have met at Washington on the bra who wrote as part
of the Texas Declaration of Independence that unless
a people is educated and enlightened, it is idle to
expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity
for self government. And hence, we have in our constitution
that, you know, the, the uh the general diffusion of
knowledge being essential for the preservation of the
liberties and rights of the people. And uh that's what
we do here every time we get together. And so uh James
Wright says that if anyone lack wisdom, they should
ask, believe it. And so that's what we're gonna do
is we go to the, to the throne of Grace and let's
uh pray with me. Uh Father God. Uh We just uh we
just thank you for this opportunity to serve. Uh We
just uh we consecrate this time to you. Uh Your word
tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace. And
we do so believing you, uh you command us to cast our
cares upon you. And uh we have a lot of cares. Uh
But we also uh in casting those things, we, we uh release
them to you and we lay them at your feet and we
trust you for all things for, without faith. It is
impossible to please you. We consecrate this time to
you. We seek to you, we seek your face, we seek your
wisdom, we seek your strength and uh as we seek to
serve the, the 5.5 million young souls uh under our
care here in the state of Texas. Uh and we just, just
just pray dear God that you will just uh uh uh our
hearts and minds, dear God would be held in your hand
Father and everything that is done here that would
be pleasing in your sight. And we pray this in the
name of Jesus and for his sake, amen. And if you join
me for the pleasures first, the American flag. I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands one nation
under God. Indivisible with liberty and justice for
all. And now the Texas flag on the Texas flag. I pledge
allegiance to the Texas one state under God one and
indivisible.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Ok. I'm not gonna ask on staff to call the role,
Doctor Ortega Mr Francis here, Mrs Perez Diaz M Childs
Doctor Bill Mero, present Mr Hickman, Mrs Pickin. Doctor
Young Doctor Ellis Mr Maynard M Hardy
Mrs Little here, Miss Davis here, Mrs Brooks, President
Mr Kinsey, here
members, a quorum is present. Next business to be considered
is approval of the minutes of the State Board of Education
meeting from June 23rd, 2023. Are there any corrections
to the minutes?
Chair move adoption you Mr Francis. Do you have a question
at the minute, sir? Ok. So
are there any corrections for the minutes? Hearing
None, the minutes are approved. All right members,
we will now move on to public testimony before I have
staff call up the test fires. I believe we have three
that are, that are signed up. Um We are not posted
for discussion on any items. This is a time when members
of the public are um permitted to come speak to us
about anything that wasn't on the agenda at other points
during the week. So these are for items that weren't
posted on our agenda. So therefore we're not able to
have dialogue with them, but it's just a chance for
the members of the public to come speak to us. Um uh
members of the public, you will hear two bells. Uh
The first one will be uh 30 seconds left. The second
one, please wrap up your thoughts. So I will have you
call the testifiers. Harley Clemons. Jeff Bradley
L, Denise Lansky,
the fires here. Come on it.
You the testifiers here. Go ahead and come on it.
Holly Clemons. No, Jeff Bradley. Right?
And just make sure the microphone button in the middle
is turned green.
Thank you.
Good morning. I'm Jeff Bradley from Walker County,
Texas. Thank you for this opportunity for those of
us who have at least some working knowledge of the
great work that you do as board members. We assume
that your sole mission is directed toward the enhancement
of our educational system which in turn benefits the
development of all students in the state. Yes, there
may be diversity in your individual opinions as shown
in your voting. However, we the voters hope that amidst
diversity, you act in concert toward the fulfillment
of your mission regardless of political affiliation
Recently, there have been literally thousands of flyers
landing in mailboxes across our state causing a great
deal of concern among voters. I've been contacted by
many to address the issue as they know that my involvement
in Republican activities. And I'm always asked the
same question, what is this all about? And are these
things true? My response has been the same. It is clear
that the person, persons or group who couched themselves
behind a nonexistent group called Texans for conservative
school values have gone to great lengths to hide their
true identity in order to wrote political propaganda
at a great monetary expense. I believe that these flyers
only serve to advance a great flaw that seems to permeate
our state and federal governments, whereby party affiliation
stymies progress with legislation and inhibits working
together even against diversity toward a common goal
It appears that the recent flyer with its false inferences
and statistics only serves to promote another incorrect
assumption that being that the State Board of Education
is governed by political affiliations, I respectfully
submit that the only positive response that you as
board members must do is to publicly affirm that you
are not guided by partisan politics and to reiterate
your mission of enhancing educational system for the
great state of Texas. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr Bradley
El, Denise Lusky or Holly Clemons.
Good morning. My name is Denise Lusky and I would like
to thank the State Board of Education members and my
elected representative Pat Hardy for listening to my
comments. First off, I would like to start with a prayer
and all are welcome to recite it with me. If you are
so inclined, our father who art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
Thank you. My first comment concerns registering to
be a speaker today. I found the page to register and
noticed that there was a phone number to call to register
instead of registering online. I called the number
and it took me at least three times to be able to
leave a voicemail message. In order to register to
speak today, the TE A employee called me back but I
was unavailable at the time. And so I called again
and had to leave a voicemail message again. Finally
the deadline to register to speak was approaching and
I ended up registering online after I registered online
I received a call from the TE A employee and she informed
me that she had been busy with other issues for the
agency. My comment about this experience is the fact
that if there is an alternate way to register the TE
A needs to have more employees dedicated to registering
speakers by phone. This brings me to my second comment
concerning the use of devices in the classroom for
learning from what I have seen. There has been a huge
push in the last 5 to 10 years for every registered
public school student to use a device for learning
as a parent and a taxpayer. I do not like the one
device for every public school student policy. I believe
that the devices are used to data, mind the public
school students personal information and it also gives
the students access to websites that are inappropriate
for school age students like it or not. I believe that
textbooks are the best way for the public school students
to learn. And textbooks are most cost-effective which
helps relieve the burden on taxpayers. Also, younger
Children in pre K through probably fourth grade have
a difficult time logging on to their school district
issue devices and would benefit from using mind wrapping
up your thought please and would allow the classroom
teacher to teach the students what they need to know
Thank you. Thank you very much. And we do strive for
customer service. So if there's any uh improvements
that you could recommend to T A staff, you'll get them
to them. I'll direct them to bring that to the board
and we will work to continue to try to improve our
customer service on, on registration
that complete the public testimony.
Is that complete?
All right member. Does that conclude public testimony
We will now move to the resolutions. I'm gonna call
back on, Miss Hardy.
I don't
excuse me. Today, we are honored to recognize our 200
to 2023 heroes for Children awardees. Each year, we
select 15 of the most outstanding school volunteers
from all across the state of Texas and a, as a former
teacher, I can tell you these volunteers mean a lot
to the schools. And so they, they are very, very special
people and we are really glad that we can honor them
And I'm, I'm sure there's more than the ones that are
in this room that need to be recognized for their hard
work. We do appreciate it. Uh I will call on districts
one through eight first and the members if you could
please stand with your hero and your heroes join them
in the circle.
As I call the hero's name, please step forward and
your board member will present you with your plaque
and a signed copy of the resolution and a certificate
of recognition from Governor Greg Abbott. Uh And your
guests are more than welcome to take photos at this
time as well, but they need to stay behind the velvet
rope,
right? Della Medina nominated by Raquel Tarango. Step
forward. OK. Della Medina has been, has been a volunteer
for the past 15 years and currently serves in the Mont
Wod high school community of Sara ISD as a volunteer
coordinator and vice president of the robotics booster
club. The campus walls and hallways are spruced up
with her art creations. She also made costumes and
signage for the robotics team created murals and bulletin
boards for the Black Student Union. In addition to
being a school ambassador, her in excuse me, invaluable
involvement includes assisting with volunteer registration
and keeping track of service hours, scheduling parent
teacher conferences, making phone calls to remind both
students and parents about the informational sessions
for federal student aid and military rights night.
Excuse me. And at any given time, one will find out
Della leading various school events with other parents
Thank you, MS Medina.
Uh Neel, is it Nelda?
I'm gonna learn this stuff. I got Leon it right
and is nominated by Norma Garcia. Uh Say it again.
Uh has been dedicated parent volunteer for JD Salina's
mi middle school in La Jolla ISD for the past 10 years
where she leads parents in various district communities
committees that impact student success. She also advocated
for parent English classes, increasing parent involvement
and volunteerism. Nelita serves on several parent advisory
committees. She diligently attends every parent meeting
given other parents a great example of how to get involved
She also decorates the school for school events and
helps the school concession stand. She believes that
volunteering has an incredible impact on students and
the entire community. Thank you very much.
Um OK. Alright, good. All right. I was asked by Mr
Little to um to say this in Spanish as well.
So
um
concessions dance, I don't know how to say that in
Spanish.
Um
Thank you. Stick around. OK. Congratulations again
Lisa Fairall District three nominated by Zach Salesman
Lisa Farrell is a shining example of an individual
who puts her heart and soul into working with Children
in Northeast is D San Antonio. Her goal in life is
to ensure Children are taught, loved fed and clothed
for the past 17 years. She has worked tirelessly toward
this goal in the educational setting at her church
and at her workplace every month, she organizes anywhere
from 1 to 3 volunteer opportunities including peanut
butter drives, weekend packing events for snack pack
for kids. School supply drives for communities in school
toy drives for the Blue Santa and countless holiday
collections of gifts and toys for disadvantaged Children
and families. She also had led a clothing drive at
Roosevelt High School known for the Dress for Success
which helped students that needed professional clothing
to interview for jobs and college admission interviews
Lisa made it her mission to engage in at least one
of these three volunteer opportunities every month
And together with her colleagues, her mission has been
successful. Thank you, Miss Farrell.
I'm kind of tired even reading that. All that stuff
All right, Melanie Garcia
and uh America Garza is the person who nominated uh
Melanie Melanie Garcia is an example of parents in
school working together for students in woodland acres
middle school in Galena Park ISD for the past two years
Through her work as a parent teacher association. PT
A president, she organized various fundraisers to purchase
new sports equipment and provide much needed supplies
She also used her creativity to create wonderful backgrounds
and murals with families who could take pictures during
school events. She works very hard to keep parents
in the student community informed and on upcoming activities
She has spent countless hours volunteering at the food
bank and answering questions. Her active role in these
events, encouraged other parents to get involved in
school volunteering. Thank you MS Garcia. And that's
for uh District four. Very good.
Great. Well, that's ok. But how do you say this?
Just? Oh, district five is not here? Ok,
sis, this is District five and District five is not
present here. Today has become a daily fixture in the
halls of harmony, school endeavor and Austin for the
past two years, she found ways to support both students
and staff such as hosting book fairs, assisting with
movie days, working at the school library, decorating
bulletin boards, making copies for staff and other
tasks she could assist with. It is noteworthy that
she is making significant effort to increase a parental
involvement and building parent capacity. She helped
recruit parents to actively participate in the PTO
and increase their awareness of various school programs
that promote better support for students in the community
Thank you.
District six is Shannon Reid nominated by Stephanie
Wells. Shannon Reed has has been an advocate for public
education in Montgomery ISD for the past nine years
In 2017. She rallied the support of the community to
create the Montgomery area Chamber of Commerce. Inaugural
get back to work by organizing several volunteers for
campuses to assist teachers and staff and getting classrooms
ready for the first day of school. This volunteer day
has become a much anticipated annual service and event
with when volunteers are matched with the campuses
to tackle the long to do list in preparation for the
new school year. Shannon has served several, also served
on several of the district boards committees in 2022
which successfully passed with support of the Montgomery
community. She also has served as education foundation
director since the inception in 2014. With her leadership
the foundation is successful in raising funds for scholarships
and innovative grants for teachers as a fierce advocate
for public education. She has spoken on behalf of the
Montgomery ISD community to the state legislature to
share concerns about K through 12 education funding
Shannon is the kind of teacher, excuse me, the kind
of leader who can magnify and galvanize community support
by demonstrating a remarkable ability to address the
needs of the school community. Her unwavering support
makes her a true hero for Children. Thank you very
much, Mrs Reid.
Uh District seven is Mmmmm. Ok. Mm. Uh I did take phonics
when I was a kid but it's not helping me to Millie
Ok. That's easy. Uh nominated by Bill Recker
Reid has been an exceptional volunteer for the past
seven years that Lamar consolidated Millie served as
president of the PTO and a community representative
for the site based decision making Committee, a tireless
advocate for students and families. She worked to improve
communication between school and the community and
has been instrumental in raising funds for school initiatives
and programs. Her ability to motivate and lead volunteers
is outstanding. She is a strong supporter for equity
and inclusion and has worked to ensure that all students
have access to high quality education as a sponsor
for numerous school endeavors during teacher appreciation
weeks and student field trips. Her efforts have a positive
impact on students, teachers and staff. Millie is dedicated
and skillful mentor for the Youth House at the Fort
Bend County Juvenile Probation Center. She has been
able to form positive relationships and has become
a role model to them. In addition to mentoring, Millie
also volunteers her time as a guest presenter and speaker
to three units of the Juvenile Detention Center by
giving presentations to educate them about finances
and financial responsibilities. Mrs Reed, thank you
for all your incredible service to our youth.
All right. District eight Candy Tota
nominated by Marilyn Mann Katie Tode has been dedicated
volunteer for the past 12 years at Humble ISD where
she currently serves as president of the Council of
PT A Candy's love for Children goes of all ages who
need comfort care and safe haven. She serves as an
advocate for students who have no representation at
monthly admission review and dismissal meetings. She
endlessly gives her time serving on various committees
that advocate for students. Some of these committees
include the dream team, special needs sbdm and parent
involvement. Her heart goes beyond the classroom and
out into the community where she helps families find
resources and other necessities. When not at a meeting
candy can be seen at the concession stand serving up
hot dogs, nachos, warm smiles and comforting hugs to
the many students and parents who rely on her leadership
nurturing Children and giving back to the community
are the pillars of Candy's volunteer philosophy. The
humble ISD community is a better place because of servants
like Miss, thank you for your service to the Children
Ok. Uh So that completes uh one through eight and are
you gonna take pictures of them in this position? His
country
church.
So,
ok. Thank you very much. Let's hear a round of applause
for this
with the heroes for Children for nine through 15. Please
enter the circle.
You know what I know about
regulations.
Ok. Um District eight, Debbie Bosman Zook nominated
by Brandy Sutton Debbie. You wanna step forward? Yeah
we want to see who you are. Debbie is the leader behind
a project that was fully funded by the support of the
local community of Tool Elementary and Malakoff ISD
for three years. She led a fundraising effort and raised
approximately 50,000 to build, to build Frans teaching
garden in honor of Fran Zuna. A 93 year old volunteered
her love and greeting and hugging as they began the
school day to date. Miss Fran's teaching garden has
grown and harvested nearly a half ton of produce and
has been donated to the local food pantry. The garden
has 28 raised beds complete with irrigation, a greenhouse
a tool shed, and a certified monarch butterfly waste
station. This beautiful garden has been featured in
edible magazine. All of this is possible because of
Debbie's dedication and generosity of her time. In
addition to all this, Debbie has built a website to
display the students activities and their well prepared
hands on hands on lessons on any given day. You can
find Debbie in the garden spending countless hours
working and planning for activities for the students
to enjoy and be proud of like planting seeds, caring
for and harvesting. Debbie is the epitome of ultimate
school volunteer who impacts on everyone in tool elementary
and the local community. Thank you, Miss Bozeman.
Carlette Eller nominated by Renda Marzette for the
past six years. Carlette Eller has been an energetic
and dedicated volunteer of
elementary in Colleen is D where she serves as the
PTO president. Her supportive and loyal spirits for
the students staff and families is phenomenal. She
exemplifies positivity and dependability during the
last two years when volunteers were very scarce due
to the pandemic. Carlette led several PTO positions
while serving as the president on three, excuse me
for three years, she spearheaded multiple fundraisers
to build an all abilities playground that came to fruition
this past year with a bonus awning, glad that awning
came. And just in time, her countless hours of volunteerism
earned her multiple volunteer of the year awards for
the district. Her volunteering motto is taking every
opportunity to help others. One can find Carlette in
the library, her favorite place, searching and preparing
for fundraisers, helping teachers in their classroom
or taking, talking with staff about volunteer activities
The Skip Skip Elementary community is better place
because of the dedicated service of this elder. Thank
you very much for your dedication.
All right. District 11. Uh Pat Paula Harwell nominated
by Jim Chat uh
uh Audra. That's
This is really my district but uh Audra uh decided
uh said she would take care of this. Paula Harwell
has a genuine spirit for educational support for the
entire Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD. Her leadership for
over 15 years indicates her level of commitment to
making the students and educators her top priority
She has served in many leadership roles for several
nonprofit organizations including her time as a PT
A president at Dozier and Greenfield Elementary Campuses
Council of PT A presidents leading over leading over
15 elementary campuses as PTO president leading seven
campuses, chair of the uh bond committee, special needs
advisory board, Girl Scouts, theater, cheerleading
clubs. That's a real hero. Uh serving on numerous district
and campuses advisory committees and a valuable volunteer
for the education foundation. Through her leadership
and careful planning. She was instrumental in providing
nearly 100 and $33,000 in scholarships for graduating
students. When not fund raising, one can find Paula
providing snacks and lunch and for teachers. During
teacher appreciation week, she has brought family engagement
activities and various school events to the district
like carnivals, school spirit enrichment activities
social emotional guest speakers. Thank you, Miss Harwell
for the entire Eagle Mountain Saginaw community is
proud to have a hero for Children like you. Thank you
All right. District 12 James Bramlett nominated by
Haley Turner. James Branle, a dedicated volunteer and
advocate for education in Pleasant Grove. ISD is in
the past 16 years. James has made significant contributions
that have left an indelible mark on the Texan community
is innovative idea to sponsor Arkansas High versus
Texas high football games has provided an annual scholarship
of $2500 to students on each team.
Serving on the Pleasant Grove Educational Foundation
Board. Since its inception, James has helped raise
over $900,000 to support classroom instruction, ensuring
teachers have the necessary resources for students
success. His impact extends beyond Pleasant Grove ISD
as he has served in the uh Liberty
Education Foundation Board, dedicating over 100 hours
of his time and raising 100 and $75,000 for grant teacher
grants. James passion for literacy is evident in his
annual volunteer work where he needs reads books to
elementary classes and emphasizes the importance of
falling in love with reading. His commitment to empowering
students and fostering a lifelong passion for learning
is unparalleled through his remarkable volunteerism
fundraising efforts and unwavering commitment, James
has become a true hero for Texas public school students
His ability to make a lasting impact have earned him
the well deserved recognition. Thank you, Mr Mr Bram
District 13 Sandra Maria Garcia nominated by Alma uh
color. I get things from her all the time. I don't
know how to say her name. I just know who she is
Sandra Marcia Maria Garcia has been committed vol A
committed volunteer in Fort Worth ISD for over 14 years
a servant leader whose passion and focus on service
are quality education for all and creating a safe environment
for young students where they can flourish and reach
their aspirations and dreams. Through her volunteer
work, Sandra has helped expand the number of educated
minorities by helping them envision a better future
guiding them, guiding them, uh pave, pave their way
to guiding them to pave their way to reach the potential
in acting as their voice through advocacy. Sandra for
volunteer service is not uh just a once a year opportunity
but a way of life uplifting families, especially, especially
especially of the immigrant and impoverished populations
through education by leading the Hispanic women's network
of Texas. She has worked to promote the advancement
of women in public corporate and civic life through
education and their personal and professional development
through the Latinas and Progress program. She has been
able to offer mentoring programs for senior high school
female students. She has partnered with the Fort Worth
ISD in Tarrant County High Schools to recruit mentors
for the community. Through her involvement in many
of her civic groups. She continues to speak at school
board meetings and state legislatures and issues concerning
public school funding. Thank you, MS Garcia
District. 14 Doris Patrick nominated by Sandra Brandon
Braden. Doris Patrick has volunteered at Valley Ranch
Elementary in Capel is D for three years. She was instrumental
in reviving a school garden which has been left unattended
for many years through her tireless year round work
The Garden of the Stars has come back to life again
offering students invaluable hands on experiences in
planting, tending and harvesting edible crops. Currently
the garden has been has seven raised beds, two flowering
beds, a storage shed and an outside learning area that
Doris maintains. She uses her knowledge to guide the
students in planting and harvesting, giving them a
close look at the natural processes and teaching them
how to how living organisms thrive in these environments
without Doris and the generosity of her time and expertise
There would not be a working garden and a vibrant outdoor
learning space for students to enjoy. They would not
have the opportunities to see gardening as a way to
help the environment and provide fresh food for human
consumption. Your work is commendable. M Patrick. Thank
you very much
district 15 Eddie Morlock nominated by Phyllis Underwood
Eddie Morlock has been volunteering for 15 years in
Lubbock ISD holding several positions in the PT A and
the council of PT A president and has contributed to
a to a lot to the students in the district. His passion
is to increase literacy among all students through
reading from August 2017 through May 21st, 2021. Uh
Eddie has organized and installed 43 free little free
libraries on all district campuses where students can
find books to read and enjoy after school hours and
summer time when the school is out for the past two
months. This year, Eddie has dedicated his time repairing
little free libraries that attended, needed attention
to replacing the glass doors, securing doors that were
falling off their hinges as well as giving a fresh
coat of paint for some. There is no way to count the
many hours. Eddie has worked tirelessly to manually
dig the post sites and install the libraries himself
He is a very deserving of his heroes for Children Award
Thank you, Mr Morlock for your unwavering support of
Lubbock.
Collectively these 15 heroes who serve the public schools
and communities for a combined 147 years of volunteer
service. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands
together for these remarkable heroes. We have had we
give special recognition to the nominators for without
them, they wouldn't be able to recognize these volunteers
You, you now joined the 510 heroes of Children of the
State of Texas honored since 1994. Um I have Mr Chairman
I now move that the State Board of Education adopts
a resolution before us. Ok.
Uh Now he rose. If you would please proceed to the
lobby for a group photo.
Mhm.
All those in favor of the resolution.
Next business and order is the approval of the consent
agenda. The consent agenda begins on page 17. Please
take a moment to review items on the consent agenda
And after you have a chance to do that, I will ask
are there any items to be removed from the consent
agenda for separate consideration? MS Brooks. Hi Mr
Chairman. Uh Good morning. I would like to remove um
consent. Item one from the agenda, please. Just for
discussion about it. Do you have any quick questions
you want to ask or just go ahead and take that up
in committee when we get to the PSF committee? Just
pull it off the committee. Ok. That's fine. We can
do that members any other items to be pulled off consent
Sorry Mr Chair. What page was that? 17, 17. Ok. And
she pulled number one, number one, which is determination
regarding whether the transfers may be made from the
permanent school fund to the available school fund
Ok. Thank you.
All right, hearing none others the consent agenda other
than item one is adopted.
So now we will go to item number three for the committee
of the full board which is ratification to amendments
of proclamation 2024 State Board of Education advertising
for bids on the construction material. I'm going to
call on this little Mr Chair, the committee of the
full board recommends to the state Board of Education
to ratify the amendments to the schedule of adoption
procedures and proclamation 2024 of the State Board
of Education advertising for bids for instructional
materials. Ok. Members. Is there any other questions
or debate on this item?
Are we ready to vote? All those in favor? Raise your
hand, please.
Low your hands. All is opposed by the same sign. There
are 14 in favor and zero opposed and the motion is
adopted chairman. Did we need a second on that for
the record? We don't need a second on the uh full board
meeting implied. Second.
All right. Number four is the discussion of required
vocabulary and literary work recommendations. I call
on this little Mr Chair, the committee of the full
board recommends that the State Board of Education
request that the agency provide recommendations regarding
the list of required vocabulary and at least one literary
work to be taught in each grade level as required by
HB 16 05, 88 Texas legislature regular session. There's
any other further questions or debate on this item
Miss Davis? Can we informally work with the agency
as they're developing the recommendations
Spanish, we actually could informally, there's not
a formal process for us to do that. It's not our authority
um to that extent, but uh as they always are, I'm sure
they will be very willing to work informally with you
Mr Hitman. I think a similar question to MS Davis that
list will then come to us for approval or amendments
And interesting, interesting enough what the bill required
is for us to do this. We just are contemplating about
to finalize here, doesn't say anything after that.
So what we do from there would, it's implied that it
in our next uh er vision that we would have that information
to go from. It doesn't give us a timeline. This was
specific with the timeline, this action we must do
must be taken place by February of 2024. Um, it doesn't
say when we must take action after that. Like I said
it's implied that in our next, er, revision that we
would add the literary and vocabulary list, we'd have
that at that point in time. But to answer your question
it's, it's not brought back to us because this is the
end of what the statute said for us that we're required
to do what we do with it from, I think the amendments
and so forth would be at our next, er, revision, what
we add and not necessarily like we get list for him
and then we want to amend that as it just kind of
sits there waiting for the next, er, revision, but
obviously in an, er, revision, then whatever the final
speaking, this is the commissioner's exact words. You
know, we can get that and we can water it in the
trash and throw it away. That's what the statute allows
us to do it. Literally just says that we must request
him to take this the uh move forward in this way.
Um The commissioner did indicate during the discussion
that he would provide periodic updates on progress
And so what we anticipate is that we would um add uh
an agenda item that would immediately follow his comments
It would provide an opportunity for him to give you
updates as the agency works through that process. That
would go into a little more than informal, a chance
for us to formally interact with him through as he
goes through this process with. Did you have something
Right? Any further debate on this item? Are you ready
to vote? All those in favor? Show by raising your hand
lower your hands. All those opposed by the same sign
there's 13 in favor and one opposed and the motion
is adopted.
OK. Members next is item number five, which is proposed
in 19 T AC chapter 1 27 Texas, essential knowledge
and skills for career development and career and technical
education, subchapter B high school and subchapter
f business, marketing and finance. Uh This is first
reading and filing authorization and it's on your board
agenda. And I've asked 10, I'm gonna call him this
little Mr chair. The committee of the full board recommends
that the State Board of Education approved for first
reading and filing authorization proposed new 19 T
AC chapter 1 27 Texas essential knowledge and skills
for career development and career, technical education
Subchapter B high school section 127.19 project based
project based research one credit adopted 2023. Section
127.20. Career preparation two credits adopted 2023
Section 127.21 career preparation 22 credits adopted
2023 and section 127.22 extended career preparation
one credit adopted 2023 and subchapter f business marketing
and finance section 127.275. Entrepreneurship 11 credit
adopted 2023. Section 127.276 entrepreneurship 21 credit
adopted 2023. Section 127.277. Practicum in entrepreneurship
one credit adopted 2023 and section 127.278 extended
practicum and entrepreneurship one credit adopted 2023
as amended, a pointed question. I'm sorry.
Yes. Uh So Mr Chair was this for, were we going to
have a discussion before voting on this? So what will
happen here? This is a lot like what happened earlier
in the week? Um in that there's a motion now on the
floor and just like earlier in the week when we had
a motion and we amended that main motion. Um that is
that's proper today also. So this is a chance to do
just what we did on uh whatever day that was Tuesday
Or Wednesday. Um, so if you have amendments to go through
that, this would be so, uh, in order at this, this
time, I would like to let me before we, I, I do
want to point out one thing I'll, I'll call on you
next with that before we, we get too far into that
There was, I know one kind of main loose end I will
call it that I think we, we discussed earlier in the
week that needs to be tied up. And that's how we do
as far as a career placement. Basically, whether the
the the jobs that they would go to would be in the
field and there was some conversations with staff.
So a little overview of probably what we talked about
earlier in the week and what was discussed in between
um looking at this, I mean, the the two courses, career
prep one and career prep two, let me kind of work backwards
So starting with career prep two, career prep two is
not in any programs of study. So therefore, it would
not make logical sense to align um any work requirements
with a program of study as career prep two is not in
any programs of study. Career prep one is in all programs
of study. It's in all programs of study as a level
four course, which makes it a Capstone course which
also aligns that with maximum wage and funding. So
there would be, it would make sense to me for that
uh work placement to align with the program of study
in so much that there may be some students who are
not pursuing a program of study, then there would not
be a career placement to align with that because there
would be, it would be a moot point, there would be
nothing to align with. So staff has taken that, that
uh um concept and just passed out a proposed amendment
there. Did I cover that or is there anything you want
to add to it? That that's um you covered it, chairman
I just wanted to, to make a note. Um I shared this
with the committee on instruction yesterday. Please
disregard the bright yellow line on your paper. It
looks like highlighting it is a printer malfunction
that we are working to get corrected. Um So I know
it's incredibly distracting but it doesn't actually
mean anything. So just um wanted to point out that
that is something that hopefully you can just ignore
You're telling that one line there. It's not as important
as it thinks it is. Is that ok, Mr Chair? I moved
at the State Board of Education except this new language
that has been added to career preparation. 127.202
credits.
Uh Do you need a 2nd, 2nd? The motion in a second
Mr Hickman.
I have a question. I, I don't remember Wednesday what
we did when career prep two did we make it be required
that it was within the program of study? I know we
discussed that amendment but I don't recall. It was
withdrawn Mr Hickman to give us a chance to try to
work through all of that. Ok. So um can I jump ahead
then? Are we going to see any amendments in career
prep too? Uh given the explanation that um Doctor Ellis
shared, uh we would um not recommend an adjustment
to career preparation two that would um allow maximum
flexibility for districts and students in that particular
course given that it is not incorporated into programs
of study? Ok, great. Thank you.
Ok, Miss Kay is working to get that on the screen while
she's done that we can keep discussing Mr Mayor and
Miss Pickering. OK. Of,
if I could just have a question for staff, this is
uh so, so must be related uh
who, who determines that the district would determine
that the district would determine that. So, so how
much to the extent that it is related? And the other
question is, is that um in a instance where a experience
or, or, or employment that is related is, is simply
not available or, or it, it, it, it's, it's hard to
to, to make that match uh simply because is that even
though that, that, that, that, that student may be
be, be studying towards something but the ability to
to, to make that, that employment didn't exist in that
town, at least in, in a reasonable kind of way without
that kid driving 50 miles or something like that. Is
there any kind of waiver or, or is there any sort of
exception that can be made? Well, so I, I would point
out that there are other level four options in the
program of study. So this, this would not be the only
option for a student to complete that, that program
of study. So that's, that's the first thing is they
could just take a different course,
follow this, Mr Mayor,
whether yes or no I'm good. Ok, Mr Dick.
Uh just to follow up on member Maynard's comment, can
you just explain a little more because you know, students
who are in rural districts, they uh could be in a course
of study that that job is not available where they
live. So please explain um other avenues before we
mandate or potentially mandate a student not able to
um go through a course that that's maybe where their
talent is or maybe that's where they want their life
to go and sure. Um So I, so the, the way that
this is structured is it would still will allow a student
to take career preparation one. And we talked about
there might be a community. Um I think M Picker, you
pointed out, you know, a community where Walmart, Walmart
is the largest employer. So there wouldn't be anything
to stop a student from doing career prep one and having
that, that kind of a placement, what we're really talking
about is if, if it's a, a meaningful program of study
and you've got an educator who's teaching the level
one, level two, level three course, we would expect
that that teacher would also be able to teach one of
the other level four courses that is an option. And
so, uh let's say I'm a student in a small town and
um I am studying, I, I want to pursue cybersecurity
and um I also want and maybe I, I need to work
to support my family. I could take a level four course
in cyber security. Assuming I've taken my other level
12 and three and also take career preparation one so
that this course would help me complete my program
of study, the career prep helps me to be employed and
also get credit. So it could be a both end in that
kind of a scenario. OK. So if that is already allowed
right, if, if there's a workaround for this, are we
creating a level of confusion for anybody if we adopt
this? I mean, are we gonna force them into trying to
figure out workarounds where it's not really necessary
Um I, I would hope not, I think what this is intending
to say is and, and we, the programs of study have not
been in existence for a long time, career preparation
or this idea. I think it might have had a different
name has probably been around for 20 or 30 years. Um
programs of study are relatively new and uh what the
the Perkins State plan says and, and everything that
we've been working with districts on is if a student
is pursuing that program of study, they're working
towards an industry based certification. We want to
give them maximum opportunity to study that particular
area. And so all of this is saying is in that instance
where you're talking about this being a level four
course that, that it should be related. If it's not
going to be used as a level four course, then they
can make whatever decisions, make the most sense within
that community for that, that student and, and, and
their family. OK. Thank you. And then I also have a
question for the member who proposed this um um member
Brooks on this. Let's see,
Miss Little. Oh, thank you. Um Member Little. Uh Tell
me, explain a little bit more of your intent towards
this.
I think it, it adds for more clarification,
clarification to who to the districts and for the student
for the, for the teachers. OK. And um uh just so I
can understand a little bit more. Has anyone from your
district have superintendents and reached out to you
saying they need this clarification. I haven't heard
from him at this point, but this is just first reading
So it will go out for, for comment. Ok, thank you.
Member Little. Any other questions from members? Doctor
Young?
So piggybacking on that just to um, refresh my memory
on how the process works. This is, this is first reading
and filing authorization, then it goes out to the public
Yes. And then the public makes comments which includes
our superintendents, our teachers, the the true experts
in the field and then they'll be able to respond and
we can then make adjustments as necessary. Correct
Absolutely. Spot
the other discussion on this specific amendment. Miss
Speaker. Um I have one more I guess, question uh Mr
Chairman again, whenever this goes out to public comment
parents are included in that because it will, I mean
this will greatly affect families if we qualify this
as a just for a little background lesson on, on, on
how it all works here. You know, we have our discussion
item, we have our first reading, we have a second reading
to, to focus here because this is first reading. Uh
we often say just first reading but its first reading
and filing authorization that filing authorization
means we're giving this uh to be authorized to be published
in the Texas register. The Texas register is open for
all uh 30 million residents of the state of Texas to
review and to post comments. And in that filing it
it outlines what the parameters to to proposed uh public
comment is. There's an open window for that. It's the
same of any rule that's proposed by any, any agency
in the entire state of Texas. It's all an outlined
rule. Um It's a rule we all always followed here too
We are giving that, given that feedback. Uh That's
a very formal way to do that. Um We also as a
as board members have lots of connections to our local
districts. That's why we're of course elected by members
So we often go out and talk to local superintendents
and teachers and parents and community members and
all stakeholders and receive that. We bring all that
uh bring trust back together and then we make a decision
at second reading and final adoption. Does that help
You're welcome, Mr Maynard. And let me just, and, and
you know, and I,
I understand the explanation and uh and, and I think
that, you know, I can, I can, I can support this for
now, but I, I think that uh with the understanding
that probably next meeting, we'll hear from a lot of
CTE directors, we'll hear from association that represent
uh CTE teachers and CTE directors and that sort of
thing. So uh there, there will be a lot of, I promise
you, there will be a lot of feedback on this thing
And like, because, because people watch that people
are, are, are, are watching this meeting. And so uh
so we'll have an opportunity to get to get plenty of
feedback and and, uh, you know, like our or another
one maybe, uh, you know, Texas Rural Education Association
that represents, you know, very small rural schools
and, and, you know, good chance we'll hear from them
And so that's the benefit of the process is, is that
we, we go through the, and, and, and in every, in every
step we have an opportunity for, for, for public input
and then we have to seal the deal. Next, next time
around, we put even a finer point on that. And we kind
of have two options. We'll have two options here and
we'll have two options at second reading. We can include
this language or not include this, read this language
at this meeting and next meeting. So one scenario would
be that we choose not to include it right here. That
would not clue in the public at all that we are considering
something. And then let's say we just decide to do
it at second reading. Now we've sprung it upon them
Um If we go ahead and include this language here, we're
telegraphing to them that this is what we're intending
to do, give us some feedback. So including this thing
here, I think is a benefit to the process because it
clues in the stakeholders, all stakeholders that here's
a consideration that they wouldn't necessarily get
if we don't do this now, but then do decide to do
it at second rate. It's a bit of a trial balloon, floating
it out there, you know, and see what happens Mr Francis
Thank you, chair to staff. I, I just wanted a little
bit more clarity on um how we had how students were
able to um get the credit for taking the course before
this recommended change and what we're proposing. I
just need to solidify that in my head and take notes
Uh So Mr Francis, I believe um Mrs Brooks had had asked
question and, and actually posed some um amendments
at the um Wednesday meeting about changing this from
two credits to one credit. Um Under this scenario,
it, the language would still be two credits. Um So
I, I think the, what the board needs to, to consider
is as, as Mr Maynard mentioned, um the amount of time
that a student would, would spend in this sort of uh
a work based learning environment. And what we know
to be true is that historically, they're traveling
from campus to the workplace engaging for what needs
to be some meaningful amount of time. Typically, you
wouldn't do that for 30 or 45 minutes. Um So they're
they're engaging in that practice of those skills for
a period of time that if it's going to be essentially
the Capstone course of a four course program of study
it does seem reasonable that that would be worth the
two credits as um originally proposed. Um Could you
just explain to me um what you mean by a level four
requirement as opposed to other. Yes, sir. Um So if
you'll recall, we um I, I rushed through a presentation
of the programs of study at the end of the day on
Wednesday. So a program of study um always includes
four courses. We have um what we uh consider level
one course courses which are the basic introductory
courses for the program of study, level two, level
three and level four, they get progressively more rigorous
and, and oftentimes progressively more specific. And
so um the programs of study um framework documents
that we put out will say uh to use my cybersecurity
example, uh level one and then it'll list um you know
two or three or four or five courses that would be
an appropriate introductory course for that program
of study. And then I could go on to, to choose from
level two, level three and level four. And so what
we're saying is this would apply only in that instance
where it, the career preparation course is being used
as that final Capstone course following three other
courses, I have two questions. So um just to see where
I'm at right now, so students can take this course
Um they could take it at any level. What level would
this be right now? Without this requirement right now
it's listed as a level four course. OK. Would this
if they decide not to, they don't have the option to
do the, the um related to work, seek employment in
a related the students related program of study. Now
are the districts choosing that? Now this would be
a level three or two or how?
So career preparation one is, is currently categorized
as a level four course. What is true is I'm, I'm let's
say, um so let's say I'm pursuing that program of study
but let's say that Yolanda is actually not pursuing
a program of study. Maybe she's focusing her efforts
on taking additional fine arts courses, but she wants
to enroll in career preparation. One, in her case,
she's not looking to satisfy a level 1234 requirement
And so it would just be her career preparation course
for two credits and it could be in any related uh field
And so that would be the distinction is that I'm using
the course to satisfy this um CTE requirement, but
she's not OK. And just one final question. So I guess
career preparation to, I'm just guessing why wouldn't
And that's a level four course as well. It's not. Um
And that is I will tell you, um I, every time I
think I understand these things, there are lots of
things I realize, I don't know which is why we have
all the true experts sitting at that end of the room
Um But what, as we were talking about this last night
trying to figure out what um uh language we might um
suggest to you what, what I was able to confirm is
that although career preparation two, you would think
that builds on career preparation. One that would make
logical sense to me, it is actually not included in
a program of study because career preparation, one
is a prerequisite. And by the time they've taken career
preparation, one, they've completed the program of
study. So you don't need career preparation two to
satisfy that requirement. Consequently, um It does
not fall into the category of being um a level 123
or four. It's, it's a little more independent. Um And
that's why we didn't bring you any language for adjustments
to that course. So under which circumstances would
a student take career preparation? Two? Then would
it be like, yo, so um let's say, I mean, Yolanda might
have taken career preparation one as a junior and then
she takes career preparation two as a senior. Um I
I might do something, you know, this probably wouldn't
be me. It would be somebody, let's say Shelley, what
if Shelley was accelerated? And she took her level
one course in eighth grade, level two and ninth level
three and 10th level four, career prep one as a junior
And then because she's a superstar, she would go on
to take career prep two as a senior even though she's
already completed her program of study.
Ok. So it's not a level four course. It's just an additional
course, it's just a um a vanilla CTE course it doesn't
have the additional sprinkles. Ok. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Chairman. Um I think when we consider
this amendment, the idea is in the um element of career
prep. Um I do practicums or I did, you know, when I
was in college for teaching, it was in my field, it
was not in an entirely different field. So there's
a difference between a job and a career. And in a career
you do want to sharpen your skills, you do want to
excel in that field. And that I was thinking along
those lines to be consistent and for a student to get
the most um uh success and what their goals are for
after high school, they're very close. This is for
11th and 12th graders. So it's a great motivator too
and it, it to go into a field and to see, hey
this is actually what I wanna do or, you know, I understand
the, the transportation and uh but this is an opportunity
for students to even think outside of their city, maybe
it's something um uh that they can do outside of their
city, uh public transportation or it's an opportunity
to at least explore some other ideas. And, and the
way Maynard explains it as CTE instructors, they're
very innovative, very creative in how they reach the
needs of their students. I like the flexibility in
this. Um If you want to satisfy a level four. It's
not saying you have to either. So I think the language
is fair and it gives teachers flexibility as well as
students. That's my city. Thank you. Call the question
You have a second.
Well, the emphasis of the second, we might not need
to vote on this one, but we'll go through the process
So the uh there's been a motion to call the question
in a second. There's no debate. Uh We'll move immediately
to the vote. This vote is just to go back to the
immediate motion. So all those in favor of calling
the question show by raising your hand,
all your hands all pose by the same sign 13 in favor
you opposed. So the question has been called. So now
we'll move immediately to the vote on the amendment
as presented which is on the screen.
And I would ask all those in favor of the amendment
show by raising your hand,
right? So,
or your hands, all those opposed on the same side,
there's 14 in favor and zero opposed and the amendment
carries. All right. So we're now open for the any other
amendments, Mr Mr Mayor, I just have a question. Um
and this really doesn't have to do with the, but it
is just kind of a kind of a question on the because
all these courses are, are wrapped into one motion
So on, on entrepreneurship, one and two. Uh what does
the staff uh contemplate just in terms of, of certification
as far as teaching that because, because entrepreneurship
is not specific to a particular
cluster, I mean, like, for instance, like, I mean,
I mean, that that could apply to a food and natural
resources, it could apply to lots of different things
And so that does do, do, do we can anticipate that
it won't just be the business teachers that will be
teaching this but, but possibly others. Um Correct
So I would have to check what the current certifications
are. Um with those two of those um teach based entrepreneurship
courses that you're considering today um are approved
innovative courses that also have certification requirements
associated with them. So we can double check those
But my understanding, my recollection is that they're
pretty broad because they are in multiple programs
of study. Um But once this board is finished adopting
revisions to the, then we'll have an opportunity to
work with staff that supports sec to make any additional
adjustments to those certification roles. And is there
just a just as a follow up? Uh Are there any, any
current industry certifications that, that measure
knowledge and skill and in entrepreneurship? Is there
is there a, is there a industry based certification
that one can earn for that? Where um staff in the back
are the experts on that? And they're telling me no
Ok, good thanks. Good to know.
Ok, so members um again, this is open for amendments
as it was earlier in the week, we have our two documents
One's uh subject B and one's F the, the two doctors
who went through. So the, the previous motion was for
the first document. Section B. So are there any other
amendments on section B which is titled the high school
course, which is the document that has high school
on the top? Section B? Any other amendments on any
courses in that Mr Francis? Thank you, chair. I have
several amendments here. Members would bear with me
Um Is it OK to start from 1 27.20 career prep one
Yeah, sure.
Ok.
Um
Members direct your attention to 1 27.20 prep one one
G I'm adding
a student expectation
which reads describe the benefits of having a job and
being self sufficient.
I'm gonna wait for her to get on the screen. Ok. Members
we have a second
motion in a second. Mr Francis. I'd like to speak to
your amendment. Um A student expectation here um talks
about employable skills to uh gain an entry level position
just believe this amendment um would just further
solidify. Um But I think the student student expectation
is hoping to achieve for clarity. Thank you
further discussion on this amendment.
You ready to miss Davis. Um I like the maker of the
motion to kind of delve a little bit deeper into what
you expect the conversations to be about. With this
expectation benefits of having a job and being self
sufficient. So what do you envision those conversations
in the classroom will be like,
this is actually building up on um something that I'll
expand on um in the next course, which talks about
having a job leads to career and self sufficiency,
just um getting students excited about being employable
and as AAA way to be able to um you know, that
translate into generational wealth for their family
just talking about the benefits of working and um making
that a positive experience for, for students. So that's
what I intend the conversations to be about my, that's
that's my intention.
Iii I hear what you're saying but I think when you
think about students and you think about different
situations, you're, it's implying that to be self sufficient
you have to have a job and I, I don't want any
student. If you have a, a parent that's disabled, they
can't have a job or any other situation, they're still
self sufficient. So I just don't want this to turn
into a conversation of, if you don't have a job, you're
not self sufficient because there are different situations
where you can't be self sufficient. Duly taken. I,
I would. Oh, sorry, chair. Yes, chair um duly taken
I, I would um take that in order uh for reconsideration
if we were talking about a sort of general course.
But I believe that students who are taking career prep
are gearing up. Um, you know, learning more about what
it is, um to have a job, the best benefits of, of
having a job, what opportunities would, would open
up for me um in these cases. So I, I think I
understand what you're saying and I appreciate that
but um for this specific course, I think it's a conversation
that would, would be Germane
Mr Chair if I could ask a question to the maker of
the motion. Um Mr Francis, I'm just wondering, you
said you had several amendments. Uh We were here all
day, Wednesday. Why didn't we make these amendments
on Wednesday? Usually Friday is kind of clean up and
dotting the I's crossing the TS Mr Chair. I don't know
if you want to add anything but historically, it's
not a fulsome debate on a Friday
may answer. Um Well, I, I spoke with the chair yesterday
I wasn't, I didn't have um all my amendments even though
I made some yesterday. Um chair said it would be appropriate
to do it, especially today and not um at the second
reading. Um I asked staff for help to because I had
general ideas on what I I wanted and staff help with
these language um edits presented to me last night
Thank you, Mr Chairman II. I just would like to piggyback
off of, of, of this. I, I believe that to leave it
open for teachers because there's other benefits of
having a job, it might be to excel or, or to save
for, for college or to, I mean, anything. So I think
this kind of limits the um the purpose behind describe
the benefits of having a job. It's open when we leave
it like that and, and, and it's open for exploration
because there's various purposes for having a job and
and I think it's a personal thing that would offer
a lot of good comments in class if just left as is
just so I understand your comment. Are you saying that
it might be your recommendation that we say just that
we finish it after job? Ok, Doctor Bill Meadow,
a lot of our students in Texas are rural and I know
my parents had a farm and so having a job off of
the farm was never an option and I was always very
envious of people who could work as a car hop or something
in, you know, in the town near to us. But I, it
just seems to me like it's sort of creating uh a, an
expectation that maybe a lot of students really couldn't
do. And, and it's, uh, um I, I don't, I think that
the teachers can respond to the specific students in
in this. And I, I don't II, I agree with member Davis
that that's not, um I don't think it's necessary. I
I think that students who want to have a job, they
know why they want a job, they wanna make some money
and they want, you know, discussion between work and
having, having a job call M Childs, then I'll come
back to you, Mr I was just gonna say, would you consider
something else besides being self sufficient? Because
when I was in high school I did have a job but
I was not self sufficient. So I don't, I don't think
having a job in and of itself leads to self sufficiency
necessarily. Um So if the maker of the motion would
consider either removing being self-sufficient similar
to Member Brooks or giving another term that maybe
um a job would lend itself to let me get all everything
on the floor before I'll let you come respond, but
I'm gonna go to the Doctor Ortega. Thank you chair
Um In addition to um also agreeing with uh member Davis
and um member Childs, I also feel like this is not
even creating an opportunity for higher order thinking
um describe the benefits of having a job that's, I
mean, that just takes you to one spot and students
wouldn't really have the opportunity to delve deeper
into the idea of what it means to have a job and
being self sufficient. So I don't, in addition to not
agreeing with the language, I also don't feel like
this would benefit students as far as having um the
ability to, to think deeper about these, these ideas
So I don't, I also don't agree with this, Mr Francis
you wanna respond
considering, um
Miss charles' suggestion. But, uh I guess, let me just
say a couple of statements here starting with, um,
member Hickman's. Um, honestly, I, the, the amendments
that I had yesterday, um I feel like we're more complicated
and would lend itself to more discussion. I felt like
these amendments um that I worked on were sort of,
you know, common sense things for career and it would
just, it, it makes sense for this, this course for
career preparation, um
describe the benefits of having um, a job, um, time
and time again where when I go into my district, talk
with, with, with parents, sometimes they're asking
me like, you know, why do I need to work? You know
it's not intuitive because we're adults and we've been
at this for some time, this addition, this addition
that I'm proposing is just a means of communicating
with um students. And it's, it's very open ended. So
there is options, um to, to Mrs brooks' Point, there's
options to go deeper, there's several benefits. Um
And that's, that's why I, I felt like the amendment
that I have is, you know, very germane. Um I think
if, I mean, I, I would be consider it to leaving off
the um, self sufficiency, but I also feel like that
is important as well. But I mean, if I could come to
a compromise, um, if, if that's acceptable to members
Um Just, just for clarification, my own my own clarification
This is an elective course. Correct. So the kid is
choosing to take a career preparation course by its
title. The assumption is you're looking for a job.
Correct. I'm just, I'm just clarifying. So, so we don't
necessarily need to tell people why you need to have
a job. If you're electing to take a course that's telling
you about different jobs. And most of the kids that
take these courses already have a job. I, I took this
course, I worked in, in retail like it was, I had a
job and I didn't have a car and we lived way out
of town. So I literally walked from my high school
to my job downtown. Um I actually also was not old
enough to drive. I was 15. But um you know, there's
a way to make it work and I live in a rural
community and, and, and I'm from a ranch family. So
it's, I, I don't understand why we're, we're making
it. So the amendment, the purpose of the amendment
is to just add more to it when that's the whole purpose
of this to be.
It's implied. It's a career prep.
Uh Thank you, Mr Chairman. So I'm kind of piggybacking
on what was just said, um comments from around the
circle. Um I think that, um you know, this is a career
prep course. So, you know, the students do intend to
work. But the self sufficient to me is what is so important
because in Texas right now, a lot of our state budget
I mean, we spend millions of dollars to emphasize this
throughout society. You know, Texas workforce commission
spends millions of dollars to place the importance
on getting into a job or a career that leads to self-sufficiency
in special education. We work very hard to uh get students
uh special education students to a point where they
um can have more self-sufficiency. And our, even in
our Texan Texas prison system where, you know, people
have done things. But you know, in order to give them
a better chance at life, you know, we provide job training
for them so that they can be self-sufficient once they
leave the Texas prison system, so they can learn to
rely on themselves. So I think because the state spends
millions of dollars already on instilling the uh principle
of self-sufficiency and providing support for self-sufficiency
I think we should teach students about this in high
school that are going on to a job or career and a
career prep program. The importance of this
Mr Chair, I'd like to call the question on all pending
motions.
So she can, we're not, we don't have a second yet.
I wanna call MS Davis for a question. Is it even proper
to place this here? Because this strand is about employability
skills. And if you look at everything else it's about
um identifying methods to gain employ like going through
websites um finding, you know, doing the soft skills
developing cover letters, interviews documents. So
it's all talking about skills in particular. So, so
would this actually be a skill, would this be proper
in this strand that talks about tangible skills?
Second, just a second.
May 2nd mayor.
Yeah.
Ok. So what we have here is we have a motion to
call the question on all pending all of is it pending
all pending motions? I did recognize MS Davis before
there was a second. We now have a second on that. So
what we are doing now members, I want you to understand
and that's what Mr Hickman has requested is not to
call the question on this amendment. He's calling the
question on all all pending additional amendments which
would take us directly to the main motion as has been
amended already
close. Really good for a first time. So you would,
if, if the motion is adopted, you would vote first
on amendment G as is shown on the screen. And then
regardless of whether that is adopted or defeated,
you would then go to a question on the pending main
motion which is MS Little's motion motion, which is
I believe number four number five five on today's agenda
and there would be no further opportunity to amend
these particular um uh documents point of information
What's your point of information, Mr Francis Mr Chair
I am astonished that um a member would ask to block
me from providing my opportunity to issue amendments
Um And I would ask that you rule that out of order
because of order in. There are important things that
we need to order. Let me finish the point of inquiry
So it, it's not out of order. So um not saying anything
on the merit of what you said, but it's, it's not out
of order. Mr Hickman. What's your point of? I didn't
hear a point of information. Ok. So we're still now
to the, um, Mr Hickman's motion has been seconded.
So again, what this vote is and this is not debatable
either. Correct. Um I want to understand we would,
we would uh go back to taking up item G correct and
then back to the main motion. So this would have the
effect of no additional motions amendments after this
everyone to understand what we're voting on. So this
right here is to go take up G and then take up
the main motion if it's Mr Hickman's is approved. Ok
So we will move to the vote, ask all those in favor
of Mr Hickman's uh, motion to raise their hands,
lower your hands, all those opposed by the same sign
Ok.
Yeah, doesn't it? All right. Let's, let's since we
have 16, let's revoke
all those in favor of Mr Hickman's motion show by raising
your hand,
it lower your hands, all those opposed by the same
sign,
there are eight in favor and seven opposed Mr Hickman's
uh motion carries. So now we will go immediately to
vote on item G as proposed by Mr Francis. Is that correct
Ok. So I would ask all those in favor of Mr Francis's
amendment show by raising your hand,
four low, your hands, all those opposed by the same
sign.
Ok. There are four in favor and nine opposed and the
motion is defeated. We will now move immediately to
the main motion as presented by Miss Little. Let just
go directly to the vote, ok. Back to the main motion
as a I
think we got it. This is the main motion as
Amended, correct? Ok. The main motion as amended, all
those in favor show by point of information, point
of information. What happens if this gets defeated
then nothing happens, it remains open and it is
but not good. No, not good.
And time
if you caught that, that if it's defeated, um it's
defeated and there's no change and could be brought
back at, at a first reading in November. Mr Peters
is, what's your, what you
uh hold on just a second, just a second.
Our request for factual information and our parliamentary
inquiry in order
there's no debate if there's a request for information
Miss Pete Diaz.
What?
So M Pesa, thank you chair. So I just want to be
um I think I just need some clarification from staff
So, is this a point of inquiry? Yes, point of point
of inquiry. Um So Monica, it's my understanding that
this is in preparation for first reading. This does
not. So although the State Board of Education has now
formally um voted upon not amending anything further
that doesn't mean that this board can't come back in
November and amend again based on public comment and
all of that. Is that correct? That's correct. Ok. So
I want this board to just very clearly understand the
ramifications if we don't move forward with approving
this. Thank you.
You. Ok. So we will now move to the vote. This is
the main motion as amended. All those in favor show
by raising your hand
12.
You are. Yes, correct, Mr Speaker. You are. Yes, correct
Are you voting? Yes or
on the main motion as amended as amended. Good. Thank
you.
Are your hands. All those opposed by the same sign
there's 12 in favor and one opposed. And the main motion
as amended is approved members. We're gonna go on to
item number six which is proposed amendments to 19
T AC Chapter 100 Charters subchapter A open enrollment
charter schools 100.1 selection process. It's the second
reading of final adoption, Miss Little Mr Chair, the
committee of the full board recommends that the state
Board of Education approved for second reading and
final adoption. The proposed amendment to 19 T AC chapter
100 charters sub chapter A open enrollment charter
schools, section 100.1 selection process and make an
affirmative finding that immediate adoption of the
proposed amendment to 19 T AC Chapter 100 charter subchapter
A open enrollment charter schools. Section 100.1 selection
process is necessary and shall have an effective date
of 20 days after filing with the Texas register members
I do want to point out on this one that this is
we, we discussed this earlier in the week, but I just
want to make sure everybody is clear if a rule does
not receive, if it receives a majority vote, but not
a two thirds majority, then it goes into effect at
the beginning of the following school year, which would
not be, this would not be in effect for the next generation
of charter applicants. If it does receive a two thirds
majority, it goes into effect uh 2020 days after filing
with the Texas register and it would be in effect in
effect for uh the next charter generation. So that's
that's an important note of uh the implications of
what the, the vote means here. So, uh any further discussion
on this item, Mr Kinsey, I just wanna make sure we're
all clear. So if it gets 10 votes, then it goes into
effect in 20 days. If it gets eight or nine votes,
then next school year, what happens if it does not
pass? If it does not pass? And I'll ask vaugh to chime
in and clean up if I say it wrong. Um Then the
the motion fails, there is no change to the current
uh procedures that we have and that's anything additional
to that. Um I mean, that's, that's correct. If it doesn't
pass, then you haven't taken any action. So current
law remains or your current rule would remain in place
Um I'd have to check the timeline. I don't know, you
have uh a certain amount of time between proposal and
adoption before you have to start over and I, I don't
know exactly um what that timeline is. So it, it may
be that you could bring it back again at the next hearing
Um, or the timeline would have evaporated and you need
to start over. Should you want to continue to pursue
that parliamentary inquiry? Mr Kendrick,
if it was to fail, could it be further amended and
revoted on after that? No, so
Mr, not, not. Ok. So Mr Chair, my advice to you is
if it's defeated, it's no longer open to amendment
that while it's pending, it is potentially open to
amendment in accordance with the Open Meetings Act
and with other statutory authority. But once a vote
has been taken, if it's defeated, then it is not open
to amendment at all. So I think I'm, I'm not sure where
you're trying to go, but if you're trying to amend
it to something different, it would be in order now
not necessarily after the main motion was decided.
Does that help you get to where you're trying to?
I'm not, I'm trying to understand is where I'm trying
to go. So I'm trying to understand if, since it's the
way we're posted and is under the agenda item, if there
can be any further. And it sounds like the parliamentarian
if it's defeated, it's done
and could be represented at a later time or could as
as was just asked, someone could move to reconsidering
this.
But after that, it would work out. MS Perez. I want
to reiterate again. We are a democratically elected
body whose responsibility it is to get this work done
We are just trying to get to first reading. We need
to allow our, I'm sorry.
That's right. That's right. Second reading. We, we
need to allow public comment to come in because we
aren't the only ones that make amendments, right? I
mean, we can present the amendments, but we aren't
the only ones that have um a a say in this, right
We have public comment period that we bring to these
conversations and so we just need to get moving. I
think defeating it would be, would be irresponsible
of us. And I'm, I'm, I'm trying my best to not get
frustrated. We just need to get this process going
and allow for the next steps and we can come back and
amend in November. But we have to get to that point
just for just for clarification. This is second reading
and, and uh final adoption on this particular one.
The last item was a first read. Now we're on a second
now. I'm confused. This is the, the charter blackout
period vote. Oh God, ok, sorry, I am like, thank you
I apologize. I am, I am so lost. It was still good
general information. Thank you. All right. So this
item is now ok. Yeah, this item is still open for discussion
Doctor Bell Me. So I need some help in understanding
Um the the charter blackout period has been uh shrunk
through this revision. And so we will receive more
emails and phone calls and people pleading their cause
than we have in the past. I I would say that, you
know, we obviously have a lot, this would increase
the, the individuals, those that are directly involved
with the Charter to be able to communicate us within
a portion of that the general public has always been
able to communicate with. There's a subsection of individuals
that would have a subsection of time in which they
would be able to communicate with us. And again, I
brought this out last time, just constituent services
they can send you an email, they can call you on the
phone. It doesn't mean you have to respond to that
email or call them back on the phone um or take a
meeting with them. So it, it, it gives them the opportunity
to reach out to you but does not give any requirement
for you to dialogue with them. Did Michelle, did you
have your hand up, Mr Hickman and Miss Hurry. Uh If
it may be helpful, we did discuss the timing yesterday
in C I committee if I can address. Uh so what uh
Miss Shetty and you can clarify. If I get this wrong
this would allow and it's normally ballpark 8 to 12
applicants who pass the external review period to start
contacting us in mid April before the capacity interviews
And before we take a vote at our June meeting, so this
would shrink. Uh the no contact period to everything
from the application is November until that mid April
period, there would be no contact starting mid April
after there are 8 to 12 left that pass the external
review, those applicants would be able to contact us
until our vote in mid mid June. Did you do pretty good
great, great job. The That's right.
Want to point out that we're working with a small number
They've already been pass through for the uh commissioner's
choice. And so it's not like we're working with the
whole. Yeah, which is why that made sense this, this
whole concept. And I, and I think the genesis of this
is when I communicated with the executive director
of the Charter School Association and it made sense
to them too that this brings us into this possible
possible dialogue in a portion of the application that
we have influence over, which would be the capacity
interview. Part of that is completely within the agency's
realms. So, Doctor Bell me,
is it possible to have a record vote on this no contact
rule? It is.
Thank you. Now that I'm back on track. Um uh Mr Haney
can you um can you uh once again, I think I missed
it. So at what point are we, is the cut off just
for, just, can you reiterate that for me one more time
I, I was looking, I think I've got my timeline. So
we got an overview in committee on generation 29 and
the application is out. The application submission
deadline is November 3rd and then there's a commissioner
te a cut and then there's an external review period
January to April at the conclusion of the external
review, mid April ish. Those normally it's 8 to 12
applicants would be able to contact us from when they
submit applications until mid April. There would be
no contact starting mid April until we vote in June
they could contact us. Um I guess they could contact
us after we vote, but I wouldn't see the point.
Welcome to item six M Perez Diaz. So Mr Chair Mr Maynard
and, and, and just to clarify, uh this does not change
the blackout period as it relates to their conversation
with, with the, the agency staff or anybody else only
It only applies to the members of the state Board of
Education. We have no authority over the commissioner's
rules. Those do fall under the commissioner's rules
and when the commissioner and I believe, and we have
our expert up there, you can correct me if I'm wrong
Um, the SBE rules and the commissioner rules as it
stands currently before this are actually in conflict
this would actually put them in concert with each other
Correct. That is correct, sir,
Doctor Bill Me.
Would it be correct in saying that the primary concern
um about maintaining transparency um is the notion
of keeping the discussion about charter schools application
on the record in public meetings. Uh So that all the
stakeholders have access to the same information.
I mean, there's a lot of money involved. So uh it seems
like this should be something that is available to
the public and not something that we're just getting
private information about. Ok. Any other comments,
Miss Picker, uh Mr Chairman, I have a point of information
What's your point of information? Are there any other
aspects of business that the Texas Education Agency
or the commissioner engages in that where uh members
of the public are not allowed to contact us about it
Mhm.
So it's you're requesting information to determine
if there's any other blackouts um such as this in the
state, right? This is a similar question that what
you asked on Wednesday, correct? I believe the answer
to anyone's knowledge was they're not, I believe that's
what was said. Um Is there any additional information
that what was discussed at our previous meeting? I'm
uh there's no additional information. So your microphone
please, Mr Chairman, I think they said their intent
was to research it and never, I never received the
research. I'm just, I'm asking the question again.
OK. So it sounds like no other information there members
Any other discussion on this one? Just from my own
information, it is a two would require two thirds vote
of the membership. No,
to make it effective. Yes. Yes, yes. Yes, Mr Charles
I just have a question regarding um member Bill me
point if one of the board members has a conversation
with one of the applicants during this eight week period
wouldn't it still be open or subjected to the Open
Records Act if somebody requested it? I think so in
any communication is subject to the Open Records Act
I, I don't think there's anything in this rule that
would supersede that. Is that, is that what you're
asking? Yeah, in terms of her question about transparency
I mean, if they wanted to know they could do this rule
does not provide any shielding from open open meetings
or freedom of information or anything like that. Be
the Open Records Act is a really cumbersome sort of
way to have that conversation become public. And it's
uh it's, it's, if you've ever had API R request, then
you know, it takes, it can take a lot of time for
people to research and look for the context. But this
isn't really so much that as it is keeping the conversation
open to everyone to create a kind of level playing
field. Uh It's like, you know, the application process
starts here and that's when you can start, uh, you
know, your normal communications doctor, Bill me, I
can appreciate that. But I think the opposite side
of that, if we, if the only thing that was ever discussed
about the work we do here was in open meetings, it
would be very cumbersome to get through our meetings
this, you know, and again, Miss Miss Coleman and I
discussed this a while back. It made a lot of sense
to the charter school Association and it made a lot
of sense to me in so much that there's that period
of time from November until mid April where we have
no authority over anything that's going on in the process
that is completely within the agency's purview of reviewing
the applications and so forth. There is a point in
time when we do have input in the process and that's
at the capacity interview. So this would allow those
who are gonna be at the capacity interview to have
a dialogue questions, concerns. And again, constituent
service, nobody is requiring anyone in this circle
to communicate with any charter applicant, whether
it's by email, whether it's by phone, whether it's
by by any means of communication. If you so choose
you may, if you don't want to, you, you, you just don't
pick up the phone or hit reply on your, on your email
And then we have input at the capacity interview and
we obviously have input at the last step of the veto
So essentially just as Mr Hickman said, instead of
blacking out from November all the way into June, it's
now blacked out from November all the way until mid
April. So it's still a large amount of blackout time
again for the area that we really don't have input
into the system. And that's why this makes a lot of
sense to me. Um I think it's, it's, is it perfect for
everyone? I think some would like to see that there
be absolutely no blackout at all. Some would obviously
is discussed here, would like the entire blackout.
This is a uh I'll just say it's a compromise that and
sometimes compromise can be good. That makes a whole
lot of sense to me, MS Perez Diaz. Uh Thank you, chair
Um I, I al I, everything that you just said, I would
like to reiterate and I also wanna say for, for me
this particular issue. Um II, I think in the past,
we, we as board members can reach out to, to um to
charters at whatever point in time if we initiate the
conversation. Um So for those of us that want to have
these discussions with charters, we'll have them. Um
And so I don't necessarily know that this does very
much for those that choose not to, right? I think that
um in fact, it might bring a level of, I think transparency
to know that, you know, people are actually reaching
out to us now and wanting to engage. Um, and so again
just reiteration, like we don't have to talk to anybody
if we don't want to. And there have been situations
where I'm not interested and then there's other situations
when I absolutely want to talk to people. Um, so I
don't know that this may, I don't know that a move
like this makes too much of a difference honestly.
Um, with regard to our last process.
Mhm. Right.
Explained it all pretty well. The the motion is as
we've discussed here, um requires eight to pass, requires
10 to go into effect um within 20 days. Any questions
before we vote? Ok. Yeah. Record call. The record call
was requested will be granted until the last call.
The roll Ortega.
Yes, Mr Francis,
sorry. Wait, no, I'm confused. Chairman. Could you
explain um the motion again, voting on the main motion
um requires two thirds to take effective within 20
days. Ok. Yes, Mr Francis,
Miss Perez. Yes, Miss Childs, Doctor Balme. No, Mr
Hickman,
Miss Pickren.
Doctor Young
Mr Mr Maynard. Yes, M Hardy
Mrs Little
MS Davis,
Mrs Brooks. No, Mr Kinsey,
12 and
11 or 12,
11, 11 in favor three a post, right? We have 11 in
favor three opposed. So that is a two thirds vote of
the membership. So therefore the motion is adopted
and will uh have an effective date of 20 days after
the filing with the Texas register. Got it. Ok.
All right. And number seven was update on text, essential
knowledge and skills to teach you. There was no business
presented on this item. So we will now move on to the
Committee of Instruction. Doctor Young. We'll move
on to item number eight, which is proposed amendments
to 19 T AC chapter 74 curriculum requirements, subchapter
C other provisions, 74.27 innovative course and programs
Thank you. Uh, The committee on instruction recommends
that the State Board of Education approved for first
reading and filing authorization proposed amendment
to 19 T AC Chapter 74 curriculum requirements, subchapter
C other provisions, 74.27 innovative courses and programs
Ok. Members. You've heard the motion. Is there any
questions Mr Hickman? I have a question for Doctor
Young, our staff. Um I recently got a question of,
is there a Asian American studies coming? Because I
know African American and Mexican American was approved
before I got here. Uh This is the uh native studies
and it, that was the other one that came and presented
during uh social studies review last year. Um Yes,
sir. So our understanding is that um a group of individuals
that served on your social studies text review um have
found a district with which to partner. Um And they've
started that. Um I'm sorry, the pilot um this school
year. Um So, um if all goes well, we would expect them
to apply next year OK. So look out for that Doctor
Young
for the discussion on this item.
You ready to vote
scholars in favor of the show by raising their hand
12 lawyer Handel is opposed by the same signs 12 in
favor and zero opposed. And the motion is adopted
at the early item. Mr Doctor Young. Anything else in
your opinion? You want to share
anything else? You want great things to work? You did
OK.
We had the opportunity to have the discussion on One
House Bill 900. We also with a number of testifiers
Um We also had the opportunity to discuss um to receive
a training, um which um I will ask staff to share with
everyone on um, the history of the dyslexia handbook
the iterations of the, the dyslexia handbook, um uh
the elements of O A and it's um how it has impacted
the things that te A does, the funding that goes along
with it, different legislation that has been passed
as well as um current legislation and what we'll be
doing moving forward. I'm gonna call on Mr Buyer here
There was um a hearing on the implementation of House
Bill 900 that took place that was just yesterday. What's
you? Yeah. Um So we got noticed that um the, the judge
would be entering a uh injunction against further uh
implementation of House Bill 900. We're waiting on
the order, um which we should get sometime next week
that will give the specifics uh around that and we'll
uh update the board once we have that order, Mr Francis
just are persons who are listening. What is an injunction
What does that mean?
Uh That means you have to stop doing something
and in this case specifically, what would we stop doing
So, under House Bill 900 there are several uh responsibilities
that are granted to different entities. The Library
Archives Commission, the Commissioner of Education
and um the board um to proceed to implement the legislation
And so um that would need to stop but without, without
the specifics of the order, I don't know to what extent
if that's just everything stops or if it's just, you
can't go in and, and implement the regulation. Thank
you, Miss Harvey.
Remind me again who brought the complaint?
Um ac ou
uh it was a Book People Blue Willow, which is also
a book seller and a couple associations of uh booksellers
Thank you.
Even though there's an injunction on House Bill 900
that law specifically does that preclude local school
districts from adopting their own policies.
The local school districts were not made a party of
this. Uh So the injunction would seem not to apply
to local school districts so that injunction does not
apply to local school districts, which means they gotta
see what we got to see what the judge says, but they
are, they were not made parties. So it would seem that
it would not be likely that they would be enjoyed.
I, I think what you'd want to check is if they, the
the local things that they were going to adopt were
a derivative of House Bill 900 then potentially, yes
if, if the authority for which they were adopting that
is not in House Bill 900 then they are likely not covered
by that. There. Of course, is a normal appeal process
as there is always. And that will correct. We're in
the, uh we're in the federal court system. Um um So
uh the, the entities here which are all represented
by the A G now have to determine, um what's your likely
next step? And one of those next steps could be an
appeal to the fifth Circuit, Miss Picker.
Ok. Go ahead.
Yeah, that was my question. So this is in Federal court
and, and, and can you tell us what, what, what, what
court that was in?
Uh that was the uh federal court for the western district
of Texas in Austin. And it was Judge Allen Albright
Mr Speaker. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr Chairman. Um Which
associations were party to this lawsuit, do you know
We will get the pleading and send it to you. So you
have the exact list of names. Um Yeah, we, we remembered
Book People Blue Willow. Uh but we'll get the, we'll
we'll get the pleading. So you have it in black and
white Ok. And then, um, I guess my question, you may
or may not know this, the injection, does it just stop
the enforcement or does the injunction actually stop
the work? We, we need to get the full order from the
judge in order to tell you that. Ok. And then kind
of, um, uh, talking about what, um, a previous member
asked because I know uh, several I sds have already
passed policies concerning this. Their policies are
still in place.
So, an injunction stops you from doing further action
If an action has already been taken, that hasn't, uh
that, that necessarily hasn't been adjoined. But, um
I, I just, I, I have to provide a caveat but I
I haven't seen what the judge actually said. So until
we get the order, um, everything has to have an A,
I just want to clarify. It's not that you just haven't
seen it. He hasn't produced it yet that it's not like
it's out there and we haven't read it. It won't, it's
not been produced yet. We were told it will be available
next week. But, uh, we, we will operate on the judges
and we will make a copy and send that to all of
the. Well, hopefully this process moves pretty quickly
and we get back to the business of protecting Children
And, um, mmm, uh, we did pull it up. Uh, it's Book
People Incorporated DB K Incorporated Blue Willow Bookshop
American Booksellers Association. Association of American
Publishers Authors Guild Incorporated Comic Book Legal
Defense Fund. We will still provide you the, the copy
So you don't, in case you didn't write it down very
quick. But that was the list of plaintiffs. Thank you
Mr By. I appreciate it. Ok. We're gonna move on to
the Committee of School Finance Permanent School Fund
We did have one item pulled off consent. So I'm gonna
call on Mr Maynard.
Yes,
I've got too many sheets of paper here. I think we've
probably wiped out a half acre of spotted owl habitat
So
Mr Sharon, uh on behalf of the Committee on School
Finance Permanent School Fund, I move that the State
Board of Education approve a distribution to the available
school fund of approximately $1.556 billion for the
fiscal year 2024.
And I think really Mr Maynard, the uh question was
just a little confusing sometimes of what the, the
PSF does a lot of uh uh different things that fall
out of our education brains and into a different side
of our brains. So, uh if you just want to explain that
I know we have staff here from PSF also to help with
that. Well, let me just say that first of all that
when, when, when a distribution is made from the permanent
school fund, there's essentially, there's, there's
two constraints. Uh The first of the first one is,
is that, you know, distributions cannot exceed 6% of
the average of the trailing 16 quarters. That's, that's
the first one. The second one is, is that over a, over
a 10 year period,
the, the, the, the distribution of funds over that
10 year period cannot exceed the returns during that
10 year period. And so every time we make a distribution
we have to step back and say, well, does this distribution
cause us over that 10 year period then to exceed the
the returns over the last 10 years in including the
current fiscal year that we are on. So that's, I mean
just in a, in a nutshell, I mean that that's what that
is. And so we have to satisfy the 10 year rule before
we, we vote to make that distribution, we have to make
sure that we are not exceeding the 10 year returns
on, on, on the fund. Now, our shoemaker, one of our
uh senior investment officers and the director of special
projects over at the, the Permanent School Fund. If
you, if you'd like to a more granular uh explanation
of that, would you care to maybe kind of in terms of
how that is drived? I'm sorry, I don't have a white
board for you.
Thank you, Mr Maynard. Uh Yes, members uh uh Mark Shoemaker
I'm at the uh Permanent School Fund Corporation. I
made the, the uh transition from TE A and I began there
in 2008. So uh the, this, the, the two limits that
Mr Maynard mentioned have been in the constitution
since uh late 2003. The 10 year limit is uh actually
came into effect one time in uh 2010. And that was
post the uh global financial crisis and what the issue
was there. And, and he did a really great job of, you
know, describing those 10 years is in that calculation
we had two time periods, we had the dot com bust and
we had the GFC. And so over that 10 years, the uh
returns on the fund did not exceed the distributions
Uh So over the course of, you know, 20 years, it's
only happened once, but you must affirm every year
that the 10 year test, you know, is not being violated
And, and, and so normally it's a very uh you know,
um
you, you, there's not a lot of question about has that
happened? I mean, I almost use the word
perfunctory but I mean, you know, it's, I don't want
to minimize the significance of it, but the, the, the
math just generally works in the favor of, you always
have a, a cushion and right now that cushion, we project
at the end of this fiscal year will be over $8 billion
So, you know, we're not sneaking by it, it's not close
you've got plenty of cushion. But uh you do have to
do this constitutionally,
Mr Brooks.
Thank you, Mr chairman. Thank you, Miss Shoemaker.
I think my last question is. So, could you just kind
of help me understand what these distribution funds
are specifically used for once you make the transfer
Oh, sure. Yeah. So every distribution that the State
Board of Education makes out of the permanent school
fund goes over to the uh available school fund. And
so there's, there's a, a few other revenue sources
that go into the A SF also, um that's about the extent
of my school finance knowledge, but all of the PSF
distributions go into the A SF,
so it is it correct to say or true to say that
once it goes over um to the available school fund that
um it's, it's not, it's usually this is usually distributed
this way. So not all of the uh taxes, I guess, or
or revenue that the state would generate for the A
SF will go on to their, I guess. What is the reason
for the transfer? It's just always, that amount is
always uh expected to help with, meet the cost of the
the budget for the A SF, does that make sense a little
bit or like why is the transfer necessary? I guess
when revenue comes into the available school fund?
Well, the, the good news is that when the money moves
from the PSF to the A SF, there's another feature in
the constitution which
requires that distributions from the A SF go to all
of the districts across the state on a per student
basis. And so, you know, no one's advantage or like
disadvantage based on the, the way the legislature
does all of the other school finance, uh, formulas
uh, a sf distributions go out equally on a per student
basis. Does that answer your question kind of? But
it just sounds like this is just protocol to for a
certain amount of money from the permanent school fund
to go inside the available school fund. Well, oh, so
uh the prior constitution of this board, so right before
you were sworn in, in uh November of last year, they
set the distribution rate. And so what happens is that
distribution rate was set in November 2022. However
we, and that was for fiscal years 24 and 25 fiscal
year 24
begins today. So, you know, it's been nine months since
that happened and in the constitution, that's when
you have to make that decision. Ok, over those last
10 years, was that test uh complied with? And so this
is that compliance feature. It, it, it seems a little
odd because you, you, well, you might be thinking,
well, I didn't set a distribution rate because that
happened in November. So that's thank you. Thank you
very much. Thank you, Mr Chair. Any further questions
All right, thank you. Mark.
All right. Are you ready to vote on this item?
I ask all those in favor of the motion as presented
So by raising your hand
low, your hands, all those opposed by the same sign
there's 12 in favor and zero opposed and the motion
is adopted and nobody tell Miss Kay, we did that without
her.
She, she was talking. Yeah, just, just uh, just as
just a matter of a few updates. Uh First of all, always
you know, we always try to tell you that. So, so I
think the uh the current value of the permanent school
fund, uh at least assets under, under our management
are, I think 52.3 billion is where we are. Um And so
a few things I think of, of note, of course, understand
that if you serve on the committee on, on school fan
Finance, permanent School Fund, then you also serve
on the board of directors for the Corporation for the
Permanent School Fund Corporation. And so that's a
nine member board uh on which the State Board of Education
has a majority. Uh two big, big things that we have
going right now is, is that um first of all, is we
we do have an executive search underway. And so we
are looking for a, a new uh chief executive officer
uh kind of how we, we've done that. We've had some
we've had some change in personnel. Our chief investment
officer um chose to make a career change. And what
we determined is is that we don't really need a, a
CEO and a CIO uh really, what we need is we need
AAA chief Investment Officer with the, with the CEO
skill set to, to also be the CEO. Uh and, and really
you know, what if, if you want to look at the permanent
school fund as a, what the comparable to it is? Uh
There's sometimes a temptation to, to try to compare
us to like, er s or, or, or TRS, but those are
those are pension plans. Uh So the only true endowment
or our sovereign wealth fund in town besides us is
and is the University University of Texas Investment
Management Company. And they manage the permanent University
fund and the University of Texas Endowment and plus
the endowment for MD Anderson, I did
not the endowment. Uh They remember that the permanent
University fund is, is two thirds to University of
Texas and one third to UN to Texas A and M. Uh
but, but, but their endowment is, is, is managed separately
is my understanding uh
essentially has a, has a cio ceo combination. And so
so we think that that kind of works in our favor in
a couple of ways and, and, and one thing is is that
it may help us to try to get the base salary up
to a, to a competitive level. So, so yesterday, we
did uh we uh discuss an executive session. We, we have
a, we have a process in place. Uh We have a search
committee in place and uh so we will be uh uh we
have a search firm engaged and, and we hope that, you
know, by the time we reconvene in November, uh we,
we may be either either have somebody on that we have
selected uh or, or, or be be very close to that.
This works uh ask a question uh to Mr Mayor. OK. So
member mayor. So, uh thank you for, for that brief
uh information. I appreciate that. So we were, we had
a presentation with um Mr Britt Harris. So he's not
permanently in this position and doesn't want to be
that. That's correct. So, so, so Mr Harris um had retired
from and when, when Holland Timmins had retired from
uh from the permanent school funding, it was the opinion
of the board that, that we didn't really, that, that
we wanted our, our, our staff to have, have, have some
leadership during that time, but also too in that transition
period, uh We identified some things organizationally
that needed to be addressed. Uh and, and, and, and
Britt Harris is, is doing those things and I will tell
you that, uh I, I think right now that, that our, our
our team over over the current school fund is, is,
is energized in a way that I've not seen before. And
uh so, um in fact, if you saw all those people that
were here, uh for the corporation meeting. That was
our whole team. And, uh, and then they came over there
uh, for that. And that's a, frankly, that's the first
time we've all seen them a, as, as a board, that's
the first time we'd ever seen them all together in
one place. And, you know, typically we would, you know
see just, just a few people and, and unless you went
over there, but even then you wouldn't see them all
together in 11 place. And so I think that was a, that
was a, that was a great thing. And so, uh we engaged
Mr Harris uh for, for a period of time and, and with
with, with some overlap with the new chief executive
and, and, and, and for how long that's up to, to the
new, to the new person, you know. Um, but, but typically
in the business, you know, a month to six weeks is
is a typical overlap in that. So, uh the second thing
that was really, really big, of course is, is that
uh, we, we are currently in, in the moody bank building
Uh, you know, the joke is, is that we're trying to
find a more emotionally stable building
because that building is moody. But anyway,
that's the joke.
Um It, it is, uh, there's a lot of issues with that
building. It's, it's old, it's, uh, I think it's, it's
probably a class c property. Uh, there are some serious
safety issues. Uh, if you've been in it, uh, the, the
the, the front part of it, the lobby are, are not terrible
But if you get up in, in it, it's, it's a pretty
dreary building. And by the way, uh, the number of
of, uh, of staff members we have right now is about
95 and we have 71 seats.
And, uh, and so when we created the corporation, uh
the, the legislation that create the corporation specifically
authorized us to, to utilize private office space.
And so the, the board went ahead and, and we signed
a, a lease, uh, with somebody here in, with a, with
a bank in town, uh, to be in, in that building. Well
it turns out is, is that, uh, it is true while we
were authorized to do that, uh, the legislature said
yeah, well, you're authorized to do that, but we're
not gonna fund it if you use private office space.
So there is a fundamental difference between authorization
and appropriation as it turns out. And so we, we were
required then to abandon that first lease and, and
use a state owned office space. But as it turns out
this is that there's a couple of spaces that are close
that are eligible. One of them is owned by the, uh
er s next door and the other one is owned by the
University of Texas, a building called Innovation Tower
And so, um, uh, the board, uh, toured both of those
facilities yesterday and came back and we had a discussion
by the way, the, the real estate market here is, is
very favorable. It's, uh, it's, it's very much a buyer's
market right now. And, uh, and we were able to, uh
to negotiate very, very favorable terms for a, for
a 10 year lease. Uh, and, uh, the board, uh, voted
yesterday to go with Innovation Tower and, uh which
is a, which is a beautiful building and at some point
you know, maybe once we get, uh it's gonna take about
a year to get there uh to do all the, to do
all the build out. And so, uh I think it's worth noting
It's just kind of interesting. This is that and I don't
know, I don't know if you, you, you picked up on this
but the permanent school fund generates about $22 million
a day,
which means is that our entire operating budget and
and what it's gonna cost for the 10 year lease is actually
satisfied within the first week of the fiscal year
worth noting. And then the rest of the time, I mean
we're, we're actually uh a above water on that. So
uh but those are, those are two really big things.
Uh two really big steps yesterday. And, and so I, uh
I think that there's a uh uh a lot of optimism uh
on the, on the board. Uh We did pick up a new
board member. Uh, two board members are appointed by
the governor and a gentleman by the name of Cliff Thomas
and uh who's got, uh Mr Francis? Do you have Victoria
I do. He's in my district. Mr Thomas is, is one of
your, one of your constituents. So,
all right, Mr Maynard. Thank you for that. And that
should complete our business for today. A couple of
housekeeping notes. I'm sorry, Mr Hick.
Oh, yes, sorry, sorry. I've probably stepped out of
the room for lunch, I guess.
Yeah, let, let's put the brakes on what I just said
there. Let's go to uh Mr Hickman on item number nine
Sorry, I missed you there. Review of proposed revisions
19 T AC chapter 2 31 requirements for public school
personnel assignments. Sub chapter C grade 63 assignments
and sub chapter E grades nine through 12 assignments
Thank you, Mr Chairman Committee on school initiatives
Recommend State Board of Education take no action on
the proposed revisions to 19 T AC chapter 2 31 requirements
for public school personnel assignments. Subchapter
C grade six through eight assignments and subchapter
E grades nine through 12 assignments.
Members, any further discussion on this item
ready to vote all in favor. Say I, all right, any opposed
say no, the motion is adopted. Anything else in your
committee, Mr uh Yes, thank you, Mr Chairman. Uh We
received a charter process update and an application
update from MS Shetty. Uh we appointed uh to a number
of special purpose districts, Fort Sam Houston, Lackland
Randolph Field and Boys Ranch and superintendent, Doctor
Holt from Randolph Field attended as well. Uh Miss
Cook and MS Garcia presented the uh se certificates
item we just approved and lastly is the SEC update
uh, of note, um Miss Garcia presented um changes coming
in chapter 2 28 and 2 29 for Ed prep and Accountability
for Ed prep. And she's going to hopefully circulate
a draft of where they are currently se will be meeting
I think here, uh September 29th. And if we can't attend
in person, it's also available online if you want to
follow along with what SEC is doing and then that will
come to our subsequent, uh, committee meetings in this
uh board as well.
But anything else? Ok, members before we wrap up a
couple of housekeeping notes, um, staff did just, uh
uh communicate to me a timeline that they had drafted
for 16 05. I'm gonna have them send that out to you
Uh, just with the caveat of this is what, what they've
drafted. I know we've been in good alignment all the
way through good discussions, all the way through.
So this is subject to just confirmation of the chair
of scheduling this at each of the future meetings,
but I'll have um Yolando when she's able to get that
send that out to to the members. Um point of information
Mr Chair is that timeline uh for both rubric's quality
and suitability? Ok. Thank you, Mr Chair. It's all
encompassing 16 05. It's a lot more than just that
I don't think they slept last night. So, uh number
two, does everyone have these on their desk? Correct
Ok. This is an SBE member satisfaction survey. So,
members, if you're satisfied, this would be a good
survey to fill out. Um This is important for our staff
Do you believe that's how they're evaluated? So it's
important for them. I'm going to require everyone to
fill this out before they leave or else. So, for what
that's worth. So please fill this out uh to help our
staff do their job by serving us. So that's the green
sheet of paper here, MS Brooks.
Where can the tournament
either to bring up staff or just leave it on your desk
and we'll get, it shouldn't take in just a few minutes
Yeah. All right. Any other questions on that specifically
So this is a time where we go around the room and
uh not talk about anything that's been on the agenda
but talk about what's going on in each of our lives
and accomplishments um such as that. So I'm gonna go
around the room to my right. If anyone has anything
that they would like to share. Well, I'm excited to
be leaving here this afternoon to head to college.
Station for the first Aggie football game. So it's
beat the hell out of New Mexico.
You had an egg or two on the back there. Sounds very
enchanting.
Yeah. Labor Day weekend. So we'll be, uh, we'll be
headed up to Cal Farley Boys Race. Of course, y'all
did the, did that on that. So, we have a big reunion
of those of us that graduated from there that grew
up out there. And so we the uh the boys ranch, uh
rodeo and reunion. So, yeah,
uh Scott and I moved into our home on the lake. It
is a vacation home on 3.6 wooded acres. We're very
proud of the fact that we don't have any neighbors
Uh since I've never had, I've never had a neighbor
in my life um being raised on a ranch. So, um it
also uh part of the cruise is to celebrate my 50th
birthday day next week. So, yeah, thank you. I getting
old speaker, anything microphone, please. Thank you
Mr Chairman. Um I would just like to say happy bicentennial
to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers were formed in 18
23 by Stephen F Austin who also funded the payroll
for it. And they are the only law enforcement agency
to have served under five national flags and they are
the longest serving statewide public safety agency
in the United States. So happy anniversary to the Texas
Rangers then also, of course, super, super proud of
the Needville Little League team. You know, they traveled
to, uh, Williamsport, Pennsylvania to compete in the
World Little Little League Series and they came in
fourth in the world. So, so proud of those young men
and their families. Your signal. Thank you, Mr Chair
Uh Some things have been happening while we've been
in this room. Um, I get to watch lots of volleyball
with my daughters and there's a young lady they know
from Katie went to Seven Lakes Alley Batton Horses
on the Nebraska volleyball team. And if you didn't
see Nebraska Wednesday night played a stadium game
in front of 92,003 people setting a new world record
for women's sports attendance. So, congratulations
to Nebraska.
Uh, my students told me to convey to the State Board
of Education that they hope you do a good job.
That's it too late.
So, I will also be attending a football game, uh, tomorrow
or actually a tailgate. Um, so, uh, hook em and I hope
that we beat the heck out of the owls. Yeah.
Thank you. Um, I just wanted to congratulate one of
my, um, I say thanks to, um, my fellow member, um,
Miss Diaz earlier. Um, I had my hero that she was,
um, only Spanish speaking and, um, I wrote a note for
her and asked, um, Miss to translate for me. She was
kind enough to do that as well as um, translate live
Thank you. Um, to when um Miss Miss Tapio was receiving
her award. And again, I wanted to thank her for um
saying yes. Um and being very willing to do that. Thanks
so much
after we were taken.
Um Since everyone's talking about football and the
University of Texas at El Paso, we'll be playing Ward
uh this weekend. So Go Miners. Um Also I recently became
engaged, so I'm excited about that. Thank you. Thank
you. So, um next year will be the, the wedding. So
I'll let y'all know and maybe I'll do it at Audrey's
Big Giant House. Uh But, but yeah, so just that's it
Thank you,
Brooks. Ok. I don't know.
Oh, you could tell your students that we did a very
good job this week. I thought we did good work and
it's, it's a pleasure being here with everyone serving
together with you
y'all. My mama's birthday is in three weeks. She will
be 70 years old. So I'm very excited about that.
I think that's incorrect. I think she's gonna be 70
years young.
This hardy. Ok. Members. This is gonna be hard for
me. Um We've had some very dear long time friends,
Robert and Christy re and their family, Chris, he's
been a public school teacher for many years, served
our students,
their son, Alex was diagnosed in January, but the young
did you talk often about the 5.5 million students of
Texas as a group? We must remember they're each individual
and each of these individuals are so special.
They were charged with serving each of these individuals
He's not been a funny man. Alex who was 16 years old
Our coach team is a Bible quizzer.
He's touched every life. He's been around at six o'clock
yesterday, Alex passed on and I wanted to adjourn this
meeting in honor of Alex.