(group chatter)
-: Members, I'd like to call the meeting
of the State Board of Education together.
And first, we will have our invocation
and Pledge of Allegiance
by Member Perez.
-: Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we come to you today
humbled as your servants.
Lord, we thank you for the blessings
you have bestowed upon our families,
of food, shelter,
prosperity,
stability and love.
We remember today the greatest commandment
of your son, Jesus Christ,
to love one another as He loves us.
We pray upon your wisdom
of the Old Testament
that we are our brother's keeper.
We ask you heavenly father
to help us all
to remember that as our brother's keeper,
we have a responsibility to care
for foreigners in our lands,
to shelter the homeless,
feed the hungry
and give drink to those that thirst.
Lord, we remember the wisdom that you have given us
to forgive those with whom we quarrel.
We thank you Lord for the gift of compromise
that has helped us find common ground
so that we may truly be servant leaders to our community.
We raise up
all members of this State Board of Education
to you Lord,
and call upon your divine intervention
to remind us of God's promise of forgiveness
and redemption.
And finally, Lord, we ask that you grant us
the strength and wisdom
to forgive those that speak ill of us
and ask your blessings for students
going outside of our area
to pursue higher education.
Lord grant us the strength and wisdom
to work together for the benefit of your children.
In your holy name we pray,
Amen.
Buenos dias.
(laughter)
Oh, we have to do the pledge too.
(laughter)
(microphone cuts out)
-: Okay, members, we'll ask for approval
of the minutes.
And we'll do roll call.
Woman: Ms. Perez.
Ms. Perez: I'm here.
-: Mr. Cortez.
Mr. Cortez: Here.
-: Ms. Perez Diaz.
-: Here.
-: Mr. Allen.
Mr. Mercer.
Mr. Bradley.
Mrs. Cargill.
Mrs. Cargill: Here.
-: Dr. Ellis.
Dr. Ellis: Here.
-: Mr. Maynard.
Mr. Maynard: Here.
-: Ms. Hardy.
Ms. Hardy: Here.
-: Mrs. Miller.
Mrs. Beltron.
Mrs. Beltron: Here.
-: Mrs. Melton- Malone.
-: [Mrs. Melton-Malone] Here.
-: Mr. Rowley.
Mr. Rowley: Here.
-: Mrs. Bahorich.
Mrs. Bahorich: Here.
-: Alright,
we now have our,
if there's no,
is there any objection to the minutes?
Hearing none, minutes are approved.
So the first thing we've got this morning is
an important
presentation to some of our
Texas finest teachers.
I'm gonna talk this morning first
just to kind of give you a quick overview
about the Milken Educator Awards.
For 30 years, the Milken Educator Awards,
an initiative of the Milken Family Foundation
have rewarded and inspired excellence
in the world of education by honoring top educators
around the country
with 25,000 dollars
in unrestricted awards.
Not an accolade for a lifetime achievement,
or the proverbial gold watch at the exit door,
the Milken Educator Awards
targets early to mid career
education professionals
for their already impressive achievement
and more significantly,
for the promise of what they will accomplish in the future.
Today we're honoring the 2017-2018
school year awardees.
And our first one, I'm gonna call up to the podium,
Jennifer Fuller from Arlington Collegiate High School.
(applause)
Jennifer played a crucial role
in the development of Arlington Collegiate High School,
a unique four year old partnership
with Terrant County College.
Designed for students
who would not otherwise consider attending college,
the school provides the opportunity
to earn a high school diploma
and dual credit,
up to an associates degree,
within four years.
Jennifer continuously
varies her
approach to teach the essential elements
of English to sophomores,
and now juniors, through group work,
presentations,
discussions, and extensive reading and writing.
Her instruction prompts critical thinking
and problem solving
as students explore
concepts culturally relevant to their development.
As a result, her classes have received
the highest end of course exam scores
in the district for two consecutive years.
For 2016-17,
the school earned a 98% passing rate.
As English department-level leader,
Jennifer also serves as a site-based
decision-making committee member,
student council sponsor,
and Early College High School Partnership
Council school representative.
Always seeking ways to close the achievement gap
and make college accessible.
Jennifer was instrumental in the success
of the African American
Male Initiative,
a pilot program started with a grant
from Abbot that continues to be successful
on her previous campus today.
Congratulations.
-: Thank you so much.
(applause)
-: Absolutely.
Stand over here for a second.
-: Okay.
(applause)
Member Bradley: Madam Chair,
-: Yes.
-: I'll also note her parents are here in the room
and we're very proud in the fact
that they're from Beaumont.
(laughter)
But to show that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree,
her mother is a 40 year teacher
who is still in the classroom.
(applause)
-: Thank you, thank you for bringing that to our attention.
That's awesome.
(laughter)
Our next awardee is Katy Neigen.
(applause)
At Slayton Junior High School,
Katy Neigen is a valuable asset
to the leadership team,
working hand in hand
with fellow master and mentor teachers
and administrators to move the whole school forward.
Her role is made possible
through the implementation of the TAP System
for Teacher and Student Advancement,
an initiative of the National Institute
for Excellence in Teaching
that provides opportunities for teacher leadership,
job embedded professional learning,
educator evaluation and performance based compensation.
Through her guidance as a TAP master teacher,
Katy holds weekly professional learning sessions
aimed at improving instructional practices
in the classroom.
These actions have helped every student
in Katy's teaching are to gain at least
a year's growth,
with single-digit gains
in Reading, and double-digit gains
in Science for 2016.
Katy also recognized the need to reform
the discipline program
which has aided learning through positive reinforcements.
Katy is a go-to person
for staff on campus,
as well as at the district level,
where she is a member of the District Ed Council,
Curriculum Committee,
and Level Leadership Team for Instruction.
Her expertise was instrumental
in a curriculum writing initiative
that aligned academic goals
with state standards.
Congratulations.
-: Thank you.
(applause)
-: And you have family here as well?
-: I do.
-: My mom's a teacher too.
-: Oh, really.
So how many years have you taught?
-: 22.
-: 22 years.
Wow.
That's amazing, congratulations.
(applause)
Well, congratulations to both of the families
for being here and supporting
these very amazing teachers.
What I love about this award
is it's just the,
we're just expecting even more great thing from you guys.
And so we're pretty excited.
I love that this is not your
"thank you," hand out the door
kind of award.
It's very exciting to see
dedicated teachers like you in the classroom
for our students.
So thank you guys very much.
And congratulations.
(applause)
(inaudible)
-: Good morning.
I think we're gonna do the blue ribbon
at schools.
Members, today,
before us is a resolution to honor
our 2017 Blue Ribbon schools,
Blue Ribbon School Award winners.
We're pleased that representatives
from so many schools are here today.
We're gonna take it in two phases.
We're gonna do group one and group two
because there's so many of them.
So if I can ask representatives from the following
to come up to the center.
And member, if I call out your school,
if you can join your school in the circle.
Group one is Banquete Elementary,
Austin Elementary,
Austin
Middle,
and Gunter Elementary.
And so I would need
Member Perez-Diaz,
Member Bradley,
Member Ellis.
There we go, Erika.
Do you mind?
Okay.
Whereas, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program
recognizes elementary, middle and high schools
where students perform at very high levels;
whereas, the National Blue Ribbon Schools flag
overhead is a mark of excellence
in education;
whereas in 2017,
Texas nominated 26 to be recognized
for their students' achievements;
and whereas, these 26 were then named
2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools
by the United States Department of Education;
now, therefore, be it resolved
that the State Board of Education
does hereby extend its congratulations
to Wittier Elementary,
in the Amarillo Independent School District;
to Banquete Elementary,
in the Banquete Independent School District;
to Smithfield Elementary,
in the Birdsville Independent School District;
to Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy,
to the Dallas Environmental Science Academy,
and to the Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School,
in the Dallas Independent School District;
and be it further resolved
that the Texas State Board of Education
does hereby extend its congratulations
to Austin Elementary
and Jefferson Elementary School
in the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District;
to Greene Elementary School
and Sylva Health Magnet
in the El Paso Independent School District;
to Austin Middle School
in the Galveston Independent School District;
and to Gunter Elementary
in the Gunter Independent School District
for being nominated for Texas
and named by the United States Department of Education
as National Blue Ribbon Schools.
And be it further resolved
that this resolution be presented to the principals
of the aforementioned schools
for being recognized
for excellence of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program,
and that a copy be included in the permanent records
of the State Board of Education.
Congratulations.
(applause)
We do, we have group two.
Congratulations recipients.
Thank you for all the outstanding work you're doing
in our Texas public schools.
At this time, if I can get
group two up.
And we've got Crestview Elementary.
We've got Jeannie Reed Elementary School,
Hector J. Garcia Early College High School,
Lions Elementary School,
Stanton Smith Elementary School,
RF Hartman Elementary School.
And I will need
Member Mercer,
Member Cargill,
Member Perez,
Member Allen,
Member Ellis,
and Member Miller
in the circle with their recipients.
(group chatter)
Alright, here we go.
Whereas, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program
recognizes elementary, middle and high schools
where students perform at very high levels;
whereas, a National Blue Ribbon Schools flag
overhead is a mark of excellence
in education;
whereas, in 2017, Texas nominated
26 schools to be recognized
for their students' achievements;
and whereas, these 26 schools were then named
2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools
by the United States Department of Education;
now, therefore, be it resolved
that the Texas State Board of Education
does hereby extend its congratulations
to Eastwood Academy
and Lions Elementary School
in the Houston Independent School District;
to Lawn Elementary School
in the Jim Ned Consolidated Independent School District;
to Crestview Elementary
in the Judson Independent School District;
to Kip Shine Prep
of Kip Houston;
to Jenny Reed
Elementary School
in the La Port Independent School District;
to Hector J. Garcia Elementary School
in the Laredo Independent School District;
to Rancho Verde Elementary School
in the Los Fresnos
Consolidated Independent School District;
and be it further resolved
that the State Board of Education
does hereby extend its congratulations
to Montgomery Intermediate School
in the Montgomery Independent School District;
to Oakwood Elementary School
in the Oakwood Independent School District;
to Travis Early College High School
in the San Antonio Independent School District;
to Stanton Smith Elementary School
in the White House Independent School District;
to RF Hartman
Elementary School
in the Wiley Independent School District;
and to Via Verde
Early College High School
in the East Leta
Independent School District
for being nominated
by Texas
and named by the United States Department of Education
as National Blue Ribbon Schools.
And be it further resolved
that this resolution be presented
to the principals
of the aforementioned
schools for being recognized for excellence
through the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program,
and that a copy be included
in the permanent records
of the State Board of Education.
Congratulations.
(applause)
That's it.
(group chatter)
Madam Chair, I move for the adoption
of the Blue Ribbon Schools Resolution.
-: All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: Resolution is adopted.
-: I believe we have one more resolution
this morning, Madam Chair.
So this marks the
fourth year that the State Board recognizes students
with the Student Heroes Award.
This award presented to students from elementary schools
through high school
who provide outstanding
charitable or volunteer work
that benefit their classmates
or their communities.
One student is selected from each board district.
Each year, we learn
the remarkable acts of kindness
and generosity through the nominations
for this award.
And this year was no exception.
We present these awards to the students
at their school rather than asking students to come
to Austin to receive this award
because we hope local recognition
of their good deeds will inspire their classmates
to preform their own acts of kindness.
You'll be able to see
these young heroes in a slide show
that will run on TV monitors
as I read this resolution out loud.
Whereas, the State Board of Education's
Heroes for Children Award
recognizes students,
recognizes Texas public school
students' achievements
who engage in unselfish acts of charity
or service that benefit their fellow students
or community;
and whereas, the SBOE received nominations
and selected 15 students across the state
as recipients
of the 2018 Student Heroes Award;
and whereas,
Mayely Carrasco,
a sophomore at Odessa High School
in Ector County Independent School District,
provided support and encouragement
to classmates
with the creation of a suicide prevention
support group;
and whereas, Horacio-Garcia Rojas,
a junior at IDEA McAllen College Preparatory School,
has funded 23,000 free
chemotherapy treatments
by collecting 23 million caps
as part of a Caps for Chemo program;
and whereas, with a simple Christmas wish
for a blanket for her brother,
Crystal Pacheco,
a first grade student at Monte Cristo Elementary
in Edinburg CISD,
became the spark that launched a blanket drive
that raised 1500 blankets;
whereas, Caleb Elam,
a junior at Fir High School
in Houston ISD,
is involved in nearly a dozen community service projects
that include food drives,
mentoring, tutoring,
and assisting non-profit organizations;
and whereas, Samantha Sanchez,
a sophomore at Ronald Reagan High School
in the North East Independent School District,
who was so moved
to provide blankets to homeless children
that she created a non-profit foundation
called Sam's Covers
and to date has delivered 1600 fleece blankets;
whereas, Hannah Keller,
a junior at Stratford High School
in Spring Branch ISD,
has found a multitude of ways to help
and befriend refugees
and under schooled classmates including
creating the One World Club;
and whereas, Callie Jourdan,
a senior at Port Neches Grove High School
in Port Neches ISD,
is a Red Cross volunteer
who exhibited leadership
and a calm demeanor
as she helped staff,
as she helped a staff,
a shelter after Hurricane Harvey hit the coast,
and whereas, Katherine Fouch,
a sixth grade student
of Pecan Trail Intermediate School
in College Station ISD,
created the No One Sits Alone Initiative
to help all students feel included
and appreciated;
whereas, Damiano "DJ" Sanders,
a fifth grade student
at Regee Elementary School in Nacodoches ISD,
takes care of
others in need,
whether it is carrying their books
or giving them a pat on the back
or providing them encouragement;
and whereas, Lance White,
a cancer patient
and junior at Senior Park High School
in Leander ISD,
used his own experience
as a springboard
to create Lift Brigade,
a charity that provides support
for pediatric cancer patients
and their families;
whereas, Ella Pursley, a student
at North Ridge Middle School
at Birdville ISD,
has provided more than 700 hours
of community service
hosting birthday parties
for homeless children
and serving as a buddy for special needs children;
and whereas, Braden Munn,
a senior at Highland Park High School
in Highland Park ISD.
heads the Community Service Council,
provided math tutoring,
serves as an orientation counselor,
and is a liaison between the schools
and communities;
whereas,
Eghosa
Egbenoma,
a sophomore
at James Bowie High School
in Arlington ISD,
has volunteered
in every aspect
of the DFW Metroplex
Toys for Tots program
for the past four years;
whereas, Blake Travis,
a fifth grade student
at Dagan Elementary School
in Lewisville ISD,
launched and has rapidly grown
a toy drive
that provides gifts
for hospitalized children;
whereas, Tinsley Drake,
a fourth grade student
at Jose S. Rameriz Elementary School
in Lubbock ISD,
handcrafts jewelry
that she sells to raise funds to support
Open Door,
a charity that assists homeless people;
and whereas, these amazing students
have modeled caring
and compassion in their communities;
now, therefore, be it resolved
that the State Board of Education extends
its heartfelt thanks
to each of these kind students
and commends them
for their unselfish volunteerism,
good character,
and integrity.
And be it further resolved
that this resolution be presented
to each of them
and that a copy be included
in the permanent records
of the State Board of Education.
Witness our signatures this 15th day
of June, 2018,
Austin, Texas.
Chaired by Donna Bahorich,
Secretary Ruben Cortez.
(applause)
So, this is probably one of the most amazing, I think,
awards that
this body has created.
So just want to commend all these kids.
Madam Chair, I move
that we adopt the resolution.
-: All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: Resolution is adopted.
Thank you.
Mr. Maynard: Madam Chair.
-: Yes.
Oh sorry.
Mr. Maynard.
-: I think we would be remiss
if we didn't just remind ourselves
that I believe this was,
this was sort of the vision of
Barbara Cargill.
And so,
what a legacy that is for Barbara,
and thank you for that.
And so, in need of perpetuity,
as we recognize young people
who have a heart of service
and thank you for that vision.
-: I'd like to echo that.
I love doing that cause I always do a surprise
for my person.
And I just love that,
that award because it just really
exemplifies what you want.
Cause it's about the character of our kids.
It's not just what's in their head.
It's about where there heart is
and where their attitude of service is
and who they are as people,
and folks of integrity.
So it's just so awesome to see
how giving the kids are,
and the creative ways they think of serving
their fellow students in the community.
It's just amazing, even from really little bitty ones.
That's the thing that amazes me.
If the numbers of entries we get for just little guys
that are starting out with a heart of service.
The more we can encourage that,
the better.
And so yes, thank you Chair,
former Chair Cargo,
Cargill,
for thinking of this brainchild
because it really is a wonderful award.
Thank you so much.
Woman: I thought one of the hardest ones--
-: It is the heart.
Go ahead, Ms. Melton--
-: That's probably one of the hardest jobs
that we have
because as I read through those nominations,
it's extremely hard to pick.
And I'm sure I echo for the rest of you too.
Sometimes, it's just, you know,
that's the hardest job we do.
-: Yeah, you'd really like to give one to every child,
that is for sure.
And congratulations to all these
student heroes.
They're really an inspiration to all of us.
Okay members,
moving on.
Public testimony.
We don't have any persons registered to testify today.
And so now we'll move on to the Consent Agenda,
which is in Roman numeral nine
in your Board Agenda book.
And I'll read through the Consent Agenda items.
Hello Commissioner.
We just wanted to give you a wave back here.
(laughter)
Number one, review an adoption of Long Term
Strategic Asset Allocation Plan
of the Permanent School Fund.
Item two, review of the report
on Permanent School Fund
percentage distribution rates
under consideration for Fiscal Years
2020 and 2021.
Item number three,
per capita apportionment rate
for the 2017-2018 school year.
Number four, ratification of the purchases
and sales of the investment portfolio
of the Permanent School Fund
for the months of March and April, 2018.
Number five, decision on real estate investments.
Number six, review of the Permanent School Fund
Real Estate Annual Tactical Plan.
Number seven,
review of the Permanent School Fund
private equity investment policy and guidelines.
Number eight was pulled from the agenda.
It was discussed, as I understand it,
but pulled from the agenda.
And number nine,
that was on the review of the Bond Guarantee Program
charter capacity.
That was pulled from the agenda.
Number nine, adoption of the review
of 19 TAC
Chapter 61
School District Subchapter A,
Board of Trustees Relationship.
Is there any objection to approving
the Consent Agenda?
Yes, Mrs. Miller.
(inaudible)
Okay, Mrs. Miller needs to recuse herself
from the Real Estate vote.
Hearing no objections,
the Consent Agenda is adopted,
or approved.
Now, item number three,
and I believe Ms. Martinez,
you had something for us
that you were gonna bring back today.
You know, should I take just
like a five minute break?
Cause I forgot about the pictures back here.
So we're gonna take just a few minutes
just you know, let's reassemble at 10 'til,
how's that?
10 minutes 'til.
Members, I'm gonna pull us all back together
so we can continue with our agenda.
I know some of us have early planes.
So on your Board Agenda,
item I dash one,
this is Committee of the Full Board minutes.
And I believe Mr. Rowley has that responsibility.
Mr. Rowley, where,
whoops, did I start us off without him?
Okay, sorry.
I think somebody's got my COI minutes.
I think I lent them to somebody.
Can I get another copy of those?
Okay, thank you.
-: Are you ready for Committee of the Full Board Minutes?
Sorry, okay.
So this is on page one of your minutes.
It's board,
it's action item two.
It's on Board Agenda, page I dash one.
Board Agenda, I dash one.
Approval of Proclamation 2020 Questions and Answers.
And it is recommended that the State Board of Education
approve Proclamation 2020 Questions and Answers.
Woman: Madam Chair.
Ms. Bahorich: Yes.
So this is Monica.
-: I'm gonna sit back here, if that's okay.
Just briefly, during your break,
we did distribute a handout.
It says 71.
So during the committee meeting earlier this week,
we indicated that we would make an adjustment
to the question about the word search.
So this proposed adjustment
would strongly encourage that the word search feature
be kept in teacher materials for Proclamation 2020.
So if the board
is interested, you could amend the proclamation
before you take the final vote
to adjust this one question.
-: Would anyone like to make a motion to do so?
Mr. Rowley.
(inaudible)
So the motion is to amend the question,
the answer if you will,
to Question 71 in
the Proclamation 2020 Questions and Answers
that would say the word search feature
requirement is specific to pre-adoption samples,
which are made available to the public
through TEA's website.
The feature is used to
search for specific words and phrases
within the student and teacher materials.
Publishers are strongly encouraged
to include the word search feature
in the final version
of teacher materials.
All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: All those opposed, say no.
That motion is adopted.
And now we're back to the
approval.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're back to the main motion.
And so the main motion before us
as put forward by Member Rowley
was to approve Proclamation 2020
Questions and Answers as amended.
All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: All those opposed, say no.
Motion is adopted.
Now we're on to Texas Certificate
of High School Equivalency.
Mr. Rowley, continue on.
-: Okay.
Texas certificate--
Donna: Yeah, so it was withdrawn,
but I didn't know if you wanted to--
-: Oh, okay, yeah.
The committee took no action.
Donna: Took no action, okay.
-: Okay, and then I believe
items four and five were on the consent
agenda, right.
Okay.
So we're on action item six,
page three of the board minutes.
Item six, page three of the board minutes.
That's on Board Agenda, page I dash 15.
And it's recommended that the State Board of Education
approve for second reading and final adoption,
(clears throat) excuse me,
propose new 19 TAC Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements, Subchapter C,
(clears throat) I'm just speechless.
Other Provisions, Sections 74.39,
Requirements for Instruction on Proper Interaction
with Peace Officers,
and make an affirmative finding
for the immediate adoption
of proposed new 19 TAC Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements, Subchapter C,
under the provisions, Section 74.39,
Requirements for Instruction
on Proper Interaction with Peace Officers
as Necessary
shall have and effective date of August 27th, 2018.
-: Okay, members,
because a vote of two-thirds of the members
of the board is necessary for that earlier effective date,
I'll ask you for a show of hands.
All those in favor, hold your hands up.
All those opposed, hold your hands up.
Okay, the motion is adopted
with that earlier effective date
of August 27th, 2018.
Okay, moving on.
-: Okay, this is action item seven
on top of page four
of your board minutes.
This is Board Agenda I dash 23.
And it is recommended that the State Board of Education
approve for first reading
and filing authorization
proposed new 19 TAC Chapter 113,
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
for Social Studies,
Subchapter C,
High School,
Section 113.50.
You know what, I might have been reading the wrong one.
Well up until that.
Ms. Bahorich: No, that's right.
-: There we go.
Ethnic Studies, Mexican-American Studies,
One Credit, as amended by the Committee of the Full Board.
Woman: Madam Chair.
Donna: Yes.
-: So we did,
we are currently distributing a copy of
the rule text that includes the amendments
that are reflected in your minutes.
We thought you might want to see
that language
before you take the vote.
So the highlighted language
is what was amended by the Committee of the Full Board.
-: Right, cause we were doing a good job
on first reading of getting amendments done.
(laughter)
Yay.
Okay.
So go ahead and look that over.
Just take a second and look it over.
And this has been emailed yet or no?
Okay, well make sure that that gets emailed to everybody.
Yeah, we just
had some amendments
and very few
cause the course was good.
Okay.
So the motion before us was to approve
for first reading and filing authorization
for proposed new 19 TAC Chapter 113,
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
for Social Studies,
Subchapter C, High School,
Chapter 113.50,
Ethnic Studies,
Mexican-American Studies,
One Credit, as amended by the Committee of the Full Board.
This is voice vote only.
All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: All those opposed, say no.
Alright, that motion is adopted.
Mr. Rowley: Madam Chair, I believe
that's all the action items.
-: On the Committee of the Full Board.
Mr. Rowley: On the Committee of the Full Board.
-: Okay, I believe the next one is
Committee of Instruction.
And let me get to it.
Let's all get to our notes on that.
Ms. Melton-Malone.
-: Alright, the first,
the first motion is on page two,
about the middle of the page.
This is
proposed amendment to 19 TAC,
Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements,
Subchapter C,
Other Provisions,
74.24, Credit by Examination.
This is for second reading
and filing adoption
and is in your Board Agenda book
on two one.
Madam Chair, on behalf of the Committee on Instruction,
I move that the State Board of Education
approve for second reading and filing adoption
the proposed amendment
to 19 TAC
Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements,
Subchapter C,
Other Provisions
74.24, Credit by Examination,
as substituted
and make an affirmative finding
that immediate adoption of the proposed amendment
to 19 TAC Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements
Subchapter C,
Other Provisions,
74.24, Credit by Examination,
is necessary and shall have an effective date
of August 27th, 2018.
(inaudible)
It's on page two.
(inaudible)
Ms. Bahorich: Sorry members,
I was on the wrong agenda item here.
Alright.
Yes.
Yes, Mr. Rowley.
-: Discussion and some
additions, proposed additions
with regard to this.
Ms. Bahorich: Okay, terrific.
-: Okay.
(inaudible)
I think we just,
let Mr. Rowley
see what he wants to recommend here.
Go ahead, Mr. Rowley.
-: Well it may be that,
are those the changes from the original text?
-: Yes.
-: Okay.
-: Madam Chair,
attachment A in your minutes
is what the committee
voted on yesterday.
-: I think that's really important to look
at what was
because we amended as of yesterday,
so I want to make sure everybody's looking
at the right document
if we passed this other document out.
-: [Ms. Melton-Malone] It's on page five.
(group chatter)
-: Yes.
Also in the email.
-: Okay, and members,
I guess I'm asking for your indulgence here
this morning.
I know typically on Friday, we don't
take up more weighty matters like this,
but this Credit by Examination
affects,
or the changes to this rule,
affects Texas Tech University
and also UT Austin,
who are the
preparers, I guess,
of these credits by examination
as well as local school districts.
Some of us maybe,
I don't know how many, have been,
have been contacted by email
also from TASA
with regard to some changes that they
had proposed.
I think everyone was
at the committee meeting yesterday.
And all of this was fully discussed.
But early this morning,
I was provided with
some additional proposed changes
to the text of this rule.
So if possible, what I would like to do
is to ask maybe Ms. Martinez
to maybe address
some of these
because I know by the way
Ms. Martinez and others have
been involved in extensive conversations
with all of the interested parties
in an attempt to arrive
at a rule that is
workable for everyone.
So it's been really a big effort
and everyone's worked very hard to do that.
It's my understanding that TASA
has some additional proposed changes
this morning even to the latest text.
Okay.
So what I'm going to do
is to raise those.
I guess about the only way to do it
parliamentary wise
in the form of a motion to amend.
And then I will allow,
ask Ms. Martinez to address these.
And then we can vote from there.
Is that permissible, Madam Chair?
Ms. Bahorich: Yeah.
I think that's the only way we can do that.
-: Okay.
Ms. Bahorich: But I think we should pass out,
go ahead and pass out the things
that Marty's gonna be reading off of,
it seems like.
Is that what you'd like?
-: Yes please.
That would be helpful.
Cause it's gonna get pretty complicated.
And for the most part, I'm just like that.
I've got one, thank you.
I'd like to just hear Ms. Martinez
give an explanation for these
and then at least I would have proposed
them to the group.
-: Okay, I want to make sure.
Has everybody got their,
the attachment?
Is it on the right page for the latest?
'cause we amended pretty heavily yesterday
in committee.
So I just want to make sure that we're.
(inaudible)
Attached to the minutes.
Yeah, if you've got that one, you're in good shape.
-: Yeah, and just by way of further explanation,
there were
a number of substantive amendments
that took place yesterday in the committee.
And so this is at first blush,
or the first presentation of this rule text
as it exists today.
So that's why we're having to have a conversation
this morning.
But even to take it one step further,
my understanding is
that if we do not act on the rule today,
then essentially the prior rule
goes into effect,
or stays in effect,
which then, I don't think is acceptable to TEA
because this is all about
raising the level of accountability
and validity, validation,
of the rules
for Credit by Examination.
Mr. Maynard: Point of information.
-: That's everything I know.
-: I'm looking at the,
I'm looking at this draft in the minutes
and so the, what is underlined and,
well, what is bold-faced,
are those the amendments from yesterday?
-: So Mr. Maynard,
some of the,
and that's a very good question.
So some of the language that is in bold
with a double underline
is our recommended changes since
what was posted for first reading.
So, many of these adjustments were made
in response to public comment.
And in many instances,
incorporate recommendations that were made by
TASA and others.
There were some additional amendments that were made
by the committee yesterday,
and I can walk you through
and point out what the additional changes
that were made by the committee.
So the first one is going to be on
B1.
It should be the first page, I believe.
No, yeah.
Bottom of page one
where it says the Board of Trustees
shall approve an audit process
to be completed for assessments
for acceleration.
So that was added by the committee yesterday.
On the next page, C1,
you'll see comparable language.
The Board of Trustees shall approve an audit process
to be completed for examinations
under subparagraph B3 of this paragraph.
If you look down,
I'm sorry, on the next page,
3B,
there was a reference to some language,
and the committee felt like it made more sense
to reference paragraph 2D
to ensure consistency.
So that change was made by the committee.
And then four B three,
the committee asked staff to take a look at
that language that had said
yield comparable results
among test,
among subgroups.
What we tried to do here was, again,
to make sure that
the language was both reasonable
and met the expectation of ensuring high quality,
valid and reliable assessments.
And so the language was adjusted to clarify
that the expectation is
for comparable distribution of results
across tested subgroups.
And the idea here is to make clear
that if a school district
doesn't have certain subgroups
that they're testing,
then there wouldn't be an expectation
that they addressed results for those subgroups.
It's only for the students that they test.
And so we feel like
this also helps
within the school districts
to make sure that we've got a clear and
reasonable expectation there.
And then, language in number five,
it had said the, approval
by the Texas Education Agency.
This says if
a test provider needs additional time,
so this wouldn't be an explicit requirement,
but should,
and we think that this is really applicable
to potentially to
one or both of the universities.
If they needed additional time
to address the comparable distribution of results,
then they could come and get approval from you,
the State Board of Education,
for that additional time.
So that was a change that the committee made.
And then finally,
at the request of the testifiers,
6d,
they ask that some language be added
related to results and to specify
that there's a difference between students
who take the test, having had prior instruction,
and students who didn't.
I think in the comments you received,
there are terms to include credit recovery
and acceleration.
We didn't use those terms in the rule
because that's not
the terminology that we use in the rule.
So we tried our best to capture what
the request was in that new 6d.
-: Madam Chair,
just a follow up on my point of information,
and just to make sure that
if I can ask staff
is that, so
the intent of the revision
was to do what?
Just overall, just give me the,
just a 30,000 foot view.
And then the objection
that kind of came from the field,
how would you, just in general,
sort of characterize that?
What is sort of the philosophical
or the practical tension
between what was originally proposed
and what the discussion was?
-: So, in terms of the reason that you're considering
these rule amendments today,
several years ago,
the legislature passed a law
that requires districts to exempt students from
end of course assessments
if they take and earn credit through Credit by Exam.
At that time, the board took action
to build in additional requirements for CBE
to ensure that we had appropriate
validity and reliability.
You gave all test providers
a number of years to implement that requirement.
The requirement needs to go into place
beginning with the 2018-19 school year
according to the current rule, if you take no action.
We did learn that
we had reason to believe
that there were not going to be test providers
under the current rule
who would be able to meet
all requirements to make exams available.
So staff
placed this item on your agenda.
We tried to take a look at where
the challenges were
and made some recommendations
to decrease the requirements
that are in the current rule.
So that was the initial proposal
that was brought to you
for discussion
when we first brought this issue up.
After that discussion,
we received some feedback that
the recommendations were not clear.
So at first reading,
we did our best to try to provide that clarification.
We referenced a document
that the agency
has as part of their technical digest for assessments
that we thought would be helpful.
We learned that we were wrong
and that that was not helpful.
In fact, that created more confusion,
which was not our intent.
You had already taken a vote for first reading
filing authorization.
But we did, at the request of the chair,
continue to work to try to make sure
that the proposal included
reasonable expectations
and as was mentioned,
we had several conversations
that resulted in
most of the language that you see in bold.
I do not want to speak for
the intent of anyone who is come to
raise any concerns to you.
What I can tell you is that there were
comments that we received
during the official public comment period.
And is often the case,
we will suggest that you consider certain changes.
But we don't always agree that the changes are
the most appropriate direction to take with the rule.
And that's what happened here.
We tried our very best to incorporate
as many of the adjustments as we felt
were reasonable.
We did receive,
I received some informal feedback from
at least one entity that while
I think they,
it wouldn't be their preference,
they felt like what we were
presenting was doable.
That was not, I don't think a consistent message.
And I think there was not complete agreement
in all of the comments that we received.
And so we tried to do our best
to work through all of that
to give you a proposal
that we feel is a sound proposal.
Mr. Maynard: Thank you.
Mr. Rowley still has the floor, I believe,
actually.
Ms. Bahorich: Ms. Beltran,
why don't you speak and then Ms. Hardy.
-: I just had a question
for Monica as a followup for background.
So how much time
have these entities had to
prepare,
how much time has gone by?
-: So you approved the,
you adopted the rules in 2014.
The original rule.
Probably,
we'll say a little over three years probably.
So the rule was adopted
so that folks could begin this process
back in 2014.
And it actually goes into effect in terms of being
able to offer exams for students
at the start of the 18-19 school year.
-: So the rules were adopted,
but then, there's sometimes we put stuff way ahead
so that there's a lot of preparation.
People know exactly what you're trying to do.
-: Alright, just as a followup,
and so all the entities have had
lots of notice,
some sort of understanding.
There was still
a threshold that
we felt, they felt they couldn't meet,
which is part of the changes that we're doing now.
But the entities have had,
since 2014 at least,
those have been understood as the expectations.
-: Yes, ma'am, that's correct.
-: To be made, okay.
-: Well, and I understand there's been
a long standing attempt
to try to see how to do exactly what was in
the rule that was passed in 2014.
Then the complications came up, and so
that's been the response we've gotten.
(microphone cuts out)
-: I just have a quick question.
I want to make sure that what we're talking about here
effects the Credit by Exams
that are the STAAR,
or EOC tested areas.
-: I believe those are the amendments
that Mr. Rowley are going to offer, I think.
We haven't talked about them yet,
but I believe so.
-: Madam Chair,
if I may clarify.
I think that's an important distinction.
So there are requirements for all exams.
The requirements for the five courses
that have EOC's are the more stringent.
And I think that is what has garnered the bulk
of the conversation
since this came up.
Ms. Bahorich: Mr. Rowley.
-: So the sections to which I have,
that I've been asked to address
is section four, first Monica,
if I could--
Four B, Romanette three,
in particular.
And that does, Member Hardy, deal with
end of course exams.
And maybe a question for clarification
for staff.
And then I'll determine
how much further I move forward on this.
And that is
when you say that
an exam has been externally validated
and determined to,
this is four B,
has been externally validated
and determined to
yield comparable distribution
of results
across tested subgroups.
What does distribution of results mean?
-: So Dr. Schwinn is here today
to assist us with the explanations
so that I don't misspeak
and get any of this--
-: Called in the big guns.
Ms. Martinez: I did.
(laughter)
-: Yeah, okay.
-: We'll temper expectations a little.
So I think that the whole wording on that
was intended to reflect
that the distribution of how students perform
on these assessments
should look relatively similar
to the distribution that you would see on the STAAR.
So the expectations aren't overly ambitious
so that you're expecting more out of students
then they would naturally perform on a STAAR assessment.
And that you're not lowering expectations
so that everyone gets a grade
that they wouldn't naturally earn.
So you should see the same distribution
of performance.
-: Okay.
And then the other
amendment or change, I'm sorry.
-: Okay, yeah, let's answer that.
I had a question on that.
-: I'm sorry.
External validation.
Is the question who would be determining that?
It would be external validations.
So you would be able to have access
to what the distribution looks like
on our STAAR assessment
for the same population or a similar population.
It would be similar to how you would do equating
on a normal STAAR.
You could see here's what we would look at.
Here's external validations
to say that this is approximately the same.
It wouldn't have to be a perfect match.
You could say this generally shows
that the level of distribution
indicates some comparability between assessments.
-: Okay, so basically in doing that,
what you're saying is
if I took the Credit by Exam from Texas Tech for
biology one,
that that test
would be comparable to the
scores that the kids made
if they took the regular STAAR test.
Dr. Schwinn: That the distribution would be the same.
-: The distribution.
-: Yeah, so you would see,
so let's say,
let's do a biracial group,
racial student population.
You would say on this,
on a normal distribution for that specific district
or area,
you have 60% of students from this particular student group
perform at this level.
You have something relatively similar
on this Credit by Exam test.
That you'd have some level of comparability there.
It wouldn't necessarily mean
the proficiency levels are the same.
We wouldn't have the ability to do that kind of study.
But we would be able to say as an approximation
if the performance,
if the graphs of the performance approximately match.
That that's a good indicator
that the test is treating all students equally,
that it's not making it too hard for some students
and too easy for others.
-: And these, whether it's Texas Tech
or whether it's Cypress Fairbanks,
they would send this information to you guys
and you all would look at it
and relative to each other.
-: I'm looking at Monica to see about from process
whether they would send it to us
or what level of data they would send to us.
But there would be kind of a,
we wouldn't be the ones doing the external validation.
I can say that.
That would have to be,
that would be done elsewhere.
-: So the way that this is set up is that
we just say external validation.
So in other words,
the folks who are developing the test
should then be going in
and taking a look at
whether they need these expectations.
We weren't,
we didn't specify that they didn't have to get
a certain group to do this
to give them the flexibility
to make those kinds of determinations.
But the idea would just be
that if I'm writing the test,
I shouldn't be the one that
then goes in to verify
that it meets these expectations.
-: Well, I certainly understand that,
but then necessitates another expense
or what on the part of the person giving the test,
on the validation thing.
-: So it doesn't necessarily need to
in and of itself generate an expense.
There are any number of ways that this could be done.
I think part of conversations that I recall is
it may be that two school districts
could review each others.
That would be external.
There was a question, I think,
in the conversation yesterday
about an education service center doing that review.
So as long as there was,
they identified
an individual,
and I think that's where the committee
was looking to
build in some language that says
the school district board of trustees
should be making these decisions about
the appropriate entities
and the appropriate processes.
Ms. Hardy: Okay, thank you.
-: I do have a question to follow up on that.
I want to make sure, because we did talk about that.
I didn't quite see it captured,
but maybe I'm just missing it.
That the school board of trustees,
because we said in the audit process,
but we didn't really
draw attention to that.
And maybe I'm just missing it,
where the school board trustees
about the development process,
you know, that they would approve that.
That's the only thing that I was wondering
if I'm just missing that.
-: So, my,
Ms. Bahorich: We talked about development
and an audit--
-: There are a couple of different places.
So, A four,
says a school district,
this is current rule,
this has been in place for a very long time.
A school district must have the approval
of the school district board of trustees
to develop its own tests
or to purchase examinations
that thoroughly test the essential knowledge and skills
in the applicable grade level or subject.
So that,
Ms. Bahorich: But I don't know that that says--
-: If you wanted to add the development process,
you could probably do that in B one.
I didn't have that in my notes.
What I had in my notes was the process for auditing.
-: Yeah, I think that would, to me,
get at having the school board
kind of oversee.
Like what does that look like
for external development,
you know, the whole development,
like what are we expecting there,
I mean to me?
Am I missing that?
Okay.
So that would be the right place to put that,
to develop its own tests.
Develop its own test or purchase examinations,
to develop and approve the process
to develop its own tests.
So we add that as an amendment, possibly?
Because we had great agreement on that yesterday
within the committee when we were talking about that.
And so I was expecting it in the notes, that's all.
Okay, no, that's fine.
Okay, before I offer that amendment,
or maybe somebody,
I don't know if somebody else
wants to offer that amendment or not.
Or can I, should I--
I have a follow-up question before we get away from that.
Yeah.
Okay, absolutely.
Go ahead.
-: Okay.
So that I understand,
(inaudible) or Monica,
either one.
So prior to the first administration
of the exam, right,
so before it's even offered.
So between now and 2018,
or 2019-2020.
That's when this is going into effect.
Here's my question.
Can a provider of the Credit by Examination,
such as oh, Texas Tech, for example,
are they going to have access
to the distribution of test results
for STAAR subgroups
and in advance of when this rule goes into effect
so that they can have an external validation
of their exam?
Or is this going to take
Texas Tech, or maybe even UT,
I don't know,
but certainly Texas Tech,
out of the market for a year
until they can
get this
validation done?
-: So that was,
that's a very good question, Mr. Rowley,
and that was the reason for that new number five.
It is my understanding
that for Texas Tech,
that B3 was the last piece,
so they have been working on this.
And I think to Ms. Beltran's point,
they've been working through this
for some time.
My understanding was that B3
was that the piece that was the hangup
and that was the reason to say in number five
that they could get approval
to do that
over a longer period of time.
And we could certainly adjust that language.
This should all happen before they administer the exam,
but if you wanted to allow them to go ahead
and administer the exams
that had met all the other requirements
while they work on this,
then that felt like a way
to help address both issues.
-: I'm in favor of that.
Okay.
So am I gonna have to come up with rule change language
today to do that?
-: Well, so that's,
that's what was intended by number five.
I think there's one of two things that you could do.
You could either clarify number five
or as the board chair has asked,
the agency can put out an FAQ for you
to clarify, as we often do with rules,
because we just can't possibly capture
every possible detail
in a rule.
So I think it's really up to the will of the board
how you'd like to address that.
-: Okay, just so to clarify that,
so if there's an FAQ,
frequently asked question,
and you say, TEA says
that a provider of the test
can, if it meets all the other criteria,
then with regard to 4B,
romanette three, I guess is what we're talking about
that they would have a longer period of time
within which to meet that criteria?
Monica: Correct.
-: And you can do that by clarification
and not by rule change.
-: Well that's what number five attempted to say.
So if you were more comfortable,
certainly you could adjust the language in five
to try to
say what you just said,
because we may not have done it as eloquently
as you just did.
But that was the intent of number five.
-: And just to understand that,
so then they would need to have
in the September SBOE meeting,
so for what school year does this go into effect?
Monica: 18-19.
-: Like now, right.
And so in our September board meeting,
they would have, Tech would have to come before us
and get
kind of an exemption or at least a
some type of waiver,
there you go,
a waiver for
with regard to that particular point.
But they would have to do it in September.
And they're already given the credits by exam
by then, aren't they?
Ms. Ramos, can you shed some light on that subject?
Ms. Ramos: So Mr. Rowley,
your current rules are more stringent
than these.
They don't meet those criteria currently.
-: But my understanding--
-: So they're not offering the Credit by Exams
for the end of course.
Mr. Rowley: In their opinion,
it's impossible to meet those.
-: That's correct.
That's what they shared with us yesterday.
-: Alright.
And so it's not it's not physically possible
for them to do that.
Ms. Ramos: That's correct.
-: Okay.
Well, alright, so what I'm hearing then,
and sorry members to belabor this,
but I don't know any other way to do it.
-: Mr. Rowley,
here's some possible language.
So we would add approval may authorize
use of the assessment
if the assessment meets all other criteria
during the period authorized
by the State Board of Education
to achieve the comparable results.
Mr. Rowley: So moved.
(laughter)
Ms. Bahorich: Do I have a second on that?
Woman: I'll second it.
-: Okay, any other discussion
on that particular
motion to amend?
All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: All those opposed, say no.
Motion is adopted.
Okay, members, I do have another amendment
I'd like to offer.
And Mr. Rowley may have some other ones.
I just want to go ahead and finish addressing.
And Dr. Ellis, did you want to say something
before I do this amendment?
-: Well I had a question on
B3?
I don't know where that's falling in
on what you're about to propose,
on the comparable distribution.
Ms. Bahorich: I'm sorry.
-: On four B three,
about the comparable distribution results.
Is that where you're going?
Ms. Bahorich: No, no, I was talking
about development news.
-: Okay, so let me,
and Dr. Schwinn, I want to ask you this question
about that part on four B three,
which is yield comparable distribution results
across tested subgroups.
As was brought out yesterday at a hearing,
the population taking this exam
is very bimodal.
You have the accelerated student group
who's gonna perform typically higher.
And you're gonna have the remediation
student group, which is gonna typically
perform maybe a little lower.
Are we comparing that against
the entire student population
that would take an EOC or STAAR test?
And if so, how do you get a comparable distribution
when they're really different student subsets?
Does that make sense?
-: It does make sense.
So it's similar to if we were looking
at like online testing,
which doesn't have the same distribution state wide
as paper testing on STAAR.
So we would look at who actually takes the test.
What is the characterization
of that student population?
Ann you would compare that to a like group.
So if you had kind of outlier groups, for example,
on either end,
then you would essentially take
a similar population
and you'd create what's essentially
like a mock student group
and compare those results together,
which we can do.
We can look at prior performance.
We can look at prior performance of those students
on the STAAR.
And we can look at similar student groups
to see how they perform.
So let's say you take a,
you look at all the demographic indicators
of a particular group of students.
You look at who took that.
You look at how those students in Texas
performed on the STAAR.
You can see similar distribution models.
So there's a couple of different ways
you can get at that,
but that's part of what the analysis would be.
-: That's what I wanted to make sure
is the agency had the ability to do that.
-: It is possible
for it to be done.
I don't think it's the agency who would be doing that work,
but it would take a groups of, I think,
very brilliant psychometricians
who would be able to look at that.
So if you have external validation,
then there's quite a few people
who could do that work.
The agency would also be able to look at those results
and determine whether or not that makes sense,
how it was done.
Dr. Ellis: Okay, thank you.
-: Yeah, it's like (inaudible) job.
Ms. Bahorich: Yes, Ms. Hardy.
-: I'm trying to,
as everyone is,
to understand this.
But what, and I commend the
agency if this is the way,
what they are doing.
They are making sure
that whatever test
that kids are expected to take,
this body of five tests.
So it has nothing to do with the other
Credit by Exams that people take for different things
all the time,
whether it's to make up
for missing a class
or to move ahead.
But these five need to have
a set of criteria
that is very, very stringently observed
because otherwise,
you will open yourself,
the districts will open themselves up to
a,
I guess a test,
like they have those puppy mills,
a test mill
so that they could
very easily get,
not have to take the five core tests.
So this is what, this is like
extra protection
so that those,
it will not be a
way for people to not take the test
that other students are expected to take.
Is that the bottom line?
Dr. Schwinn: Yes ma'am.
-: And since the legislature says
that they can,
that Credit by Exams has to be accepted,
that's fine.
But if there's not a provider for that test,
or that test doesn't meet the criteria,
then that won't happen.
But that's not,
that's not the problem here
because it's not your concern
whether or not that test is available.
It's just that if those tests call themselves available,
you want them to make sure they meet that high criteria.
Dr. Schwinn: Correct.
Yes.
-: Okay.
-: I also just want to make a really quick point
of clarification.
There's the state law, that federal law
still requires students to take three assessments,
an english, a math, and a science in high school.
So we have a list of substitute assessments
that students can take.
But it's not, the state law doesn't waive them
from the federal requirement on that.
So we're really talking about two assessments
that would be part of this window.
And that's social studies
and one of the english assessments.
So that's, otherwise they have to
take a substitute assessment anyway.
So that's kind of,
from an accountability perspective.
I would also just share that.
Ms. Bahorich: Mr. Rowley.
-: And to springboard somewhat
off of Dr. Ellis' comment,
I'd like to draw attention to 6d as well.
And 6d now deals with the reporting
and not the validation approval, right.
Okay, and so with regard to 6d,
when it says results for all tested subgroups,
disaggregated by students who received prior instruction
and students with no prior instruction.
Is that intended to reference
accelerated students
versus credit recovery?
Is that the right word for the other students?
-: Yes sir.
Yeah, we were just trying to
be consistent with the language
that is used in the--
-: Okay, just so we know,
when this goes into the legislative intent,
okay, right,
into the record,
and that is that
really what you're looking for there is
a reporting with regard to
how students are doing
and the distribution of those results
for students who are accelerated,
and also as another group,
those who are taking the test for
credit recovery purposes.
-: So this is language again
that was recommended to the committee
by a testifier yesterday.
We did make the adjustment.
They referred to acceleration and credit recovery.
Those are are not terms that we use in the rule,
which is why we use the other terminology.
But I honestly cannot speak to
the intent
of that additional requirement.
That is not something that came from the agency.
-: The only thing that I would say
in an FAQ, it may be appropriate
because of the objection that was raised,
has to do with,
well what if that instruction
was outside the school somehow?
That it really wasn't at the school,
but they did have prior instruction
in something from somewhere else.
And then they wanted to take the test.
And so,
that's why, you know,
okay, so which category?
I mean I think that could be handled
on an FAQ.
That's all I'm saying.
So the distinction between prior instruction
and no prior instruction
is something that was introduced in board rule
and has been in place for many years.
This is not actually a statutory requirement
or distinction.
Basically what you have said in your rules is
that if a student has prior instruction,
the student
can earn credit with a 70%
as opposed to a student who has no prior instruction.
You used to say that they had to
achieve 90%.
The legislature decided that they wanted that to be 80%.
So there is that distinction.
But the actual state statue
does not include this additional provision
with a differentiation for students
who've received prior instruction.
-: With that clarification,
I'm great.
And just to understand then
we are modifying
five or four B three,
or whatever with that additional language
that we added earlier, right.
Thank you members.
-: Okay, did you,
yes, Dr. Ellis and then Ms. Beltran.
-: In one more followup to Dr. Schwinn
for my comment I made.
You said there's psychometricians
who would analyzed this.
And I'm understanding that this would be
for school districts
who are validating their texts, correct?
-: Whoever, it would be for whichever,
whatever the test is.
So we would look at the test unit of the test.
-: The question is from a practical standpoint,
are there pools of
psychometricians can find
and practically reach out to
or afford to do this?
Would this make it
practical?
-: So I think that there's probably two answers
to your questions,
not to complicate it.
I think one, the short answer is yes.
I think that what we could do as an agency
to get to the second part of the question
is we could certainly help
to identify who those people are.
So that way it doesn't take as much work
for individual school districts to identify
those people.
We could certainly do like an agency recommended list
that they could pull from
as a way to keep the process a lot
more helpful for them.
So that's certainly a way that we could be of support.
Dr. Ellis: Okay.
-: Yes, Ms. Melton-Malone.
Oh, sorry, Ms. Beltran,
then Ms. Melton-Malone.
Sorry, I missed
Ms. Beltran.
-: Thank you, Madam Chair.
And just to clarify,
it would be the school district or a provider.
So it wouldn't only be a school district.
(inaudible)
Ms. Bahorich: Okay, so that's your comment?
-: Well, my comment to that too is
the service centers
provide that for,
a lot of the service centers do
provide that
for the school districts.
So that would be another option.
Ms. Beltran: This may be a stupid question,
and you may have answered this already,
there's no such thing as a--
-: Yeah, there's no such thing as a stupid question.
Okay, well here,
why would a student
not just be able to take an end of course exam
for course credit?
Why does it have to be
a CBE?
-: So
the STAAR assessments,
as I think many of you
are well aware,
do not test every single assessable standard
at every single administration.
So we've got a variety of limitations.
The most recent of which was that there is
a statutorily required time,
amount of time that a student,
a time limit on how long
the student takes the test.
So I think many of you have heard of
readiness versus supporting standards.
And the way that those standards
are assessed on the STAAR assessment
would include EOC.
So the idea of Credit by Exam
and this issue, I think, came up yesterday
in the committee discussion was
it is a more comprehensive test
because it is intended to cover
more of the content
than what we currently cover
in our end of course assessments.
So there is,
there is a distinction
in that way.
Yeah.
Ms. Bahorich: Yes, Ms. Cargill.
-: Did we ever get back to the motion
you wanted to insert?
Ms. Bahorich: Not yet. -: What was that?
Ms. Bahorich: I just wanted to make sure this
had been cleared up before
cause mine's kind of
a little different.
-: Forget that.
Okay.
-: Okay, so the motion that I figured out
that we could insert
that I believe would address it
and please correct me if I'm wrong,
if we're on the first page.
It's A four,
that it would now say
a school district must have the approval
of the school district board of trustees
and insert for the development
and use of it's own tests.
Sorry.
I guess the insert.
Well, I'll just read the whole thing.
Did you see.
Okay.
Sorry.
Let me do a restart.
That's what I get for making my own amendments right now.
So A five would say,
A four would say
a school district must have the approval
of the school district board of trustees
for the development
and use of it's own tests,
or to purchase examinations
that thoroughly
test the essential knowledge and skills
in the applicable grade level
or subject area.
So the insertion is
for the development and use of.
(inaudible)
That's right.
As strike two develop.
(inaudible)
Any second?
Okay.
Yeah, absolutely.
(inaudible)
Yeah, yeah.
Woman: Okay.
-: Ms. Perez.
-: So,
I know that we're gonna go in another circle here,
but what I'm hearing is that
our trustees are gonna make decisions
that,
and I've never been a trustee,
so I don't mean to speak for them but,
do our trustees feel comfortable
making these kinds of decisions?
And if this is something that TEA does
and they want psychometricians involved,
and they want validation,
and they want audit,
and et cetera, et cetera.
If there's this kind of weight on it on one side,
why is it not equally weighted on the other side?
And if that's the case,
then maybe it doesn't need to be so heavy
on either side.
Ms. Bahorich: I guess I'm
not sure what you,
what you're saying there.
-: In A four, you're saying
trustees approve
(interposing voices speaking)
-: It's an external validation
cause we're asking them to do external validation.
And so it seems like to me
that the board of trustees
would be interested.
If you're gonna approve the use of the test,
they would be involved in that
process of how are we gonna meet the rules of this test
according to the,
be involved in that development too.
-: So on one side, we're saying do you approve this.
I think probably people are comfortable
saying yes, we approve our district
doing something like that.
But on the other side,
we're asking trustees to approve an audit process
to be completed for assessment,
assessments for acceleration.
And I'm wondering
do, I mean we have two, I know of,
at least two trustees sitting here.
Do our trustees feel comfortable saying
yes, this is a good audit process
that we should be using?
Because our districts are saying psychometricians
are not the easiest people to get to.
It's not,
it's not always accessible.
It does cause a delay.
It is an extra step that,
that perhaps is not needed.
And so it feels very light on one side
and very heavy on another.
-: Ms. Madam,
(interposing voices speaking)
let me see if this helps at all.
Just for the members of the board
who were not in the committee meeting yesterday,
this language was the result of a conversation.
So there was a recommendation made
that, okay.
So we're gonna have to go back a little bit.
On A three, this audit process
was added to the rule
and it was specific to Texas Tech University
and the University of Texas at Austin
as a result of some concerns that were raised
around the appropriate alignment
to essential knowledge and skills.
At the time that those concerns were raised,
the board decided to require those two entities
to complete an external audit
of 20% of their exams every year
and send that information to the agency.
One of the things I do want to clarify
is they send that to us.
We provide it to you.
We don't approve, disapprove.
We don't comment on it.
We receive it and we give it to you.
There was a recommendation during the public comment period
that all districts who develop their own exams
be required to meet that same audit requirement
that is currently in place for the two universities.
The committee, after discussion,
decided as opposed to requiring everyone to complete
that same audit and send that to us
to hand off to you,
that it was
the desire to ask the Board of Trustees
to make sure that the district
has completed some sort of auditing process.
So there is a distinction
between that and everything else
that we've been talking about.
But that's the reason that that language,
as I understand it,
was added by the committee.
-: It was more about the local control,
of them going through this process,
not having the agency do that.
But that there are certain expectations
in the development,
in the exam,
the auditing of the exam,
that need to be paid attention to,
external validity
as required in the rules right now
would be one of those
components as part as the development piece.
Mr. Cortez.
-: And I guess my question on all that is,
in terms of that auditing,
is that auditing,
is the expectation that it's gonna happen in house
or that we're gonna use one of these psychometricians
that we are talking about.
I guess are we saying that we're going,
that through this language,
we're gonna impose an unfunded mandate
on school districts
is what I want to know.
Cause that's one of the things that
as a school trustee,
I argued about all the time.
-: Yeah, that's not my understanding.
And I think that was the reason that
instead of accepting the recommendation
that they complete the same audit that we have here,
that it be left to the district
to decide the most appropriate way
to complete an auditing process.
So I think it was
to try to minimize
exactly what you just said
which would likely be the case
if they were added into
number three above.
-: Again, trying to say the school district
can determine what that looks like,
both the development,
the use of,
as well as the auditing process.
That's all--
-: And I would add,
just it's probably worth mentioning
that this is for districts that choose to develop
their own exams.
Districts who choose to use
an exam from one of the universities
wouldn't have to do any of this.
-: Yeah, what are,
do we have any idea of numbers at all?
-: We don't.
And I think we've heard,
again, we've received different comments.
We've heard some comments
that the majority of small rural schools
will use UT and Texas Tech.
We've also heard that there are thousands
who create their own exams.
So I really can't say.
(inaudible)
Ms. Bahorich: Yes, Mr. Maynard.
Mr. Maynard: Can a school district purchase a
test from another school district?
(inaudible)
-: So your rules says
that a district must have the approval
of the district board of trustees
to develop its own test or to purchase
exams that thoroughly test
essential knowledge and skills.
So I would assume from this rule
that if another district has a test,
that that would be an option.
-: Right.
Very good.
-: Any other discussion
about that amendment?
All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: All those opposed, say no.
Motion is adopted.
Any other recommendations for changes
to the rules in front of us?
Mr. Rowley, did you?
That's it.
Okay, now we're back.
Let me find my place here.
Now we're back to the motion before us
which is
to approve for second reading
and final adoption for proposed amendments
to 19 TAC Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements, Subchapter C,
Other Provisions,
74.24
Credit by Examination,
as substituted and amended,
and make an affirmative finding that
immediate adoption of the proposed amendments
19 TAC
Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements,
Subchapter C,
Other Provisions,
74.24,
Credit by Examination,
is necessary and shall have an effective date
of August 27th,
2018.
And we'll need to do that by a show of hands.
All those in favor, please raise your hand.
All those opposed, please raise your hand.
Okay, the motion is adopted
with the earlier effective date.
Alright, moving on.
-: [Ms. Melton-Malone] Alright.
And just a quick comment,
we talked about yesterday.
If we find out that this doesn't work,
if there's some major problems
in it somewhere,
it's not set in concrete
so we can always come back to it
and work if we need to.
-: And I think too,
to just support that point
we made the board an active participant
in this process through this rule adoption.
So yes, Ms. Hardy.
-: As an added comment to this,
you might think,
or people listening might think
that this is much ado about nothing,
but I will tell you that about
12 years ago,
just by happenstance,
we discovered that one of the entities
giving the test
gave to the students
the old TEKS
to study for the test.
When you went online
to find out what you're supposed to study for the test,
they were using the wrong test of TEKS,
which told you
that they had never updated that stuff
with the new TEKS.
And so a lot of what is happening here
is to make sure everybody stays on board
with what's current
in the way of
standards,
tests as well as standards,
or standards as well as tests.
It did happen.
I'm positive.
Ms. Bahorich: Good point.
-: Alright, on to page three
in your
minutes for the Committee on Instruction.
Top of the page.
This is
proposed amendment to 19 TAC
Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements,
Subchapter C,
Other Provisions,
74.28,
Students with Dyslexia and Related Disorders.
It is your board addendum book
on page 211.
There is also an attachment in your minutes.
It's on page nine
of the changes that we added yesterday.
Basically they were just kind of,
there were things that just needed to be
addressed and it was very
minor things,
such as on
F, at the bottom,
the team that's working on the
dyslexia handbook requested,
they had said identification or evaluation.
And they wanted that switch
from evaluation or identification.
So it's just a very minor change.
And some of it was just,
there was one instance, I believe,
where
we had forgotten to put in response to intervention.
So they were very minor changes.
And
the testifiers were very acceptable to the changes.
So, on behalf of the Committee on Instruction,
I move that the State Board of Education
approve for second reading
and filing adoption the proposed amendment
to 19 TAC,
Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements,
Subchapter C,
Other Provisions,
74.28,
Students with Dyslexia and Related Disorders,
as substituted,
and make an affirmative finding
that immediate adoption
of the proposed amendment to 19 TAC,
Chapter 74,
Curriculum Requirements,
Subchapter C,
Other Provisions,
74.28,
Students with Dyslexia and Related Disorders
is necessary and shall have an effective date
of August 27th, 2018.
-: So the motion before us
needs a show of hands.
So all those in favor, please raise your hand.
All those opposed, raise your hand.
The motion is adopted with the
earlier effective date.
Alright.
Monica: Madam chair.
-: Sorry.
-: If I may, I just wanted to provide one clarification
for, again members of the board
who were not in the committee yesterday.
So concurrent with the
amendments to the dyslexia rules,
as I think you're all aware,
we are working with some committees
to update the dyslexia handbook.
There were several comments
that were received
and testimony that was provided
that asked the board to consider
incorporating the handbook
into the administrative rule.
Currently, it is just a separate document.
My understanding is that there's some support
for that notion
by the Committee on Instruction.
But we wanted to make sure that
you had an opportunity
to approve the updates to the handbook
before considering incorporating that into the rules
so that the more recent language
would be in the rule.
And so we will be taking steps to finalize this
and are anticipating that this item
will likely come back onto your agenda
in the near future
so that you can consider that additional adjustment.
I just didn't want folks to think that that was
something that was glossed over.
We're just trying to work out the right timing for that.
Ms. Bahorich: Alright, next one.
-: Alright.
And number three on page three.
This is the proposed repeal of 19 TAC
Chapter 113,
Texas Essential Knowledge
and Skills for Social Studies,
Subchapter D,
Other Social Studies Courses,
113.69,
Other Courses for Which Students
May Receive Social Studies Credit,
and 113.70, Concurrent Enrollment
in College Courses.
It's in your Board Agenda book
on 219.
Madam Chair, on behalf of the Committee on Instruction,
I move that the State Board of Education
suspend the board operating procedures
in accordance with
5.2A to allow consideration
at first reading and filing authorization
and approve for first reading and filing authorization
the proposed repeal of 19 TAC,
Chapter 113,
Texas Essential Knowledge,
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
for Social Studies,
Subchapter D,
Other Social Studies Courses, 113.69,
Other Courses for Which Students May Receive
Social Studies Credit,
and 113.70,
Concurrent Enrollment in College Courses.
-: And members, we will need a show of hands on this
and need two thirds vote
because we are suspending the board operating procedures.
All those in favor, please,
I'm sorry, Ms. Hardy.
-: Could I ask an explanation
of what exactly it's saying?
(laughter)
-: Yes, Ms. Hardy.
So staff has realized that there's a need
for cleanup in your social studies TEKS.
In particular, there's a reference.
The first section that we recommend repealing,
there's a reference to a Languages
Other Than English course
that was eliminated
during the review a few years back.
And then the second section
is specifying the amount of credit
that can be awarded for a dual credit,
or a concurrent enrollment course.
And it actually
contradicts your rules on award of credit.
And so to avoid that contradiction,
we recommend repealing that.
-: It's just simply a cleanup of--
Ms. Ramos: Yes ma'am.
-: Okay, thank you.
(laughter)
-: Absolutely.
And so all those in favor
of the motion, please raise your hand.
All those opposed, please your hands.
Motion is adopted.
-: [Ms. Melton-Malone] That's all I have, Madam Chair.
-: Okay, thanks.
Suspend board rules.
Okay.
Next, Committee on School Finance,
Permanent School Fund.
-: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Pretty much everything went on the Consent Agenda
except for one item,
which I'm gonna save at the end.
Just a little clarification and some information.
Board, we have been diligently working
on funding our real estate portfolio,
which is one of the asset classes within the fund.
And apparently, we're working at a rate
of about 75 to 100 million a pop.
Big numbers.
We did authorize, and it was on your Consent Agenda,
75 million into one fund
and 19 to complement another one.
What was interesting is our fund
is now participating in a project in Europe.
And this is an English company.
We're investing 51 million pounds,
so we had to change our language.
Euros, I'm sorry.
Euros.
That third currency over there.
It's kind of an interesting investment.
This group is going to be working
strictly in student housing.
Now we're all familiar with it
because we have dormitories across the street.
And we have student apartments
and even more recently,
student housing now is they'll build an apartment complex
and put in four bedrooms and four baths
with common living areas and kitchen areas.
And you actually just lease out the bedrooms.
It's common over here.
Over there, they were telling us
that it's not.
Traditionally,
everybody lives in single family homes
or with families,
rent bedrooms.
The issue that they're having over there
with the universities
is they're having a lot of foreign students
that are traveling into Europe
to attend the universities.
And there are no families and cousins
and relatives.
And so they see an opportunity.
Only three,
what was it?
3% of the housing
is available off campus.
So apparently this investor group
sees an opportunity to get into that market.
So we're going to participate
to the tune of 51 million Euros.
We're gonna be a leader on that one.
Additionally, fund guarantee program,
I think we're proud of the fact that our charters
are now saving something like 10 to 11 million dollars
in interest costs by using our bond guarantees.
Those are dollars that are staying in the classroom
and not going in the pockets of Wall Street.
By default, our bond guarantee program
has increased its capacity by 20%
we have the ability to veto that,
but no recommendation was made,
so the bond guarantee program
has expanded it's capacity.
I don't think we'll be revisiting this issue
any time soon.
Last item is an action item.
And I'm going to hand that off to
our vice chair, Mr. Maynard.
-: Thank you Mr. Chair.
Last session, we had some discussion about
sort of a branding issue.
One of the things that we've discovered,
and I think that many of you discovered
as you travel about,
that the vast majority of Texans
really don't know very much about
the Permanent School Fund.
And I think one of our issues is
that when we post things out on social media,
when we do things
is that there's just not any sort of brand or logo
that really is associated with that.
It's somehow sort of embedded
somewhere in TEA.
And people don't necessarily identify it
with being part of the State Board of Education.
And so,
as we discussed last time,
is that one of the things that we thought
that we would do is
that we needed to have something that represented
the Permanent School Fund.
And if nothing else, when you go into their offices,
there's just this type of Permanent School Fund.
There's no art work.
I go into a lot of other offices,
there's a big logo on the wall
or something like that.
That sort of identifies that.
Certainly, we could employ
the services of some professional,
but I would tell you that there are
thousands of aspiring young artists
who are in our classrooms
across the state of Texas.
And why not have a student competition
and give a student the opportunity
to leave a legacy,
here in Austin
and in the state,
and to get a leg up on their career.
So this is the Brand the Fund student competition.
And you should find this document
that is on your desk.
So the thing that we need to do today,
this board does need to, there's some procedures
and some rules.
And so the board does need to adopt those
to be officially
part of what we're doing on the board.
And I just,
I'm not gonna read through all of these,
but I'm gonna kind of run through to hit the highlights
and a few of the things that we need to get done.
Okay.
The first item behind the Brand the Fund logo
is the procedural document.
The first thing
is is that,
is the 3,000 dollar cash award.
And when we first began this discussion,
we really began it
in the context of a scholarship.
One thing that I have discovered,
and over the years of running
a student programs,
is the teachers get really excited
when their students have the opportunity
to receive scholarships.
It does a lot to validate
the work that they are doing.
So we started
with that premise,
but later in the discussion,
I think that where the discussion went is
that well if you have a student,
maybe you have a student who is concurrently
earning an associates degree
and they intend to go into the workforce directly
after high school,
if they go into the military,
there could be a lot of complications where
perhaps that student wouldn't necessarily
have the opportunity to claim
that prize.
And so we have converted that to a
3,000 dollar cash award.
They can use it for college.
The other benefit of that is
that if,
if we did that in a form of a scholarship,
that conceivably a sophomore student could win it,
and someone is gonna have to keep that
on their balance sheet
for multiple years
and be part of their audit.
And so by making it a cash award,
it becomes a lot cleaner.
And the term of that becomes a lot shorter.
So we collect the money.
And we disperse the money
in February 1st
of 2019,
and the deal is done and the account is closed.
Now, the other wrinkle in that is
that where do we find the money?
Well we can't actually
use state funds or public funds to do that.
So it would be incumbent that
on this board then to raise the money.
And by the way,
where we raise the money does matter.
We cannot solicit funds from
someone who does business in front of this board.
For instance, Pearson Publishing
would not be eligible to
contribute that.
They have business in
front of the board.
And so what we are hoping is that,
and by the way,
now we started at a 3,000 dollar cash award,
pursuant to the committee.
Yesterday, we decided to go ahead
and put a 1,000 dollar runner up award.
And that gives--
(inaudible)
it doubles their chances, that sort of thing.
And so,
so it would be up to us to raise about
4,000 dollars.
There is an issue of excess funds.
And if this thing goes well,
and we have some excess funds.
One thing we did put some provision in there
is now the Texas Leader Center,
which is an arm,
the 501C3 arm of TASA,
has agreed to house the funds.
And so it is 501C3.
So if somebody makes a contribution to a C3,
it is my understanding that it would be tax deductible.
It would be a charitable gift.
We have also,
if there are excess funds is that
we've given them the opportunity
to retain a little bit of that,
up to,
no more than 250 dollars,
and they may or may not do that,
for staff costs
and just in banking fees and things that might be
associated with that.
If we do raise
more additional funds,
this board could possibly
route some of that money back to some of the art programs,
or something like that,
or one of the programs
from which maybe our finalists come from.
But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
The funds will be dispersed directly to the student
February 1st, 2019.
We are also working on some collateral material
and some promotional materials,
a flyer.
One of the things that I,
and those of you who spend some time in the classroom,
understand that when people ask you
to do something
that requires a lot of work
and requires you to do something
beyond what you normally do,
a lot of people,
they'll look at that and say,
oh, that's interesting.
Oh, what do I have to do here.
And then it kind of migrates to the corner
of your desk
until you clean off your desk.
What we want to do is we want to make this
as clean as possible
to where
teachers
will have materials
when they initiate that project.
Well they can have that discussion in their classrooms.
And what we'd like to do
is create some video content,
some downloadable video content
that explains the fund.
And then maybe some follow up questions
for teachers to facilitate a discussion afterwards,
that sort of thing.
And that way
the students will know the purpose of the fund,
the mission,
and the history, how we got there from here.
I am working on a script.
And I'm in the process of soliciting
a very recognizable celebrity,
possibly, to narrate the video.
And we figure that that would be kind of cool
if someone that is of celebrity status
who's a Texan, who has ties to education
would narrate that
and kids would be excited about listening to a video--
(inaudible)
(group chatter)
Well.
(group chatter)
I'm gonna make a pitch to George Strait.
Yes.
George Strait's dad was a teacher.
And George is actually a certified teacher.
A lot of people don't realize
is that he's a certified Ag teacher.
Yes.
Judging,
next page,
just
how we want to do that is that
the State Board,
we're gonna have a judging panel
consisting of one member from this body,
a member of the PSF staff.
We want to make sure that the PSF staff
does have some,
got some ownership of that.
And make sure that we wind up with something
that they can be okay with.
And then three professionals
who are graphic artists,
advertising folks, that sort of thing
that really have a good,
good feel for that.
The judging will be a blind judging.
Is that nobody will know
where that came from,
if it came from,
what district,
or came from an ISD or a charter school,
or what sort of program it came from.
It's gonna be a blind judging.
And nobody will know the identity of those entries
until the very end.
We're also gonna engage the services,
the volunteer services of a professional graphic artist
to act as an advisor and facilitator
and to advise the process
and to facilitate the process.
Madam Chair, I believe that one of the things
that we wanted to talk about here
is that if anybody had,
I do have one
that has submitted her,
her credentials.
And I would recommend,
and if somebody else has one,
we would certainly consider that.
I would suppose is that the power of appointment
actually belongs,
always rests with the Chair.
And so that would be up to you.
The TEA staff will recheck selected artwork
to make sure that there's no infringement issues.
And by the way,
when we get into the rules,
that there are, certainly, a student,
very innocently,
could replicate something that they saw
and thought was really neat
and not really remember where they saw that
for the first time.
And we could,
it's possible that we could wind up
with a piece of artwork that we could not trademark
because it is confusingly similar
to somebody else's trademark.
And so that's one of the things
we got to be real, real careful.
(inaudible)
The final rendering,
the trademark filing will be completed by the staff.
We'll create the wall art.
And we'll have an unveiling here,
February 1st of 2019.
And so we will,
we do have a vendor
that has told us that they can execute
that within our timeline
and actually have the executed the wall art here
to put on an easel,
covered up
and have a dramatic, I don't know,
maybe a drum roll
and some dramatic music or something like that.
And so, if you'll just turn the page
and what we have next is,
are the rules.
And I'm just gonna run through these
very, very quickly.
And you can read,
I won't belabor reading these.
There's the purpose,
first the eligibility.
Now, there is a disqualifier,
is that we believe that,
just to avoid the
appearance of impropriety
or conflicts of interest,
is that children and grandchildren
of current State Board of Education members
and children and grandchildren of PSF staff
are ineligible to participate.
That could be a possible,
just the optics of that,
could be negative.
Entry fees,
deadline is November 1st.
We are gonna receive everything online.
If there's an issue on
eligibility or submission,
we're gonna task the state board,
the chair of the board
with sorting those out.
Item number five is how things are submitted.
And in what format.
We intend to make that live
no later than October 1st.
Number six is the criteria for judging.
And certainly, I think that's very helpful.
Certainly as they go,
they understand how they're gonna be evaluated.
We did not go as far as to create a rubric.
We felt like that the panel can do that,
that they can kind of sort that out
and come up with that.
The judging process,
we've referenced it earlier.
But at the end of the day,
it says that
the panel is going to select no more
than 10,
no more than 10.
They may select five,
or seven.
I think we'll just leave it to them.
And ultimately, this board
will decide the winner.
And they will be on display here.
Now we won't know who's they are.
But they will be on display here
in November.
And this board with then
go through a process.
It depends on how many we have,
and there may be a runoff and some things like that.
So there could be some high drama.
And then in--
(inaudible)
Some wine drinking, yes, right, yes.
It could be.
Like at an art show, that's right.
We could, and then,
by the way,
the last week of January,
when we convene,
the last week of January for the February 1st meeting,
we will go ahead and redisplay those finalists
where we know who they are,
and recognize them in that fashion.
All the finalists,
even if they are not the winner,
but they will receive
a certificate of some kind.
Because I think a young person
who is aspiring to be an artist,
I think that that would be
kind of a feather in their cap
in that they were, at least, a finalist.
Notification, the originality of work.
We're gonna ask them to just to sign
a statement of originality.
Transfer of rights, is that they're gonna have to transfer
the rights.
And then here's the piece about the recognition.
We've already talked about that.
And then the last item is
that one of the,
the items
that our graphic artists will do,
we don't know how we're gonna get these.
I mean, if it comes out of a CTE program
that does graphic art,
they may have a vector file.
But we also may get a sketch.
We may get a scanned oil on canvas painting
for all we know.
We don't know what we're gonna get
because it can come to us as a PDF.
But ultimately,
somebody has to convert that into a usable form.
And so that would be our volunteer
graphic artist would
then be responsible for doing that.
And that, by the way,
takes a few hours work, generally.
And so, Debbie, can you pass out that.
And I just wanted to make a recommendation.
I have
a young person
who is a constituent of Ms. Cargill.
The group is a constituent of Mr. Bradley
that lives in College Station.
And, but Marty Rowley,
she graduated from Texas Tech.
And so--
(group chatter)
Ms. Bahorich: Ms. Miller.
Ms. Miller: It sounds like a wonderful project.
I was just thinking,
in the Permanent School Fund,
don't they,
aren't they housed up the street
in a separate building?
Ms. Bahorich: Yes.
-: Okay, what about once you get the
to the end of all this,
that we put a plaque
of the logo
on to,
outside of the building
of the Permanent School Fund?
Mr. Maynard: We could do that.
In fact, we could put another one in here.
-: Yeah, but.
Ms. Bahorich: But she's talking something big
and noticeable.
(laughter)
-: Anyway, just a thought.
Ms. Bahorich: Like street branding, yeah.
Exactly.
Mr. Maynard: Let me offer up a motion.
-: I just want to make sure.
So this is the graphic artist person
who's gonna volunteer time
to kind of get it back in order.
Is that who this person is?
Mr. Maynard: Yes.
To be,
to be a facilitator to the process
and advisor to the committee.
-: Okay.
I mean I think this is terrific.
But I just want to be open
that if somebody had another volunteer
who's like to help with that,
feel free to offer
and then I'll choose among
the worthy applicants.
Mr. Maynard: Well,
later we'll pick the judging panel.
We'll need some for the judging panel.
And certainly, if you've got some for those.
-: Kind of yeah,
help with the coordination
and final,
but it's volunteer work, so.
Yes, Mr. Cortez.
-: Yeah, Madam Chair,
Mr. Maynard,
good job, brother, good job.
What I wanted to ask is
you talked about how the money would be housed
with a non-profit.
And I just wanted to speak to
the issue
of the possibility
of in the event that we raised above 4,000 dollars,
obviously they get to keep 250.
What if we raise way, way more?
Is there something in here that we can add
where we can, rather than go to an art program,
give it back to the winner and the runner up?
I mean cause
that kind of changes things a little bit
and I can probably now go back and ask
a lot of people
in south Texas
that wouldn't mind giving money for something like this.
And so we were to raise several thousand dollars more,
what can we do in terms of giving
the winner and the runner up.
Just a thought.
And the other question,
and I think that was all I had,
was on the eligibility.
It is just the PSF and FBOE,
or will it also extend to all those listed
that would be
on number six
of the first page?
Mr. Maynard: No.
-: For the restrictions.
-: No, sir.
All we're doing there
is we're just using some of those
as a platform to promote it.
Mr. Cortez: Oh, just to promote it,
not for judging.
-: No, no, no, they're not judging.
We're just promoting.
Mr. Cortez: Alright.
Then I only had one question.
-: Yep.
-: Let's go ahead and put the motion again on the floor.
I don't know if you actually,
you were explaining it.
I don't think the motion's actually been presented.
Or did it?
Did I miss it?
Mr. Bradley: I'll give you a motion.
-: Cause I wanted to see if there's any further discussion.
-: Okay.
Madam Chair,
recommended by the committee
and we move that the State Board of Education
approve the procedures and rules for the PSF
logo art contest
to include a 3,000 dollar first place award,
and a 1,000 dollar runner up award.
-: Okay, so the committee's recommending
the approval of the
PSF logo art contest is on the floor.
Any further discussion
about that?
(inaudible)
Yeah, just a,
yeah.
Mr. Bradley.
-: Well, I'd like to address it.
Certainly there's nothing wrong with us amending
the amount of the award that we give to
or expand the number of recipients of the award
if we have additional funds.
Maybe every runner up will
get some type of stipend.
(inaudible)
-: Yeah, and Madam Chair,
I'll just say if that happens,
and to address Mr. Cortez's question,
is it's certainly if that happens,
we can always come back
and amend the procedure.
And then to do that, I would certainly
have no objection to that.
(inaudible)
That's the kind of problem we have.
-: I'd love to have that problem.
That'd be great.
(inaudible)
I do want to mention just one thing.
Mrs. Miller had an excellent suggestion.
I don't know that we can do something
on a building.
Can we do something on a building?
Like the PSF building?
-: So we don't actually control the buildings.
Those are controlled by another
agency.
So anything like that, we'd have to work with that agency.
But I think in your proposed rules,
it's already setting out to
have it placed on the wall
of the PSF with a plaque on it
attributing it to the artist.
And we can explore
other options as well,
whether it's
put within here or
if you wanted to be more august,
we would just have to
consult with the facilities commission on that.
-: I would really like to pursue
what Mrs. Miller's suggesting.
If we're gonna do this,
and this could be a really prominent building
display
that would really highlight it driving through town.
So I think that's worth
looking into.
And just finding out how much it would be
and if we could even do it.
-: I should also mention.
I think that building is not a state owned building.
I think that is where--
yeah, the space is leased, which--
(inaudible)
-: Yeah, we can talk to some folks.
So I think it's just worth checking out.
That's all that I think,
I think that's an excellent suggestion.
I'm sorry, Mr. Cortez,
you had something else.
-: The last audit, in terms of funding
we had initially talked about
how maybe
this body would fund it.
But in light of
the 501C3 information,
there's a couple people
that I'd like to ask.
But are we gonna just kind of break it up into 15
and say each of you's responsible
to identify at least
X dollar amount
for this project?
-: And when are we trying to get this done?
By what date?
(inaudible)
Mr. Maynard: Well, next meeting would be great.
-: September meeting or November?
Or what?
Mr. Maynard: By the September meeting.
-: September meeting.
Okay, okay.
What'd you say Mr. Maynard?
-: I have my check.
So.
(laughter) (group chatter)
-: I thought you were gonna do the first prize winner.
(inaudible)
Yes, would you like to pass a collection plate
is what we'd like to do at this moment.
Woman: Who does one make the check out to?
-: Yeah, you make it payable to?
Man: The Tom Maynard College--
-: No, no, we'll collect the checks today.
If you all have checks, let's take them today.
What is it?
Woman: Texas Leadership Council.
-: Texas Leadership Council.
So if you would--
Mr. Maynard: Texas Leadership Center.
-: Oh, center.
Texas Leadership Center.
So please feel free to donate
as the plate is passed.
-: And then put in the memo line PSF student contest.
(inaudible)
Man: Send us an email.
Mr. Cortez: Yeah, and in addition to the email,
could you send us like a form letter
with what the program is.
There's a few non-profits that I think
might be generous, at least in my area,
that I'd just love to share it with.
And they may surprise us and give us some.
Ms. Bahorich: That would be great.
Mr. Cortez: Yeah.
Ms. Bahorich: Go ahead Ms. Perez-Diaz.
-: Thank you, Madam Chair.
So I guess if we're gonna do that
and solicit to different people,
is it possible to get a Tax ID number
for--
does it work with the organization
that we're writing?
Mr. Maynard: Yeah, the Leadership Center would.
-: So we can get that,
that we can share?
Thank you.
-: Alright, any other comments or questions?
I gotta say,
Mr. Maynard this was,
this was--
(applause)
Excellent job.
Yeah, Ms. Cargill,
did you have a question?
Ms. Cargill: I just wanted to thank him.
-: Oh no, it's pretty remarkable.
He kept working and working,
had several phone calls,
met with people.
I mean this has been
a pretty--
How many months have you been working on this?
I forget.
It's been a long time.
You talked to me about this a long time ago.
-: Yeah,
and also staff of Von,
Von Bayer,
a.k.a. David Bradley.
(inaudible)
Yes.
Ms. Bahorich: Yeah.
-: And Chris Maska
and the PSF staff.
So yeah, a lot of,
-: And Debbie was great
keeping us all together
and setting up stuff.
Mr. Maynard: Yeah.
-: Yeah, it was good.
Okay, so the motion for us to approve procedures and rules
for the PSF logo art contest
to include 3,000 dollar scholarship,
first place award.
I'm sorry, 3,000 dollars, first place award,
and a 1,000 dollar runner up award.
And this is just a voice vote.
All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: All those opposed, say no.
Motion's adopted.
And now, I'd like to take just a 10 minute break
cause it's already 11:30.
We need to
do that, and we'll come back.
Committee on School Initiatives.
And, I believe Heather Mose
will be up first,
and then we'll
actually have the motions after that.
-: Good morning Madam Chair,
members of the board.
It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood today.
As part of the application process,
we have invited the proposed Generation 23 charter founders
and their board representatives
to Austin to share with you
their passion and vision
for operating a Texas public charter school.
Going in alphabetical order,
I will be inviting
those representatives up.
Here today representing Bloom Academy Charter School
proposing in Houston,
we have Superintendent Courtney Sales
and Board President Sarah Ingram.
-: Good morning,
and thank you for having us here today.
We're incredibly humble and grateful
to be able to present our proposal to you.
My name is Courtney Sales
and I'm the proposed head of school
of Bloom Academy.
And alongside myself is Ms. Sarah Ibriham,
who's a proposed board chair
of the Bloom Academy board.
Bloom Academy is designed
for the Sunnyside community
by the Sunnyside community in Houston.
Our mission is very ambitious.
It's to prepare all kindergarten
through fifth grade students
for success in middle school, high school
and ultimately college.
And to lead lives of impact in their community.
We intend on doing this by providing a rigorous curriculum,
a joyful environment,
and a specific emphasis on character development.
In order to reach this ambitious mission,
we knew that we needed to have a very ambitious vision.
And it's one that we're proud to present today
because it was influenced by the feedback
and community conversations
that we've had with key stakeholders in the community.
When we
meet with community members,
and when we meet with stakeholders,
what they routinely say
is that they'd like
schools to go back to the basics,
that they want children and students
who can read really well,
do math really well,
and have high grades in science.
Additionally, what was consistently emphasized
when we spoke to people in the community
is that it's not enough for students
to be academically ready for the world,
but that they also have to be great people.
In addition to both our mission
and our vision really being crafted
by the input of the community,
our innovation is also very community specific.
Sunnyside is a historically African American community
where lots of things have happened to Sunnyside
instead of with Sunnyside.
It has a rich legacy of
advocacy and self advocacy.
To that end, our innovation
is the intentional development
of student voice
at every single grade level at Bloom.
What this will ultimately look like
is in third through fifth grade,
students will engage in Socratic seminars,
in debate,
and also engage in a culminating social justice project
in which they identify a problem in their community
and propose a solution.
So we, as a founding team,
are really excited
to see the student heroes today.
Because just like your vision is to have
children have deep character values,
that's our vision for every single student at Bloom.
I have a personal commitment and passion for this work.
I myself was raised in the inner city Bronx
in a single parent household
and faced a number of challenges as a child,
including having to move to shelter to shelter
at a very young age.
On a professional level,
because of my personal experiences,
I was prompted to spend
the entirety of my professional career
working on behalf of students and families
in some capacity,
primarily black and brown students
who have been historically disenfranchised.
I served as a traditional public school teacher
teaching fifth grade in the Bronx
and experienced great academic success
with my students.
I also then became an attorney
and represented students as a public defender
in their criminal proceedings.
I've also represented students
with special needs against their school districts.
I'm very, very passionate about students with special needs.
I've represented children
in their abuse and neglect proceedings,
and children aging out of foster care.
In addition to my expertise,
I'm incredibly proud
of the team that we've been able to
create in our board.
Our board has a lot of great expertise
and I will turn it over to Ms. Sarah Ibriham
to speak about that.
-: Good morning.
My name is Sarah Ibriham.
I'm the deputy managing attorney
of the public law practice group
at Harris County Attorney's Office.
And I'm the proposed chair
of Bloom Academy.
I spent a number of years teaching
in Sunnyside.
And I'm here today to represent the board.
Our board is comprised
of highly educated
and diverse individuals
who are all mission and vision aligned.
We, the board,
and Ms. Sales,
spent hours with the Sunnyside community
talking to them about their needs.
We took that information
and we used it to create
Bloom Academy.
We are so happy
and proud
to represent Sunnyside.
And on behalf of the board,
thank you so much for having us today.
-: Thank you very much ladies.
From Elementary School for Education Innovation
in Lubbock,
we have Superintendent,
Proposed Superintendent Miranda Condra
and board member Gary Fry.
-: Members of the State Board,
we are just so pleased to be here.
I say this as someone who has been on this journey
for six years.
We have worked very hard
to get where we are today
for one very important purpose
and that is to serve the children in our community.
What we propose is the Elementary School
for Education Innovation,
it is borne out of need.
It's borne out of frustration
and it's borne out of hope.
We are looking to serve our children
who suffer from dyslexia, ADHD,
and other language based learning disabilities.
What we seek to do is
provide all of our students
with intensive intervention
for as long as we have them.
And then help them transition into the more traditional
school districts.
We don't want to take them forever.
We want to give them what they need
to be successful,
and give them the knowledge that they have worth
and that they're smart.
Research shows these children
are smarter than the rest of us.
They're creative.
They're out of the box thinkers.
They're entrepreneurs
and inverters, and
change makers of our world.
And we want to let them do everything they can do.
We started, as I said, six years ago.
And we started because I have
two beautiful daughters,
one of whom
has dyslexia and ADHD.
And I will tell you,
when we started.
I'm an attorney
and I adopted both of my daughters
from Russia.
I brought them home.
And I will tell you,
I did all the research you're supposed to do.
I mean I,
I talked, I cuddled,
I had interaction.
And my oldest daughter, Emma,
was at the Child Development Research Center
at Tech,
which is the Cadillac of care
in Lubbock, Texas.
And they told me she's gonna be great in school.
She's gonna do wonderful.
It's gonna be fantastic.
And they told me that for two years
before she got to kindergarten.
We started kindergarten
and it wasn't beautiful,
and it wasn't fantastic.
And she didn't do well.
And I didn't know why.
And I did everything.
I talked to her teachers.
I said I don't understand.
They said you need to go home and work with her.
And I said,
you're a trained professional educator
and you don't know what to do.
And you want her to go home and work with her lawyer.
(laughter)
I see a problem.
And I will tell you,
I finally had her tested for dyslexia.
I will be honest,
I did not believe she had dyslexia.
But I prayed she did
cause then I might know something to do.
I couldn't get her tested in Lubbock, Texas.
I had to take her to Dallas
to the Scottish Rite Hospital.
And I pulled every masonic string I had,
and I have a lot.
It still took me six months to get her in.
I got her tested.
They said well, we think she's probably got dyslexia
but her ADHD is so bad
we can't tell.
My daughter's never in trouble at school,
ever.
They said we're sure she's not.
She's a delightful child.
And then I started to understand
that ADHD often looks different in girls
than it does in boys.
That's the inattentive type.
They said we can't give you a diagnosis.
You're gonna have to take her back to Lubbock
and you bring her back in a year,
and we'll test her again.
So I went back to Lubbock
and I still couldn't get her any services
because I didn't have a diagnosis.
And all of my teacher friends,
all of my parent friends were telling me
you can't work with her,
you've got to let her get behind.
Because if you work with her,
she can't get services.
I traveled around the world twice
to bring this baby home.
I wasn't gonna let her get behind.
So I,
I was doing more research
and I was able to get a grant.
And we started a program,
the Institute for Creative Learners
where we did dyslexia intervention.
We didn't require a diagnosis,
we just helped kids.
And we were able to do intervention
at Wright Elementary School
where we helped a lot of kids.
And we were able to help them read better
and beyond target,
and go from tier,
tier three readers
to tier one readers
by February.
We figured out that there's a lot we could do.
And we, again, continued to work and said
how are we gonna help more kids?
We can't help just these few kids.
And a friend of mine said,
well wouldn't it just be easier to get Emma a tutor.
I said yeah, but what about the other kids.
What are we gonna do about them?
And so, the more we talked in the community,
the more we found out that there were others
who were having the same frustration,
the same challenges,
and their children were dying inside.
And so we started to bring together
community organizations.
We worked with the Y.
We worked with the Boys and Girls Club.
We worked with the Lubbock Home School Association.
We worked with the Lubbock Arts Alliance.
We worked with every community organization
that would talk to us.
And we brought together Texas Tech University,
professors from Texas Tech University
and West Texas A&M University.
And we came together and said
how can we help the kids in our community.
And we came upon a charter.
And that's how we can do it.
And we knew we could bring together
all of our different organizations,
we could work together
and we could serve the children
in our community.
We epitomize the charter school movement.
We are it.
We are individuals in our community
who have identified a need in our community
and we seek to serve the children in our community.
And we ask for your help.
We are ready and available to answer any questions,
and provide whatever information we can
to this body and we thank you so much
for taking the time to look into this.
-: And I'm Gary Fry.
I'm representing the board.
Miranda reached out to me because
I do the pesky things.
If you notice the money tie
of generating non-traditional sources for
public schools,
work at Maynard
in oh lord,
early 90s.
I was Lubbock Cooper's math teacher
who wrote a grant
who then became the dyslexia coordinator
slash grant writer.
Generated enough cash quickly
that they said we could hire good teachers now,
so you just go get more money, and so forth.
17 years, I had a three word job description.
This is an area that is also like Miranda,
not quite as passionate
because well it was my youngest son
and he's an interestingly doubly gifted
GT and LD student
who tries the patience of teachers.
And then my oldest son is a special ed teacher.
So that's always been fun,
but as Miranda said,
we're here to do this.
I've had a passion for this
and I have permission to use one student
that I had at Spade, Texas
where I started as a migrant special ed teacher, Rocky.
Rocky was a kid
that was remarkably smart,
and could not read a lick.
So he knew he was stupid.
I finally convinced him after about two years,
if we didn't have this reading,
you'd be the smartest person
cause you can tear any machine down,
put it back together
and if need be, build the parts.
And I still remember when he got
the first Kurzweil 3000 reading machine.
Rocky looked and went,
I can go to college
cause I can build a computer
and it'll read to me.
(laughter)
And so I was glad when Miranda reached out to me
and we put this together.
I greatly appreciate the board considering us
for this charter.
He's actually in Little
(microphone cuts out)
In Littlefield, Texas.
I've reminded him that the three business
he owns, he should be giving me 10%
cause that's only religious.
But no, he's doing quite well
and it's just amazing
because he finally realized he was smart.
Ms. Bahorich: We'll have time for some question
if some folks have them.
Did you have something,
or just some remark you wanted to make?
What's that?
(inaudible)
-: I'm so excited.
I'm tearing up.
(inaudible)
(microphone cuts out)
Charter schools started
that I had a dream that maybe
somebody eventually,
we would get a charter school for
the dyslexic, okay,
and ADHD.
God bless you.
I am thrilled,
absolutely thrilled.
Miranda: Thank you so much.
-: What I'm gonna do, members,
is just kind of go through
the other two,
and if there are some specific questions
that anybody had.
(inaudible)
-: Thank you both.
I'm sorry.
The next two representatives we have
are representatives from Promesa Academy Charter School
in San Antonio.
And actually we have four representatives,
but we have Proposed Superintendent
Ambica Donny.
We have board president, Sally Aguilar Robertson.
And they are also accompanied by two board members,
Ariana Rodriguez
and Molly Campbell.
-: Good morning.
I think we're just five minutes away
from the afternoon.
My name is Ambica Donny
and I am the Proposed Superintendent
of Promesa Academy,
a kindergarten through fifth grade charter school
for San Antonio's inner city west side.
I want to begin by thanking you all,
the SBOE members for giving us the opportunity
to be here today
and to speak to you about the vision
for Promesa Academy.
And also to thank the TEA
for their due diligence
throughout this process,
and their support and guidance
as we apply for a charter
in the state of Texas.
Ms. Mose said this already,
but today is truly a beautiful day.
It is a day that the founding team
of Promesa Academy has been waiting for
since we submitted our application
on December 4, 2017.
We also recognize that this is an important day
for all of you.
It is a day where you have the immense responsibility
of granting new charters in the state of Texas.
And we know that decision does not come lightly.
Mr. Rowley articulated
this beautifully yesterday
in the committee session,
as he said there are three things
we truly have to demonstrate
to be able to be granted a new charter.
A need in our community.
Innovation as a new charter.
And the capacity to deliver the vision
that we have written in our charter.
So if I could speak to those three areas
to use the the full board to convince you
of what we are promising to do
in the city of San Antonio.
Let me begin by discussing the need in our community
because before this founding team
decided to propose a charter,
we wanted to make sure that there was a need
for what we were proposing.
And we are choosing to locate in the inner city
west side of San Antonia.
More specifically,
the 78207 zip code of San Antonio.
It is a region where over 90% of children
come from economically disadvantaged families.
It is also a region where the median income
is 20,000 dollars below San Antonio's median income.
When you couple that demographic data
with a lack of access to quality public education
in that zip code,
you will see that it is incredibly hard
for a child growing up in that community
to have the same opportunities
that many of us have had.
Currently in that specific zip code,
out of the nine elementary schools,
there are four that are ranked
as improvement required.
And only 18%, on average, of third graders
are meeting or mastering
third grade STAAR reading standards.
And I'll let that sink in for a second
because we're talking about
18% of students.
The second thing that I'd like to bring up
is our innovation
and this is something that our team is incredibly
excited about.
We are ready to push the bar
for what is possible
in the elementary years.
I used to be a middle and high school math teacher
for over six years.
And I constantly saw that my students
coming to me in middle school
had oftentimes a very negative opinion of mathematics.
But they also lacked the foundational knowledge
to truly master the subject
at the level they're capable of.
And so I decided to go into the elementary years
and to start teaching elementary math.
And as I did that,
I saw such incredible power
of being an individual in the elementary classroom
with the content knowledge
to truly challenge our youngest learners.
So what we are proposing to do
is to start departmentalizing starting in kindergarten
so that our youngest, most passionate,
most inquisitive learners
have the teachers in front of them
who are capable to answer the beautiful questions
they ask
and to truly challenge them to the levels
that they are capable of being challenged.
And finally, as we look at the founding team,
some of whom are here in front of you today,
we have a board of eight incredible San Antonio residents
who are deeply committed to the vision of Promesa
and who are also deeply committed to the student
of the west side of our city.
They come with a range of expertise
and most importantly,
a commitment to ensuring that
every child has access to the education they deserve.
I myself am an educator for over eight years now.
And I'm truly excited for this opportunity
and believe that we can bring something
to San Antonio
that doesn't exist.
And that together, we can ensure
that more students in our city
have access to the public education they deserve.
Thank you again for having us here today.
And I'd like to give my board members
an opportunity to introduce themselves.
-: Thank you Ms. Donny.
My name is Sally Aguilar Robertson
and I am the proposed chair
for Promesa Academy.
I will also be serving
in the fiance and the governance committee.
First I would like to thank you
for allowing us to be here today.
We are truly grateful for the opportunity
that you've given us
in allowing us to present to you
Promesa Academy.
We are eight San Antonia residents.
We came together as a board.
And we have a wide array of expertise.
But we got together because we want to serve
the community.
We have a thorough understanding
of the work, the commitment,
the responsibility
that we are taking into our hands.
And we acknowledge that.
All of us strongly believe
in the vision that we have set
for Promesa Academy,
the vision that we have set for ourselves.
Our goal as a group
is to be able to make
a positive impact
in the lives of children in our community.
Thank you.
-: Hello, my name is Molly Campbell.
Professionally, I am a
commercial transactions attorney
serving as corporate counsel to
a number of large commercial clients.
But personally, I am a foster parent
who has seen
first hand, really, the vast differences
that exist for
educational opportunities for my birth
and adopted children
and those that are in my home only for a season
in the foster care system.
And so that is one reason why I am exceptionally passionate
about education equality
and about the mission of Promesa Academy.
And I am so excited to any any questions
that you may have today.
-: Hi everyone.
My name is Ariana Rodriguez.
And I am the proposed secretary of Promesa Academy.
I will also serve as a member of the development committee.
I am extremely honored
and I'm really humbled to be a founding board member
of Promesa Academy
because I truly reflect
and I see myself in the,
and our future students.
I too grew up in a low income community
by immigrant parents,
parents that came to this country
because they wanted a better future
for their children.
So I, you know,
I'm so excited that I'm giving back to my community.
For the past nine years,
I've been serving the San Antonio community
in various ways.
I've serve as a digital marketing manager,
currently, for a non-profit organization.
And I've also been a big sister
through Big Brothers, Big Sisters Program.
So I'm extremely excited.
I'm excited to be here
and I look forward to
what Promesa can do for our future student
on the west side of San Antonio.
-: Thank you, ladies.
And finally from Rev Preparatory Charter School
in Houston,
we have Proposed Superintendent
Tracy Tibido
and proposed board president,
Eric Gomez.
-: Good morning, everyone.
Thank you again for the opportunity to be here
and address this State Board
and also thanks to the TEA
for being able to
go through this rigorous process
and get to this step.
As introduced, my name is Tracy Tibido.
I am a native Houstonian.
And actually spent a significant amount of time
growing up in our proposed community.
My story is one of education is everything.
Education changed the whole trajectory
I had in life.
And that was determined by my mother
making a decision early on of
making sure that we had the highest
quality of education, K-12.
She made a decision
that attending the schools in our neighborhood
that we were zoned to
were actually not going to give us
the best opportunity.
And so though I attended public schools in Houston,
I attended schools that were actually
upwards of an hour away
that were in wealthier neighborhoods.
And I will definitely look back and say
because of that opportunity,
my whole life
was changed.
I was a proud graduate of the University of Texas
here in Austin.
And from there, I was able to go get an MBA
from the University of Michigan,
and have been involved in education
and corporate sector
for over 13 years.
I wanted to say that because it leads into the need
that we have identified
for Rev Preparatory Charter School
in the central southwest area of Houston.
Number one, unfortunately,
things have not changed that much since when
I was a pre-teen.
And the educational opportunities
are either the same or actually worse
for the students that are zoned
in that community.
Some of the
strongest data that I've seen
is that nearly 40% of students
are actually taking the same route
that I did as a child,
and actually transferring out of the zone
to attend either other public schools,
other district schools in Houston,
or other charters outside of the neighborhood.
This is one of those primary areas that
I understand that story.
I understand that journey.
And I understand
how hard it is for a child
to have to wake up
an hour or two earlier every morning
and not get home until an hour or two
later than their peers
because of travel.
Additionally, when we started this journey,
I'm sorry.
I should have introduced him earlier,
our proposed board chair, Eric Gomez
is also here with us.
But as we start this journey,
our team really wanted to identify
ways that we could really create a program
that stood out
in our community.
Some of those ways that we've identified
for kindergarten through eighth grade school
is a two teacher model
in our kindergarten through second grade classes.
This is something that does not currently exist
in the community,
but we believe it further drives our mission,
especially in literacy,
to make sure that students have individualized supports
and a lower student to teacher ratio
in those early years,
which we think make the
huge difference in making sure that students
are able to read on or above grade level
by the time they reach third grade.
Additionally, one thing we were
very excited to implement
and that we've seen a lot of positive feedback
from the community
in terms of sharing this with parents,
is the Spanish for all initiative.
So this exists in some schools in Houston,
but we just really wanted to reiterate
starting in kindergarten
all the way through eighth grade,
all of our students
will have the opportunity to take
at least 30 to 60 minutes of Spanish.
And another real reason we think that's gonna be
huge in terms of getting our students prepared
to go to the top high schools in Houston,
and additionally the top colleges
is the opportunity that
the students who are native Spanish speakers,
which we believe will be a significant
portion of our,
our student demographic,
getting proficient in their native language, in Spanish,
actually will allow them to become more proficient
quicker in English.
Additionally, for our native English speakers,
being bilingual and adding a secondary language
only further allows them to be more competitive
when it comes to high schools and colleges.
And we've seen a lot of positive feedback
from both native Spanish speakers
and non-native Spanish speakers
in the community.
Though a final innovation that I'll talk about is
actually looping.
And so this is something that, again,
is not in existent in our current community,
but we believe in the kindergarten
through second grade years,
again maximizing our time
and making sure that students and families
cultivate a very strong relationship
so that they're not wasting time at the beginning
of each year trying to get to know
what the strengths and weaknesses are
of each student.
That's something that they'll already be aware of
and be able to just jump in to the next year
very strongly.
Additionally, I want to pass it to Eric
and share a little bit on behalf of our
very successful board
and how they believe they can support this school.
-: Thank you Tracy.
My name is Eric Gomez.
And on behalf of the board of Rev Prep,
I'm extremely honored here
to represent the board.
As Tracy said, I'm a native Houstonian as well too.
And I strongly believe
that education is the great equalizer.
I also believe I'm a great example of that.
As the child of immigrant parents,
my mother had less than the equivalent
of a sixth grade education.
But it was her desire for a quality
early childhood education
and instilling the seed in my mind
of a university education as well
that got me to where I am today,
eventually graduating from the University of Houston.
And then I went on pursuing my MBA
at the University of Michigan.
Being able to come back to Houston,
my hometown,
and be able to provide support
for an initiative, something like this,
that is needed within the community.
Going out to the community events
and participating in this community events
about a year ago
when we began this process,
I saw the need
from the parents,
their struggles,
their challenges.
And it reminded me of my parents
and their struggles,
and their challenges that they had
as I was a child growing up in inner city Houston.
With that in mind,
we have put together a very strong, cohesive board
that is 100% independent
and 100% aligned
with seeing the mission and the vision
of Rev Prep
successfully executed in this community.
And we thank you for your time
and we look forward to your support.
Thank you.
-: Thank you very much, both of you.
All four of these women and their boards
have gone through a rigorous and,
if you ask them, I imagine they'd say
arduous process to get to this point in time.
This point in time
is a moment of your discernment
and so I hand it back to you.
-: I wanted to make sure that
while the charters were here,
if there were any lingering questions
that people might have had.
If they wanted to ask them any specific
question on any specific charter.
Mr. Cortez: Madam Chair.
-: Yes, Mr. Cortez.
-: As someone who
got to sit through both days of interviews and
I already had an exchange with them
on that day,
as I did yesterday.
I don't have any questions of them, but
at the end of the process prior to the vote,
I did just kind of want to make some comments
to the board about my thoughts on all this
as prior to deciding on some of these.
Rather than get into another exchange of dialogue
with the applicants,
I think that would be the easiest thing for
me anyways.
-: Any other comments
anybody would like to,
or sorry, any questions that you have
while we've got our charter applicants here?
Lingering thoughts or questions.
Yes, Ms. Beltran.
-: Thank you for all the presentations.
I was curious,
just for clarification,
and this is just,
I don't know how this works for the
Elementary School for Social Innovation,
which is for students with dyslexia,
ADHD,
how is that school,
how do you like,
isn't it,
aren't all public schools required to serve
all children and so is it,
how does that work?
Just curious.
You guys may have answered.
Ms. Bahorich: Heather, I think that (inaudible).
-: So when we reviewed the applications,
obviously we look at their education plan.
And this particular charter proposal
looks to serve
through that lens.
So as an open enrollment charter school,
they will serve all students that come to their school.
But through the lens of,
and I think you heard Ms. Condra
speak to her Creative Learnings Institute
and the focus of
teaching all students.
So I hope that addresses your question.
But that's the approach that we took
and I think the approach that
we will see a year from now,
should you approve that charter.
-: I think, the way I interpreted--
(inaudible)
you know, you get a reputation
of being effective.
And so kids self select
because they can choose to
go win the lottery
or whatever
if there's an over subscription.
Or just be accepted into the school.
So that's what I'm imagining
that by putting out a strong message
that is the attempt.
It is what
I interpreted.
Mr. Maynard, then Mr. Rowley.
-: Maybe some of you received
the same barrage of emails that I received.
And the term, out of state charters kept coming up.
And listening to them
and looking at the documents
that have been submitted to us,
it does not appear to me
that there's an out of state charter
in this bunch.
Can you address that,
and why in any of these
would be perceived as out of state charters?
-: I'm not sure why the misinformation
about an out of state charter
is on the table.
We have four of our applicants
who have participated in a training program,
a year long fellowship program,
that is not an operator,
is not an authorizor,
is not a charter management organization.
It provides training.
And I think there was a misconception
about what role they would have
in the operation of these Texas charters
with Texas boards
that operate independently of any
vendor, if you will,
or another appropriate metaphor, I think would be.
If you go to college,
and we all go to the same college,
and then we all go into the same field,
the way that
manifests in our particular fields,
it may look very different.
So three of our applicants
attended training, fellowship training,
fellowship training.
-: Well, thank you for that clarification.
I think that needed to be said.
Thank you.
Ms. Bahorich: Mr. Rowley.
-: I was just gonna speak to Ms. Beltran,
Member Beltran's
question.
And that came up yesterday.
And I think Miranda may be able to speak to it as well.
But she talked in terms of flipping the mainstream.
And so it will be an open enrollment charter,
but
their
interest,
their ability, their focus,
proficiency even
will be on those students with learning disabilities,
but at the same time,
it would also benefit
mainstream students.
-: If I may interject,
that particular model
has in it a pull out
that students will be able to access
should they need it.
And so out of, there's 45 minute general instruction,
and then the lens,
dependent upon the needs of the child,
would be addressed in a pull out program.
And also to
provide you additional information,
because of her involvement with CLE,
Creative Learners Institute,
I think Ms. Condra has already established
some very strong relationships.
And so in terms of recruitment,
if there was any concern about craning,
I think there's gonna be
an obvious attraction to that charter
through the individuals who are already
participating in CLE.
Also, her relationship with Lubbock ISD too.
-: Heather, I actually have a question
since I'm not in the committee.
You know, it was super obvious to me that
the boards that showed up for the
boards, for the interview
were
at the
higher level than we have seen over the years.
Cause I've been at every charter interview.
This is the only year I have not been.
So I'm just kind of wondering,
is that something that the training
that you're doing
on the prep early side
is encouraging
because it was remarkable to me this year.
I just was wondering
from your--
-: Sorry, I wish I could take credit for it.
(laughter)
I also had that moment
when I was reading the applications
and reading
the
degreed individuals and the successful enterprises
that they had engaged in.
We have masters and doctorate degrees.
We have folks who have started their own startups
or several startups.
The folks that,
and I'll,
I'll split it because Miranda applied last year
and part of our conversations
last year after that application was
we needed to see
folks who had been involved in education.
Her, as she said,
background was in law.
And
clearly had a passion for it,
but we had some questions about
educational prowess of her team.
She took that to heart
and she connected with some very
seasoned and degreed individuals
in the field of education.
And that was reflected in her board this year,
and proposed board.
The other three entities,
sponsoring entities,
who participated in the BES training,
part of that training
is how to attract,
how to recruit
a highly competent board.
I believe one of the applicants told me they
spoke to over 400 individuals
to try to determine who would be the best fit
for their board.
That's--
Ms. Bahorich: 400?
-: 400.
And I'm sorry, I can't remember which of you told me that,
but, oh, Ambica.
So, so,
although I'd like to claim credit,
and that is an area that we are looking at
internally as we move forward.
Those are the reasonings behind
these stellar boards that we saw.
-: Well, I just, you know,
that's always been
a source of concern for me
is that we have strong school leaders proposing,
but not as strong boards
that are at the interviews and things sometimes.
And so if there's any message I can send out
for any potential applicants,
that strength of the board really says capacity.
I can carry out this vision
cause I've got some help to do it.
It's not just me with this great passion and vision.
It's a lot of people who are standing beside me
who are professionals
who know what they're also capable
of helping me with this vision too.
So I just,
it was notable this year.
I just wanted to ask
what we're doing a little differently.
So Ms. Hardy and then Mr. Rowley.
Ms. Hardy: I just want to make this comment.
I don't believe I've ever heard
more articulate group
of charter school applicants
in all of my years of hearing charter schools.
There's usually one or two
that will kind of get to you
and you think oh.
These people, and they are all,
up to the last one,
extremely articulate.
And all have a beautiful story to tell.
And I'm just really proud
and happy for them
and I hope this all works out
because they are very impressive.
-: Just echoing that,
as Ms. Hardy said,
I heard them yesterday in committee as well
and then today.
It also came out just the fact that there is
such a blend of qualifications,
expertise,
but also passion,
and a personal experience.
I love the idea
that all four really are going back into areas
in which they had a personal experience,
but they're doing so with a qualified board,
with their own experience and expertise.
And not to mention the fact,
I think it's,
it's a reflection on hopefully our system
that we have four very qualified women
who are stepping up into these
leadership roles.
And I think that's worth noting
in the great state of Texas.
Ms. Bahorich: Yes, Ms. Miller.
-: May I ask,
I noticed that Lubbock,
there in Lubbock,
are they,
will they be working with the Lubbock
Scottish Rite?
Cause I know Scottish Rite's out there in Lubbock.
(group chatter)
Okay, alright, good.
Cause don't they still have their training program.
Woman: Yes ma'am, they do.
Okay.
Heather: That was outlined in their application
that there would be some participation.
-: Yes, Mr. Bradley,
any other questions.
-: Just real briefly to Member Beltran's concerns
about limiting enrollment.
We had an instance probably a decade ago,
the Bob Hope Charter,
it's called the Huen Center in Port Arthur, applied.
And during the interview process,
I was able to really drill down into it.
They were wanting to serve
a very specific population.
We could use dyslexias,
but these kids were all severely disabled.
They were in house, residential care
with this foundation,
living there on campus.
The couldn't get educational opportunities
out of the Port Arthur district.
These kids would be put in their wheelchairs
and put in the back of a classroom
and ignored.
So anyway, we offered them the charter,
but I cautioned the operator,
as much as concerns came today.
Well if we're gonna limit it to just
this select community,
what about--
So I explained to them,
you're an open charter school,
and you're geographic region,
if anybody wants to come in
and knock on the door,
you will accept them
and you also risk with a lottery situation
that you may not
have the capacity
where all of your in house kids
can get in.
The odds are that
only 50% will.
And so what the solution to it was
is that actually expanded their enrollment
expectations
and that assured that there certainly was
a place for all.
Today, in Port Arthur,
it is booming.
They're on a building boom.
They've outgrown their facility.
It has become the school of choice
for the Hispanic community
in Port Arthur.
And they've made it their own.
And I believe we've got an expansion.
They've purchased land in Beaumont
and are building out a new campus.
-: Any other,
yes, Mr. Mercer.
-: I just wanted to chime in
because I was blessed to be the State chair
two years ago of charters,
and watching, you hear the
journeys.
Thank you for sharing that.
Ms. Hardy, Mr. Rowley mentioned
the journeys you had.
There's an expression
iron sharpens iron.
And you feel like well, yeah,
but am I through getting sharpened yet, right.
And your journey's brought you this far.
Thank you for never giving up.
Thank you for having that passion.
Thank you for,
it's been journey after journey
after journey that have brought you here today.
Thank you so much.
-: Well said, Mr. Mercer.
Any questions specifically of Heather.
Cause I'm gonna let her go
unless you have some questions of Heather.
But stay around
because maybe something pops up.
Okay, Mr. Cortez.
-: So I just, you know,
took a lot of notes from all the different questions
that I asked.
And I even had some questions of
commissioner when he was here.
And rather than belabor
and engage again with the applicants,
I thought I'd just share with you guys,
since at the end of the day,
we're the ones that are gonna vote.
But having attended the
hearings in May,
and having gone through that exchange
and yesterday,
what I heard in our discussion in committee,
well I do support the Lubbock charter,
and a lot of good things we're hearing
out of Lubbock this week.
Marty, congratulations.
Things are going well up there.
It's clear that that particular charter had
was born out of a necessity
and a clear community outcry
and a need.
And I fully support that charter.
However, I did have serious questions
and concerns about the other three
applicants that are part of
the Building Excellent Schools network.
I just felt that some of these concerns,
I guess, needed to be raised to
this body prior to making the vote.
I know that
the three founders
that have spoken
are very articulate.
And I don't want to take that away from them.
And they're obviously,
they've been,
came out of this 2017 Fellows program
with Building Excellent Schools.
And it appears that they're gonna have
the support and the framework
that's required to
set up the foundation of how they're gonna run
their schools
as the framework that Building Excellent Schools
offers their fellows in the first three years
of operation.
As they've outlined in their budgets,
the 10,000 dollar annual expense
for Building Excellent Schools.
So, I only assume that it's a fair question to ask,
well how are other Building Excellent Schools doing
across the country.
One of the concerns is that Building Excellent Schools
fellows that have been planted in over
100 new start up charter schools across the country,
and while they're all independent
in and of themselves,
it's still Building Excellent Schools
has this network of information
that they put out to
their organizations.
And as one of the testifiers yesterday
talked about,
they send them all this information
about best practices from
Building Excellent Schools network schools
across the country.
And the commissioner
on Wednesday said that
one of the big reasons that he was in full support
is because he wanted
more A schools
in these neighborhoods.
Well, in fact,
Building Excellent Schools,
and you can go to the state of,
the state education websites
in some of these states
where Building Excellent Schools are,
and you're gonna see that only about half
of Building Excellent Schools
are performing
above standard.
You had some listed
with a C rating.
Others in D in Louisiana.
D and F's in Ohio.
And all this information's available
on the state education
websites.
But I didn't want to just point that out
to this body.
And again, even though
the founders and their boards
seem to be well intentioned and well spoken,
none of them,
not a single one of them
had experience ever opening an campus,
evaluating a teacher,
with school safety issue,
which in today's society
and today's environment is critical.
And so those are things that
I was concerned about.
I was very concerned about the fact that
within these three
applicants,
there are only a few dozen
participants showed up to their community
conversations,
which at least to me,
didn't demonstrate
a clear desire
by these communities
for these campuses.
I didn't see any evidence,
and at least in one of the sessions,
there were only three participants
that showed up.
But yet
we're gonna give these schools,
potentially, if they get awarded
about 164 million dollars over the course
of the next decade,
assuming that they don't ask for expansion amendments
and at capacity with what they're asking for.
And based,
and again, all this based on
what in the interview process
was a very limited
community
involvement.
So I'm concerned about that.
The other things
that I was concerned about,
and I raised this yesterday,
not single one of them
has budgeted for library or librarian.
Not a single one budgeted for a counselor.
None of them had budget for school safety.
These are all things
that should concern
all of us.
And I just wanted to raise those points.
I'm also concerned that
the percentages of
students that they're going to serve,
and I know I shared them with,
I shared some of them with you.
I didn't write them on my notes here,
cause I didn't want to go over that whole thing again.
But the percentages
of some of the populations,
especially populations of kids
they are gonna serve versus
their neighborhood schools,
in addition to the fact that
most to the neighborhood schools
in the specific zip codes that wanted
operating did meet standard.
The majority of them did.
In some instances,
as many as 75% of the schools met standards.
I'm concerned about
one of them that talked about
there was gonna be a one to 30
student teacher ratio.
So those are some of the issues that I had.
And again, I raise them to you all
because we're all gonna make this vote in a moment.
I'm concerned that
with such a limited state funding
that we're using these state dollars
inefficiently.
Because by opening up these new facilities,
they're gonna hire new campus,
new staff,
new campuses
when we already have many neighborhood,
lots of neighborhood schools located within,
within this area
that meet state standards.
But one of the big concerns,
and again, I don't live in the Houston area,
so those of you that are Houstonians,
you can speak to this probably better than I.
But again, my decisions don't just impact
district two.
My actions impact all of Texas,
just like each and every one of you.
I may get voted in one district,
but our actions represent all.
Opening these two new charters in Houston area specifically,
has an impact on Houston ISD kids.
These schools will increase
local tax payer dollar contributions
through a recapture.
Houston's already giving back
233 million dollars a year.
That's about a thousand dollars per student
that comes out of,
out of HISD.
And so this hurts Houston ISD kids
when we do these things.
We heard yesterday from a teacher
that drove all the way from Houston.
She was employed from the Houston school district.
She drove all the way down here to Austin
to come talk to us about
how in her school,
they were gonna cut math specialists next year
because of budget shortfalls.
And their struggling students
may not be able to receive interventions.
And she talked about another school
that they may cut
six teachers
and after school enrichment programs.
I point this out
because this is obviously a big concern.
While we don't control what happens across the street,
it seems to me that until the school finance
issues are addressed,
we shouldn't continue to
penalize
students within these school systems
of Chapter 41 districts.
And in essence, our actions to potentially approve
some of these charters today
could do that because we're gonna take
more money away from
these schools.
So, you know,
I think,
I can go on and on,
but I'm just gonna leave it at that and
just tell you all I do have some deep concerns.
I have a lot more notes, but
I've gone through a lot of this
over the last few days.
Some of you have listened to the testimony.
You might have heard
my line of questioning.
And so I'll leave it at that.
If anybody has any questions
of anything I just said,
I'd be happy to answer.
Otherwise, I just wanted to at least
put my comments out.
So thank you guys.
Ms. Cargill: Would you like the motions?
Ms. Bahorich: Yeah, let's go ahead and do that, okay.
Ms. Cargill: Okay, and I would.
(inaudible)
(interposing voices speaking)
Ms. Bahorich: We want to make sure and do it
like you all voted.
-: And I would encourage those of you
that want to hear the answers
to a lot of Mr. Cortez's concerns
to listen to the tapes
from yesterday from our committee meeting.
So board members, on page two
of the Committee on School Initiatives notes
is the motion.
And the item is
of course
whether to award these charters or not.
So in speaking to our parliamentarian
because we did have
a committee member, Mr. Cortez,
who did want the question divided.
So to save us time,
we've gone ahead and done that.
So the first motion is this.
And this is on page four dash 15 of your
agenda notebook.
It was
recommended unanimously
that the State Board of Education
take no action
on the commissioner's proposed generation 23
open enrollment charter school,
Elementary School for Education Innovation,
which would be in Lubbock.
-: So again,
this is always a weird motion.
The vote is to take no action, basically.
And so I would like you to raise your hands.
Mr. Cortez: It requires us to take any action.
-: That charter goes forward.
Ms. Cargill: If you want the charter,
you vote yes.
-: If you want the charter, raise your hand
in favor of taking no action.
Ms. Cargill: Right.
-: Okay.
So all those in favor of taking no action on
Elementary School for Education Innovation
in Lubbock, raise your hands please.
I just want to make sure we captured the vote.
We captured the vote, okay.
All those
in favor of,
well, did we,
opposed
to taking no action.
All those opposed to taking no action,
please raise your hand.
You got it?
Okay.
So,
that motion passes
and Elementary School for Education Innovation
will be given a charter.
Okay, next motion, Ms. Cargill.
-: In the middle of page two,
it was recommended that the State Board of Education
take no action on three of the commissioners
proposed generation 23,
open enrollment charter schools,
Bloom Academy Charter School of Houston,
Promesa Academy Charter School,
which would be in San Antonio,
and Rev Preparatory Academy of Houston.
Ms. Bahorich: Any further discussion on this
before we take a vote?
All those in favor of taking no action
on the three
proposals,
Bloom Academy Charter School,
Promesa Academy Charter
and Rev, I hope I say that--
-: Rev.
-: Rev, okay.
Rev Preparatory Academy.
Raise your hands.
So favor, if you're in favor of taking no action,
please raise your hands.
Did staff catch that?
Okay, all those not in favor
of taking no action,
please raise your hands.
Got that?
Okay, so all of the commissioners proposed charters
were approved.
(applause)
Alright members, we only really have one more
and then just a personal catch up
with whoever
in the room.
So development of a long range plan
for public education.
I believe Ms. Cargill will bring us up to date on that.
-: Right, I will.
And thank you charter school staff.
You all are awesome, as always.
Okay, board members,
this is on page two of the minutes as well
and in your Board Agenda book,
four dash 19.
You also in the minutes have a copy of
the long range plan.
So it was recommended
that the State Board of Education
authorize the Texas Comprehensive Center
and the Texas Education Agency staff
to move forward
with drafting a long range plan
for public education
based on the vision and recommendations
proposed by the long range plan steering committee.
-: Okay.
Any discussions about the long range plan
or any just,
bring it up to date,
like where we are,
just kind of to let everybody know.
-: Right.
Okay, I'd like to just mention a couple of things
we did have Lynette Greenhoff,
the vice chair of the committee
come and speak to the Committee on School Initiatives
yesterday.
And I think Gary Davis from AIR might be around here
somewhere.
(inaudible)
Oh, there you are.
No wonder I didn't see you.
I do want to recognize Gary.
He's been fantastic.
The whole staff has been fantastic
with AIR.
And then of course Debbie
has been wonderful.
Debbie, you wear a lot of hats,
so thank you for your hard work on this.
But the Steering Committee would like to thank
the board members who did provide input.
We were all given a chance,
whether you were on the Steering Committee or not,
to provide input.
And that opportunity does still exist.
Mr. Cortez talked about
meeting with superintendents and others
in his district,
and so this summer,
and when did we decide,
when did we want that input to be sent in
if theirs still input, Debbie?
(inaudible)
Mid-August, thank you.
Okay.
(inaudible)
What was that?
-: I was just saying,
so we're gonna publish whatever was,
or maybe it's already out.
Is that already out,
what the committee looked at yesterday?
(inaudible)
Woman: It's not online,
but we said we'd do a PowerPoint
and share that with the board
in case you wanted to share it with community groups.
-: But we have to vote on this first
before they wanted to, yeah.
So basically, this is a brief.
So the document that you have,
or a white paper,
you could call it that.
And so it has the crucial
points of the research that was done,
resources,
highlights from community conversations,
and from the survey,
and a description of the committee's process.
So that's what that is.
And then after the summer,
and after gathering more input,
if board members have more input,
we will get the longer version
that would then be sent to us
that we could carry, hopefully,
to legislators,
and to service centers,
and to school boards.
And we're just gonna need
as much of the State Board's help as possible
to make a plan actionable.
And that's a keyword that we have always said.
So, the Steering Committee also said
that they are very willing and ready and able to help
State Board members from their communities.
So if you need help from any Steering Committee members,
they're just, they're very proud
of the work they've done.
And they would be ready to help with the rollout
once the entire long range plan is finished and completed.
-: I would just recommend that
if we're continuing,
you know, as we put this out and wanting to gather
feedback that we
cut that off about August first,
because by the time you
get it, then you got to assemble it
and figure out how to organize it.
And by the time it gets out to us,
I mean that's gonna take a little while
once you try to assemble
and do the feedback.
And if the committee wants to get on a conference call
or something,
and kind of talk over some of the feedback
that was received or whatever
before doing the final recommendations,
I mean it would at least lend itself to that
because you'd have a bit of some time there.
That's my recommendation.
-: We had talked about it's a little bit hard
to catch superintendents
and education folks right now
because they're all leaving
to go on a much deserved vacation.
But we could,
yeah, if there's no objection from
fellow board members,
I'm fine with first of August.
-: I just want to make sure that we get
plenty of time to get that feedback
and then say oh, well we need to,
here is what was pointed out,
a glaring whatever,
by several people.
So I just would like to give just a little more cushion.
Ms. Cargill: Okay, is everybody okay with that?
-: Is everybody okay with that?
Ms. Cargill: August first
instead of mid-August?
-: Yeah, August first.
Yeah, yeah.
Just to get,
give us some cushion
that if we need to adjust anything
based on the feedback.
(inaudible)
-: The only thought I have
is professional development
doesn't begin until
probably second week of August.
I mean in some cases, first week of August.
And that's also an additional opportunity--
Ms. Bahorich: For?
-: For this PowerPoint and going back
and visiting with area educators.
I know if I'm on several people's calendars
to do like
back to school welcomes.
And they're gonna be modified to
be long range plan conversations.
So--
-: Do you have a way
of contacting people earlier in the process
to make sure that they're--
cause even if you present it then,
and getting it back--
(interposing voices speaking)
I'm just trying to get some cushion
because our meeting is September 11th,
that week.
Mr. Cortez: When do you have to finalize
your agenda,
the agenda?
Ms. Timmons: Mid-August.
The last point.
-: That's the concern that I have
is that the feedback won't have been received
in time to process it.
That's the problem.
Cause once you get it,
you got to assemble it.
You got to put it in a way that's usable.
Otherwise, why take the feedback.
So I just don't,
I want to be able to make any adjustments,
that's all.
-: I just wanted to
remind the board that you have received input
from about 12,000 Texans
through your survey
and the community meetings that you hosted.
We're happy to get more,
but you've gotten a tremendous amount of input already
that shaped your recommendations and visions.
-: But this will be the first time
that they really had a chance to see
the actual output
that is proposed.
So that's why I would really,
I would really like to give us some cushion in there
because I want us to consider that public feedback.
That'll give us just two more weeks to--
- Member Cortez: First of August?
August first.
Okay, that would be great
because I really,
I hate getting stuff so late
that you don't know what to do with it
and there's no time to do it.
I really like to have cushions for consideration.
(inaudible)
Yeah.
Well, you're gonna have to,
what is it today?
The 15th,
so you got two weeks
(laughter)
to get it out.
That'll stress him out, that's right.
Any other comments about that?
So, so the recommendation before us
is to authorize the Texas Comprehensive Center,
the Texas Education Agency staff
to move forward with the drafting,
a long range plan for public education
based on the vision and recommendations
proposed by the long range plans Steering Committee
as presented to the Committee on School Initiatives
the other day,
and then in your hands.
And this is just a voice vote.
All those in favor, say aye.
Group: Aye.
-: All those opposed, say no.
Thank you members.
That motion passes as well.
And now, do we have
any other,
that's it on the agenda.
So any, I want to make sure we cover any personal
achievements or recognitions.
I know some of you guys
received different recognitions
recently.
So Mr. Mercer,
then Mr. Cortez.
-: Just one recognition and one achievement.
One recognition for the board,
we've talked about it for years.
We talked about this.
I would like to see it.
I want to help,
but this September, as a prelude
to our contest, Mr. Maynard,
we do that 2.5 billion check
for the 2018-2019 millennia.
We invite the governor,
lieutenant governor here.
It's a five minute thing.
But as a great prelude
to a contest to say hey,
this is what we do.
People don't know that,
but I would encourage,
I would be willing to work with staff
to do that check
of 2.5 billion dollars.
And we've been given about 11 or 12 billion
in the last 10 years.
But we've talked about it for years.
I think it's the Nike time.
Let's just do it and make it a big item.
And the second thing,
personal,
I always talk about journeys
and iron sharpens iron.
That's just my theme, and I appreciate that.
I apologize if I miss,
(inaudible)
for the Mercers and (inaudible),
we've had a lot of journeys.
A lot of times, when iron,
(crying)
sorry.
It's sharpened iron.
My daughter will be going to Stanford Law School.
(applause)
(group chatter)
Ms. Bahorich: That's right.
Mr. Cortez.
And then Ms. Perez-Diaz,
I think you had a hand up, right.
Okay.
Mr. Cortez.
-: Just gonna ask for that information for
the branding,
the branding fund.
If the agency can give us
the name and if there's a Tax ID number,
and maybe a letter that we can attach.
Ms. Bahorich: We do need a letter.
-: That is maybe signed by--
Ms. Bahorich: That's a really good idea.
-: Maybe signed by the chair of the board
asking entities that are involved
saying this is a non-profit
and tax deductible
because I think this is a great idea, Tom.
So thank you for your leadership on that.
Ms. Bahorich: Ms. Beltran,
did you have your hand up?
Or Ms. Melton-Malone, okay.
Ms. Melton-Malone.
(inaudible)
Yeah.
No, go ahead.
We're just--
-: I waited until now.
I wish I done it sooner,
cause Shelly's not here.
But I just wanted to say a special thank you
to Monica and Shelly
for all the work they did in our meeting yesterday.
I don't know,
the rest of you didn't have a chance to be there,
but we were still on item agenda number one
at 12:15 yesterday.
Ms. Bahorich: Yeah, we were.
-: We were.
And Monica and Shelly
were so wonderful about explaining things
and telling us
why we could or could not do something.
And they had put in so many hours of work
before that to try to get everything covered.
And I just wanted to say a special thank you to them
for all that they did,
beforehand and for the way
they helped in our meeting yesterday.
-: I would like to echo that.
I've been on multiple calls
with Ms. Martinez.
Yeah, let's do this.
And really tried to help
pull the stakeholders in.
Let's try to hammer this out as closely as we can get it
to come together.
An so that's something our board has worked super hard on
on just about tons of topics.
How do we move closer
together with the folks who
have a stake in this
as best we can do that.
Can't always get right meeting in the middle,
but you can get closer together
and that's something that
has been a value on this board.
And I greatly appreciate that.
Ms. Hardy, and then Mr. Maynard.
-: In regard to that, I want to say,
thank you so much for
working out the new plan for the
social studies
streamlining.
I actually got to come to one of the meetings,
and if you can afford that time to do that,
it's very valuable.
Those teachers are very sincere
in what they're doing
and they're working very hard.
And I like the idea of us
revisiting some things
that we had questions about,
ahead of time,
before it comes a first reading.
I think that's going to resolve a lot of our
problems with that.
And I'm hoping for a very smooth
first reading.
But the fact is
the new plan, I think, might be working.
We hope so.
And I appreciate the long range
looking at all that.
-: Well, I appreciate that, Ms. Hardy.
After every time we do
curriculum standards,
adoption of going through that whole process,
we always revise.
And we did a major revision last year
in the interest of transparency
and including more people.
And with those kinds of changes,
when you go through a,
you know, a significant process change,
it's always a little trixy.
You know, did you make the right move.
How do you--
I think all the documents we got this week
were incredibly helpful.
All the feedback
and everything we got.
Assembling that whole notebook thing
was a huge deal.
And just thinking that through.
This is the first time we've ever done it this way.
And including all the feedback from the ESC's,
you know, education service centers.
I mean we've just never gathered
on any curriculum review
the extent that we have.
As you'll recall,
the English organizations
helped us with the last one
when we did English,
but they were kind of doing
that assembling and putting people together.
We saw a lot of value for that.
We changed our process to get a lot more people involved.
But that put a lot of work on staff
to try to figure out how that,
what that looks like.
And how do we pull that stuff in.
So we greatly appreciate it.
Because it's been a monumental hill to climb
with what we've asked to increase our transparency
and inclusions.
Both with, and with interest groups as well.
They met with interest groups.
We've never done a formal meeting of interest groups
way early on either.
There's just been a big outreach
with our social studies streamlining.
Mr. Maynard.
-: Just to real quick comment,
and people ask me sometimes,
do you enjoy serving on the board.
And I do.
I really enjoy the work
and I enjoy working with the people on the board.
I have to believe that this board
has done a lot to engender
a lot of public confidence.
And just thank you for that.
But I also need to,
I would be remiss
if I didn't mention that the long suffering
Mrs. Maynard is in the audience.
Back here behind me.
(laughter)
(applause)
And I'd also like to introduce
Sam Mills,
who is enjoying his,
he's from Wisconsin
by way of Oklahoma State University
and is enjoying his first
hot Texas summer.
(laughter)
Woman: Don't stretch the truth.
-: Mr. Rowley and Dr. Ellis.
-: While we're giving out staff accolades,
I want to mention our executive director,
Debbie Radcliffe.
I've had several issues come up
recently with regard to
needing to contact TEA folks
and Debbie's just been phenomenal about that
as well as a perfect referral source
whenever people call you and say
what about this.
And the answer is, that's not our jurisdiction.
I send them to Debbie,
and she handles that.
Thank you Debbie, for all you do as well.
(applause)
(inaudible)
-: And Lenny.
Those are our two powerhouses
holding down the State Board office.
(laughter)
(inaudible)
And Megan keeping us straight
in Monica's office too.
Absolutely.
Any other comments?
Yeah, Dr. Ellis, sorry.
Sorry, Dr. Ellis.
I crossed you off already.
Sorry.
-: I didn't get my chance yet.
I'm gonna follow along the same lines of
Member Mercer
and talk about my family and a proud moment.
So about a month ago,
on May 11th,
I had my twins, Jacob and Katie,
graduate from Texas A&M University.
A very, very proud moment.
And then eight days later,
my daughter brought my wife and I a son-in-law.
Ms. Bahorich: That's wonderful.
-: So she was married the next weekend.
And so it's been a busy
time around the Ellis household.
But lots of great memories and times.
-: Absolutely.
And speaking of family,
I would encourage anyone interested
in looking at Marisa,
Member Perez's,
Perez-Diaz's pictures of her son
turning one year old here pretty quick.
And all the amazing stuff she put together for his party.
It's very cute.
(laughter)
So any, yeah, Ms. Cargill.
-: In the same spirit,
don't we love to get happy texts.
So my son in Los Angeles just texted,
I am a new member
of the Rhode Theater Company.
He had auditioned for this theater
in Los Angeles.
And you get a lot of nos when you're in acting,
as Tincy and Marty
and those of us who have fine arts children know,
and so he had been pretty stressed about this,
the audition last week.
And he just texted that he got it.
So I'm so proud of him
and happy for him.
(applause)
Love fine arts, don't we.
Yeah.
(microphone cuts out)
Mr. Rowley knows about that with his daughter.
(laughter)
Starving artist, yeah.
And so members today,
I don't like to talk about agenda stuff here,
but I want to thank you for your votes,
pulling together again
on the Mexican American studies.
We heard from a lot of the public
and I think we did a great job
of coming together, again,
around an issue that sometimes can be difficult.
We've done this over and over on this board
and I'm very proud of that.
I say that to every group that I talk to
about how hard we try to work,
pull together,
let's move forward,
because we got so many things to work on.
And so I greatly appreciate
all the work that folks put into that.
And also, the activists that came
and the people who care deeply about this issue.
I think this is very important
that we have an open, welcoming environment here
at the State Board of Education
for all those people who care about a lot of issues
and make them feel at home.
And I think we do a pretty good job.
We don't always get it perfect,
but I think we do a pretty good job
of making people feel welcome.
So I want to continue in that spirit
every time we have a meeting.
The other thing is,
I just want to encourage you
to do your homework
and come ready on that first reading
and the September meeting
with what you're gonna try to do
for Social Studies.
People we do not want to get
into a second reading.
We've tried to
wean ourselves off of second reading
as best we can.
I mean you can't get it perfect.
You're still gonna have a few.
But let's move toward that first reading
on any changes that we try to do
for any of these curriculum standards.
And I really, I'm concerned
after going through everybody's concerns.
And I think that's perfectly fine.
We did the right thing.
We punted it back to the committee.
We definitely did the right thing.
But we've got a lot of standards
in eighth grade
US History and World History.
So if you want to,
as a matter of fact,
Mr. Maynard and I were talking about
how do we, as a board,
kind of look at essential knowledge
versus wow, this is so great.
This is a great story.
We love this.
This is such a neat thing to say.
Kind of trying to call through
and look at what we've,
we've still got heavy, heavy, heavy material
in all three of those grades.
And I would love to see,
think of a ratings system or something,
essential, don't get rid of this.
And over to zero, which is like, eh,
you know, that's great.
But I just think we need to get
a little more serious about it
before we do the first reading.
That's all.
And I'm encouraging you individually to look at that.
And look at the surveys that we got
back in November, I want to say,
from--
(inaudible)
yeah, we get,
no I think we got them in November.
You might want to send those out again,
the survey responses.
They were on Excel worksheet,
or Excel sheets.
Monica: And the work group A information
that's in your binder is
a summary of those surveys as well.
-: So it's in your,
so look through your binders
and take those home and spend some time.
But I think we've got some more work to do
on what is known as streamlining.
I think we just really got
to get a little more serious about it.
So members, thank you for the amazing meeting this week.
I appreciate each and every one of you.
You all bring unique
and wonderful perspectives to the board.
And have a great summer.
We'll see you in September.