Houston, TX

The 2007-2008 school year begins in one week for Texas students. Will they return to find the same school experience they left last year? Yes…and no. In honor of the last week of summer and the start of school, this week I’ll focus on education. Today, I’ll provide a quick overview of a few topics that have brought changes to public school this year.

* House Bill 1 is a comprehensive bill that affects, among many other things, the school calendar. HB 1 incorporates elements of a movement for a “traditional” school year. Although this movement prefers a school start date after Labor Day, the compromise in HB 1 stipulates that schools in Texas may not begin before the fourth Monday in August. Students are required to be in school for 180 days each school year. On the horizon is legislation that puts an end date requirement (no school past first week of June) on the school calendar, creating a strict bracket for beginning and ending the school year. What does this mean for the school calendar, students, parents and teachers? I’ll provide more details about HB 1 and the school schedule in a future column, so check back.

* House Bill 1034 (authored by Representative Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball) alters the Texas State Pledge of Allegiance. The new pledge now includes the words, “one state under God,” and is effective September 1, 2007. There is not currently a legal challenge to this, although the challenge to the moment of silence is still active in the Federal District Courts. State Representative Bill Zedler (R-Arlington), who co-authored HB 1034 said, “This new legislation is a great victory for religious freedom in Texas.”

* Senate Bill 1031 ended TAKS test as graduation requirement. According to Representative Mike O’Day’s policy brief, “A random survey by one teacher’s organization found that more than three out of four teachers believe the TAKS does not accurately measure a student’s academic level and is turning students into test takers rather than critical thinkers.” In response to this overwhelming concern by teachers, the 80th legislature voted to replace the TAKS test as a graduation requirement with end of course exams instead. Supporters explained that these exams are a better measure of progress because they are more in line with the material students actually learned in the classroom, and thus are a more accurate indicator of graduation and continuing education readiness.

* House Bill 2237 established

House Bill 2237 creates the High School Completion and Success Initiative Board to develop a strategic plan that coordinates public and private high school improvement initiatives. For college students, the Texas Tomorrow Fund has been re-established this session. This is a pre-paid tuition program for Texas families to save for college education. Under this plan, families will be able to lock in current rates for tuition and required fees for their children’s future higher education needs. This program will give parents more certainty about the cost of their child’s education. Also appropriated in this session’s budget is an additional $146 million in college financial aid, to assist our children’s ability to gain access to the top tier colleges in Texas.

Tomorrow, more information about House Bill 1 and the movement for a traditional school year, with details about how this affects the average Texan.