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When the 81st session of the Texas Legislature concluded,
Texas public schools had a new accountability system for the
first time in a decade and educators were among the few in the
current economy to receive a pay increase. Issues such as these
are invariably touched by many, but of the state’s 31 senators
and 150 representatives, some were shining stars in working
for Texas teachers and students. The Texas Classroom Teachers
Association is proud to have worked with these elected leaders,
and we dedicate "Legislative Stars" or grant "Honorable Mention" status to the following legislators, who managed to rise to
the tasks before them in a session where education was clearly
not the focus.
Rep. Rob Eissler
(R-The Woodlands)
TCTA’s 2008-09 Friend of Education
in the public official category, Eissler continued his tradition
of hard work and accomplishments for public education and Texas
teachers. He started out the session
playing a pivotal role as one
of the initial 11 Republican House
members who put their support
behind Joe Straus to be Speaker
of the House of Representatives.
While the session had some major
partisan conflagrations, the election
of Straus restored much of
the decorum and bipartisan spirit
that had been missing in the Texas
House in recent sessions. Straus
retained Eissler as chairman of the
House Public Education Committee
and put Democrat Scott
Hochberg of Houston in charge of
funding for education as chair of
the Appropriations Subcommittee
on Education and author of the
school finance bill, a smooth move
that put the most knowledgeable
member of those subjects in charge
of one of the most potentially divisive
issues facing the House.
Eissler’s personal goal for the session
was to revise the state’s accountability
system. He succeeded, although
his version of the bill, which would
have further reduced the overemphasis
on high-stakes testing, was compromised due to last-minute objections from the governor’s office and intensive lobbying by a
faction of the business community. Fortunately for TCTA members,
he took some time out of his busy
schedule to pass some individual bills suggested by TCTA. Now
Texas teachers will be able to choose
whether to use state or personal sick leave first. School employees who
depend on TRS ActiveCare for
health insurance for themselves or
their families are assured that the Teacher Retirement System cannot
opt out of providing coverage for
pre-existing medical conditions.
Additionally, assuming his bill
is signed by the governor, teachers
and related professionals who
depend upon timely submission
of their service records to new school districts no longer have to
worry about districts that hold the service records hostage for coercive
reasons or even out of bureaucratic
sluggishness. TCTA thanks
Eissler for his continued support of Texas educators.
Hochberg
For the first time in recent
memory, a school finance reform
bill passed the Texas House with
little or no controversy and very
little debate. Unlike the much
smaller Texas Senate, where issues
are ironed out behind the scenes,
giving an impression of clubby
cordiality, the House is a veritable
boiling pot. House members
with local concerns and legislative proposals that have not been given
committee hearings are prone to
make major reform legislation a
free-for-all, so that the sponsor
of the legislation must fight off proposals that would undermine
the integrity of the bill under consideration.
As the House author
of the first school finance bill to be
considered since the school finance
reforms enacted in a 2006 special
session, Hochberg made it
seem like child’s play. Why was it
seemingly so easy? First, Hochberg
understands Texas school
finance much better than any other
elected official. Second, Hochberg
was granted virtual carte blanche
on school finance by Straus, Eissler,
and House Appropriations Committee
Chairman Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie).
With the blessing of the
Republican House leadership and
the trust of House Republicans and Democrats alike, Hochberg pretty
much personally crafted a school finance bill that helped all districts,
particularly districts that have been
locked in to low “target revenues” by
the 2006 school finance bill. The
school finance bill also guarantees
a minimum raise to all educators
subject to the state minimum salary
schedule by requiring all districts to
use a portion of increases from the
bill for this purpose. One of TCTA’s
main goals for the session was to
make sure that any school finance
bill included such a provision. Even
though the minimum raise is modest,
it is significant given the current
state of the economy. Even more
important is the progress toward
establishing a pattern of including
educator compensation as a necessary
component of school finance legislation. The teacher compensation provision that was passed can
be attributed almost solely to Hochberg.
Thanks again, Mr. Hochberg!
Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth)
One of two freshman senators this
session, Davis won accolades
from many quarters for being a
quick study, tenacious, and willing
to take on and gain a deep understanding of large, complex issues. From an education perspective, we see a rising star who supports and understands the needs of public schools in this state, and educators are lucky to have her as the newest member of the Senate Education Committee. Davis demonstrated a keen understanding of the need for reform in the intervention and sanction scheme for struggling schools in our state accountability
system, taking the lead in pushing legislation providing for a more targeted and relevant response by the state to troubled schools. She worked closely with TCTA
throughout the session, successfully passing TCTA-initiated legislation that provided protections for educators involved in grievances as well as filing TCTA-initiated legislation providing for contract protections in certificate renewal situations. Her office checked with TCTA routinely about education bills being heard by the committee, asking for our input and concerns. Toward the end of the session, when actions by the
House caused senators to have to scramble to save their bills by amending them onto House bills that were awaiting Senate action, Davis took the time to help TCTA save one of our bills by agreeing to offer it as a floor amendment to another bill; in doing so, she literally saved the day for TCTA by getting the amendment tacked on at 1:53 a.m. before a critical deadline the following day. But perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of Davis is the fact that, throughout the rough and tumble turmoil of the legislative session, when even the strongest of nerves can become frayed, Davis always took the high road, presenting a calm and respectful demeanor to everyone she encountered. We look forward to working with her in sessions to come.
Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano)
As the chair of the Senate Education
Committee, Shapiro
was the Senate author of both the
accountability and school finance
bills, while also serving as a member of the Senate Finance Committee. To author and pass even one major reform bill takes tremendous
effort, but through her perseverance and with the help of her
talented staff, Shapiro passed both
in addition to her individual legislative
program. Fortunately, her
program included sponsoring the
TCTA legislative proposal co-authored by House counterpart
Eissler, which ensures that educators
receive their service records on a timely basis. Additionally, she
sponsored a TCTA legislative proposal that would have allowed regional
teachers of the year to serve
on their regional education service center boards. Through her work on the Senate Finance Committee and as the Senate author of the school finance bill, she made sure that Texas public schools received an increase in funding of almost $2 billion over the amount needed for enrollment growth. The increase will give districts some breathing room while Texas will once again have another select committee to examine school finance weights, adjustments, and allotments over the interim, as proposed by Shapiro. TCTA is proud of our working
relationship with Shapiro and welcomes her once again to our list of "Legislative Stars."
Rep. Mike Villarreal
(D-San Antonio)
When the House of Representatives
took up the state budget,
TCTA and the other teacher associations
asked Villarreal to run
with an amendment to the teacher incentive pay provisions in the bill. As the bill came out of committee, $97 million per year had to be spent on the Texas Educator Excellence Grant, or TEEG, a campus-based incentive program under which 75 percent had to be paid to teachers on the basis of “objective measures of student performance” (essentially, TAKS scores). Our objective was to free up as much of the incentive pay funding as possible to be used
for incentives other than merit pay based on test scores, such as paying experienced teachers to mentor new teachers and to attract experienced teachers to hard-to-staff schools. Villarreal successfully proposed an amendment that would have eliminated any required percentage of the incentive pay money to be spent on the basis of so-called “objective measures” while protecting incentive pay programs that were already in place. While the complete elimination of the required percentage was removed
from the final bill, Villarreal’s efforts resulted in the elimination of the TEEG program altogether, and provided negotiators with bargaining power to retain the teacher pay raise in the final state budget and school finance bill.
Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston)
The school finance bill that came
out of the Senate Education Committee did have a teacher pay raise
component, but how it would be distributed was left to local school
districts. TCTA wanted the pay
increase distributed equally to raise general compensation for all teachers.
TCTA and the other teacher groups asked Whitmire to offer
an amendment to require equal
distribution of teacher pay for each
school district, similar to the salary
provision in the House version of
the bill. As Shapiro disagreed with
this approach, Whitmire would
have to propose an amendment
that was not acceptable to the
author of the bill, making passage
of the amendment very difficult.
TCTA members did their part, calling their senators and asking for a salary provision similar
to the House language, but the
amendment would not have passed
without Whitmire. Even though
as chairman of the Senate Criminal
Justice Committee, Whitmire does
not usually focus on school issues, he held his own in floor debate
and won passage of the amendment.
This is not the first time
that Whitmire has saved the day
for teachers. TCTA members may
remember when he killed a school
finance bill with some very unfavorable
provisions for teachers by
filibustering during a 2006 special
session. As the senator with the
longest tenure, he is known as the "Dean of the Senate." Thanks to
his experience and the respect he
receives from his colleagues, he has
once again made a major difference for public educators.
Sen. Kip Averitt (R-Waco)
When we need a Senate advocate,
we often turn to Averitt,
especially when dealing with insurance
issues. Always a quick study,
Averitt quietly gets our bills passed. Another veteran TCTA "Legislative Star," he’s served on the Senate
Education Committee for several
terms, supporting our issues and working to better public education.
This session, Averitt was instrumental in the success of two
TCTA bills. He authored the legislation
that will allow employees to designate whether they are taking
local or state personal leave, easing that bill through the process so
quickly that it was one of the first
bills to reach the governor’s desk
this session. He was also the Senate
sponsor for our proposal that will ensure that TRS-ActiveCare
(the state health insurance program
for active school employees)
must cover pre-existing conditions.
Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock (R-Killeen)
As a member of the Appropriations
Committee, Aycock
worked with fellow "Legislative
Stars" Hochberg and Villarreal to
preserve funding for school finance reform. The subcommittee recommended
a change to a rider in the
state appropriations bill that made
the $1.9 billion originally allocated
in the bill for school finance reform
also include a provision that the
school finance bill must address teacher salaries. Also a member of the House Public Education
Committee, Aycock successfully
authored the TCTA proposal to require
school districts to allow school
employees to tape record grievance
conferences.
Sen. Jane Nelson
(R-Lewisville)
In a serendipitous convergence of
events, TCTA teamed up with Nelson to successfully pursue legislation
to address the issue of school districts requiring teachers to award minimum grades to students,
regardless of the quality of the students'
work. After hearing about the problem from teachers, Nelson mentioned it to the commissioner of education, who was coincidentally scheduled to speak at TCTA’s convention; the commissioner used his TCTA appearance to gauge the prevalence of the problem and was struck by the overwhelming show of hands from our members confirming the practice. From that, a great bill idea was born, and TCTA worked closely with Nelson and her staff throughout the session. Nelson was determined in championing the need for local districts to eliminate minimum-grade requirements from their local policies, and
was successful in passing the bill, which is awaiting the governor’s signature.
HONORABLE MENTION
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte
(D-San Antonio)
Always a “go-to” member of the
Senate Education Committee, Van de Putte not only sponsored
a TCTA bill expanding prekindergarten eligibility to children
of teachers at high-need schools,
but her office consistently sought TCTA’s input on all education bills
coming before the committee and
served as an invaluable resource in
keeping TCTA informed of all education-related activities in the Senate.
Rep. Diane Patrick (R-Arlington)
One of the few legislators whose
background includes extensive public
education experience, Patrick
served a primary role in this legislative session in advancing several major education bills, including one (unfortunately vetoed) to expand half-day prekindergarten programs to full-day, which incorporated a TCTA legislative priority of instituting class-size limits in prekindergarten classes. Her office worked closely with TCTA in shaping quality requirements for these programs, as well as responding to requests from TCTA to defeat other ill-conceived legislation. Her office was instrumental in keeping TCTA informed of education-related activities in the House.
Rep. Alma Allen (D-Houston)
Another legislator with extensive
public education experience,
Allen sponsored two TCTA bills:
one that would have provided a comprehensive support system for teachers of special education students, and another that would have provided for contract protections in certificate renewal situations. Spunky and knowledgeable, Allen
actively pursued both pieces of legislation and served as a valuable resource as a member of the House Public Education Committee.
Rep. Vicki Truitt (R-Keller)
Truitt, second-term chair of
the House committee that handles retirement and investment issues,
has become a fierce protector of the Teacher Retirement System
fund and its members. She was instrumental in providing the mechanism for retirees to receive an increase this session, overcoming several obstacles that included the end-of-session death of the bill that included the modified 13th check. At the last minute, Truitt was able to amend the provision into another of her bills that was available. She also fought long and hard to improve protections for school employees who purchase 403(b) products.
Rep. Jim McReynolds (D-Lufkin)
A favorite among TCTA’s lobby
team, McReynolds filed
TCTA-initiated bills that would
have added five steps to the state
minimum salary schedule, restored
three teacher workdays, and extended
22:1 class-size limits to 5th
grade. His work on the Calendars
Committee helped ensure passage
of several TCTA bills, and his staff
is among the more competent and
accessible in the Capitol.
Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin)
In addition to other special education
bills he championed, Watson
filed one of TCTA’s priority bills
that would have provided support to teachers of students with disabilities
in the regular classroom.
Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo)
A second-term member with a plum
seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, Darby helped TCTA by filing legislation that would have ensured that teachers
have a say on regional education
service center boards.
Rep. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio)
One of the legislators who teachers
can consistently trust to articulately and convincingly advance teacher-friendly
issues, Menendez added provisions to the House version of the accountability bill that would ensure the scientific validity of any research or studies done in setting performance standards.
Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio)
McClendon worked with TCTA on several TRS issues, including filing legislation that would have restored the three-year salary calculation for retirement benefits for employees nearing retirement. She also worked closely with
Truitt to help secure the
13th check for retirees.
Rep. Jerry Madden (R-Richardson)
Madden filed a TCTA-initiated bill that would have allowed a teacher to initiate ARD committee consideration of the placement or behavioral intervention plan of a special education student whose continued presence in the classroom threatened the safety of the students or teacher.
Rep. David Farabee
(D-Wichita Falls)
Farabee filed TCTA legislation to add speech pathologists and diagnosticians to the salary schedule. Though his bill did not pass, speech pathologists were included in the
pay raise provided in the school finance bill.
Rep. Randy Weber (R-Pearland)
A freshman and new member of the
Public Education Committee,
Weber filed two teacher-friendly
bills on TCTA’s behalf – one would have prohibited coercion of teachers to make charitable contributions or participate in fundraisers, and another would have strengthened paperwork reduction requirements.
Rep. Richard Raymond (D-Laredo)
Vice-chair of the Appropriations
Committee, Raymond authored numerous education bills
on subjects ranging from teacher salaries to school safety. He filed a TCTA proposal that would have
limited the number of special education students in a regular classroom
to no more than 10 percent.
Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville)
A longtime education advocate,
Lucio filed the Senate companion
to the special education class limits
bill filed by Raymond in the
House.
Posted: 06/30/09 ("The Classroom Teacher," summer 2009)
