LWVTX Blog

Public Education Committee SB 8 Substitute

May 15, 2023

Invited Witnesses

The hearing began at 8:00 a.m. and convened at 1:00 p.m. Most of the testimony centered on the two main changes in the substitute: testing and how SPED (special education students) will be served through parent choice. Four groups were invited to speak.

First up was a representative from TEA, the Texas Education Agency, who was there to answer questions about state testing and accountability. According to plan, the punitive aspects of testing will be gone. In the house substitute, STAAR will be replaced in grades 3-8 with a new test created by TEA, taking away the one high stakes test and replacing it with three shorter tests showcasing where students are skill-wise. In high school, end of year course testing will be replaced with the TSIA (Texas Success Initiative Assessment) designed to help colleges determine if a student is ready for college-level courses in reading, writing, and math. Students will no longer be denied graduation if failing an end of course test as has happened in the past. The committee stated that their goal is for Texas to rank in the top five states for achievement in the country. This, while we rank 43rd in funds for each student.

Two groups spoke out against SB8’s House substitute. The first group was made up of three superintendents. The second group was made up of a representative each from the Texas Classroom Teachers Association and Raise Your Hand Texas.

Major points:

• The SB 8 substitute was rushed.
• STAAR should not be canceled in exchange for vouchers. People don’t realize that STAAR is really not going away; it is just being replaced.
• No public accountability exists on whether or not a private school is decent. Taxpayers should know. As a comparison, Texas charter schools have not done as well as our public schools.
• Parent choice limits family options because private schools can choose students; therefore, the bill is not really a parent choice. Private schools can exclude children not meeting their behavior and academic standards. Regarding families in poverty, they are in survival mode. They lack transportation to good private schools even if they could afford the additional tuition. Future “Mom and Pop” schools will leave these students even further behind.
• The vendor of the voucher program will evaluate the success of its own program. This will occur five years after the implementation of vouchers, which is much too long, and then does evaluation just end after five years?
• The voucher system will leave behind five million students. What happens to them?

SPED is a major component of this substitute. Texas has 45 private schools that administer to special education students and cost between $28,000 to $50,00 per year. Most have highly selected requirements such as average or above average intelligence, no behavior issues, and often a neutral or positive effect on the school community. SPED in Texas is woefully underfunded to the tune of two billion dollars in order to be fully staffed. Funds should be used to help the majority of SPED children who will remain in public schools.

In the seven states that have implemented vouchers, by the way, most started as SPED-based systems that were gateways to full-on voucher programs.

A fourth group spoke in support of parent choice. One woman was a principal at Oak Creek Academy in Killeen, a private school with 90 neurodivergent students. Tuition is $9,800 a year and with a voucher, parents who could not afford the school would be able to send their children to the school. The second woman was a substitute teacher from the panhandle who gave testimony about how stressful it was to teach in public schools and having to deal with students who exhibit bad behavior.