Part 1 - (Part 2 in next week’s issue)
See also “Other SBOE Activity” in this issue)
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SBOE resources:
-- November meeting agendas.
-- Committee minutes.
-- SBOE info (links to meeting webcasts, board members, etc.)
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- Editor’s Note: This final SBOE meeting for 2020 was held with only SBOE members and TEA staff in physical attendance, except for one SBOE member who participated remotely. Public testimony on various items was heard virtually.
SBOE Members Express Concerns
Over Looming Teacher Resignations
Fears that massive numbers of COVID-19 weary Texas teachers will quit once the current school year ends permeated the informal discussion between SBOE members and Education Commissioner Mike Morath during the regularly scheduled “commissioner's comments.”
(see webcast and presentation [pdf])
SBOE member Barbara Cargill, R-Conroe, told Morath she’s been hearing “heart breaking” stories from her teacher friends who are thinking about leaving the profession entirely when the current school year ends due to the added responsibilities of having to teach virtually — including by having to take time to videotape lessons — while at the same time teaching students in person, while continually getting texts from the teacher’s remotely taught students asking questions.
A Four-Ring Circus
Cargill recalled being told by a teacher of having to teach 4 or 5 kids via Zoom, while teaching students in the classroom, while trying to reteach material she had already taught to a new student, while monitoring work being done by an aide with a student in the back of the classroom — a situation Cargill said amounted to a four-ring circus.
The teacher and her principal had to laugh to keep from crying, Cargill said.
SBOE member Lawrence Allen Jr., D-Houston, echoed a similar theme, and warned that if Texas doesn’t campaign for retention and recruitment of teachers now, “we’ll be behind the eight ball with children for 30 years to come.”
In addition to noting the pressures being put on teachers in the classroom due to the health crisis, Allen cited issues related to what he called teachers being in the “sandwich generation” — of having to tend to their children at home and having to care for their parents.
Morath said he has heard similar stories.
“April Tired”
Morath quoted a superintendent’s testimony at a recent legislative committee hearing as saying his teachers are already “April tired” even though it was only October.
Morath said that the prospect of large numbers of teachers quitting due to the intense pressures heightened by the pandemic is something that “keeps me up at night.”
Morath added that the job of teaching was “barely accomplishable” by a mere mortal before this crisis hit — and that it is now more difficult than it has ever been.
Morath said that the best way to accommodate teachers in coping with the new reality imposed by the pandemic on schools is to get teachers something they lack — the gift of time, something that is not easy to accomplish in the middle of a school year.
“Roomies” and “Zoomies”
Morath described four types of teaching arrangements currently in place for the so-called “roomies” (students taught in person on campus) and “zoomies” (students taught remotely via Zoom or other distance learning methods).
Most districts, Morath said, are using concurrent instruction — the most difficult of all the instructional arrangements — requiring the teacher to simultaneously instruct students logging in remotely and teach students in their classrooms. This requires teachers to double up on the amount of preparation they have to do.
“Imagine how difficult that is,” Morath told the board, adding: “many of our teachers don’t have to imagine how difficult that is.”
Morath said a minority of school systems are using one or more of these three other types of instructional arrangements:
- Split scheduling — A teacher instructs all students remotely for a specified period of time, such as an hour, and then instructs another group of students in person for another block of time. This also requires teachers to double up on the amount of preparation, Morath said.
- Split staffing — Having one group of teachers teach students remotely all the time and other teachers teach students in person exclusively.
- An “extrapolation” of split staffing — Setting up virtual schools to teach one group of students and all other students are taught in person on campus.
Morath also mentioned the possibility of schools scheduling more professional development days, which would have the negative effect of reducing the number of instructional days for students.
Cargill also noted that an ISD in her district has scheduled one day a week where students start their instructional day at 10 or 10:30 in the morning, allowing more preparation time for teachers.
Teacher Evaluations
SBOE member Georgina C. Pérez, D-El Paso, asked about the possibility of requirements for teacher evaluations (T-TESS) being loosened or eliminated this school year due to the likely difficulties that will be inherent in trying to evaluate teachers in the current climate where so much instruction is occurring remotely.
Morath said there is already some flexibility built into T-TESS, and that he is looking at options to see what, if any, additional flexibility can be provided.
SBOE Vice Chair Marty Rowley, R-Amarillo, said that he is getting many calls from rural superintendents about the large number of students who have been absent and are not receiving instruction, and wondered if accommodations could be made in testing and accountability requirements.
STAAR and Accountability
Morath, while continuing to not call for the elimination of STAAR testing for this school year — as was done last spring due to the pandemic — said that the “short answer” is that a number of testing accommodations and adjustments will have to be made. Morath said his consultations with stakeholder groups have identified about 10 or so options, but no final decisions have been made, Morath added.
Morath said that one option that is being considered is to ask for the U.S. Department of Education to waive federal accountability rules so that a student who is absent for state-mandated testing would not automatically be counted, for accountability purposes, as failing the test.
Other Topics
Legislative Appropriations Request
Morath briefly summarized (see presentation, Pages 2-5) the TEA’s legislative appropriations request (LAR) that reflects $32.5 billion in state and federal funding for schools.
The LAR request includes:
1) $26.2 billion for the Foundation School Program in school finance pass-through dollars to districts, 2) $2.2 billion for Titles I-VI, 3) $2.5 billion for nutrition, 4) $1.1 billion for special-ed, 5) $360 million miscellaneous state funded expenditures, and 6) $164.6 million for agency administration (which includes a 5 percent reduction asked for by legislative leaders of most state agencies).Two $10 million “Exceptional Items”Morath noted that the agency is seeking additional funding for two $10 million “exceptional items”: 1) to attract and train effective, diverse educators and 2) for targeted measures to reduce achievement gaps within districts and school environments. (The SBOE, as noted in Other Activity, included passage of these two exceptional items in the board’s list of legislative recommendations.)
(Click here for the TEA’s two-volume 2022-2023 LAR)
Cares Act
Reported that Texas has received $2.014 billion in federal CARES Act funding for education, plus $908 million in net new funding.
