Part 2 of 2
(Part 1, in the Feb. 10 issue, starts here)
SBOE Info: texednews.com/sboe
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Also in this issue:
-- Morath Spotlights Special-Ed Advances
-- Other SBOE Activity
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Implementation Set for May 1
School Board Training Rules Approved
SBOE members approved (on 2nd/final reading) changes in ISD school board continuing education training rules to include additional topics required by 2019’s HB3 and HB403. The rules do not apply to charters.
- Note: The final rules, as adopted, will likely be posted by the TEA (when available) here.
Click here for the
agenda.View the
webcasts from the Committee on School Initiatives (Item 3) and the final, General Meeting (Item 18 in two places).
Although the rules become effective very soon (20 days after publication in the Texas Register) the board made a last-minute decision to set the implementation date for May 1 to address an issue affecting school boards holding trustee elections on May 2.
Because of the requirement that boards report, at their last regular meeting before board elections, whether each individual board member has (or hasn’t) met the continuing-ed requirements, setting the implementation date for May 1 will allow districts holding trustee elections on May 2 to report — at their April meetings — the continuing-ed compliance of their board members based on the current rules.
Going forward, after the May board elections, the new continuing-ed rules will apply.
“Registered” vs. “Authorized”
The SBOE, by a split vote, approved a motion by board Chair Keven Ellis of Lufkin to leave unchanged the current provision that specifies that the required superintendent/school board training in team building skills — often referred to as “Team of Eight Training” — must be conducted by a registered TEA trainer or an education service center (ESC).
The board thus rejected a TEA-supported provision that would have required the superintendent/school board team building training to be led by an authorized provider.
To become a registered provider, as explained by TEA staff, requires an applicant to merely submit a form to the agency, with approval based on a TEA review of the applicant’s credentials that were submitted to the agency.
Becoming an authorized provider requires an applicant to undergo training and pass a test consisting of 25 questions randomly selected from a large bank of potential test items. All ESCs have authorized trainers on staff, and all TEA Lone Star Governance trainers are also authorized trainers for school board training purposes, TEA staff said.
The adopted rule includes clarifications for requirements for registered and authorized board training providers.
The Greatest Flexibility
Ellis, who is a former Lufkin ISD school board president, along with two other SBOE members who are ex-ISD board members (Matt Robinson of Friendswood and Tom Maynard of Florence) — and the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) in testimony — contended that the rules should continue to allow registered trainers (and ESCs) to provide the team building training to allow the greatest flexibility for boards and their superintendents to select the type of trainer and training programs that best serves their needs and goals.
They also collectively pointed to the admission by TEA staff that the agency has yet to produce a curriculum and a test for the team building portion of the training requirements.
TEA Lone Star Governance Senior Director Drew Howard pushed for the board to require authorized providers to direct the team building component to ensure the trainers are competent, have the knowledge needed, do not provide school boards with incorrect information, etc. — all with the goal of improving student academic performance.
SBOE member Barbara Cargill of Conroe contended that she would like to see some type of authorized provider standards in place for the team building component, beyond the minimum requirements of what is required to be a registered provider.
The final rule, as adopted, continues to specify the types of training where only authorized trainers are permitted, such as to provide boards with the training under the so-called SB1566 requirements (named for 2017 legislation) that includes expanded mandates under subsequent legislation.
The adopted rules, over the objections of TASB, include a TEA-supported provision that removes the option of school board members taking SB1566 training online.
SBOE members informally agreed that very soon — possibly at its April meeting — it will begin discussions on taking a comprehensive look at school board training requirements, starting with the Framework for School Board Development that the SBOE adopted in 1996, and revised in 2016 (and on what school boards must be trained in).
The discussions will also likely include beefing up the requirements currently in the rule for registered providers, according to comments made by board Chair Ellis and other board members.
SBOE School Board Appointments
Meanwhile, the rule also revises the process used by the SBOE to fill school board vacancies in the Boys Ranch ISD in the Texas Panhandle, and in the three Bexar County military affiliated ISDs (Lackland, Randolph Field and Fort Sam Houston).