Flu/Coronavirus Advisory
The advisory comes as numerous ISDs have reported school- and district-wide closures due to the spread of flu-like illnesses.
The advisory also includes tips for schools to help keep flu-related illnesses from spreading, and provides a “…no risk at this time to schools” sample letter districts can send to parents about the coronavirus outbreak that originated in China and has spread to the United States.
In related news, Austin ISD recently announced it has started a coronavirus screening protocol — based on a process developed by the CDC — on students who have fevers and traveled to China recently. No cases of the virus have been reported in the district
Accreditation
Most of the state’s 1,199 ISDs and charter districts were assigned Accredited status ratings in the TEA’s recently released report on 2019-20 Accreditation Statuses.
Those with less than fully Accredited statuses:
- Marlin ISD (near Waco) was the only ISD assigned a Not Accredited-Revoked status, due to the district’s eighth consecutive year of failing accountability ratings. MISD, as reported in TEN (Feb. 3), has once again been threatened with closure by the education commissioner.
- In related news, Waco area media reported (Feb. 9) that a former MISD superintendent is under investigation by the Texas Rangers following a TEA inquiry stemming from allegations of misuse of public funds and ethics violations.
- The Kauffman Leadership Academy in Cleburne was not assigned an accreditation status and was instead listed as “meeting the criteria for charter revocation.”
- Two ISDs (Damon and Fabens) and two charters (La Fe Preparatory School (El Paso) and Lumin Education (Dallas) were assigned Accredited Warned statuses due to having a total of two consecutive failing academic and/or fiscal accountability ratings.
- The accreditation statuses of these charters and ISDs were listed as Not Rated: Data Integrity Issues due to pending special accreditation investigations:
ISDs: 1) Center Point, 2) Daingerfield-Lone Star, 3) Harrold, 4) Hearne, 5) Headley, 6) Kingsville, 7) McLean, 8) Pecos-Barstow-Toyah, 9) Pine Tree, 10) Saltillo and 11) Trinidad.
Charters: San Antonio’s Por Vida Academy and George Gervin Academy — and East Texas Charter Schools in Longview.
Teacher “Shortage” Areas
Teacher shortage areas recently approved by the U.S. Department of Education for college-loan forgiveness programs are:
- Elementary and secondary: 1) bilingual/ESL, 2) special ed, 3) technology applications and computer science.
- Secondary only: 1) mathematics and 2) career and technical education.
TEA Rule News
- Note: Click here for more info about the following adopted and proposed rules.
- Implementing 2019’s HB396 to expand the allowable use of the instructional materials allotment to include inventory software and/or related systems. Effective Feb. 6.
- Changing the expiration date for the individual graduation committee law from Sept. 1, 2019, to Sept. 1, 2023, and makes other clarifying changes to rules governing assessments required for graduation. Effective Feb. 10.
- Implementing HB3’s mandate for full-day high quality prekindergarten for eligible 4 year olds and removing references to the repealed PK grant program. Effective Feb. 13.
- Clarifying that the education commissioner is empowered to revoke a school district’s accreditation even if the district is overseen by an appointed board of managers. Effective Feb. 16.
- Implementing the HB3-authorized Formula Transition Grant system to lessen the impact on districts due to funding changes.
- Adopting the latest version of the 2019-20 Student Attendance Accounting Handbook (see Version 2, posted here) to include recent legislative changes.