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March 9, 2020, issue.
(Vol. 37 / Issue 9)


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• Retirement — Frequent media-quoted TEA staffer Debbie Ratcliffe retired from the agency on Feb. 28 after 24 years of serving in various media relations roles at the agency, most recently as the State Board of Education support division executive director.

• Proposed rule — Clarifying issues related to the assessment of English learners who have “significant cognitive disabilities.” Comment by March 30.

• Safe schools — The TEA announced (Feb. 27) that it has started providing weekly updates on 2019’s SB11 and other school safety bills.

• PK waiver — The previously announced March 6 deadline for districts and charters to apply for waivers to opt out of the HB3 requirement to offer full-day PK to eligible students has been extended to April 2.

• Mandated surveys — Principals will have from April 1 to June 15 to complete required surveys of how well their first-year teachers were prepared by their ed-prep programs.

  And, first-year teachers have the same window to complete surveys on how well they believe their ed-prep programs prepared them.

  Results of the surveys will be factors in the accountability ratings given ed-prep programs by SBEC.