The Senate Education K-16 Committee met Tuesday to hear the following bills relating to extracurricular activities, trustee elections based on accountability ratings, and more: 

• Senate Bill (SB) 2920 by Sen. Donna Campbell (R–New Braunfels) relating to the regulation of steroid use by students participating in athletic competitions sponsored or sanctioned by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). 
• SB 2929 by Sen. Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe) relating to the removal of a spectator of certain school extracurricular athletic activities or competitions. 
• ATPE-supported SB 2398 by Campbell relating to accommodations for public school students diagnosed with a concussion or other brain injury. 
• ATPE-supported SB 865 by Sen. Carol Alvarado (D–Houston) relating to instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of automated external defibrillators for school district, private school, and charter school employees and volunteers. 
• SB 401 by Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney) relating to participation by non-enrolled students in UIL-sponsored activities. 
• SB 2619 by Creighton relating to school boards and superintendents, including the election of trustees of underperforming districts and the hiring of a superintendent. ATPE opposed this bill because if a district receives consecutive "F" ratings, all trustees must stand for election at the next regular date and before hiring a superintendent, school boards must publicly share each finalist's past performance, including academic outcomes where they served. 
• SB 2927 by Creighton relating to a contract regarding the operation of a school district campus. 
• ATPE-opposed SB 1395 by Sen. Bob Hall (R–Rockwall) relating to the membership of a school district's local school health advisory council (SHAC).  
• SB 1972 by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston) relating to a limitation on rules, bylaws, and policies adopted by a school district's board of trustees. 
• SB 2540 by Sen. Robert Nichols (R–Jacksonville) relating to the terms of certain agreements involving minor boundary adjustments between two contiguous school districts. 
• SB 1635 by Sen. Adam Hinojosa (R–Brownsville) relating to a credit against required recapture payments for certain school districts for the cost of windstorm and hail insurance under the public school finance system. 
• ATPE-supported SB 1581 by Sen. Cesar Blanco (D–El Paso) relating to the eligibility of a trustee of certain school districts for employment by those districts.  

The committee also passed several bills out of committee Tuesday previously covered on Teach the Vote, including the following: 

• SB 2623 by Creighton creates “school safety zones ” 1.5 miles around a public school's property line within which facilities providing homeless services are prohibited from operating. "Homeless services" are defined in the bill. The attorney general is tasked with enforcing the legislation, and offending municipalities or counties would have their sales tax collections halted, be prohibited from adopting a tax rate over the no-new-revenue rate, and face a civil penalty of $50,000 each day after they have received notice of a violation. 
• SB 843 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R–Brenham) requires the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to establish and maintain a comprehensive database of school district bonds, taxes, and related projects. The proposed database would centralize critical financial data, making it more accessible to the public and allowing for greater transparency and accountability in school district financial management. Districts would be required to submit the information to TEA. 
• SB 2392 by Sen. Phil King (R–Arlington) expands the list of conduct for which educator reporting is required to include sexual coercion, human trafficking, obscenity, and child pornography. Additionally, the bill would exempt a principal from reporting if the principal "reasonably believes that the activity does not constitute a criminal offense." SB 2392 also requires that the principal report misconduct immediately upon, or no later than 72 hours after, becoming aware of it. 
• SB 1418 by Campbell replaces the outdated reference to "ACT-Plan" in the Texas Education Code with the current name, “PreACT.”  
• SB 2788 by Sen. José Menéndez (D–San Antonio) adds the PSAT to the list of tests with which a student may qualify for automatic exemption from Texas Success Initiative requirements when applying to a dual credit program. 

Instead of its normal Thursday meeting, the committee met again Wednesday before the Senate adjourned until next Tuesday, April 22, to hear bills mostly related to higher education. Two bills that impact K-12 education were also heard and left pending in the committee: 

• SB 735 by Menéndez relating to Holocaust education and training provided to students enrolled at public schools and public institutions of higher education. 
• SB 2986 by Campbell relating to protecting public schools and institutions of higher education from adverse action for permitting religious organizations’ use of their facilities. 

In the Senate Local Government Committee Monday, the committee heard several bond-related bills. Among those was  SB 2529 by Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston) relating to the vote required by the governing body of a taxing unit to adopt an ad valorem tax rate that exceeds the voter-approval tax rate or to authorize the issuance of tax bonds. ATPE opposed the bill. Current law requires a simple majority to approve the proposition for the issuance of a general obligation bond issuance to the voters. SB 2529 would require 60% approval for any general obligation bond proposition and 80% approval for a bond that was rejected by voters in the previous year. 

The full Senate this week passed SB 1962 (committee substitute version) by Bettencourt relating to the assessment of public school students, public school accountability, and proceedings challenging the operations of the public school system. Four floor amendments were added to the bill. 

In other news, Sens. Joan Huffman (R–Houston), Creighton, Kolkhorst, Nichols, and Charles Schwertner (R–Bryan) were appointed conferees on the budget bill, SB 1. The House appointed as its conferees Reps. Greg Bonnen (R–League City), Mary González (D–Clint), Stan Kitzman (R–Bellville), Angelia Orr (R–Hillsboro), and Armando Walle (D–Houston). Huffman and Bonnen will be the co-chairs of the conference committee. The SB 1 conference committee is tasked with working out differences between the different versions of the budget bill passed by the two chambers.  

We will keep you posted as things continue to progress this session.