Teach the Vote's Week in Review: April 14, 2017

Date Posted: 4/14/2017 | Author: Jennifer Mitchell, CAE
The ATPE state office is closed today in observance of Good Friday. We'll be back Monday with full coverage of the 85th Legislature and other advocacy news. Here are highlights from this week:
Last legislative session, ATPE supported a bill by Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) to create alternative pathways for eligible students to graduate without necessarily having passed all required STAAR tests. The law allowing for individual graduation committees to evaluate students' post-secondary readiness is set to expire on Sept. 1 of this year unless extended. A number of bills have been filed this session to remove the expiration date on the law, including Sen. Seliger's Senate Bill (SB) 463, which the Senate Education Committee heard this week. Learn more about the legislation, which ATPE supports, in this week's blog post by ATPE Lobbyist Kate Kuhlmann.
Both the House Public Education Committee and Senate Education Committee held meetings this week to discuss numerous education-related bills. Hot topics included educator preparation and certification requirements, reporting teacher misconduct, virtual schools, and special education services. For a complete wrap-up of this week's hearings, check out these blog posts by ATPE's lobbyists:
- House Public Education advances teacher misconduct bills published on April 12, 2017 by Mark Wiggins
- Education Committees discuss educator preparation bills and more published on April 12, 2017 by Kate Kuhlmann
- House Public Education committee advances flurry of bills published on April 11, 2017 by Mark Wiggins

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