Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock) released the Texas House’s full set of interim charges Thursday, including public education-related charges across multiple committees.  

In a statement accompanying the release of the charges, Burrows said: “Following a legislative session defined by historic solutions, it is critical the Texas House remains engaged in thoughtful policymaking and oversight as our state continues to grow and advance. These interim charges reflect a commitment to building on that progress while further empowering committee chairs to identify fraud, waste, and abuse and safeguard taxpayer dollars.” 

Interim legislative charges are topics assigned to committees by the speaker in the House or the lieutenant governor in the Senate for study between legislative sessions. The charges are often a peek into what legislators can expect to focus on in the next legislative session. Once charges are assigned, committees hold hearings, gather information, and study possible solutions to the issues before submitting a report to the speaker or the lieutenant governor ahead of the next legislative session.  

The House Public Education Committee received seven interim charges:  

• Monitoring implementation of previously passed legislation, including HB 2 by Chairman Brad Buckley (R–Salado), which was the House’s school finance package and included a teacher pay raise and creation of the PREP allotment to help prepare new educators for the profession; HB 6 by Rep. Jeff Leach (R–Plano), which deals with student discipline; HB 8 (Second Called Session) by Buckley, which overhauled the STAAR test; HB 1481 by Rep. Caroline Fairly (R–Amarillo), which banned cell phones during the instructional day; and SB 2 by former Senate Ed Chairman Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe), which created the Texas Education Freedom Account program, otherwise known as the voucher. The committee will look at implementation of the legislation so far as well as ongoing rulemaking to ensure the Legislature’s intent is being met.  
• A broad directive to “study the current state of public education in Texas.” The charge directs the committee to study academic outcomes, enrollment trends and their impact on the stability of the school finance system, and the role technology and artificial intelligence are playing in our schools. Additionally, the committee is directed to study “emerging challenges, opportunities, and best practices to sustain and expand high-performing schools across Texas” and to find ways to streamline statutory and regulatory provisions to improve efficiency at the district level.  
• A study of ways to “eliminate educator misconduct.” The Legislature passed several bills, including SB 571 by Senator Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston) and HB 4623 by Rep. Mitch Little (R–Lewisville), pertaining to this issue during the regular session. In addition to monitoring these bills, the committee will study educator employment and termination statues to assess if districts have the authority needed to act swiftly when misconduct is reported. The committee will also study gaps in oversight and make recommendations to strengthen current safeguards in order to prevent potential misconduct from occurring or individuals participating in misconduct from continuing to work in Texas public schools. 
• Examining ways to improve outcomes specifically for middle school students. The committee will study ways to prepare students for high school success, increase student engagement, and expand opportunities for career development and exploration into the middle school grades. They will also examine the effectiveness of recently passed bills that encourage advanced coursework, such as algebra I, in middle school.  
• Studying how recently passed legislation has impacted teacher recruitment and retention. HB 2, passed earlier this year, included teacher pay raises, the creation of the PREP program to support quality educator preparation, and other classroom supports. The committee will study and make recommendations on additional ways to strengthen the teacher pipeline and successfully recruit and retain educators in the profession.  
• Examining the impact of recent state policies on students in special education. HB 2 included a significant restructuring of special education funding—in particular, a shift to a service intensity model, which more accurately reflects the level of support a student requires. The charge also directs the committee to look at enrollment trends in special education, which have risen significantly in recent years, and study factors contributing to the increase. Finally, the charge directs the committee to study how to improve efficiency for special education teachers, increase Pre-K access, and strengthen transition planning for these students once they leave high school.  
• Conducting agency oversight. This charge is one that seems to be a trend throughout all of the committees this interim, with the speaker giving clear directives to his committees to ensure they are rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the agencies for which they have oversight. The Public Education Committee specifically has oversight over the following agencies:  
  • The State Board of Education 
  • The Texas Education Agency 
  • The Texas representatives to the Education Commission of the States 
  • The Southern Regional Education Board 
  • The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired 
  • The State Board for Educator Certification 
  • The Texas School for the Deaf 

One charge notably missing from those assigned to the Public Education Committee is a charge dealing with curriculum, specifically the open education resource (OER) materials approved by the State Board of Education. These resources, particularly Bluebonnet Learning, have been controversial among parents and educators and found to be riddled with errors. Another piece of legislation that was expected to be monitored but is missing from the House charge is the implementation of SB 12 by Creighton, which has caused confusion in its implementation and forced TEA to release guidance early in the school year to attempt to clarify some of the new rules. 

In addition to the charges given to the House Public Education Committee, several other committees were given interim charges related to public education.    

• The House Appropriations Committee will study how to maintain existing property tax relief as well as “significantly” increase the homestead exemption. The charge stops short of seeking to eliminate property taxes, which has been the stated goal of Gov. Greg Abbott (R) as he campaigns this election season. Many Republican House lawmakers have signed on in support of Abbott’s plan to eliminate property taxes, though the plan fails to show how the lost property tax revenue will be replaced or how schools will be funded without that revenue. 
• The Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence will study the implementation and rulemaking associated with HB 4623 by Little. HB 4623 allows victims of sexual misconduct to file a civil suit against an educator who committed misconduct, educators who failed to discharge their legal duty to properly report the misconduct, and a school district or charter school that, with gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct, hired, supervised, or employed a professional school employee who committed or failed to report sexual misconduct against a student. The bill waives immunity from liability for educators and districts, putting Texas taxpayers directly on the hook for paying out any civil damages awarded. ATPE was very engaged throughout the process with this bill and will continue to be engaged as the committee studies its impact. 
• The Committee on Pensions, Investment, and Financial Services will study the actuarial soundness of the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Texas. In December, TRS announced the results of an annual evaluation, which showed that the fund had moved just outside the statutory definition of being actuarily sound. Barring an additional investment from the Legislature next session in order to quickly shore up the fund, it should return to an actuarily sound state in two to three years. 
• The Committee on Ways and Means will study ways to provide additional property tax relief, including the costs and benefits of school district tax rate compression and increasing the homestead exemption. This committee is also charged with examining local government spending and debt practices, including public school districts. The stated goal of this charge is to limit the growth of government spending. 
• The new Select Committee on Governmental Oversight will study education foundations, specifically their structure and role in working with school districts and providing financial support. The committee will seek to determine if current oversight and transparency laws apply to these foundations as well. 

It is important to note that interim charges do not always lead to legislation but do provide insight into the priorities of each chamber. As always, ATPE will be heavily involved in the discussions on these topics and will provide updates on Teach the Vote.   

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R–Texas) also released the second round of Senate interim charges on Friday. Look for more on those here on Teach the Vote early next week.