86th Legislative Session
The Texas Legislature meets in Austin from January through May of each odd-numbered year. The 86th Legislative Session ran from January 8, 2019-May 26, 2019.
House Bill 3
HB 3 is a comprehensive school finance, property tax, and education reform bill. The bill updates and revises school funding formulas, increases funding to public education by $6.5 billion, and increases the state share of public education funding by cutting local property taxes by $5.1 billion and replacing that money with state funding. HB 3 reformed recapture, commonly referred to as ‘Robin Hood’, cutting the program statewide by 47% and slowing its growth. The bill requires that preK for eligible 4 year olds be full-day and creates a state funded teacher mentor program. It also requires districts to increase compensation for non-administrators in an amount equal to 30% of the increase in funding per student from the 2018-2019 school year to the 2019-2020 school year.
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House Bill 18
HB 18 focuses on the mental health of the 5.4 million Texas students. The bill adds mental health instruction to the health curriculum and additional continuing education requirements related to mental health and substance abuse for teachers, principals and counselors. Staff development must include training on suicide prevention, recognizing signs of mental health conditions and substance abuse, strategies for establishing and maintaining positive relationships among students and how grief and trauma affect student learning and behavior.
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Senate Bill 11
SB 11 is an extensive school safety bill designed to ensure a safe and secure environment in Texas public schools. The bill creates a school safety allotment to provide funding for school safety expenditures and requires districts to establish a Threat Assessment and Safe and Supportive School Team for each campus. It adds suicide prevention to the high school health curriculum and requires districts to include digital citizenship instruction. The bill also adds a number of additional requirements for school district Multi-Hazard Emergency Operations Plans and other school safety measures.
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House Bill 3906
HB 3906 makes significant changes to state assessments. The bill allows STAAR tests and high school EOCs to be given in multiple parts over more than one day and eliminates the 4th and 7th grade writing STAAR tests beginning with the 2021-2022 school year. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the bill adds a new requirement that no more than 75% of a STAAR or EOC may be multiple choice and requires that all assessments must be administered electronically.
Read the Full Summary
Legislative Priorities
Prior to the beginning of each legislative session, the Board of Trustees adopts legislative priorities for the upcoming session. The legislative priorities adopted by the Board of Trustees for the 86th Legislative Session are below. The priorities were developed by the FISD Legislative Leadership Committee, a district committee made up of staff, students and community members to learn more about how local, state and federal governmental action impacts the school district.
Funding
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Support an adequate and equitable school funding system that reduces the state’s reliance on recapture and property value increases.
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Oppose property tax reform that further diminishes public school funding or places additional burdens on local property taxes. Ensure that the full value of this funding benefits public education and is not used to fund other state initiatives or decrease the state’s share of public-school funding.
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Support the ability for locally-elected school boards to adjust tax rates within a voter-approved range without triggering subsequent elections.
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Oppose any state vouchers, tax credits, taxpayer savings grants, tuition reimbursements or additional programs that allow diversion of taxpayer dollars from the state regulated public school system.
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Support full funding for the statewide expansion of high-quality Pre-K programs with increased access for students.
Accountability
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Support the establishment of a comprehensive accountability system that looks beyond standardized testing to meaningful assessments that have value for students, parents and teachers, as well as measures that each community deems important to college and career readiness.
Social and Emotional Awareness
Legislative Testimony
During the legislative session, lawmakers hold hearings to discuss the impact of proposed legislation. The hearings often include both invited and public testimony from stakeholders and experts. Frisco ISD participates throughout the session by providing information to legislators regarding the likely impact of proposed bills on the district and public schools generally. Any time a representative of Frisco ISD provides oral testimony in a committee hearing, the district also submits written testimony to provide additional or supporting information to the committee members.
Read the Legislative Testimony