| KUDOS TO CHAIRMAN SHAPIRO ON TEXTBOOK/TECHNOLOGY REFORM by Geraldine "Tincy" Miller Chairman, State Board of Education If you believe that the Legislature should focus more education dollars on the classroom, and that we must make sure our kids have strong learning materials, you'll like Chairman Florence Shapiro's thoughtful legislation on instructional materials in CS HB 2. Her bill keeps the good features of the current process while allowing the market to respond to the need for more technology in schools - allowing schools to implement technology when they're ready. To give schools more flexibility, CS HB 2 creates an allotment system in which school districts can choose the materials they need. An allotment system will have the added benefit of evening out the amount of money the Legislature delayed purchases due to a shortfall and because our SBOE approval process has not been tied to dollar amounts. To give schools more choice, CS HB 2 more broadly defines "instructional material" so that a combination of media - paper or plastic or both - can be chosen. The bottom line is that, in whatever form, the material must convey information to a student; it must meet at least 50 percent of the state's curriculum in that subject; and it must be factually accurate. To give publishers more ability to innovate, CS HB 2 allows publishers to annually submit new products for SBOE approval, at a time other than the cycle for that subject's approval. The schools can then use their allotment to purchase the new product. Importantly, CS HB 2 allows this anytime-innovation while keeping the subject-area cycle for SBOE approvals. This cycle drives publishers to develop products specifically for Texas and helps ensure teacher training in a subject's new curriculum in conjunction with new materials. Such alignment has driven our success in Texas. States that don't have cycles don't get this attention paid to their needs. When our Governor George Bush asked us in the Reading Initiative to get all children reading on grade level by third grade, the SBOE called for strong new elementary reading materials and publishers spent millions to develop what Texas wanted. The result: high levels of achievement on our third-grade reading exams. This never would have happened without a cycle for new materials. CS HB 2 improves this process by tying together curriculum reform and materials approval. As the SBOE changes curriculum in a subject, the SBOE will ask publishers to produce new materials in the subject, to keep the process open, competitive, and vendor-neutral. This also ensures that the public can review materials and that teachers in all subject areas can regularly receive new and updated materials for their students. To provide up-to-date materials during a cycle, such as inclusion of a new Pope into history materials or a better way to do a math problem, CS HB 2 allows a publisher to submit an update and allows the SBOE to expedite approval of this new content. To create more planning for technology, CS HB 2 specifies uses of the existing technology allotment, with a broad range of uses for technology devices that convey instruction and other hardware, software, and tools. Shapiro's plan would increase the technology allotment in the future, after the state has fulfilled its commitment to purchase all of the new materials in required curriculum subjects. In January, the State Board of Education set aside enough funding to pay for these textbooks, which schools have already selected and which will go into our schools this summer. Some legislators and technology vendors, however, want to use the SBOE's textbook money to pay for laptops for some of our students, instead of fulfilling the state's obligation to pay for learning materials for all of our students. This is unconscionable. Schools have ordered and are expecting to receive their instructional materials. They have not planned on new technology funding for the fall. The Legislature needs to fully fund the materials that the SBOE has funded. Our state constitution requires the SBOE set aside sufficient funds to provide "free text books for the use of children." Going forward, Shapiro's CS HB 2 leaves in place the existing constitutional dedication for funding for instructional materials for children so that teachers and students can be assured of having access to quality content on a regular basis. The amount ($70 per student) is similar to the historical average for state-purchased materials. These materials are the most fundamental basics of a good education. Continuity of dedicated funding will ensure continuity of quality materials. If, on the other hand, the Legislature unconstitutionally allows these funds to be diverted to other uses - such as equipment or training or, worse, supplanting existing funds - legislators will be responsible for students having to share books in class and having no materials to take home. This doesn't happen in our current system, which guarantees a book per child, and legislators shouldn't let it happen in the future. It also could lead to litigation over adequacy of resources and opportunities to learn for our students. An elementary student should not have to share a book so that a high school student can have a laptop. The state has a constitutional obligation to make sure each child has the resources he or she needs to succeed. I'm a little worried, frankly, that the allotment system, unlike the state-purchase system, doesn't guarantee that all children have their own materials, but I am comforted knowing that the funds can't be diverted for other purposes and that CS HB 2 does ensure schools account for allotment expenditures. Kudos again to Senator Shapiro for her forward-looking bill, and I encourage the Senate to vote in favor of her bill that improves the current system while keeping the dedicated funding and alignment that are so necessary to making sure our kids have what they need. Back to Legisltion |