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Title: Q3 2023 SBOE Newsletter

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/q3-2023-sboe-newsletter|q3-2023-sboe-newsletter]]

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Created: 2023-09-20 16:57:32

Updated: 2023-10-06 14:32:07

Published: 2023-09-20 00:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T21:27:11.002883225


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Hello, my name is Dr. Teresa Bussell \\
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SBOE Summary\\
This is my 2nd SBOE summary for COS. In the last newsletter, I shared some information about the State Board of Education, which is responsible for setting policy and standards for Texas public schools. While I have been in the field of Education my entire career, I find there is still much to learn about the organization system of public education.  One question I have is who is actually accountable for “enforcing” these policies and standards in public education? One would hope that standards of ethics and integrity, along with policies and guidelines for the entire education system would naturally be honored when individuals agree and accept the educator code of ethics. I have spent the last decade trying to understand who or what is actually responsible for the education of students in Texas.  You might say the local school boards are responsible for the education system for which they are elected, but I have found that there is clearly some confusion at the local levels. In light of increased interest/concern with the state of K-12 education across the state, I thought it would be a good time to get to know my SBOE members and hopefully learn more about the role this board plays in our Texas education system.  From my experience with local school boards and challenging inappropriate books, I found I was getting nowhere in the local system who claimed the state is the reason for inappropriate books and education in our K-12 schools.  \\
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In this newsletter, I will share some insight from the recent SBOE meetings.  If you would like to learn more about the board, take a look at their website State Board of Education.  The board met Aug. 29- Sept. 1, 2023. While I was not able to attend meetings in person this time, I was able to watch livestream and reviewed every meeting recording, which is available on the SBOE webpage: SBOE recorded meetings.  Before the meetings, I was able to meet with Monica Martinez, with the Texas Education Agency, to clarify questions on SBOE meeting agenda and guidelines.  I was also able to get some questions clarified by a few board members since my last newsletter. One thing I did appreciate is the willingness by these members to respond to my questions, as well as the effort by board members in the meetings to understand and make decisions for the students in Texas.  I can already see there is a huge gap in understanding at the local school governance level which has created many concerns across the state. Communication at the local level is definitely an issue needing improvement.\\
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The week started with the Committee of the Full Board meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.  This meeting included Proclamation 2024, HB 1605, and a discussion of required vocabulary words and literary works for each grade level as required by HB 1605. To begin, this was one of the longest meeting days of the week. The public hearing was supposed to be about instructional materials that were submitted for adoption under Proclamation 2024. I was somewhat disappointed that I did not hear testimony on the materials submitted for adoption, so I took the time to check the link for Proclamation 2024 to see what I could find out myself.  One concern I have is who is on these hand-picked committees to recommend materials for adoption and how were these committee members selected? If this is the process used to create suitability guidelines I would like to know and will be asking more questions to my SBOE representative.\\
On Thursday, the Committee on Instruction met. One discussion to highlight was the Library collection standards which must be in compliance with HB 900 and approved by the SBOE. This will definitely be an upcoming topic in future meetings.  I will be focused on this ongoing dialogue and approval process.\\
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Also, on Thursday, the Committee on School Finance and Permanent school fund met.  The SBOE is responsible for the funds from the permanent school fund which are used for instructional materials, so it makes sense they would be responsible for setting the guidelines of the materials approved for these funds. I agree learning more about this fund management, so I am still trying to get some questions answered. I will talk some more about school funding in a future letter.\\
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Another meeting on Thursday was the committee on school initiatives.  Most of this meeting was over educator certifications, educator placements (placing certified educators), and finally designated school board appointments in various school systems across the state, such as Boys Ranch, and districts located on military bases.\\
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The final meeting with the Full board met on Friday.  The  SBOE General meeting includes readings and adoptions or filing authorizations for a few items discussed in committees. However, the one thing I have growing concerns about is what is being discussed and addressed on the proclamation and literary approvals related to HB 1605. My understanding is there will be more attention to these items, including suitability standards, in the November meeting.  I plan to attend these meetings in person, but until then, I have some reading to do.  \\
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Respectfully,\\
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Dr. Teresa Bussell\\
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