Senate Education hearings: the fast and the furious

The Senate Education Committee met for two consecutive days last week, Oct 6 and 7, to consider the interim charges articulated to them by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.  

October is a bit later than typical for interim hearings to occur. Part of this delay is no doubt due to new leadership in the Committee; Dr. Donna Campbell (R- New Braunfels) was named Chair after former Sen. Brandon Creighton departed the Legislature for the top job at Texas Tech around this time last year. 

Testifiers were only given two minutes per person, rather than per charge, to voice their support or concern. Legislative denizens know that hearings can often last deep into the evening, so it was a surprise to all that both days ended with the sun still up in the sky. However, the late date, packed agendas, and condensed testimony indicate that these may have been largely perfunctory. 

Tuesday, October 6 

The committee discussed the following charges on the first day: 

• Maximizing Instructional Time: Review the 4-day school week 

• Shifting Enrollment, Right-Sizing 

• Improving School Transformation Talent 

• Reviewing Historic Pay Increases for Teachers 

• Senate Bill 571 relating to the reporting and investigation of certain misconduct and child abuse and neglect 

Texas AFT weighed in on the charges related to enrollment, teacher pay increases, and educator misconduct. 

“Right-sizing” is simply another way of talking about school closures. Texas ISDs are under no illusions about enrollment shifts that are impacting their ability to operate campuses efficiently. Tough decisions are being made in boardrooms around the state about whether to close and consolidate campuses and what programs to cut in order to be responsive to their communities as well as financially responsible to taxpayers. This is not an easy lift, either logistically or emotionally. With declining enrollment and three parallel and publicly funded school systems in play, it has never been more important for school districts to retain local autonomy in these cases. 

Our organization and our members are appreciative of the Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA) in House Bill (HB) 2. Texas’s average teacher salary rose to $68,020 in 2025–26 (according to TEA testimony), 19.1% higher than the $57,091 average in 2019–20 in nominal dollars when the legislature last made a significant investment via HB 3. After adjusting the 2019–20 figure for inflation, however, the increase would equal approximately $1,600 per teacher—or 2.4%—in real purchasing power.  

This data tells us what we already know, that Texas teacher salaries are not keeping up with inflation, and while HB 2 is an essential investment in educators, we have yet to close the gap to the national average salary nor have we increased teachers’ economic stability. We are also very gratified that Senator José Menéndez pointed out the gap in the support staff retention allotment revenues (~$50 million short of legislative intent), opening the door to renegotiation in the next session. 

Committee members pointed out that the TRA did put districts on the hook for increased retirement contributions, and it highlights that going forward we must talk about teacher compensation as a full continuum, both in the classroom and after retirement. 

Wednesday, October 7 

Topics up for consideration on day two of the hearing included: 

• Celebrating the Successful Rollout of School Choice 

• Promoting America & Texas First in Our Schools 

• Senate Bill 12 relating to parental rights in public education 

• Senate Bill 13 relating to a school district's library materials and catalog 

• House Bill 6 relating to discipline management and access to telehealth mental health

There has been much ado in the press recently about the voucher rollout, not least of which was the acting Comptroller’s request for an additional $1.3 billion of this untested but now publicly funded system. Our Schools Our Democracy held a press conference during the hearing to lay out some of the more salient data points about the voucher program, including that the largest uptake has been among Pre-K vendors and students. Senators Menédez and West highlighted this in their remarks as they grilled the Comptroller’s staff. Texas only funds public school PreK for a half day (~$4k), so the difference between those students and $10K voucher recipients with the same eligibility criteria should infuriate parents looking for affordable high-quality early childhood education.  

State Board of Education (SBOE) Chair Aaron Kinsey was part of the panel to speak on “promoting America first” where he highlighted the changes to the required K-12 reading lists, the social studies standards, and the new civics education training. 

Most of the public testimony centered on vouchers and Senate Bill 13. There are plenty of passionate advocates on both sides of the book censorship debate, and it was clear that we haven’t seen the end of this issue. 

Texas AFT remains committed to our lawsuit on Senate Bill 12 and will monitor continued implementation. We note that 15 months later, TEA still has not published rules related to this bill which contains a lot of vague language regarding consequences for teachers that violate the statute.  

The committee also heard testimony from TEA on SB 571, the sweeping educator discipline bill. The bill does seem to be working as intended to more quickly identify those who should not be in the classroom; however, it casts an overly wide net without clear resolution priorities. Teacher groups, including Texas AFT, spoke about the five-fold increase in reports; TEA has asked for 32 new positions to handle the caseload. The need to maintain due process for educators and to resolve these cases much faster so exonerated teachers can return expeditiously to their classrooms seemed to land with committee members. 

What’s next 

The House Public Education committee still has interim charges of its own to consider, including a retread of educator misconduct and student discipline, though at this point a final hearing before the Nov. 3 election is doubtful. 

How all these conversations will shape future legislation is to be determined; however, newly elected and returning legislators may begin filing bills beginning November 9, reminding us that the legislative session in your mirror is closer than it appears.