The Texas Senate and House Public Education committees are meeting today to hear public comment on the unpopular HB4545 bill, which requires students in grades 3-8 who do not obtain a passing grade on the STAAR test for any reason, to receive 30 hours of tutoring per subject. Students subject to the requirement include:
- students who take, but fail, a STAAR test for any reason, by any amount.
- students who could not take the STAAR or the makeup STAAR due to illness, including those who missed both test sessions because they followed their school COVID quarantine policy.
- students who opt out of STAAR for any reason.
Teachers have had strong reactions to the implementation of this bill as well, which did not provide funding to pay for additional staff or teacher pay. Texas AFT, the state’s teacher’s union is sending representatives to give comment on HB4545 as well as on HB 3 and HB1545, which created even more requirements for already over-worked teachers around Reading Academies.
Public comment on these bills can still be made on the House Public Comment Portal.