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The Texas Senate Committee on Education has a hearing coming up. We reviewed the hearing notice and any bill documents and flagged 4 items for the policy team.
| WARNING (LEVEL 7) |
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Monitoring: House Bill 2 (Teacher Pay Increases)
The committee will ‘review teacher pay increases passed by the Legislature over the last decade, including the historic pay increase in House Bill 2’. This hearing could be used to build a case for future across-the-board pay raises not tied to performance, which runs counter to TPPF’s principles of fiscal discipline and rewarding teacher effectiveness.
Recommended Action
Register to testify at the October 6 hearing. Prepare testimony arguing that future compensation increases should be directed to performance- and merit-based systems that reward high-quality teachers and improve student outcomes.
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✅ Items to Support
Proposals worth testimony or member contact so they advance.
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| Major Opportunity (LEVEL 9) |
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Interim Charge: Shifting Enrollment, Right-Sizing
The committee will examine the decline in public school enrollment and ‘identify strategies to maximize the efficient use of tax dollars’. This is a significant opportunity to frame the enrollment shift as a direct result of parents exercising educational freedom through ESAs and other options, and to advocate for school finance models where funding follows the student to the school of their choice.
How to Support It
Register to testify at the October 6 hearing. Prepare testimony connecting enrollment declines to the success of the 2025 ESA program and provide research on right-sizing districts and funding students directly. Request meetings with the offices of Chair Campbell and Vice Chair Bettencourt to brief them on this research beforehand.
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| Major Opportunity (LEVEL 7) |
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Interim Charge: Maximizing Instructional Time
The committee is reviewing districts with 4-day school weeks due to ‘related learning loss in reading and math’ and will ‘create guidelines to support public schools and maximize student achievement’. This is an opportunity to support policies that prioritize instructional time and student outcomes, but TPPF should caution against one-size-fits-all state mandates and instead advocate for guidelines that maintain local flexibility while holding districts accountable for results.
How to Support It
Register to testify at the October 6 hearing. Provide research on the academic impact of 4-day school weeks and propose model guidelines that focus on student outcomes rather than prescriptive seat-time requirements.
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| Opportunity (LEVEL 6) |
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Interim Charge: Improving School Transformation Talent
The committee will ‘develop suggestions to strengthen and expand the current leadership pipeline’ for schools needing academic improvement. This provides an opening to advocate for market-based reforms, such as alternative certification for principals and greater campus-level autonomy, as opposed to simply expanding existing state-run administrative training programs.
How to Support It
Submit written testimony for the October 6 hearing. Provide research on successful school turnaround models from other states that emphasize leadership autonomy, performance incentives, and market-based talent pipelines.
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“Freedom, Prosperity &
Opportunity”
TPPF is a conservative think tank whose mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation.
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