This story has been updated with the result of Monday’s Texas House vote.
Students who failed their STAAR exams and racked up lots of unexcused absences could be excluded from virtual learning programs under a legislative proposal approved by the Texas House.
For schools to get funding for virtual students, the students must have passed all their STAAR exams or equivalent assessments the previous year, earned a C grade or higher in foundation curriculum courses and have no more than 10% unexcused absences the previous year, according to an amendment tacked onto the bill on Friday. The Texas House approved the legislation in a 119-7 vote on Monday.
This carves out a substantial share of the state’s public school enrollment. Nearly 40% of Texas students didn’t pass their state math exam and about a third failed their reading test. In Dallas ISD, more than 55,000 students did not pass or take at least one standardized test last school year. More students would be ineligible after factoring in grades in foundation classes and attendance records.
Offering online classes is an expensive undertaking. The changes to the virtual education proposal could result in students struggling with academics and attendance being excluded from remote learning because districts can’t afford to pay for their instruction.
When introducing the amendment late last week, Rep. Keith Bell, R-Forney, described the changes as adding “necessary additional academic guardrails.” Critics of the bill have expressed concerns that virtual learning is a less effective way of instructing students and the legislation would unnecessarily expand online classes as students are already experiencing tremendous learning loss.
The same restrictions are not in place for the handful of full-time virtual schools in the Texas Virtual Schools Network that already receive state funding.
The proposal “is a good bill that school districts need to manage the uncertainties of the ongoing pandemic, but we are very concerned about an amendment that could exclude students who fail STAAR from remote learning opportunities,” said Christy Rome, executive director of the Texas Schools Coalition, a group of more than 100 school districts. “Schools and parents need options and funding to do what is best for the safety of students.”
With the Texas House’s approval, the bill now heads back to the Senate. The Senate must either accept the House’s changes or agree to negotiate the differences in the bill before it can go to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for consideration.
Before the bill passed, Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, said she would support the bill reluctantly because of its flaws and because it is coming too late for many students.
She pointed to the governor as someone who could have addressed the funding issue months ago through disaster powers.
“We needed a solution sooner,” Zwiener said. “We had the mechanism to offer that solution through the executive branch.”
School districts have been asking the state to fund remote learning for months. Pressure mounted after the end of the regular legislative session when lawmakers failed to pass a virtual education bill. At the time, the legislation appeared to have widespread support.
However, lawmakers delayed voting on the bill until the final days of the legislative calendar. A late-in-session walkout by House Democrats intended to kill a controversial elections proposal meant the bill never received a final vote.
Since then, districts have scrambled to offer online options for families wary of face-to-face instruction largely because of the coronavirus pandemic. This summer, many school leaders canceled their planned offerings because the state wouldn’t provide funding. But a spike in coronavirus cases coupled with young children’s ineligibility for the vaccine forced several districts to reverse course as the school year approached.
Some districts such as Dallas and Frisco ISDs launched their own virtual programs even though it meant they had to pay for them out of pocket.
Frisco Superintendent Mike Waldrip estimated it would cost the district roughly $3.5 million for every 1,000 students enrolled virtually for the semester. More than 8,200 Frisco students have signed up.
“We understand that virtual learning is not for every child, but we have heard from many parents asking for high-quality virtual options for their students,” Bell said Friday evening.
The proposal lawmakers are considering this special session is similar to the one that had widespread support a few months ago during the regular legislative session. It would allow districts and charter schools that received a C rating or higher in the most recent round of state academic accountability grades to offer remote classes.
The program would be open to students living in-district and would be capped at 10% of a school system’s enrollment during 2021-22. Schools that aren’t eligible to offer virtual learning can contract with ones that can, according to the bill.
Schools can’t directly or indirectly coerce a teacher to take on a full-time virtual classroom assignment. The bill is set to expire in September 2023, meaning lawmakers would be able to review how virtual learning performed in the next legislative session.
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The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
