Texas Senators faced a dilemma before a committee approved a bill seeking state funding for virtual school.
Schools are pleading with the state to fund online classes as COVID-19 cases spike and interest in remote learning increases. But state testing data shows student performance tanked during the pandemic, when many of the state’s students learned from home.
The Senate’s Education Committee ultimately approved a proposal Tuesday afternoon that would fund online learning in most Texas school districts. The bill now heads to the full Senate, but it can’t be taken up in the Texas House until a quorum exists.
Throughout Tuesday’s hearing, Senators expressed concern over STAAR scores that revealed hundreds of thousands of students fell behind in the last year-and-a-half. Results showed nearly 40% of public school students failed their math exams and about one-third did not pass their reading tests.
Texas Education Agency officials have suggested school districts with a greater percentage of students participating in virtual learning saw steeper learning loss.
“In my heart of hearts, I have a hesitancy about virtual learning. I think we saw the results of that ... did not bear out that our kids could get the highest quality of education from virtual learning,” Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, said. “But it’s a question of how you weigh [students’] health and safety against their intellectual development.”
Even with poor results, more school districts have recently launched limited online learning options in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases. With an executive order in place that bars schools from enforcing mask mandates and students younger than 12 ineligible for a coronavirus vaccine, families are clamoring for an at-home learning option, school leaders say.
But without state funding for virtual learning, districts must dig into their own reserves or pull from federal pandemic aid to fund it. If lawmakers don’t approve virtual learning funding, school districts will have to continue relying on their own money to stand up the expensive programs.
Legislators expressed widespread support for a bill similar to the one discussed on Tuesday during the regular session, but the proposal died after Texas House Democrats walked out of session to prevent a controversial elections bill from passing.
Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who authored Tuesday’s legislation, has been working on his proposal since the regular session ended.
“We’ve heard from many parents asking for a high quality virtual option for their students especially in light of the ever changing situation we’re facing with COVID,” Taylor said.
His bill allows school districts and charter schools that received a C grade or higher in the most recent round of state accountability grades to offer remote learning to students.
The approved school systems have to include at least one state-tested grade in their offerings and limit enrollment to 10 percent or less of their total student body in the 2021-22 school year. The education commissioner can lift that cap in response to public health crises or school district requests.
The programs would be open only to students living in the district, eliminating the possibility that districts could poach students from other schools that don’t offer such an option. However, schools that don’t offer virtual learning can contract with another district that does.
The bill aims to curb concerns around virtual learning that came up during the early months of the pandemic. For instance, teachers can’t be required to teach virtual and in-person classes at the same time. The practice was used in districts that operated both face-to-face and remote instruction and didn’t have the staff available to separate the instruction.
Schools will also have the option to pull kids back into in-person classrooms if students don’t meet academic requirements set out by districts. Any student wanting in-person instruction must have access, the Friendswood Republican emphasized.
Taylor’s bill sets up some guardrails to ensure students still have access to any on-campus activities or supports like extracurriculars or special education services.
The education commissioner must evaluate the performance of students in virtual programs separate from students in on-campus learning, the bill states.
The legislation’s provisions would be set to expire in September 2027, but several senators said they wouldn’t support the bill with that provision in place. Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, suggested the bill should expire in August 2023 so lawmakers could revisit the proposal at the next regular session that will start in January 2023.
Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, described the bill extending past 2023 as a dealbreaker. Perry expressed concerns that the legislation would expand virtual education in a more permanent way than is necessary.
“It seems to me that we are having a titanic shift in philosophy at some level over a crisis that we know is temporary,” Perry said.
Teacher groups echoed Perry’s concerns on Tuesday, while acknowledging a need for a temporary solution in light of the current health conditions.
Several school leaders whose districts have set up temporary virtual programs testified in support of the bill, saying that their families are demanding the option.
In Denton ISD, where 300 students are set to begin the school year in online classes this week, there’s a waitlist of about 1,000 kids, Superintendent Jamie Wilson said.
“As we progress through the summer, and we don’t have the ability to mandate face coverings, we’re having more and more people interested in trying to keep their children safe,” Wilson said.
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.
