LH Community,

This newsletter will be the first of many in an attempt to keep you informed of potential legislation that affects public schools and LHISD. During the last legislative session public schools and LHISD were hit hard with an intentional refusal to give schools any new funding. We need your help to make sure that does not happen again this time. As a reminder, the legislature has a 2-year surplus of over $56 Billion.

The format of this newsletter is straightforward with a summary of each bill making traction and a link to the actual bill language. Bills that are moving into committee or hearing dates are also listed.

As bills leave the committees and head to the Chamber floor we will be able to define how each bill will affect LHISD in either a positive or negative way.

LHISD has a good relationship with our three local representatives and have open lines of communication during this process. We are also working outside of our boundaries to build relationships with members of the public education committee in the House and Senate to help fight for LHISD.

In your service,

Steve Snell, Superintendent of Schools

LHISD Community,

LHISD is actively working with our elected officials to ensure that the students and teachers of Liberty Hill are well-represented and that our needs are being addressed. As you know, LHISD is facing a $7.5 million budget shortfall this year and will have to balance the budget next year. Doing so has been extremely painful. At the Regular March Board meeting, the Trustees approved over $6 million in cuts to budgets and positions.

You will hear discussions of the Legislature adding $6.5 Billion in new money to public schools and although true, that money made up for the total loss in state tax revenue, and overall schools did not receive more total money to operate schools. This year so far we are seeing more of the same with very little increase in funding so far and all of the revenue has strings attached.

• 6,206 total bills filed
• 1,092 public education bills filed
• 125 bills related to property tax
• 116 bills related to school district governance
• 87 bills related to school finance

All of these bills will not make it to a vote. In fact, the system is designed so that most bills do not make it to a vote. As a reminder, both the Senate and the House have emergency items that the Governor tasks them with addressing in the 1st 60 days of the session. No bills can be voted on until March 14th. The session ends June 2nd so time is critical.

Texas Public Schools are subject to hundreds of State and Federal Government Mandates. Some are unfunded and others are under funded but all drive up the cost of education. During the fall LHISD presented the community with 5 specific mandates that are underfunded by $6.3 Million.

TASB released a 60 page report on all mandates placed on Public Schools by State and Federal Government. The document is an excellent summary of all mandates driving up spending in public schools.

Another valuable resource/source of potential talking points is this TASB document, "The Public Education Dollar at Work." The State of Texas spends approximately $68 Billion per year educating the more than 5.5 million students. Here is a breakdown of how each education dollar is spent.

Tx House of Representatives

• Rep. Caroline Harris-Davila
• Rep. Terry Wilson

• Sen. Scott Schwertner

• Basic allotment (BA) increased to $6,380 from $6,160 per student ($3.2 billion)
• 40% (up from 30%) of any BA increase must be used for staff salary increases
• Increases to the small and midsized allotments ($1.1 billion)
• Intensity-based special education funding and additional special education allotment funding ($1.8 billion)
• Creation of a $1,000-per-initial-sped evaluation allotment
• Requirement to hire certified teachers for foundation curriculum courses
• Prohibition against schools using District of Innovation law to exempt themselves from requirements regarding hiring certified teachers and notifying parents about classes taught by uncertified teachers
• Grant funding to expand pre-k, fine arts, high school career advising, and other programs ($1.5 billion)
• Increased teacher compensation through the Teacher Incentive Allotment ($750 million)
• Additional state aid to address regional property & casualty insurance costs

It will be critical that this bill includes the elimination of the Fast Growth Allotment Cap. This cap in funding cost LHISD approximately $2 million per year for the last four years.

HB 3, as filed by House Public Education Committee Chair Brad Buckley, creates a $1 billion Education Savings Account (ESA) program to be administered and regulated by the Texas Comptroller’s Office beginning with the 2026-27 school year. The vouchers would be given out based on priority system and the remaining vouchers would be distributed by a lottery system

House heard testimony on March 11, 2025. It lasted 22 hours! 396 people testified with a total of 308 against HB 3.

Full Bill Summary

HB 4 would make changes to the public school assessment and accountability systems, including actions and proceedings challenging those state systems. Some highlights of HB 4 include:

• Mandates the Commissioner of Education to issue A-F ratings each school year
• Allows the Commissioner to issue performance ratings later than August 15 in years in which the performance standards change
• Prohibits the Commissioner from assigning an overall rating of “Not Rated” to all districts or all campuses on a statewide basis
• Removes the requirement that the Commissioner ensure a performance evaluation allows all districts and campuses the mathematical possibility to receive an A rating
• Removes the provision requiring the Commissioner to provide a document (accountability manual) outlining accountability performance measures, methods and procedures to be used in evaluation performance for each school year, and there would no longer be a timeline for the commissioner to provide that information.

Read a full summary of HB 4 (updated on March 1).

Status. LHISD is keeping a close eye on this bill and how it would affect district revenue.

Status. I was able to testify on behalf of this bill on March 5. This bill is very beneficial to LHISD. The bill was voted out of subcommittee and is headed to the public education committee soon.

HB 6 addresses student discipline, increasing the ability of schools and teachers to respond to behavior issues. The bill would :

• Clarify that the three-day limit on suspension applies only to out-of-school suspension.
• Expands the reasons for which students in grades below third grade can be placed in out of school suspension to include conduct that threatens immediate health and safety of other students in the classroom or conduct that results in repeated or significant disruption to the classroom.
• Removes the requirement to place students in DAEP for using or is under the influence or sells, gives or delivers to another person marijuana.
• Removes the requirement to place students in DAEP for possessing, using, selling giving, or delivering to another person an e-cigarette
• Requires DAEP placement if a student commits an offense
  • of deadly conduct (defined in Section 22.05)
  • of disorderly conduct involving a firearm
  • of unlawfully carrying unlawful weapons (defined section 46.02)
  • (the above essentially removes the need for a court or jury to find that a student has engaged in the delinquent conduct above)
• Makes conduct subject to a mandatory expulsion if it occurred on school property or at a school sponsored or school-related activity also subject to a mandatory expulsion even if it did not occur on school property or at a school sponsored or school-related activity
• Allows districts to place expelled students in virtual or in person DAEP or a juvenile justice alternative education program and provides ADA for these students
• Allows a district to request a court order to remove a special education or 504 student from their educational setting if a threat assessment determines the student’s presence is substantially likely to result in physical harm
  • Requires the court to decide on the request within five days if the district provided substantial evidence to satisfy requirements and, if so, may order the district to remove the student from the current educational setting
    • Requires the court to consider results of a threat assessment conducted, any findings made by the ARD committee or 504 committee and any other relevant information

LHISD leaders have been working with over 200 districts to build a coalition of legislators in order to improve the discipline code in order to better protect our teachers and protect students who behave. This bill is a large step in the right direction.

HB 6 is scheduled for committee hearing on March 18

Status: Governor Emergency Item. Voted out of Committee 3/10

Status: Governor Emergency Item. Voted out of Committee 3/10

SB 13 addresses public school libraries and is designed to increase parental rights and awareness related to school library materials and to increase standards related to content in library materials. The bill:

• Gives parents a right to access to records relating to school library materials checked out by their student

• Requires school library standards to prohibit library materials that portray sexual or excretory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive or materials that include grossly offensive language that is considered a public nuisance

• Allows school districts to adopt additional library standards beyond the mandatory standards as long as they do not conflict with the mandatory standards

• Requires school districts and charter schools to provide parents access to access school library catalogs and provide a list of materials in the catalog that their student may not be allowed to check out

• Requires school districts and charter schools that use a learning management system or portal to provide access to a parent to a record showing each time their student has checked out a library material, including the title, author, genre, and return date for the material

• Requires school districts to establish local school library advisory councils to make recommendations prior to the district adding library materials to a catalog, removing materials from a catalog as a result of a reconsideration request, or making changes to policies or guidelines related to the library catalog

• The council must be made up of at least five members and all members must be appointed by the board of trustees with each trustee appointing an equal number of members

• Requires a majority of the voting members to be non-employee parents of enrolled students

• Requires the council to meet at least twice per year and provide 72-hour written notice of the meeting

• Requires the council to post minutes and a recording of the meeting

• Requires acquisition of new library materials to be approved by the board of trustees of a school district only after the list of new materials has been posted for public review for at least 30 days

• The board approval requirement does not apply to additional or replacement copies of materials already in the school library materials

• When a challenge to a library material is filed, requires the council to issue a recommendation regarding the challenge within 90 days of receipt of the challenge

• Allows the council to base its recommendation on the recommendation of a library review committee established for the purpose of reviewing challenges if the board's policy allows that as long as each review committee consists of at least five persons appointed by the board, a majority of whom are non-employee parents of enrolled students

• Requires books that are challenged to be removed from circulation while the challenge is pending

Rural ISDs (under 5000) students would receive raises as follows:

• Over 5 years - $10K raise
• 3-5 years - $5K raise
• Under 3 - No raise

ISDs over 5000 students would receive raises as follows:

• Over 5 years - $5K raise
• 3-5 years - $2,500K raise
• Under 3 - No raise

This bill would double the amount currently provide for school safety. The bill would increase funding statewide by approximately $200 million per year and increases funding for campuses from the current law $15,000 to $30,000 and per ADA from current law $10 to $28.

This is a good bill for LHISD

• Provides funding for students enrolled in hybrid or virtual courses or programs in the same manner as if the student was attending in-person courses full-time
• Prohibits school districts from requiring classroom teachers to provide virtual and in-person instruction for a course simultaneously, subject to waivers that can be issued by the Commissioner
• Requires any teacher providing instruction in a virtual or hybrid course to receive appropriate professional development or be determined by the school district to have sufficient experience that such professional development is unnecessary
• Allows school districts to charge tuition and fees for out-of-state students or students who are not enrolled in the district to receive a virtual or hybrid course
• Allows school districts to create virtual or hybrid campuses to provide full-time programs and sets requirements for such campuses
• Requires school districts to consider the appropriateness and feasibility of enrolling a student in a virtual or hybrid program or campus as an alternative to expulsion except in the case of certain violent offenses

Status: Voted out of Committee on March 10

Liberty Hill ISD. Building Champions in Academics, Character, and Community

Email: superintendent@libertyhill.txed.net
Website: libertyhill.txed.net
Location: 301 Forrest Street, Liberty Hill, TX, USA
Phone: 512-260-5580
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.snell.585
Twitter: @s_snell