It is Teacher Appreciation Day. Can you think of a worse present for a teachers or their students than to use STAAR to punish even more students, teachers and their schools?

HB 3731, being heard today in the House, would expand TEA's state takeover authority based on STAAR scores.

Can you make a quick call to your state rep and tell them to oppose HB 3731? https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

This bill, authored by Rep Dutton, would make both D and F-rated campuses rated "unacceptable." It would expand state takeover of an entire district to any district with just ONE school with a D or F rating.

If COVID has taught us anything, it should be that we need to focus on students and meaningful instruction and end the over-reliance on standardized testing. This bill is a step in the wrong direction.

TASB stated that "this bill would almost instantly cause more districts and campuses to be subject to interventions and sanctions by arbitrarily increasing the accountability threshold in the middle of a pandemic during which the state has paused accountability ratings."

Last night the state takeover bill, also authored by Rep Dutton (HB 3270) was temporarily stopped. Thank you for your calls and emails to your elected representatives and to our allies' efforts on the House floor especially to Rep Alma Allen for her point of order.

But HB 3270 could very easily be added as an amendment to the D/F takeover bill (HB 3731) being voted on today.

Can you send this e letter to your state representative TODAY?

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-punishing-schools-hb-3731-means-more-power-for-staar-a-f-ratings?link_id=4&can_id=d62ecae807c37a39c82f956ca9ef7fe7&source=email-public-education-red-alert-again-2&email_referrer=email_1167922___subject_1551105&email_subject=2-steps-forward-1-step-back