TASPA Update on SBEC
The State Board for Educator Certification held its first meeting of the year on Friday, January 12, 2007. The TASPA Board members were in attendance at this meeting, and Susan Kent of Northside ISD, Chair of the TASPA SBEC Committee, testified on behalf of TASPA regarding item # 11 of the SBEC Board Agenda: Legislative Recommendations for the 80th Texas Legislature. Ms. Kent’s Testimony can be found here. The SBEC Board members discussed the legislative recommendations made by TASPA, and agreed to add the four recommendations into the draft recommendations from staff to present to the legislature.
Dr. Bonny Cain, Superintendent of Pearland ISD and Vice- Chair of the SBEC Board, recognized the TASPA Board and our association at the start of the meeting.
Under Department Updates the following items were covered at the January Board meeting:
- Educator Standards: Dr. Karen Loonam reported an improvement in the delivery of the December TExES test administrations compared to October, and that those who failed the October test at sites where there were administration irregularities were allowed to re-take the test for free in December. She reported that three stakeholder groups have met and continue to meet periodically: LOTE, Certification Structure, and Program Advisory.
- Credentialing Services: Roman Echazaretta reported that as of November 28 of 2006 they no longer had a backlog of out of state credential review, thanks to having trained additional staff for credential review, and a software upgrade that automatically recognizes and “fast-tracks” completed applications, separating them from those that are missing documentation. He mentioned the general direction of the recommendations of the Certification Stakeholders Meeting: creating an EC-6 certificate to replace EC-4, and creating a 6-12 certificate to replace the existing 8-12. Work remains to be done on current EC-4 holders regarding assignment criteria.
- Certification Enforcement Unit: Chris Jones reported on his unit’s efforts at clearing up the backlog of pending cases, and that they have focused priority to those cases involving code of ethics violations, as those are more serious in nature. With current rules it will be very difficult to eliminate the backlog, as lesser charges currently still require investigation. Proposed changes would streamline the process, allowing less serious cases to be dismissed if deemed frivolous or be dismissed with a letter of notice if the charge is of concern but not warranting a full investigation (“if you did do this, it is bad and we don’t approve of the alleged behavior, but we don’t have time to look into it”). Serious charges would be allotted the needed resources for appropriate investigation.
- Investigations/Fingerprinting: Doug Phillips mentioned that SB 119, and its mirror bill, SB 09, will increase the number of people required to be fingerprinted. He addressed the question of why individuals seen in the news for having committed violations were not flagged, and indicated the media sometimes discover things before SBEC is informed, and there is a 20 day lag in flagging procedures, which could be shortened by a rule change.
The SBEC Board will convene again on Friday, March 9, 2007, and the TASPA Board and other members plan to be there to testify on the structure of the educator certificates and the process of the stakeholders’ committee meetings convened by SBEC. The full agenda for the March 9 meeting can be found by visiting http://www.sbec.state.tx.us/SBECOnline/brdinfo/
regmeet.asp?width=1280&height=1024 and clicking on the March 9 date under the list of Board meeting dates.
Susan Kent, Chair of the TASPA SBEC Committee, will present statewide data from our TASPA teacher survey showing strong support for the proposed EC-6 Elementary certificate, the recommendation to retain the 4-8 certificates for those ISDs that rely on them as a staffing option for middle school, and support for the proposed 6-12 certificates, noting that there has been expressed concern that the grade range might be too broad for the secondary 6-12 certificate.
Much work remains to be done by the members of the Certification Stakeholders Committee, including clarification that the INTENT of the stakeholders is NOT to do away with the 4-8 certificates after the realignment of the EC-4 and 8-12 certificates with the NLCB Elementary and Secondary grade ranges, as doing away with the 4-8 certificates will cause a staffing shortage in middle school and will make NLCB highly-qualified status very difficult to attain for certain special education teachers.
If you have other suggestions or concerns please contact your TASPA SBEC Committee representative or email amartin@taspa.org. The full list of committee members can be found at
http://www.taspa.org/committees.html#SBECCommittee |
Photos for March newsletter AGENCY updates
SBEC photo
TASPA District V Representative John Hancock of Amarillo ISD, District VI Representative Martha Dominguez of Ysleta ISD, District II Representative Dr. Tim Rocka of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, President Marcia Daniels of El Paso ISD, TASPA SBEC Committee Chair Susan Kent of Northside ISD, District I Representative Dr. Kevin Brown, District IV Representative Dr. Neil Dugger of Irving ISD, District III Representative Marivel Sedillo of Roundrock ISD, Past President Jed Reed of Lewisville ISD, and Secretary Tamira Griffin of Plano ISD. Photo taken at the TEA Boardroom in Austin.
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