T4PE Ratings Database

HISTORY Wrote letter to Governor/TEA asking for STAAR to be postponed for the 2020-2021 school year. Co-Authored: HB2256 (Creates a bilingual sped program for students with disabilities). Co-Authored: HB2287 (data collection/receipt of reports by and consultation with the Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health Services). Authored: HB2344 (Use of a writing portfolio to assess writing performance). Co-Authored: HB2802 (Administration of certain public school assessments and the temporary suspension of accountability during a school year in which public school operations are disrupted as a result of a declared disaster and the requirement to use those instruments for promotion or graduation). Co-Authored: HB2954 (Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention grant program for public elementary schools). Co-Authored: HB3889 (Relating to the cost for certain public school students of a broadband Internet access program offered by the Texas Education Agency). Co-Authored: HB725 (Relating to the eligibility of certain children who are or were in foster care for free prekindergarten programs in public schools). Co-authored: HB764 (Reducing STAAR testing for public school students). Co-Authored: HB785 (Relating to behavior improvement plans and behavioral intervention plans for certain public school students and notification and documentation requirements regarding certain behavior management techniques). Voted yes - HB1080 (participation in UIL for students who receive mental health services). Voted yes - HB1133 (Relating to an election to revoke a county equalization tax imposed in certain counties). Voted yes - HB1147 (Relating to military readiness for purposes of the indicators of achievement under the public school accountability system and the college, career, or military readiness outcomes bonus under the Foundation School Program). Voted yes - HB1252 (Related to the limitation period for filing a complaint and requesting a special education impartial due process hearing). Voted yes - HB1468 (Public school remote learning programs). Voted yes - HB1525 (HB3 cleanup bill). Voted yes - HB159 (Training for all educators on how to better serve disabled students). Voted yes - HB1603 (Ends sunset dates for IGCs). Voted yes - HB2256 (Creates a bilingual sped program for students with disabilities). Voted yes - HB2287 (Relating to data collection and receipt of certain reports by and consultation with the Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health Services). Voted yes - HB2519 (Composition of SBEC, issuance of sanctions by the board, requiring a school district to notify a teacher regarding the submission of complaints to SBEC). Voted no - HB2681 (Elective courses on the study of the Bible offered to public school students). Voted yes - HB2721 (Prohibiting a student from participating in future extracurricular activities for certain conduct involving the assault of an extracurricular activity official). Voted yes - HB2802 (Administration of certain public school assessments and the temporary suspension of accountability during a school year in which public school operations are disrupted as a result of a declared disaster and the requirement to use those instruments for promotion or graduation). Voted yes - HB3261 (Electronic administration of tests, measures to support internet connectivity for purposes of the test, the adoption and administration of optional interim tests, the review and use of the instructional materials and technology allotment, and requests for production of instructional materials). Voted yes - HB3456 (Inclusion of funds received by certain educational institutions or programs in foundation school program funds for purposes of certain budget reductions). Voted yes - HB3489 (Development of guidelines for the use of digital devices in public schools and a school district or open enrollment charter school policy for the effective integration of those devices). Voted yes - HB3597 (Relating to policies, procedures, and measures for school safety in public schools). Voted yes - HB3643 (Creates a Texas Commission on Virtual Education). Voted no - HB3731 (Relating to public school accountability ratings, including interventions and sanctions administered to a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or district or school campus assigned an unacceptable performance rating. (HISD takeover bill)). Voted yes - HB 3932 (Relating to the establishment of the State Advisory Council on Educational Opportunity for Military Children). Voted no - HB3979 (critical race theory bill #1). Voted yes - HB41 (Relating to class size limits for prekindergarten classes provided by or on behalf of public schools). Voted yes - HB41 (Relating to class size limits for prekindergarten classes provided by or on behalf of public schools). Voted yes - HB4124 (Relating to student enrollment in certain special-purpose districts and the allotment under the public school finance system for those districts). Voted no - HB4509 (Relating to instruction on informed American patriotism in public schools and study of the Founding documents of Texas and the United States). Voted no - HB4545 (Relating to the assessment of public school students, the establishment of a strong Foundations grant program, and providing accelerated instruction for students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on certain assessment instruments. (Bill used to include increasing commissioner powers, now just is about tutoring). Voted yes - HB547 (Would allow homeschooled students to participate in UIL activities on public school campuses). Voted yes - HB572 (Relating to the inclusion of students enrolled in a dropout recovery school as students at risk of dropping out of school for purposes of compensatory, intensive, and accelerated instruction and to a study by the Texas Education Agency on competency-based educational programs). Voted yes - HB690 (Relating to training requirements for a member of the board of trustees of an independent school district). Voted yes - HB699 (Relating to public school attendance requirements for students diagnosed with or undergoing related treatment for severe or life-threatening illnesses). Voted yes - HB725 (Relating to the eligibility of certain children who are or were in foster care for free prekindergarten programs in public schools). Voted yes - HB750 (Relating to requiring a school district to post the district's employment policy on the district's Internet website). Voted yes - HB764 (Reducing STAAR testing for public school students). Voted yes - HB773 (Includes CTE students as a student achievement subpop for accountability). Voted yes - HB785 (Relating to behavior improvement plans and behavioral intervention plans for certain public school students and notification and documentation requirements regarding certain behavior management techniques). Voted yes - HB999 (Exempts kids from testing requirements for 2021, allows IGCs for all 5 tests rather than 3). Voted yes - SB1063 (Relating to courses in personal financial literacy & economics for high school students in public schools). Voted yes - SB1095 (Relating to notice regarding the availability to public school students of college credit and work-based education programs and subsidies for fees paid to take certain advanced placement tests. (Let students know these programs exist)). Voted yes - SB1109 (Relating to requiring public schools to provide instruction and materials and adopt policies relating to the prevention of child abuse, family violence, and dating violence). Voted yes - SB123 (Relating to instruction in positive character traits and personal skills in public schools). Voted yes - SB1267 (Relating to continuing education and training requirements for educators and other school district personnel). Voted yes - SB1351 (Relating to the donation of food by public school campuses). Voted yes - SB1356 (Relating to the participation by members of nonprofit teacher organizations in a tutoring program for public school students and related retirement benefits for certain tutors participating in the program). Voted yes - SB1365 (Relating to public school organization, accountability, and fiscal management. (HISD takeover bill)). Voted yes - SB1590 (Relating to rules by the State Board for Educator Certification regarding virtual observation options for field-based experiences and internships required for educator certification). Voted yes - SB168 (Relating to emergency school drills and exercises conducted by public schools). Voted yes - SB1696 (Relating to establishing a system for the sharing of information regarding cyber attacks or other cybersecurity incidents occurring in schools in this state). Voted yes - SB1697 (Relating to allowing parents and guardians to elect for a student to repeat or retake a course or grade). Voted no - SB1716 (Relating to a supplemental special education services and instructional materials program for certain public school students receiving special education services). Voted yes - SB179 (Relating to the use of public school counselors' work time). Voted yes - SB1831 (Relating to the punishment for trafficking of persons, online solicitation of a minor, and prostitution and to the dissemination of certain information, including the required printing of certain signs, regarding human trafficking; increasing criminal penalties; providing a civil penalty). Voted yes - SB1955 (Relating to exempting learning pods from certain local government regulations). Voted yes - SB2050 (Relating to bullying and cyberbullying in public schools). Voted yes - SB2066 (Relating to emergent bilingual students in public schools). Voted yes - SB2081 (Relating to class size limits for prekindergarten classes provided by or on behalf of public schools). Voted yes - SB226 (Relating to instruction in educator training programs regarding digital learning, virtual learning, and virtual instruction). Voted yes - SB279 (Relating to the inclusion of suicide prevention information on certain student ID cards issued by a public school or public institution of higher education). Voted yes - SB289 (Relating to excused absences from public school for certain students to obtain a driver's license or learner license). Voted yes - SB338 (Relating to the adoption of uniform general conditions for building construction projects entered into by school districts and the composition of the committee that reviews uniform general conditions). Voted yes - SB348 (Related to parent access to public school virtual instruction and instructional materials for virtual and remote learning). Voted yes - SB369 (Requiring students to submit a FAFSA application as a condition for graduation). Voted yes - SB462 (Relating to funding under the transportation allotment for transporting meals and instructional materials to students during a declared disaster). Voted yes - SB481 (Relating to the transfer of certain public school students to a school district offering in person instruction). Voted yes - SB560 (Relating to developing a strategic plan for the improvement and expansion of high-quality bilingual education.). Voted yes - SB746 (Relating to requiring the parent of a student enrolled in a school district to provide and update a parent's contact information). Voted yes - SB776 (Relating to the creation of an inclusive sports program by the University Interscholastic League to provide students with intellectual disabilities access to team sports). Voted no - SB797 (Relating to the display of the national motto in public schools and institutes of higher education). Voted yes - SB801 (Relating to the development of an agriculture education program for public elementary schools). Voted yes - SB1776 (Relating to the inclusion of an elective course on the founding principles of the United States in the curriculum for public high school students and the posting of the founding documents of the United States in public school buildings). SPECIAL SESSION 2: Voted no - SB3 (Relating to civics training programs for certain public school social studies teachers and principals, parental access to certain learning management systems, and certain curriculum in public schools, including certain instructional requirements and prohibitions). Voted yes - SJR2 (Proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the reduction of the amount of a limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed for general elementary and secondary public school purposes on the residence homestead of a person who is elderly or disabled to reflect any statutory reduction from the preceding tax year in the maximum compressed rate of the maintenance and operations taxes imposed for those purposes on the homestead). SPECIAL SESSION 3: Voted yes - SB1 (Relating to an increase in the amount of the exemption of residence homesteads from ad valorem taxation by a school district and the protection of school districts against the resulting loss in local revenue). Voted yes - SJR2 (Proposing a constitutional amendment increasing the amount of the residence homestead exemption from ad valorem taxation for public school purposes). Absent for vote - HB160 (Relating to making supplemental appropriations for education initiatives, institutions, and related agencies and giving direction regarding appropriations). Voted no - HB25 (Relating to requiring public school students to compete in interscholastic athletic competitions based on biological sex). From website: END TEACHING TO THE TEST - Educators and students must be given more flexibility in the classroom. Ending shame-and-blame testing will give them the space they need to do their jobs, particularly in the challenging times we?re in right now. I called for the governor to waive testing for the 2019?2020 school year, so that our schools and families could focus on health and learning, instead of an ineffective accountability system, and I?ve also called for waiving testing for the 2020?2021 school year. Texas standardized testing is above the federal minimum, and this exacerbates our "teaching to the test" problem. Testing should be used to evaluate students to improve their learning, not for shaming students, blaming teachers, and punishing schools. The inappropriate fixation on testing cuts into more productive teaching time. Teachers are trained professionals and we need to give them the space to adapt to their classrooms and trust them to do the job they were trained to do. KEEP PUBLIC DOLLARS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS - I believe in strong public schools that have the resources and flexibility to serve each and every Texas student. However, there's a vocal contingent in the Texas government who are trying to break public schools, so that they can create a voucher system. This would allow our public tax dollars to subsidize private, for-profit schools instead of funding the public schools that are integral parts of our communities. Because the value of a voucher wouldn't cover the full tuition costs of the vast majority of private schools, vouchers would effectively be a tax break for wealthier Texans who can already afford to send their children to private school. In addition, private and charter schools are not required to serve all students. Bleeding money from our public school system would threaten education quality for the students left behind. Redirecting public dollars to a voucher system would increase inequity, enable voluntary racial segregation, and starve our public school system of much-needed funding. PROTECT COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR EDUCATORS: As professionals, we must compensate teachers fairly and competitively and keep our retirement promises to them. Most retired educators are not eligible for social security, and the Teacher Retirement Service pension hasn't given a cost-of-living increase since 1999. Many retired teachers live in poverty or are forced to return to work. I helped pass legislation to give educators pay raises across the state of Texas and to give retired educators a one time bonus payment. Rising healthcare costs and an underfunded healthcare plan have exacerbated these challenges. 2018 costs have increased 50% or more, leading many retired educators to risk going without health coverage. Our retired teachers deserve better, and if Texas continues breaking its promises to them, we will have trouble recruiting great educators in the future. STATE FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS - When I was a public school student here in Texas, the state paid 60% of the cost of education. When I was elected, this was down to 38%. Last session, I helped increase state funding for education from 38% to 45%. We still have a lot of work to do, and I pledge to protect our investment in public schools and fight for more education funding from the state. This both ensures our kids get a great education and reduces the burden on local property taxes. Every Texas student deserves a great education, and the State of Texas must keep its promises to our children. SURVEY RESPONSES: WHAT IS BROKEN? Public schools in Texas are not broken. Where schools have had challenges is largely due to funding disparities and the reduction over time of state support for public education. The rhetoric that insists the schools are failing is built upon a broken system used to ?grade? school performance. PRIORITIES: Continue the efforts I have made as Vice-Chair of the Article III subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to secure more state funding of our public schools and ensure that the funding is sustainable. I am proud to have been able to include a rider to protect previous teacher pay raises going forward, and I want to continue seeking more dedicated funding for special education and IEPs. Additional state support to public schools is essential to rebuild from staff shortages and other problems that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. I will continue to fight to restore the state's full commitment to public education. FUNDING: The state share of public education funding needs to increase. Historically, the state has funded a greater share of the cost of education, and we need to renew that commitment. FINDING THE MONEY: We need to close revenue loopholes in the existing tax code to ensure that we have a sustainable funding stream for our schools. One avenue is reforming corporate property tax appraisals to end the "race to the bottom" in valuations. This will ensure that everyone pays their fair share for our public schools and shift the burden off residential property owners. VOUCHERS/CHARTERS: I do not support private or virtual school vouchers, and I do not support expanding the number of ?chain? charter schools. I do think there is a space for a limited charter school program where charter schools serve particular niches of students, but we are beyond that scale right now. Creating a widespread parallel system of taxpayer-funded schools doesn?t serve Texans and only divides resources. EVALUATING PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Standardized testing should be used to measure student progress and identify opportunities for improvement. Unfortunately, at the moment, testing is being used punitively. I support ending high stakes testing and doing a full audit of our current standardized tests to assess which ones are measuring students correctly and which ones aren't. I also passed legislation through the Texas House to allow schools to evaluate student writing through a portfolio method instead of a single standardized test. Unfortunately, this legislation did not move forward in the Senate. IGCs: Individual Graduation Committees have served an important role in reducing negative consequences of challenges faced by students during the Covid pandemic. The legislature had to scramble to create a law that allowed the committees to be created. Rather than sunsetting the committees, we should maintain them as an option available in extraordinary circumstances. A-F CAMPUS EVALUATION: The system of grading schools by a single letter-grade is a misleading way to communicate the performance of schools and has mostly reflected the wealth of the school instead of the work the school does. It does not take into consideration the varying populations or wealth of the schools. Ultimately, it amounts to a thinly veiled effort toward funding school vouchers to private schools to save students from ?failing? schools. ATTRACTING/RETAINING TEACHERS: We have to pay educators well and quit attacking them for doing their jobs. I protected HB3 pay raises in the budget last session, and I also fought legislation to penalize educators who teach our complete history and diverse books. We must also make sure that healthcare costs for educators don?t go through the roof. We are unnecessarily spending $3 billion on border security this biennium. The dollars are there if we fix our priorities. COLAs: As illustrated by the politics and difficulty of passing a ?13th check? last year, occasional, one-time increased are not a reliable way to secure the retirement of people who have contributed so much to our communities. We need a cost of living increase that grows without continual legislative re-evaluation. TRS CARE: Health care costs don't exist in a vacuum. Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, which means that when many Texans go to the hospital, they're unable to pay. Those costs are passed on to folks who are able to pay and contribute to the rapid rise in health care costs for everyone. I support better funding for TRS care and offering retired educators who left a golden ticket back, but we also have to address the uninsured rate. Expanding Medicaid is the best way to address this. It would provide health care coverage for another 1.5 million Texans, bring $6 billion a year of our federal income tax dollars back to Texas, and drive down health care costs for everyone. TRS RETIREMENT: I support maintaining TRS as a defined benefit plan. Retirees deserve a secure and known set of benefits rather than hope that the economy will support 401(k) type investments. REPRESENTING ALL CONSTITUENTS: Few seats in the legislature have flipped back and forth between parties as frequently or recently as the seat I hold. Where districts are considered to have the potential to swing between parties, candidates and officeholders have a greater need to communicate with and consider the perspectives of all constituents. I work every day to effectively represent everyone in my district and will continue to do so. RESOURCES FOR INFORMATION ON PUBLIC EDCUATION: Talking to educators, parents, and students. Information; first elected to the Texas House in 2018. children's author. FUNDING: State funding should cover at least 50% of K-12 costs, and would support a constitutional amendment to establish that minimum. Bolster existing franchise tax and use the Economic Stabilization fund in poor revenue bienniums, which is why the fund was created. PRIORITIES: relieve overcrowding and inadequate budgets, hire more educators, increase individual student allotment so districts can have flexibility to address site-specific needs like overcrowing. Direct more funding to special education. CHOICE/VOUCHERS: Does not support vouchers, if we properly fund pubic schools they can offer top quality education to every student. We should not be subsidizing private schools when we have our own schools to fund. TESTING: The purpose of testing is to evaluate, so educators can assess and react accordingly. The purpose is not to shame students, blame teachers, and undermine schools. Supports reducing testing down to federal minimum and eliminating A-F grading system. In the future, we can use testing to identify patterns in schools so that administrators can implement solutions. ACCOUNTABILITY: Tying teacher evaluations to tests fundamentally punishes educators who work with the students who are most in need. A-F system encourages administrators to emphasize test scores in evaluation, which is yet another reason to dismantle the rating system. If a school fails to perform, and we do have reasonable accountability standards and full funding, we should offer administrative support and tools. Only if problems persist, are constantly egregious (civil rights violations, extreme financial mismanagement, etc) and include the district not cooperating with TEA, would I support more extreme interventions such as a management takeover. i would never support privatizing a school. SALARIES: support a floor on salaries, and coupled with increased funding for schools, an increase to the minimum teacher pay schedule. INSURANCE: interim interventions (cash infusions, increasing state contribution level) should be implemented. We need to deal with the core issues of rising costs in Texas by expanding Medicaid. TRS: keep the defined benefit. Co-sponsor: HB426 - relating to benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Co-sponsored legislation: SB12 (state contribution to TRS). Voted yes - HB3. Voted yes - HB18 (student mental health services). Voted yes - HB102 (mentor teachers). Voted yes - HB953 (TRS contributions). Voted yes - SB12 (TRS contributions). Voted no - SB29 (Taxpayer funded lobbying). Grade from Project Educo: A. From website: FUNDING: The Texas Legislature has demonstrated that they can't be trusted to maintain appropriate funding for public education. When I was a public school student here in Texas, the state paid 60% of the cost of education. Now it's down to 38%. This dramatic decrease in funding has has increased the burden on local school districts, forcing them raise property taxes, cut services, or both. Meanwhile, the Legislature has cut the corporate franchise tax all while cutting funding for schools. I will fight for an amendment to the Texas Constitution to require the Legislature to fund at least 50% of the cost of public education. This will help local schools reduce class sizes, offer more services, recruit and retain better teachers, and offer a wider of classes and educational opportunities. Every Texas student deserve a great education, and the State of Texas must keep its promises to our children. TESTING: Educators and students must be given more flexibility in the classroom. Ending shame and blame testing will give them the space they need to do their jobs. Texas standardized testing is above the federal minimum, and this exacerbates our "teaching to test" problem. Testing should be used to evaluate students to improve their learning, not for shaming students, blaming teachers, and punishing schools. The inappropriate fixation on testing cuts into more productive teaching time. Teachers are trained professionals, and we need to give them the space to adapt to their classrooms and trust them to do the job they were trained to do. COMPENSATION/BENEFITS: As professionals, we must compensate teachers fairly and competitively and keep our retirement promises to them. Retired teachers are not eligible for social security, and the Teacher Retirement Service pension hasn't given a cost-of-living increase since 1999. Many retired teachers live in poverty or have had to return to work. Rising healthcare costs and an underfunded healthcare plan have exacerbated these challenges. 2018 costs have increased 50% or more, leading many retired educators to risk going without health coverage. Our retired teachers deserve better, and if Texas continues breaking its promises to them, we will have trouble recruiting great educators in the future. VOUCHERS/CHARTERS: I believe in strong public schools that have the resources and flexibility to serve each and every Texas student. However, there's a vocal contingent in Texas goverment who are trying to break public schools, so that they can create a voucher system. This would allow our public tax dollars to subsidize private, for-profit schools instead of funding our neighborhood schools. Because the value of a voucher wouldn't cover the full tuition costs of the vast majority of private schools. Vouchers would effectively be a tax break for wealthier Texans who can already afford to send their children to private school. In addition, private and charter schools are not required to serve all students. Bleeding money from our public school system would threaten education quality for the students left behind. Redirecting public dollars to a voucher system would increase inequity, enable voluntary racial segregation, and starve our public school system of much-needed funding.

T4PE Public Ratings

Done!