Commissioner, thanks again for the time.
I guess I want to First off
start and just ask, you know,
with with everything schools
are dealing with right now.
What's what's the top thing on your plate?
What are you most focused on right now?
The the the big challenge that we have
is how to make sure that we are given
all of our children all five and a half
million souls in Texas public schools.
The absolute best chance to grow
academically, in character and otherwise.
And when you think about the disruptions of
the last two years that schools have faced,
they have been tremendous that the
current third graders were at the end of
their first grade year in March when all
of our schools temporarily shut down.
In their entire 2nd grade year
was very abnormal.
And you know those are very important
formative years in terms of the
academic growth of of our young people.
I'm not just Commissioner education, but Dad.
I've got 4/4 young kids.
My oldest happens to be a current third
grader and so you think about at the
end of your third grade you're supposed
to memorize your times tables here.
You know where your writing
skill is supposed to be at,
and just as a dad working with my own kid,
no one knowing some of the gaps that
she has and thinking about that.
Then as Commissioner of Education.
For all five and a half million
kids in our schools,
the the challenge of accelerating
the rate at which we can,
we can deliver good content that we
can help inspire young learners.
This this is.
This is the difficulty to try
to make up for some lost time.
No, that makes sense.
Focusing on the the student achievement
and real quick just for what it's worth,
moving forward if I have to cut
you off at all, I'm sure you could
talk about education for days,
but because of the time I might start it up.
One thing I wanted to touch on too.
When you talk about achievement,
one of the things that's been a serious
issue with staffing a recent survey
found that 66% of Texas teachers had
looked at quitting over the past year.
Could could you ortie be doing more
to show that you support teachers?
Yeah, I mean. That the our strategic plan,
the number one priority for us
as an organization is what we
do to help improve our ability
collectively to recruit, support,
and retain teachers and principals.
The single most important in school
factor in the success of students
is the teacher in the classroom.
So so we have made very significant
investments to try to improve both
our ability to recruit new folks
into the profession and to retain
those that we have over $120 million.
For example, just recently invested.
In work to help districts improve
the ability for them to grow their
own talents to become teachers,
the work to retain teachers is
is pretty critical and involves,
you know, pay and working conditions.
There's been very significant
increases in teacher pay in Texas
in the last several years,
and then also the work to
provide flexibility to as you.
Because you're you're you're serious,
you're seeing some that are sort
of short term issues related
to the pandemic as people are.
With COVID positive,
they have to stay home for a few days.
Until there there negative again and
so the work to try to give flexibility
on substitute teachers and on the way.
Districts can sort of organize their
campuses to so that so that teachers
aren't overly burdened in the work.
This is.
This is critical,
so we're very much focused on really
every sort of tactic and strategy
that has been identified to show
promise and in in improvement in
both retention and recruitment.
Beyond,
you know the pandemic beyond pay.
There's also politics,
and I'm going to give myself credit
for quoting the three P's issue.
I mean we had.
Nearly a dozen superintendents step
down here just the past few months here
in North Texas and a lot have cited
politics is as a reason behind that.
Does that concern you at all?
Yeah, I mean the the IT is a very
difficult job to lead a school system.
There's no doubt about it.
It's a difficult job in the best of times and
the last 24 months given the disruptions.
And really every the way that America
works has been has been challenging
for a lot of our school leaders.
But even in normal years,
there's about a 14% turnover
rate in superintendents,
and so the at with 1200 school systems.
That's a. That's a decent amount of new
leaders that come and go any given year.
We we remain focused on supporting
our our our school leaders to try
to grow leadership capacity to
to grow the talent of folks that
are leading our school systems.
That's a key workstream for
us here at the agency and
just just real quick.
I mean, it's not even just,
you know over the past 24 months.
Certainly there's been a
lot of issues with COVID.
Obviously there's there's
turnover every year,
but I mean superintendents and teachers
alike are saying that politics in
schools is worse than it's ever been.
Maybe I'll phrase it differently.
Do we have too much politics
in schools right now?
Well, in a local school district
you have a locally elected school
board and those that locally.
I mean, I was a former school
board member in Dallas.
I I ran for office twice.
That is a political process to get elected.
So in a democratically controlled
set of school systems,
it's that it's that board that is really
in charge of the local school system.
And so you know it is.
It is very difficult as
a school board member.
Them to to be able to prioritize
the most important things for kids,
we think that it's important that the
work that school boards do to focus
their systems, their schools on,
on how to improve outcomes,
and learning for for children.
That's that's the work that school
boards need to be focused on,
and it's sometimes easy to to
get distracted because that work
is quite difficult.
But but it's important to remain
focused on what students need
us to be focused on,
so it sounds like not a yes or no.
I'm sorry, not a yes or no to what
if there's too much politics
in schools right now? I mean,
that's what that's what we're hearing.
So I just wanted to make sure that I ask it.
Yeah again, the in a system of
locally elected school boards this
the school boards are in fact in
charge of those local school systems.
And so that's you know what we have.
The local elected officials?
That's their their
loan gotcha. Yeah, they are.
They are nonpartisan,
but I guess I give it, you're saying?
I'm supposed to be more than a half
million to about COVID for a second,
'cause that's what we started with.
You know, I was looking at the numbers of
the day more than a half million students.
At this point, one and six staff
members have tested positive.
We had a lot of staffing issues as a
as a result of that which brought up,
you know, did that EA do enough to
protect students and staff over the
past couple years in your mind?
We have done a huge amount.
The state of Texas has really done a huge
amount to ensure that we created the
safest learning environments possible,
and in fact the data bears that out.
The school is likely the safest
congregate setting to be in
throughout the pandemic, the.
The sheer volume of what the the phrases
PPE personal protective equipment to
the the the work to provide the the
best medical supports and health.
Supports significant expansion
of school nursing and the like.
I I I don't have the numbers off
the top of my head but something
like 85 million individual sort of
distribution of of PPE so you think
about the the stuff that is used to
keep employees safe while they're there.
The the work that we do.
Related to public health,
it's it's been a it's been a
robust investment in making sure
that schools are safe,
and in fact they have been.
They've been safe throughout the crisis.
Gotcha, yeah, I won't.
I won't get another time to go down that
that road we interviewed Dr Hinojosa
recently about obviously masks you know.
And you can distribute the PPE.
But if districts are banned from,
you know, requiring them.
It's kind of like a one size fits all is the
the concern on that front beyond pandemic.
Beyond staffing you know the other issue
as I talked about was was politics
going back to that for a second?
I'm just curious.
Do you have a a one or two
sentence definition of?
Of critical race theory,
because that's a term that
it feels like it's becoming
increasingly loaded over the past.
You know couple of years.
The, UM, I think the easiest thing to do
is to look at actually what the law says.
So Senate Bill three was passed in
that most recent legislative session.
It doesn't say critical race
theory, and it does it.
No, it doesn't. And this is the the
the reason why there's a great deal
of media attention on that phrase,
but it's it's actually important.
Remember what schools are obligated to do,
and so the what schools
are prohibited from doing.
For example, is that to to to teach,
or to train staff that anyone
race is better or worse?
In another. The the law.
Says that schools should not should not
teach that hard work is inappropriate.
Door and in some ways a
racist idea that at the
schools teaching that one
race is better than another.
The the I will what I will say is
that you've got 9000 schools in the
state of Texas and 350,000 classrooms.
And what happens any given day
in any given classroom can vary.
And I think that you have school
leaders around the state that work to
make sure that they create the most.
Positive learning environments for
all of their kids that's serve serve
a very diverse base of students.
You think about the again the five and a
half million souls that are in our schools.
They have huge,
huge differences in backgrounds and we
want to make sure that public school is a
place to serve all of them effectively.
I want to talk for a second.
Also about books. I mean,
I think it's in that same sort of vein.
The governor asked you that TA to
investigate *********** in schools.
What have you guys found?
So one of the roles that EA has
is an investigative function,
so as complaints come to us we have a a
a a duty to make sure that the laws of
the state are being upheld in schools.
While we conduct investigations,
we generally don't comment on
on them because there's still
factfinding happening after.
However, an investigation is done that all
of the investigative reports are published,
so I think you'd have to to check for
any closed investigation on that subject.
I'm not sure if if those investigations
have been completed yet,
but once they are,
you should have full access to all
of the investigative findings.
So far, nothing. Nothing has been.
Finalize, discovered and closed.
Correct everything. Just
yeah, it just depends on which
investigation you're talking about.
'cause there's any given day.
There's you know dozens and dozens
of ongoing investigations that could
be no. I think people would be
really interested to know if
there was no child ***********
and in schools book banning.
In that same vein is something
that's come up a lot more.
We actually just at a meeting
last night here in Collin County,
where where some parents were
trying to ban at close to 300 books,
is book banning a good thing in your mind.
Well, you know school is a
place where you want to nurture
the the minds of young people.
And it's important for young
people to be exposed to.
A steadily growing degree of complexity
and diversity perspectives, but you know,
it's really the role of of educators,
and in fact, parents to help sort of
guide students through that journey.
Again, I'm a dad.
I've got four young kids.
There's concepts that I'm I want my kids
to learn now and there's concepts that
I want my kids to learn sort of later
as they're as they as they develop.
So the the.
The ultimate decision for the
instructional material that kids
are exposed to while they're in in
their classrooms or the library.
Materials that are purchased
in their schools.
Those are ultimately the
purview of local school boards.
They make the decision as to the the
standards and procedures that are
adopted in in in their local context
and in their local communities,
and so there have been debates for
100 years on you know what content
is appropriate in in schools and and
that will continue. It's a. It's a.
Healthy function of our democracy.
To have those kinds of debates?
What's what is the content we want to
make sure that we're exposing students to?
And when
we've only had a couple minutes
and I want to make sure I I
touch on student achievement,
'cause that's what we started with,
and I think that's the most important
thing at the end of the day,
the star test is obviously always
under scrutiny, but especially lately,
why not just cancel it or or?
Why not make sure that the results,
especially this year,
aren't used for anything other
than maybe an internal review.
So the the star test is is important as a
resource both for parents and for educators,
so you know you we think about the the set
of expectations that we have for 3rd graders.
We in Texas, we have the moral
belief that all third graders can
learn and achieve at high levels.
And it's not abstract.
We think that they're graders, for example,
should have memorized their times
tables among a variety of other things.
So the star test is really the the one
summative assessment that is designed
to tell parents and teachers whether
students have mastered those concepts.
It's not designed to tell you why
it's not designed to give you
sort of a specific action plan.
It's just like are the children at grade
level and so it's this is important
for parents to know after all of the
work that has happened over the course
of the year where their kids are at
so that they can then figure out as
parents the best way to support them.
Same thing for teachers after
all of the hard work of the year.
How well did our students master the
breadth of third grade content 4th
grade content, 5th grade content?
So you take that at the end of the year?
Does it come from a student's perspective?
If a student does really well or or or
really poorly that there's no aspect
of state policy that is punitive
so that the the the star test is.
Essentially there's no stakes for kids on it,
but it is important for us to take
that as a measurement perspective so
that we know how to as adults to best
serve those students in the next year
and last thing real quick.
I know you guys have given a little bit
of leniency to districts this year,
but you know, we've already heard
from several who are saying,
you know we can't hire. Bus drivers,
much less teachers or or substitutes.
Tutors for for the required
you know tutoring for students
that that fail the STAAR test,
how does that going to be looked
at moving forward?
I mean, districts are saying this
is just an overwhelming burden.
Yeah, the the legislature looking at
the the real significant impact to
students academically gave students
a new right in this last school year,
which is, I think as a parent
is a very important new right.
Which is to say that if you're
struggling academically,
you have the right to access free
tutoring over the course of the year.
This is a very important improvement
in how we will support students
who are struggling academically,
but it's not easy to implement,
and so there's a you know.
We have 1200 school systems around the state,
some of them were very well positioned in
terms of how they organized their staff,
how they organize their schedules
so that they can offer that kind of
tutoring effectively to to their kids,
and some are.
Still scrambling to fill positions and
work to find the tutors that they need.
This is a difficult new obligation
on schools,
but it again is a very important
right for parents and for kids.
So I know the legislature will be
studying the specific requirements
of that law and and potentially
adjust to make sure that we have
the the most sort of student facing
public policy framework that we can.
Because, you know,
kid only gets one shot at first
grade and it's our obligation
to give them our absolute best.
Thank you so much Commissioner.
I really do appreciate your time.
You take care. Thank you.