The State Board of Education will convene for its first meeting of 2025 next week in Austin beginning Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 11 a.m. CT. The agenda is less politically charged than the last few meetings, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be closely monitoring certain items.
January brings three new faces to the board room as a result of the November 2024 election cycle, including two AFT-endorsed candidates.
Gustavo Reveles (District 1- El Paso) worked as a journalist covering education for 10 years before joining Canutillo ISD as the director of communications. As a former emergent bilingual student, he knows the impact of having equitable access in our classrooms. Reveles is staunchly against any attempts to privatize schools, including through the charter approval process. Reveles replaces Dr. Melissa Ortega. He was endorsed by Texas AFT.
Dr. Tiffany Clark (District 13-De Soto) is a former school counselor and De Soto ISD school board member. Her doctoral dissertation focused on teacher retention. She works in student advocacy and is an adjunct professor in educator preparation at the University of North Texas. Clark replaces Rep. Aicha Davis, who is now serving in the Texas House. She was endorsed by Texas AFT.
Brandon Hall (District 11-Weatherford) replaces 22-year board veteran and career educator, Pat Hardy. Hall is a youth minister and former congressional aide. He previously ran unsuccessfully for Texas House District 55 and unseated Hardy in the March primary in this heavily Republican district.
What’s on the Agenda
Tuesday’s agenda is full of the “business” of the board. New members will be sworn in, the body will adopt its operating rules, board officers will be elected, and new committees will be named. After that, the board will jump straight into their regular agenda which primarily concerns items related to instructional materials.
One item we will watch closely is the proposed process for local classroom review of instructional materials; this is yet another new process authorized by House Bill 1605. Texas Education Agency (TEA) staff will present the draft rubrics related to classroom reviews to the board for feedback and present rules for first reading. Upon adoption, the rules will govern when a school district is authorized to conduct a review of instructional materials used by a classroom teacher for alignment with the instructional materials adopted by the school district or campus and the level of rigor of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skill (TEKS) for the grade level in which it is being used.
Wednesday begins as ever with comments from Commissioner Mike Morath. The topics he presents on are not published as part of the agenda, but he usually uses his time at the January meeting to present the TEA Annual Report. He may also choose to focus on TEA’s budget requests given that the 89th Legislature is now in session. . The board then moves into an agenda focused on several areas of career and technical education (CTE) courses and the advanced middle school mathematics pathway.
On Thursday, the newly appointed committees will meet and elect new committee officers before proceeding with their own agendas.
- The Committee on Instruction will consider innovative course renewals, adding International Baccalaureate (IB) courses that are not currently included in the TEKS, and the renewal of certain instructional materials contracts.
- The Committee on School Initiatives
,will appoint several board members to special purpose districts, receive updates from staff on the Generation 30 charter approval process and ongoing State Board for Education Certification (SBEC) activities, and ratify some SBEC rules. - The Committee on School Finance/Permanent School Fund will adopt rules related to purchasing and contracts and discuss updates to rules relating to school district budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, and auditing and Texas Education Agency (TEA) financial review functions.
On Friday, the full board will take up resolutions, the consent agenda, and regular items. We will provide a full recap of SBOE activities in a future edition of the Hotline.