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TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--MONDAY, AUGUST 17,
2009 * State Board of Education Grapples With New
Graduation Requirements State Board Grapples With Graduation Requirements: Members of the State Board of Education are looking for ways to respond to new legislation altering the balance between required and elective courses that count toward high-school graduation. At an August 14 meeting in Austin to weigh their options, Board members voiced concern over inconsistencies in the recently enacted legislation and possible unintended consequences. The chief inconsistency noted by Board members was in the area of health education. On the one hand, they said, state legislators eliminated the requirement of a half credit of health science under the "recommended" high-school graduation program, which is the one applicable to most students. But they left the requirement in place under the "minimum" and "distinguished" graduation programs, Board members said. In addition, lawmakers at the same time passed several bills that placed more reliance on health classes to convey important information on family violence, parenting, and alcohol awareness. In the realm of unintended consequences, Board members expressed special concern about the potential under the new law for a student to earn a half-dozen or more credits toward graduation just by taking PE courses. Texas Education Agency staffers were given the assignment of coming up with rules SBOE could impose to prevent what one Board member called "abuses like this." Meanwhile, many school districts are using their power to maintain local graduation requirements for health, speech, and technology applications, even though the state will no longer require these courses under one or more statutory graduation options. Have Your Say on How Best to Help Latino Students: The American Federation of Teachers is interested in your answer to a pressing policy question: What can schools and communities do to help Latino students reach their highest potential? Texas AFT members are in a special position--and an especially challenging position--in framing an answer to this question. Texas has a large and rapidly growing percentage of Latino students in its public schools. The state just last year lost a court case over its bilingual-education programs, which a federal district judge held to be inadequate as a matter of law. Hispanic students are disproportionately likely to become dropouts and thus to help keep Texas dead last in state-by-state rankings of the percentage of those 25 and older without a high-school diploma. Yet Hispanic enrollment would have to come close to doubling by 2015 to meet state goals for "closing the gaps" in higher education. Texas plainly is on the front lines of the policy debate over how best to serve the needs of Latino students. Have your say on this hot topic via the "AFT Voices" Web site at http://www.aft.org/voices/survey.htm. |
