TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009   * State Board of Education Weighs Choices on Textbook/Technology, Social-Studies Curriculum, Charter Schools * School Districts' Ranks Are Split on Grading Policy * Health-Care Rally at State Capitol Builds Momentum for Reform   SBOE Members Weigh Choices on Textbooks, Social Studies, Charter Schools: More than one simmering controversy will be on the agenda at the State Board of Education meeting over the next four days in Austin. Texas AFT will be on hand to monitor and report on all the week's developments at the State Board.   Board members will be responding to a push from the legislature to shift toward electronic instructional materials and reduce reliance on traditional textbooks. They will discuss a second round of revisions in the pending redraft of the state's social-studies curriculum guidelines, with right-wingers still clamoring for a version of American history that hews more closely to their ideology. The Board also will hear from a questionable charter-school applicant that has yet to start operating a charter school in Texas, even though the Board approved issuance of its charter last year. It seems this outfit is a for-profit entity, Virginia-based Imagine Inc., which by law cannot directly operate a Texas charter school. The Imagine charter chain, already established in other states, has a business model that calls for a non-profit subsidiary to operate the proposed charter school--and then to pay a handsome rental fee to another Imagine subsidiary for the use of its facilities.   School Districts' Fault Lines Over Grading Policy: Many school districts have resisted compliance with the new state law prohibiting local minimum-grade policies. But some districts have broken ranks. According to recent news reports, districts from Longview ISD to Amarillo ISD have abandoned their longstanding policies requiring minimum grades, not just for individual assignments but also for cumulative grades for entire grading periods.   Still dragging their feet, however, are districts like El Paso ISD, where the issue was supposed to be addressed definitively at this month's board meeting. Now the story is that the matter will come up later. The El Paso Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel, Texas AFT's local affiliate in El Paso ISD, has served notice that it will push ahead with a pending grievance over the issue if the district doesn't come around and comply with state law in timely fashion.   Health-Care Rally Adds Reform Momentum: A fired-up crowd at the state capitol on Saturday applauded calls for "health-care reform now" from Congressman Lloyd Doggett and other Texas leaders in the fight for passage of a comprehensive national health-care program. Texas AFT Secretary-Treasurer John O'Sullivan spoke with feeling of the unmet health needs of millions of uninsured Texas schoolchildren and their families--and of the adverse consequences for the education of these children. Education Austin President Louis Malfaro, who also serves as a national vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, likened the battle for health-care reform to the great struggles over Social Security and Medicare, which faced bitter opposition when originally enacted but are now embraced as essential public programs by the vast majority of Americans. Houston Federation of Teachers retiree leader Annie Banks, speaking as president of the Texas Alliance of Retired Americans, gave the audience an extra jolt of energy with a short, sharp speech demanding action now on health-care reform.   The next step in the health-care fight comes in the U.S. Senate, where a Senate version of reform will be debated soon. Eventually whatever the Senate passes will have to be reconciled with the bill passed on November 7 in the U.S. House. You can expect ongoing coverage and action alerts as this process unfolds.