03/29/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 03/29/2024 09:16
Earlier this month, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) held a long-awaited webinar in its House Bill (HB) 1605 series, Planning and Non-Instructional Duties of Teachers. The webinar provides an overview of the new statutory protections of planning time for classroom teachers and guidance on the supplemental duty agreement with a teacher, which is scheduled to be implemented in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Regular Hotline readers will be familiar with our extensive coverage of this bill and subsequent rulemaking by the State Board of Education (SBOE) for the review and adoption of instructional materials for Texas classrooms. However, HB 1605 was an expansive bill and in addition to upending the SBOE process, there were actually a few provisions of the bill that should be good for teachers, specifically changes to Texas Education Code §11.164 and §21.4045, related to teacher planning time and the non-instructional duties of teachers:
The recorded webinar provides helpful examples of scenarios where this does or does not apply. We encourage teachers to watch this webinar and seek guidance from their local union or the Associate Membership Program service department if this duty comes up in your 2024-2025 contract.
Reminder: The SBOE has chosen to first review K-8 English language arts and reading, K-6 Spanish language arts and reading, and K-12 mathematics.The application is now open to be a part of this inaugural IMRA review. We encourage our members with the relevant experience to apply; IMRA quality reviewers will be compensated.
Take Action
The first subjects to go through the SBOE's new instructional materials review and adoption (IMRA) process (mandated by HB 1605) will be K-8 ELA, K-6 Spanish language arts and reading, and K-12 mathematics. Texas AFT members with relevant experience should apply to become IMRA quality reviewers.