Senate passes felony termination bill

The Senate on Saturday passed the following bills:

• House Bill 1610 by Rep. Larry Gonzales, relating to employment termination procedures applicable to a teacher who is convicted of or receives deferred adjudication for a felony. Sen. Patrick amended the bill to address improper student-teacher relationships.
• House Bill 2135 by Rep. Scott Hochberg, providing for an exception for fifth and eighth graders from taking an assessment instrument in a subject if the student is completing a course in the subject for high school credit and also being administered the end of course exam in that subject. It provides for all students below high school taking high school credit and being administered end of course exams to have that score properly aggregated. It also allows for the commissioner to award a distinction designation for significant numbers of students performing satisfactorily on end of course instruments. TSTA supports this bill.
• House Bill 2971 by Rep. Todd Smith, expanding confidentiality status for teacher evaluations to teachers at open enrollment charter schools. The bill was amended to allow charter schools to share evaluations with prospective charter school or independent school district employers.