Bill Text: TX SB925 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to providing training academies for public school teachers who provide reading instruction to students in kindergarten through grade three.
Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Passed) 2015-05-21 - Effective immediately [SB925 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-SB925-Enrolled.html
| S.B. No. 925 | ||
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| relating to providing training academies for public school teachers | ||
| who provide reading instruction to students in kindergarten through | ||
| grade three. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter J, Chapter 21, Education Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 21.4552 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 21.4552. TEACHER LITERACY ACHIEVEMENT ACADEMIES. | ||
| (a) The commissioner shall develop and make available literacy | ||
| achievement academies for teachers who provide reading instruction | ||
| to students at the kindergarten or first, second, or third grade | ||
| level. | ||
| (b) A literacy achievement academy developed under this | ||
| section: | ||
| (1) must include training in: | ||
| (A) effective and systematic instructional | ||
| practices in reading, including phonemic awareness, phonics, | ||
| fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension; and | ||
| (B) the use of empirically validated | ||
| instructional methods that are appropriate for struggling readers; | ||
| and | ||
| (2) may include training in effective instructional | ||
| practices in writing. | ||
| (c) The commissioner shall adopt criteria for selecting | ||
| teachers who may attend a literacy achievement academy. In | ||
| adopting selection criteria under this subsection, the | ||
| commissioner shall: | ||
| (1) require granting a priority to teachers employed | ||
| by a school district at a campus at which 50 percent or more of the | ||
| students enrolled are educationally disadvantaged; and | ||
| (2) provide a process through which a teacher not | ||
| employed at a campus described by Subdivision (1) may attend the | ||
| academy if the academy has available space and the school district | ||
| employing the teacher pays the costs of the teacher's attendance. | ||
| (d) From funds appropriated for that purpose, a teacher who | ||
| attends a literacy achievement academy is entitled to receive a | ||
| stipend in the amount determined by the commissioner. A stipend | ||
| received under this subsection is not considered in determining | ||
| whether a school district is paying the teacher the minimum monthly | ||
| salary under Section 21.402. | ||
| (e) On request of the commissioner, regional education | ||
| service centers shall assist the commissioner and agency with | ||
| training and other activities relating to the development and | ||
| operation of literacy achievement academies. | ||
| (f) This section expires September 1, 2027. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2015. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 925 passed the Senate on | ||
| April 23, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 925 passed the House on | ||
| May 7, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 125, Nays 13, two | ||
| present not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| Approved: | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
