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State
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB743, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($1,069,136) through the biennium ending August 31, 2017.
Local Government
HB 743 would make changes to state required assessment tests for public school students.
The bill would require that an assessment instrument be determined to be valid and reliable based on empirical evidence by an entity independent of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and test developer before being administered. It would also require TEA to ensure that assessments primarily assess the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) by subject and grade level, and place time limits on the completion of the tests.
HB 743 would require TEA to ensure that assessments primarily assess the
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) by subject and grade level. Additionally, the bill would require a method for auditing and reviewing contractors who develop the assessments.
05/25/2015 update:
Minor changes were made to this bill that not affect our vote recommendation. The second chamber sponsor is Senator Seliger.
First chamber recommendation:
This bill affirms the principle of limited government. As a provider of education, the government does have a responsibility to ensure that testing methods accurately measure student abilities and making changes for the purpose of educational benefits is desirable. For these reasons, we support HB 743.