Texas House OKs bill to expand virtual learning beyond COVID
The Texas House voted 115 to 3 to advance a bill Friday night to expand virtual learning programs for schools beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill — opposed by teachers groups but supported by administrators — attempts to strike a delicate balance by opening up more virtual learning, but not too much. Teachers and administrators are facing pressure from both sides, as some parents are asking for more virtual options for their kids, while others insist that their children only receive in-person instruction.
“We understand virtual learning is not for every child, but we have heard from many parents asking for the option,” Rep. Keith Bell, a Forney Republican who sponsored the bill, said on the House floor.
A small number of virtual-only schools have existed in Texas for more than a decade, and schools were allowed to receive state
funding for their virtual classes last year under an emergency order from Gov. Greg Abbott, but he did not extend that order to this school year.
Abbott has also refused to allow schools to enact mask mandates, though the Texas Supreme Court
is allowing districts to do so, on a temporary basis. That could end anytime as the high court, whose nine justices are all Republicans, considers the matter.
The bill that passed Friday creates a new pathway for schools to
access state funding for online programs going forward, without touching the previous system. Schools would receive state funding for their virtual classes, although it caps such programs at 10 percent of students in a district. The state commissioner of education, Abbott appointee Mike Morath, has the ability to waive that cap. Parents who wish to send their children to school in-person are guaranteed the right to do so.
The legislation also places other guardrails on the virtual program, saying that teachers can’t be forced to teach both in-person and virtual classes, and teachers who are assigned virtual classes have to agree to those assignments in writing.
The House will need to vote on the bill one more time to send it back to the Senate, where it passed earlier in this special session.
Teachers groups opposing the bill say that since there’s already a process to allow virtual learning, the state doesn’t need a new law expanding it. They point to research showing that most kids do worse with virtual-only classes, but supporters of the bill argue that there is a small number who do better online, and increased flexibility will give students and their parents more options.
The COVID-19 pandemic created an enormous, unprecedented experiment for virtual learning as many teachers around the state tried to figure out on the fly how to do their jobs without holding inperson class.
That caused problems: There’s a gap in standardized test performance between students who attended more school in person last year versus those who did not, particularly in math, said Monty Exter, lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, which opposes the bill.
There’s also a concern among experts and academics that remote-only learning could have damaging social and emotional effects on kids who aren’t able to interact with their peers.
“We recognize students are best served in brick-and-mortar facilities, period,” said Colby Nichols, lobbyist for the Texas Association of School Administrators, which supports the bill. “But it’s the 21st century. Some students do perform well in virtual environments, and public schools need to have the capabilities to serve students as parents see fit.
“Frankly this is something that families in our districts are clamoring for.”