by Nicole Bradford
Reform of high-stakes STAAR testing, teacher support, and behavioral support are among the legislative priorities approved by Pearland ISD Trustees on December 10.
The 89th Legislature will convene from January 14 to June 2, 2025.
The district also is asking for a rewrite and reform of the state’s code “to remove barriers to correcting disruptive students and encouraging policies that support proactive parent involvement,” Superintendent Larry Berger told the board.
Both Pearland and Alvin ISDs are asking legislators to look at Texas Education Code Chapter 38 — which addresses school discipline, he said.
“Alvin ISD partnered with us and we sat down with elected officials, and we brought this to them as well,” Berger said, “that Chapter 37 has become an omnibus of issues and concerns for us that prevent us from being pro-active, reactive and mitigating things that are taking place on a daily basis in our classroom.”
Student behaviors and concerns about the state’s discipline code are not limited to Pearland ISD, trustees agreed.
“Chapter 37 has gone from a one-page document to now a 100-and something page document,” Trustee Crystal Carbone said. “Barriers presented there to mitigate behaviors in the classroom make it very difficult for us to address those.”
