Goose Creek CISD Urges Lawmakers to Advance Online Learning Legislation

With the clock ticking on the 87th Legislative Session, Goose Creek CISD is appealing to state lawmakers to move forward on a bill that would enable the District to continue to offer families the choice of virtual learning.

Goose Creek CISD joined a group of 45 school districts and education organizations from across the state in asking leaders of the Texas Senate to advance legislation that would expand online learning in Texas and provide full funding to districts that choose to make these opportunities available to students.

“There are thousands of students across the state of Texas who thrive in a virtual environment and we have an obligation to ensure that they receive the best education possible by providing them with the choice to receive their learning virtually,” reads a letter co-signed by Goose Creek CISD and sent May 14 to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor and other members of the Senate Education Committee.

With the last day of the session looming on May 31, lawmakers must advance legislation in the next week in order to provide adequate time for a bill to work its way through the remainder of the legislative process. Both chambers of the Legislature, the House and Senate, have to pass the same version of a bill before it can be signed into law by the Governor. Leaders with the Texas Education Agency have said that without legislative action, the governing agency will not permit school districts to offer virtual learning in the 2021-22 school year as it did during the 2020-21 school year.

Goose Creek CISD is not alone in hoping for increased flexibility from the Legislature to meet the needs of students who thrive in an online environment and prefer to learn virtually for a variety of reasons. Other districts and education organizations who signed the letter include:

You can find contact information for the lawmakers who represent you in the Texas Senate and Texas House by visiting this website. The list of members of the Senate Education Committee is included here.

HB1468 has yet to be scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee. This is the last week this can happen. You can read about the effort here.You may also read the letter which is linked here.

Call to Action-

If this is important to you and or your district, you need to call and let them know. Here are some resources to help. Call the Lieutenant Governor's office and Chairman Taylor. In addition, call your senators who represent your district as well as where you vote. You can use this link to look up the senators that represent your school district as well as where you live. Each phone call gets logged and making the call is as simple as requesting HB1468 to be heard in Committee and that the ability for school districts to be able to serve their own students next year is very important.

Contact State Lawmakers

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick

Presides Over the Texas Senate

512.463.0001

Send an Email

Texas Senate Education Committee

First Considers Senate Bills Affecting Texas Schools

Chairman Larry Taylor

512.463.0355

A full list of members who serve on the Senate Education Committee is available online, as well as individual contact information for each member.