A slew of bills impacting school prayer, reading instruction, the length of an academic year and more passed House committees on K-12 education this week.
A House subcommittee on school funding advanced a bill Wednesday that would require a “period of prayer” in public schools for students and staff.
House Bill 3240 from Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, would mandate a time for prayer and reading of religious texts each school day, though it didn’t specify how long that period should last. The period could not replace instructional time, and parents could opt out their children from participating.
Although students already have the right to pray and read religious texts in public schools, Hasenbeck, who is running as a GOP candidate for state superintendent, contended some districts discourage prayer and Bible studies out of fear of being sued.
“This is not sponsorship of religion,” she said during a subcommittee meeting. “It is just allowing a public school child to practice their First Amendment right.”
Democrats in the subcommittee contended the bill is unnecessary because religious activity is already allowed.
The bill passed by a vote of 6-4. Legislation that advances past the subcommittee continues to the full House Appropriations and Budget Committee for further review.
House speaker’s elementary education bills advance
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, saw one of his top-priority bills, HB 4420, pass the subcommittee by a party-line vote of 8-2 on Monday. It now continues to the full appropriations committee.
His legislation would require students to repeat third grade if they score below a basic level in reading. Students scoring below basic would be subject to summer tutoring, extra reading coaching during the school year and optional retention in first and second grade.
Hilbert said his goal is for schools to begin interventions long before third grade. Students with a disability, English learners and those who have been held back twice already would be exempt from third-grade retention.
“Advancing a child who cannot read is not compassionate, it is negligent,” he said in a statement. “This legislation ensures students receive help early and intensively, rather than being passed along without the skills they need to succeed.”
The House Common Education Committee on Wednesday passed another bill from Hilbert that would prohibit uncertified adjunct instructors from teaching core subjects — math, reading, science or social studies — to children in pre-K through fourth grade. Districts could get a waiver for that rule if the adjunct teacher has taught those subjects before and has completed training.
The bill advances to the House Education Oversight Committee for another vote.
Lawmakers aim to add school days
HB 3151, which passed 9-2 through the education appropriations subcommittee, would add instructional days to the school year by preventing districts from counting staff professional development days and parent-teacher conferences as school days. The measure could add up to 42 instructional hours to school calendars.
The bill’s author, Rep. Rob Hall, R-Tulsa, said he filed the legislation to give students more time in class.
“A huge part of, in my opinion, the achievement gap can be traced back to less time in front of a quality teacher in the classroom,” Hall said during the subcommittee’s Monday meeting.
Committee leader examines concurrent enrollment
The leader of the subcommittee, Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid, advanced a bill that would require districts to pay colleges for high school students who are concurrently enrolled. Public schools receive state funds for each student, including those who spend several hours a day off campus taking college courses.
“We are paying our schools to teach courses and classwork and students that they are not actually teaching,” Caldwell said. “The net effect, the knock-on effect is we are paying twice to educate the same student because we are also paying when those students enroll in concurrent enrollment.”
The state spent more than $20 million in the past year for high school students’ concurrent enrollment, he said.
Caldwell’s bill also would have high school students pay back half of the cost of a concurrent college class if they drop it after a withdrawal deadline. High school students currently face no financial penalty for doing so.
He said the measure would give students “skin in the game” and incentivize them to finish their college courses.
His bill passed 6-4 and continues to the full appropriations committee.
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