Public Hearing on Proposed New 19 TAC Chapter 113, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, Subchapter C, High School, §113.76, Personal Financial Literacy and Economics

April 5, 2022

COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD: DISCUSSION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: NO ACTION

SUMMARY: A public hearing before the State Board of Education (SBOE) is scheduled for Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in the William B. Travis Building, Room 1-104. Testimony will be presented regarding proposed new 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 113, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, Subchapter C, High School. §113.76, Personal Financial Literacy and Economics (One-Half Credit), Adopted 2022. In accordance with SBOE operating procedures, oral testimony will be limited to two minutes per person.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §§7.102(c)(4), 28.002(a) and (c), and 28.025(b-1) and (b-22), as amended and added by SB 1063, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2021.

TEC, §7.102(c)(4), requires the State Board of Education (SBOE) to establish curriculum and graduation requirements.

TEC, §28.002(a), identifies the subjects of the required curriculum.

TEC, §28.002(c), requires the SBOE to identify by rule the essential knowledge and skills of each subject in the required curriculum that all students should be able to demonstrate and that will be used in evaluating instructional materials and addressed on the state assessment instruments.

TEC, 28.025(b-1), as amended by SB 1063, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, requires the SBOE to determine by rule specific courses for graduation under the foundation high school program.

TEC, 28.025(b-22), as added by SB 1063, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, requires that in adopting TEKS for a personal financial literacy and economics course, the SBOE must ensure that the required curriculum allocates two-thirds of instruction time to instruction in personal financial literacy one-third of instruction time to instruction in economics.

The full text of statutory citations can be found in the statutory authority section of this agenda.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND JUSTIFICATION: In accordance with statutory requirements that the SBOE by rule identify the essential knowledge and skills of each subject in the required curriculum, the SBOE follows a board-approved cycle to review and revise the essential knowledge and skills for each subject.

The 83rd Texas Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2662, amending TEC, §28.0021, to require school districts and open-enrollment charter schools offering a high school program to provide a one-half credit elective course in personal financial literacy. In 2016, the SBOE adopted the proposed new personal financial literacy course. The course, 19 TAC §113.49, Personal Financial Literacy (One-Half Credit), Adopted 2016, was implemented beginning with the 2016-2017 school year.

In 2021, the 87th Texas Legislature passed SB 1063, amending TEC, §28.025, to add a one-half credit course in personal financial literacy and economics as an option to meet the one-half credit graduation requirement for economics under the Foundation High School Program. SB 1063 requires that the SBOE adopt TEKS for the personal financial literacy and economics course and that the required curriculum for the course allocate two-thirds of the instructional time to personal financial literacy and one-third of instructional time to economics.

A TEKS review work group convened twice in January 2022 and once in February 2022 to draft recommendations for the proposed new course. The work group's charge includes developing recommendations for revisions to §113.49, Personal Financial Literacy (One-Half Credit), Adopted 2016; §113.31, Economics with Emphasis on the Free Enterprise System and Its Benefits, High School (One-Half Credit), Adopted 2018, and §113.31, Economics Advanced Studies (One-Half Credit), which will be presented to the SBOE for discussion at a future meeting.

Proposed new 19 TAC §113.76 is presented for first reading and filing authorization as a separate item in this agenda.

Staff Members Responsible:
Monica Martinez, Associate Commissioner, Standards and Programs
Shelly Ramos, Senior Director, Curriculum Standards and Student Support