Adoption of Memorandum of Understanding
Related to the Long-Range Plan for Public Education

April 8, 2016

COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD: ACTION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: ACTION

SUMMARY: The board will consider adopting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that allows the board and the commissioner to work together to hire a facilitator to assist with the creation of a Long-Range Plan for Public Education. The agreement will outline duties and responsibilities of the two parties.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §7.055(a)(2-3) and §7.102(c)(1).

TEC, §7.055(a)(2-3), designates the commissioner of education as the executive officer of the Texas Education Agency and as the executive secretary of the State Board of Education. TEC, §7.102(c)(1), requires the board to develop a long-range plan for public education.

PREVIOUS BOARD ACTION: The board created an Ad Hoc Committee on the Long-Range Plan for Public Education that determined that a new long-range plan should be created. The committee produced a list of findings and recommendations that included hiring a professional facilitator to oversee the development of the plan.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES: The board has been offered a grant of up to $25,000 from the Meadows Foundation to help fund the initial work on the long-range plan. In a separate agenda item, the board will consider accepting this grant. The grant requires a $1 for $1 match. Commissioner of Education Mike Morath has agreed to make $25,000 available in matching funds from the fiscal year 2016 Texas Education Agency budget.

If the board accepts the Meadows donation, it will be asked in a separate agenda item during this meeting to approve a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for a facilitator. If that RFQ is approved April 8, the board, following normal schedules and procedures, could not select the facilitator from the RFQ respondents until its July 22 meeting. By the time a contract is signed, the facilitator would have approximately one month to complete any work that would use TEA funds, which must be spent by August 31, 2016, the end of the fiscal year. The Meadows funds are available through February 10, 2017.

To provide more time for the facilitator to complete the first phase of the work, the board will consider entering into a MOU with the commissioner. Under this plan, the board will issue the RFQ. The commissioner will appoint a team of board members to review the responses to the RFQ. The review may include oral presentations. The review team will consist of the chair and vice chair of the board’s Committee on Instruction, Committee on School Finance/Permanent School Fund, and Committee on School Initiatives. The commissioner will award a contract to a facilitator based on the recommendations of the review team. If no bidder receives a majority vote from the review team, the commissioner or his designee(s) will break a tie vote and select the recipient of the contract.

FISCAL IMPACT: There could be travel expenses involved if the review team meets in Austin to hear oral presentations from the bidders.

PUBLIC AND STUDENT BENEFIT: The public benefits when the board and the commissioner work together to carry out educational projects.

PROCEDURAL AND REPORTING IMPLICATIONS: By working with the commissioner to award a contract to a facilitator, the board is able to begin work on a new Long-Range Plan for Public Education sooner. The long-range plan could ultimately have procedural and reporting implications.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None.

OTHER COMMENTS AND RELATED ISSUES: The board will consider two related agenda items during this meeting. The board will be asked to accept the grant from the Meadows Foundation of Dallas in one agenda item. The other agenda item involves approving a RFQ document.

MOTION TO BE CONSIDERED: The State Board of Education:

Agrees to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the commissioner of education that involves the commissioner appointing the chair and vice chair of the Committee on Instruction, the Committee on School Finance/Permanent School Fund, and the Committee on School Initiatives to a committee to review proposals received in response to a Request for Qualifications for a facilitator; the commissioner will select the facilitator based on the review team’s recommendations; or if a tie vote occurs, the commissioner or his designee(s) will select the contract recipient.

Staff Members Responsible:
Gene Acuna, Director
Division of Communications and SBOE Support

Debbie Ratcliffe, Director of Media Relations
Division of Communications and SBOE Support

Separate Exhibit:
Memorandum of Understanding
(to be provided at the April 2016 SBOE meeting)