Paul Bettencourt - Texas State Senator Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, you might. You might be waiting a while because
we can't find Democrats. Paul Bencore joins US Texas Tate
senator to talk about star testing. But the first thing
I have to ask you about, are there any Democrats
showing up in the Senate.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
We believe so, but those that are here salute you.
After today we'll find out for sure. And it looks
like we're going to be able to hear some bills
and pass a few bills while the Democrats are are
in the House. Are spread out from Letsie, Chicago, Albany, Boston.
We've seen pictures from everywhere.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Jimmy, I bet you have. It sounds like maybe, according
to President Trump, the FBI might get involved in bringing
them home.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, there's obviously a lot of interest in getting them home.
And I will say this, Jimmy, this time, when every
when they took off, just by running into people on
the street, going to church, pick a place. People are
really hacked off about this because this is just, you know,
a political gig. It's really everybody realizes that this is

(01:05):
just a you know, a temporary dodge. They're eventually going
to have to come back, and so we have to
pass these bills all over again and really get to
the state's business with you know, flooding relief, you know,
a siren system is another bill that I'm carrying. And
then we're going to get to doing the Star replacement,
which is something that I think everyone in the public

(01:28):
education would love to see happen.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
What's the big gripe about the Star test the way
it exists now? It takes too much time, too much
teaching to the test, too long of a test. What's
the gripe?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, the gripe is too long of a test. At
the end of the year, high stakes, everybody's stressed out,
and the real question is what are the kids learning? Okay,
So the bill that we're going to be hearing in
Education Committee by Chairman Creighton is going to hear my
bill SBA. It basically breaks up the Star test into

(01:59):
three You've got the beginning of the year test, the
middle of the year test, and end of the year test.
And the first two tests are like item level tests
that feedback within forty eight hours. You know, how are
you doing? What do you know? So that the teacher
knows exactly where the student is in the learning cycle.
And then we'll have an end of year test which

(02:22):
will be criterion based with the norm output of how
the student is doing, but it's gonna be based on
Texas teaks, which is what we want the kids to
learn from public education in the state. So I think
it's a great improvement. It's probably long overdue, and we're

(02:42):
going to hear it today even if the House Democrats
aren't here to hear it.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
You know, you're right. It does make a whole lot
of sense because we have an opportunity to know, as
you said, what a kid knows when they when they
come to class at the beginning of the school year,
where they're at, and then you get sort of a
midterm check up on how they're progressing, so that maybe
you can identify kids that are going to need some
more help, and then by the end you'll know whether
or not they have learned enough to be passed on

(03:09):
to the next grade.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Right. And then the other part of the bill is
to continue upgrading the state's A through F system, which
is the system that basically grades public education on public accountability.
So we've had a much lawsuits from schools that didn't
want this to occur, and those have been lost by

(03:32):
the plainness. So actually we're about ready to release last
year's results within I think next week. And so between
the combination of both sides of the bill, which is, okay,
how are the public schools doing, how's my public school doing?
And then we're going to change the testing regime, which
will say, great, how's my kid doing? And what help

(03:55):
do they need in the year to succeed? I think
are really two great reforms that will really help tune
up public educations that the teachers really like the idea
of getting the information early, Jimmy, as you said, because
if somebody needs help, well, great, give the student help
early so that they can score well on the test

(04:18):
at the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, and and give the parents that information too, so
they can ride they kid to make sure that they're
you know, they're applying themselves, that they're doing their homework,
that they're that they're doing the extra studying they need
to do to catch up.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Jimmy, shocking prontal involvement in schools.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
This is I know, like a dinosaur. I'm like a dinosaur.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Wow, you know, I'm just I'm not sure what the
House Democrats think of that, but I'll ask them when
they show.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Up, Believe me, they won't like it. They won't like
it all. Last question for you, Sara, has to do
with the school grades itself. It's helpful to know if
a school system is getting an A, B, C, D
or an F. But for those that are getting d's
or c is or are very close to getting fsh
is there a any kind of a carrot stick approach
that the state will use knowing those grades for those

(05:03):
school systems to force them to improve.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
To tell you how this was really going down, Jimmy's
this The lead plaintiff was a school district king's bill
that got an F and they were suing to stop
the release of the of the of the grades because
there are real consequences up to and including getting taken

(05:29):
over like hi ISD did within just a couple of years.
So there's escalating penalties for that. And that's why what
gets measured gets fixed. And that's something I've said for
a long time. That's why we've got to have the
E THROUGHFT public accountability system, because it's not also to say, hey,
where are the good schools, how are people doing? How

(05:50):
can you improve? But if you've got chronically bad schools,
and school districts. We have learned you just have to
take action and you can't wait around. You know, people think, well,
give a couple of years, you know, then you know
they'll straighten their act out. Well, by then, the kids
moved from ninth grade to eleventh grade. Pick a time frame,
and it's not fair to the students. If people are

(06:12):
falling flat on their face, get them out of that job.
And that includes taking over trustees. And there's you know,
probably a handful of trustees that are probably thinking maybe
that's going to happen to them. And I think it's
actually good because that's what public accountability is all about.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Amen, sir, thanks for your time. As always, That is
State Senator Paul Bettencourt