Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Senator Florence Shapiro lay out the agenda for consideration of the Senate's plan for reforming education in Texas, SB 2.

SENATE WILL WAIT ON EDUCATION REFORM BILL

Today, Senator Florence Shapiro, who authored the Senate's education reform package, Senate Bill 2, along with Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, announced that they will not take up that bill until at least Tuesday. Dewhurst said Thursday that the bill would be before the body today, but said after today's session and, in working with the membership over the weekend, he found that most Senators still wanted to make changes to the bill. "They'd like to have more debate on the conference committee bill," he said. "We're going to work this afternoon on the conference committee bill to see how close we can get to the final bill." Dewhurst added that he plans on taking the bill up in tomorrow's session.

Shapiro outlined some of the concerns the Senator's have expressed regarding SB 2. "There are some things the Senator's are uncomfortable with, they don't understand, or they'd like some clarification," she said. "I think it will get us closer to a conference committee bill when we finally get there, and that might speed the process up." According to Shapiro, the major issues in the bill are November elections for school board members, the amount of discretionary spending for districts, and the amount and implementation of the pay increase for teachers.

The Senate will reconvene Tuesday, July 26, at 3 p.m.

###