TEA Local Reporting Requirements

Today, TEA informed us that the time for public comment on a proposed rule opened today. Being given no real advanced notice is most unfortunate, but par for the course. If the TEA Commissioner had to put rule changes through a lengthy process full of reporting requirements that ensured the public would be informed, how could he possibly do his job? How, indeed…

This is a small change but an important one (a pdf just in case). My public comment for consideration follows:

The current system gives parents and community members a definitive time for requesting the local accountability plan from a district (first week of July). If timelines are to be set by the Commissioner, then a further reporting requirement upon the Commissioner's office must also be set so that parents may have confidence that the practices and policies of a district are in keeping with the reporting requirements imposed by the State.

Two immediate questions come to mind:
With these changes, how would anyone know when an accountability plan is to be submitted and made available? What are the requirements for the TEA Commissioner reporting to parents what the new timeline might be on a case-by-case basis?

I do not take issue with the rule change. I only take issue with how it ignores the needs of children, parents, and community members. We currently have very clear guidance regarding local accountability plans and their reporting requirements. What the Commissioner now proposes removes clarity from the system; this is always bad. If a system is too murky or too complex, the people cannot be fully serviced by that system even though we pay for it with our hard-earned treasure.

The Commissioner needs to ensure we are informed at all times, of all things; he simply is moving too far away from the goal.