Jonathan Stickland Calls Point of Order on HB 4

Please find attached the Point of Order called by State Rep. Jonathan Stickland against House Bill 4 today.

The point of order relates to a provision added to House Bill 4 in committee which would require any pre-kindergarten teacher under the new proposed high quality program to obtain the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. This credential is a trademark of the Council for Professional Recognition of Washington D.C.

According to the Council for Professional Recognitions website, the CDA requires 120 hours of professional education, 480 hours of professional experience, the submission of a professional portfolio and family questionnaire, a $425 assessment fee,a verification visit with a CDA Professional Development Specialist, observation of the candidate in the classroom setting, reflective dialogue, and a CDA exam completed at a Pearson Vue test center.

House Bill 4 fails to acknowledge the creation of these onerous new requirements in its caption, as required by House Rule 8, Section 1(d).

Rep. Stickland provided the following statements with regard to his point of order on House Bill4:

I promised my constituents I would fight against common core and all federal regulations on state education, including more unfunded mandates. House Bill 4 should be sent back to the Committee on Public Education so that members can further consider the efficacy of handing over approval of Texas Pre-K teachers to a Washington, DC, based organization and the testing giant Pearson Vue.

Point of Order Explained below:

Point of Order - CSHB4 - Rule 8, Section 1(d)Mr. Speaker, I raise a point of order against further consideration of House Bill 4 under Rule 8, Section 1(d).Proposed Section 29.167(b) of House Bill 4 provides that "Each teacher for a prekindergarten program class must have been awarded a Child Development Associate(CDA) credential. The bill provides for Regional Education Service Centers to provide CDA training. However the Child Development Associate credential is a trademark of the Council for Professional Recognition of Washington, DC. The Texas Association for the Education of Young Children (TAEYC) defines theCDA Credential as "a nationally recognized credential awarded to individuals who have demonstrated competencythrough both experience and education in working with young children ages 0-5. According to the TAEYC, candidates for the CDA must meet the following four criteria: be 18 years or older, have a high school diploma orequivalent, have 480 hours of experience working with young children within the past five years and have 120 hoursofformal child care education and training within the past five years in the CDA training content areas. The credential is required to be renewed after three years and after five years following each subsequent renewal.According to the Council for Professional Recognitions website, the CDA requires 120 hours of professional education, 480 hours of professional experience, the submission of a professional portfolio and family questionnaire, a $425 assessment fee,a verification visit with a CDA Professional Development Specialist, observation of the candidate in the classroom setting, reflective dialogue, and a CDA exam completed at a Pearson Vue test center.Seehttp://www.cdacouncil.org/storage/documents/Downloadable_Forms/CDA_credentialing_Overview_NEW.pdfBy its plain wording, HB4 would require every pre-kindergarten teacher wishing to be employed as part of the proposed high quality pre-k program to acquire a Child Development Associate credential, and to satisfy all of the requirements for receiving said credential. This requirement could render current pre-k teachers in this state who do not possess the credential unable to be employed under the proposed program.House Rule 8, Section 1(d) provides:A house bill that would create a requirement that an individual orentity obtain a license, certificate, registration, permit, or other authorizationbefore engaging in a particular occupation or profession or that would expandanexisting requirement to additional individuals or entities must include ashort statement at the end of its title or caption indicating the general effectof the bill on the occupation or profession, such as requiring an occupationallicense or expanding the applicability of an occupational license (or permit orcertificate).While the CDA is characterized as a credential, it would meet the definition of being a certificate, registration, or permit, and certainly falls under the catch-all provision of section (d) for other authorization. In this case, the authorization required for employment as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher under House Bill 4s program would be required to come from an out-of-state organization working in conjunction with the testing conglomerate Pearson Vue.Despite these provisions, the caption for House Bill 4 does not contain the required short statement at its end describing the new occupational credential. The caption currently reads: "relating to a high quality prekindergarten program provided by public school districts.The CDA requirement of House Bill 4 was added as part of the committee substitute, meaning that it was largely unknown to members of the public who viewed the bill before it received a formal hearing and who testified on the bill in committee, or to members of the legislature who viewed the filed version of the legislation. The CDA provision is not addressed in the background and purpose of the bill and is only addressed in a brief recital of the text of the bill in the bill analysis. The House Research Organization analysis of the bill likewise fails to fully examine the CDA provision and its implications.The purpose of the caption rule in Rule 8 Section 1(d) is to give notice to members and the public of expansion of occupational licenses and similar types of requirements which could prevent Texans from working in (or continuing to work in) their desired profession. House Bill 4, in its current form, could affect the lives of countless Texans. According to the Legislative Budget Board, the number of Texans who currently hold the Child Development Associate credential is unknown. Those Texans in the pre-k teacher profession who currently do not possess the CDA credential and who wish to be employed as a pre-k teacher under the program proposed by House Bill 4, and their representatives, deserve adequate notice of the bills effects as required by Rule 8 Section 1(d).The point of order should be sustained, and House Bill 4 should be referred back to the Committee on Public Education for further discussion on the issue of the CDA requirement, and for its caption to be amended to comply with House Rules.