HBA-LJP H.B. 3485 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3485 By: Tillery Public Education 4/12/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Research has shown that the training of care givers or teachers in early childhood development may help improve the early education of a child. According to the report "School Involvement in Early Childhood" by Donna Hinkle of the National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education, preschool teachers need specialized knowledge and skill in child development to help them better understand the different developmental levels of preschoolers and the ways preschoolers learn. Currently, state law does not require early education providers in Texas to be trained in certain aspects of early child development. House Bill 3485 provides for the training of teachers and care givers in brain development, language awareness, and the importance of continuity of care. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking is expressly delegated to the Commissioner of Education in SECTION 1 (Section 29.158, Education Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 3485 amends the Education Code to provide that each teacher of a prekindergarten or kindergarten class and each care giver in a federal Head Start program or other federally or state funded early childhood care and education program must receive training that enables the teacher or care giver to provide children in the class or program with appropriate instruction. The bill provides that the instruction be based on scientific studies showing the manner in which brain development is connected to the nature of early childhood experience, focus on the importance and continuity of the relationship between the teacher or care giver and the child and the relationship between the teacher or care giver and the parent, and include appropriate language awareness activities conducted with a small group of children. The bill provides that a person who holds a certificate to teach prekindergarten or kindergarten on the effective date of this Act must receive the training no later than September 1, 2003 to teach after that date. The bill provides that the training must be provided by a person, including an entity eligible to operate an open-enrollment charter school, approved by the commissioner of education (commissioner), and requires the commissioner to adopt criteria by rule that a person must meet to be approved. The bill requires that the training be paid for with state or federal funds appropriated for that purpose. The bill provides that the rules that the State Board for Educator Certification (board) is required to adopt to establish training requirements provide that to obtain the certificate required to teach prekindergarten or kindergarten, a person must receive the early childhood development training. The bill also provides that the staff development provided by a school district must include training for teachers of prekindergarten or kindergarten. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.