The Education Committee heard public testimony on a number of bills proposing a statewide insurance plan for public school teachers and school district employees and retirees. A reading teacher in the Austin Independent School District with 11 years of experience told the committee that he is having serious trouble making ends meet. He blamed the high cost providing insurance to his family as one of the main reasons and said his salary and benefits are not keeping up with the cost of living. Promoting Public School Character Education Dallas Sen. David Cain on Thursday announced legislation that would encourage the teaching of character education in public schools. SB 130 would authorize schools to include secular character education in their curriculum.
Character education includes teaching character traits such as courtesy, respect and citizenship.
Some Texas school districts are including character education, Cain said, and SB 130 would encourage other schools to do so and provide guidelines for instruction. They've gotten dramatic results. State Rep. Barry Telford of DeKalb has authored similar legislation in the House of Representatives. In the 1999-2000 school year, more than 1.5 million students were removed from the classroom because of discipline problems, Cain said, a situation that SB 130 addresses. Character education in school recognizes the importance of our kids learning core values.