HB 3 Headed for Conference

Every state rep has their coping mechanisms when the session is dragging on. For House Public Education Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, it's puns.

"Angie Chen, cute as a Button," he called to the Garland Republican. "I'll grow out my hair and you can call me Ra-Pun-Zel," he giggled.

He'll need that coping mechanism. The Senate has sent back House Bill 3, the school accountability and graduation reform bill, and he called it "loaded up." A conference committee is inevitable, Eissler said, to sort out the differences. "We'll strip off the bad amendments and fight for the amendments we think are good."

The biggest gap to bridge may be the graduation requirement. "They have eight tests, we have two," he said. "It's kind of like prunes. Is two enough, or is eight too much?"

But he's also expecting trouble about keeping the new and expanded electives system in place. "From what I understand, [the Senate has] re-instituted the fine arts requirement," he said. The whole process, he argued, was about expanding the options open to students. "I thought we made our intention clear, and that we want to keep the electives clean."