Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams has sent Texas school districts a legal advisory letter reminding them that they must hold public meetings in order to adopt any curriculum provider, including online lesson plan provider CSCOPE.
Williams said his letter is not meant to discourage use of CSCOPE, only to point out the law under SB 1474, which requires a public meeting about a district's choice in curriculum.
Williams said this step creates local control and transparency.
"You take the fact that lesson plans are now available for everyone to see," Williams said. "You take into account the reviews and the audits that are being done by the state auditor and attorney general and reviews by the State Board...and all of that can be used by local districts of whether to proceed with the continued use of CSCOPE."
He said there’s been a long tradition that the State Board of Education creates the curriculum standards, the Texas Education Agency creates the accountability measure, and then local districts decide how they go about teaching students.