EduSlate

Superintendents: Our Strength, Our Voice, Our Future

2012-02-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

By Cedric Tealer

I attended a presentation at the 2012 TASA Midwinter Conference entitled “Superintendents: Our Strength, Our Voice, Our Future,” presented by Joseph Scherer, Ph.D. Dr. Scherer passionately articulated the impetus behind the whitepaper, “Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas,” which came from the work of 35 public school superintendents in the state of Texas. This document outlines the reasons why superintendents should step forward and generate the dialogue necessary to drive positive change within our educational system. Here are the highlights:

Why is this an issue?

The need for this document was born from frustration with the current public education system. This system, which is in a comparative decline internationally, graduates a disproportionate number of under-prepared students who do not go on to complete their college educations.

What’s the goal?

Currently, political and business leaders are the ones changing the direction of education. The purpose of the new vision is to begin a disciplined dialogue that stimulates questions and formulates ideas. Ultimately, this dialogue would serve to identify problems and frame issues. Experienced educators need to take over and drive this conversation to bring change.

What’s the urgency?

The United States no longer offers the premier educational system in the world. American students continue to show low competency levels in math, reading, and science, resulting in a growing skills and opportunity gap. This ever-widening gap leads to significant numbers of unemployed and under skilled workers.

Why is this dialogue essential?

Currently, dialogue surrounding public education reform is based on feelings and values, rather than knowledge and facts. Simple discussions regarding complex educational issues don’t typically result in real change. Experienced educators must take charge and frame the tough questions in order to control and create meaningful conversations.

Why should superintendents lead the charge?

Because they are ultimately responsible for educating our children, superintendents must be the ones to lead this movement for change. They have a clear understanding of the real issues, know how to marshal resources, and are looking for sustainable change rather than temporary solutions.

Dr. Scherer emphasized that it is time for superintendents to join in and lend their voices to the dialogue and create a new vision for public education in Texas. Given the current state of education, it is important that superintendents unite quickly and lead the way to educational reform.

Spotlight on SMART Education Solutions

2012-02-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

By Eric Weiss

Classroom presentation equipment has evolved since the dusty days of chalk and blackboards. By using new technology such as digital projection, motion recognition, and its own DViT (Digital Vision Touch) technology, SMART Education Solutions has come up with the next step in classroom presentation and interaction.

The SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard allows teachers to maintain seamless learning environments. There is no longer a need to interrupt classroom discussions in order to present information on a computer. By using gestures to interact with software directly on the SMART Board, teachers can maintain students’ attention and interest.

Intuitive hand and finger gestures allow teachers to open and close applications, zoom and rotate objects, flip through pages, and much more. Interactivity is truly in the instructors’ hands!

Because the system acts as a projector, just about anything can be displayed in front of the class, including videos and websites. SMART Ink pens allow teachers to write, circle, and diagram on top of applications. Handwriting is automatically smoothed out for increased legibility and can be moved around the screen by using hand gestures. The digital eraser works just like the ones used to clear whiteboards. Saving a capture of the screen is as simple as saving a PDF or PPT document. Files can also be loaded directly into any Microsoft Office 2010 application.

The SMART Board system reacts quickly by using cameras to identify when someone switches between a finger, pen or eraser. Many of the models allow two people to interact simultaneously, encouraging collaboration between teachers and students.

Because the system is self-contained, there is no longer a need to run wires and cables across the classroom and hope each device works with the others. Just connect to a computer, and the teacher is ready to teach.

The SMART Board system is an amazing piece of classroom technology that enhances the teaching experience and increases student engagement.

Engaging the Community in Creating a New Vision for Education in Lewisville ISD

2012-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

By Crystal R. R. Edwards

Lewisville ISD, in the heart of the DFW Metroplex, spans many miles and towns. The idea of cohesion is almost laughable amongst 52,000 students, 63 schools, 13 municipalities and 72 languages “as of yesterday,” quips Superintendent Stephen Waddell.

And yet somewhere, amidst the diversity, Waddell and assistant superintendent Penny Reddell found a single, simple question that unified thousands of voices: “What is your highest hope for your student?”

Asking that question opened the floodgates of public discourse, and they called in Shannon Buerk, the Chief Learning Officer of engage! Learning Organization, to help them direct the flow. Ms. Buerk led the process for Lewisville ISD, using TASA's Visioning Network document. “What followed," said Reddell, “changed us all.”

In this presentation, Waddell, Reddell, and Buerke, described the early parts of their visioning process. In its infancy it faced some challenges, including that of having a new superintendent in the first place. But before too long, Reddell said, people began to react in positive ways. “Everyone was spellbound by the idea of ‘future,’” she said. “They began to ask, ‘How can we have this come true?’”

The answer lay in a series of efforts. First came the summits, where every person in the community with something to share came and expressed themselves. The information presented at the summits was distilled and turned into survey questions. From the answers to the surveys, focus groups were developed. Once the focus groups were heard and understood, the difficult work of creating strategic design teams was underway.

Buerke discussed the results of the visioning process.

“This didn’t require a buy-in from the community at first. But we didn’t need a buy-in. This is about creating something together. We wanted them to know their ideas were valued, which is very different from what ‘buy-in’ indicates: ‘I want you to think like me.’ This was broad-based input. Up until now, each community had been working in silos, and they were not unified. By going to the district as a whole, by listening to the district as a whole, we found each community began to bond with one another over the shared goals.”

Over 3,500 voices were heard throughout the process, with some 400 people in focus groups alone and more than 1,500 taking part in the online survey. “This was a process of connecting people together,” Waddell said. “Through dialogue -- that’s key. Going into a room and coming back out with a visioning plan isn’t key, it’s just talking.”

Transparency became a guiding principle during this dialogue and Buerke told attendees that all of the information they used -- from footage during the summits to the surveys used -- can be found online. They have also developed five blogs, one for each of the high schools, to give daily news about the campuses and programs. A newsletter is also available for subscription.

Which brings us to the present day. Not even one full year into his tenure as superintendent, Waddell now stands at a critical point. The project teams have nearly come to a consensus -- yes, that’s “nearly,” and consensus is a requirement. A few more meetings, a few more tweaks, and Waddell feels they will be ready for the next steps: taking the entire plan for the district before the community for forum events, and after that, receiving final approval from the school board.

John Horn talks about engaging students in higher levels of learning

2012-02-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

By Catherine Thomas

This year’s TASA Midwinter conference lined up some excellent speakers. I had the pleasure of sitting in on Dr. John Horn’s presentation “Engaging Students: The Essential Strategy for Creating Higher Levels of Learning."

Horn spent 15 years spent as superintendent of Mesquite ISD. He was named superintendent of the year in 1995 and was chosen as one of the top five superintendents in Texas in 1993. In 1999, Horn was the recipient of the Golden Deeds for Education Award.

Horn now works as a Senior Associate for the Schlechty Center. The Schlechty Center partners with schools and school districts and focuses on enhancing student engagement and helping to transform schools into learning organizations.

Horn believes in order to transform your school into a learning organization you must understand:

Why compliance is not enough
The role of student motivation in learning
The essential nature of designing student work that results in engagement
The importance of system transformation
The relation of this focus to the Texas Visioning Network

Engagement

When students are engaged, they are attentive, persistent, and committed. Students value and find meaning in the work and learn what they are expected to learn. In order to engage students, you must find their motivation. Why do students do the work they are asked to do? How does why they do the work impact what they learn from the work?

In the Past

We worked on:

The kids
The teachers
The principals
The curriculum

In the Future

We must now focus on:

Working on the work we give students to get them engaged.
Working on the relationships we have with the students.
Working on the systems that support engagement.

Redefine Your Core

Horn believes most schools need to redefine their core business.

“Where we live today has us basing our core values as a factory organization instead of the learning organization,” he said.

Horn believes “teaching just to compliance levels won’t work for our students.” Students must learn past rote memory in order to reach profound learning, where learning is retained and can be applied.

Horn has spent the past four years helping East Central ISD transform into a learning organization. Dr. Patti Birney, assistant superintendent for ECISD, spoke on behalf of the work they are doing in her district.

“Change is messy and engaging students is not easy,” she said. Their teachers now design lessons for engagement and have seen a tremendous positive change in their schools.

One of the most important things to take away from Horn’s message is to get to know your students. Get to know the who, when trying to engage and motivate.

You can contact John Horn at 972-965-7501 or jhorn@schlectycenter.org for more information. To read more about engaging your school, check out Phil Schlechty’s books http://www.schlechtycenter.org/meet-phil-schlechty/phils-books.

Commissioner Scott delivers no-holds-barred speech at Midwinter

2012-01-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott delivered a surprising speech to the thousands in attendance at TASA’s 2012 Midwinter Conference Tuesday afternoon, invoking a pull-no-punches tone and sharing his frank opinions on the state’s accountability program, his frustration with bureaucratic meddling – both the feds’ and the state’s - and even the names of a few folks who make him mad enough to want to stay in an incredibly difficult job that makes him lose sleep and miss meals.

Usually, Scott delivers a Power Point presentation full of AP participation rates, NAEP scores and graduation results to the crowd of district administrators. He started off by telling them he was dispensing with that today and instead told them about the book he’s reading: Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit, a book critical of the role of federal involvement in K-12 education.

He said his frustration isn’t limited to the federal government, but also with himself for being complicit in the state’s overreaching influence in local school districts.

“I believe that testing is good for some things, but the system we have created has become a perversion of its original intent,” Scot said to applause. “The intent to improve teaching and learning has gone too far afield.”

He discussed the cuts made by the Legislature last year and said while he was glad that things didn’t end as badly as first projected – at one point lawmakers were considering a $10 billion cut to public education – he realizes that the cuts that were made were personal.

“They were personal to me as well,” Scott said. He had to lay off roughly a third of his staff at TEA because of cuts made to the agency. “For the fact that I was not able to get back every dollar, I apologize, but I did my best.”

Scott also said he’s completed a review of Education Service Centers – something districts have feared would be the target of massive cuts and potential closure – and he’s found them in a “remarkable” state. He said they remain vital and he’s very pleased to announce that none of them will be eliminated. He did say that boundary lines may be redrawn and he’ll be looking for input about ESCs and the services they provide from superintendents and other district leaders.

Scott addressed end-of-course exams and the 15 percent requirement that has stirred controversy of late. He said he’s met with his attorney to see if there’s any way he can waive the 15 percent requirement this year but he’s been advised he doesn’t have the authority.

“I would waive it if I could,” he said, to another round of applause.

Scott said he believes our system is on the cusp of change and the backlash to testing is reaching a boiling point. He talked about Senate Bill 1557, which will create the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium and give some districts the chance to design a new assessment system that is a more accurate portrayal of what’s going on in the classroom, and measures the skills important for a 21^st Century education. The bill is the result of work by TASA’s Visioning Network, which this week launched Mission: School Transformation as the work moves from vision to mission.

The goal of the mission: Student-center schools, future-ready students. Hundreds of conference attendees are sporting bright buttons with that message.

Scott said if he’s looking a little under-rested and under-fed these days, it’s because he’s been in “fight mode” for four and a half years, so much so that the thought of resigning crosses his mind.

“And then Arne Duncan says he feels sorry for the children in the state of Texas…and then the Irish in me comes out,” Scott told the crowd. “And I say not just ‘No’ but ‘Hell, No, I’m gonna fight.’”

The commissioner also called out Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, who publicly criticized Scott last week saying that TEA has been “derelict” in not issuing uniform grading guidelines for the new accountability system. He also said school districts are “gaming the system” and that students will follow by “gaming the system.” Scott fired back with a news release that said that power rests with local school boards.

In the end, Scott said, he stays because he’s fighting for the children of Texas.

“We’ve got to keep climbing and we’ve got to keep fighting,” he said. The crowd gave him a standing ovation.

An Apple for the…student?

2012-01-31T12:46:00.000-08:00

By Dara Quackenbush

It wasn’t very long ago when students would bring gifts of apples to their teachers. The classroom was all about teaching and the teaching was all about the Three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic. However, those days are long over, says Tom Burnett, Manager, Strategic Initiatives for Apple. Today it’s about free-agent learning, where students can learn anything, anywhere, anytime. The audience for his Monday (Jan. 30) session at TASA’s 2012 Midwinter Conference, “Technology and Digital Content Directions: Free Agent Learning Enabled!” agreed.

In a poll, 93 percent of the audience said education’s most important function is learning, not teaching. According to Burnett, schools, which have foregone the Three R’s for the Three C’s (communication, collaboration and construction), need to focus instead on C & I, or creativity and innovation.

By 2019, 50 percent of high school courses will be online, Burnett said. Some schools are already embracing this idea. Burnett showed a video of one school which had “flipped” learning. Instead of homework, students would go online at home and watch lectures. In class, the students would then work on homework, with the instructor’s help. According to a student in another video Burnett showed, “just lectures limit my learning.”

The three educational trends Apple has been tracking are:

Global repository and distribution for digital content – this includes Facebook, flickr, YouTube and iTunes U. iTunes U has more than a half-million pieces of free, educational content.
Mobile platform – mobile phones and tablets are everywhere.
“Free agent” learning – the idea that if you want to learn how to change your air filter, you can simply watch a video on YouTube to learn how to do it.

These three trends will shape the future of education.

Burnett also demonstrated the textbooks of tomorrow (available today.) The printed textbook will be replaced by an interactive e-book, complete with videos, interactive graphics and quizzes. These textbooks will no longer just be the purview of educational publishers. With newly available tools, instructors are able to create their own books.

Audience members agreed that the future is digital; two-thirds of the audience said by 2020, 75 percent or more of the core instructional materials used by teachers in their districts will be digital. However, there will be some roadblocks when adopting digital content, including resistance or inability to change by teachers (45 percent of the audience) and lack of funding (35 percent).

While there may be some hurdles, Burnett stressed the future of education is free-agent learning and successful schools will learn how to adapt to today’s digital natives instead of the students adapting to the teachers.

School Transformation Through Regional Consortia

2012-01-31T07:23:00.000-08:00

By Emily Leach

The story is the same in every school district across the country these days; There isn’t enough money, kids need more testing and there needs to be a better way to teach.

Well, the North Texas Regional Consortia has stepped up to the plate to find that better way for their area school districts. Their mission: School Transformation. Their strategy: Working together, collaborating with school districts in the area to share best practices; train teachers more frequently; and create programs out of a brain trust of educators all with the same mission.

This consortia is the first of its kind. Every person on this team is committed to making sure the children on their watch have the education they need to move them forward. The inspiration came in many forms, but one that stood out in the January 30^th presentation was a conversation with a parent that did not understand the need for the cost of additional technology in the school. The parent told the administration that they didn’t have all these gadgets when they were in school and their education was good enough for them.

After a short pause, the administrator told the parent he was exactly right … and it was because their education was indeed good enough for them 30 years ago that makes everyone on this team want to make sure that their child has the same opportunity. Children deserve access to an education good enough for them in this day and age, not an education based on 30 year old resources.

TASA and superintendents from across Texas pushed for Senate Bill 1557, passed by the Legislature last year, that will ultimately create a pilot program as a platform to build a new education system for students. The program will offer results every school in the state can use. It is time to do less testing and more learning in Texas schools.

If your region would like to create their own consortium, NTRC has put together a short list of tips and advice:

Build a group from like-minded districts.
Keep size and philosophy in mind.
Plan an organization meeting.
Keep board of trustees involved.
Choose projects that make sense to the members.
Small successes to start.
Be willing to share.
TASA can help.
NTRC will share everything they have.

Fenwick English:Turnaround Principals for Low-performing Schools

2012-01-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

By Andrea Genevieve Michnik

Monday morning started bright and early in Austin, TX as school administrators, faculty and staff flocked to the convention center for the TASA Midwinter conference.

At 9:30 a.m., Fenwick English, education professor at the University of North Carolina took the stage to share his lecture, "Turnaround Principals for Low-Performing Schools."

English teaches graduate level courses in Educational Leadership and has become known as the Father of Curriculum Management in education circles.

Sponsored by Renaissance Learning, this lecture featured insight based on current research and global practice, including rules of thumb for successful school turnaround. Based on his book, Restoring Human Agency in Educational Administration, co-authored by Rosemary Papa, English shared thoughts on the "Yin and Yang" most schools deal with when making decisions to foster change.

Implementing School Change

Leadership vs Management - Schools need both good leaders and good management. Basic knowledge of managment is necessary for leadership to be effective.
Site vs Central Office - Teaching and learning occur on school site, but curriculum is developed at central level. Collaboration by both is key.
Science vs Art - Behaviorism still dominates leadership studies and leadership is an art form. English has examined research on artists transcending their limitations so he may apply this concept to leaders in schools. "Leadership is artful performance and it DOES involve science," said English. "They aren't mutually exclusive."
Bureaucracy vs Creativity - Creativity uses constraints to exceed them. The same can be said for leaders, and management should enforce creativity.
Schools and Society - They are embedded and inseparable.
Fake Reform Talk - The unwarranted blaming of schools for economic charades adds to the discourse.

English believes in the social justice view, not the corporate culture backed by most governmental education reformers. According to President Obama's "Race To The Top" initiative, there are four popular models for reforming schools, all relative to running schools as a business and include firing principals as the answer:

1. Transform and replace.

2. Turnaround and replace.

3. Restart the school - close the school and open under new management.

4. School closure, finding a new principle when the new school opens.

None of these include the social and societal implications on the school, and English disagrees with these models that say, "If I can't figure out what you do, I can at least fire you."

Instead he encourges school leaders to ask "who benefits?" when dealing with reform. To him, reform isn't neutral, it's part of a schools overall value system.

"One person's reform is another person's refinement," said English.

English goes on to compare school reform as a corporate product versus a social justice construct by examining in detail the nature of leadership, accountability and the role of management in a school.

He rejects the corporate business model of school reform. He instead puts school reform in a social justice perspective. "We must be concerned with what is happening in the school and what is happening to the school," said English. He defines effective leadership as activist - it's up to society to help spur change.

According to English, change has to be both of the mind and the heart. "We (as educators and administrstors) have a responsibility for creating a caring and nurturing state for our students and ourselves."

Find more details on the social justice versus corporate theory of reform in his book, Restoring Human Agency in Educational Administration available on Amazon.com.

Schedule of speakers at Bloggers' Lounge

2012-01-29T21:19:00.000-08:00

We have exciting speakers lined up for the Bloggers' Lounge Monday and Tuesday. Drop by for one of their visits, or come by the lounge anytime to relax, recharge or visit with technology experts who can help you with questions about social media or come hear one of our featured speakers.

Monday

10:45-11:30 a.m. – Karen Adler, communications specialist for San Antonio’s Northside ISD will talk about leveraging the power of social media to connect with the community. Karen launched NISD’s FaceBook and Twitter pages.

1-1:45 p.m. – Social media experts Ilene Haddad and Julie Gomoll will provide tips and guidance on launching and maintaining a successful blog, and share other digital platforms superintendents can use to connect with their communities.

2:15-3:15 p.m. – Tom Burnett, manger of strategic initiatives for Apple, will be available to talk about the explosion of mobile technologies and digital content that’s reshaping education.

Tuesday

10:15-11 a.m. – Superintendents Jeff Turner, Steve Waddell and Karen Rue will talk about Mission: School Transformation and how they’re part of a regional consortium of districts working to transform education in their area.

11:45 a.m.-12:05 p.m. – Alan November, an international leader in education technology, will be available after his book signing in the Cyber Café (from 11:15-11:45 a.m.) for questions and discussion.

1:15-2 p.m. – Scott Kinney, vice president of Global Professional Development, Policy & Education Outreach at Discovery Education, will be in the lounge to talk about moving learning beyond the book.

Come visit the Blogger's Lounge at Midwinter!

2012-01-26T19:57:00.000-08:00

Here's the first of a series of guest blogs that you'll see on EduSlate during the next few days. We have a team of bloggers fanning out at Midwinter and bringing you information from a variety of sessions. Read on to learn more about this exciting new project.

By Chris Fancher

As the week draws to a close, The Texas Association of School Administrators is preparing for its big Midwinter Conference. Plans include the usual conversations and presentations, but this year the organizers are working on something new – The Bloggers’ Lounge.

Blogging lounges are the norm at tech conferences but are just now gaining attention at mainstream events. TASA recognizes that more and more educators, at all levels, are creating blogs and using social media to reshape the way they train, learn, and connect.

TASA’s Bloggers’ Lounge is set up for people who want to meet and mingle with friends, colleagues, presenters, and other conference attendees. It’s a casual, comfortable “venue within a venue” that provides space to write, socialize and network.

For those who are unfamiliar with blogging lounges, here’s a little information to help clear up some common misconceptions.

Q: Do you have to be a licensed blogger to participate in the Bloggers’ Lounge?

A: We’re pretty sure no such credentials exist, so the answer is “no.”

Q: Will I seem out of place if I don’t “look” like a blogger?

A: Since most bloggers look just like you, there’s a slim chance anyone will even notice.

Q: Can I simply sit and listen to the conversations?

A: You bet! Half the fun of a bloggers’ lounge is the organic connections people make while just hanging out.

One of the highlights of TASA’s Bloggers’ Lounge is the availability of blogging experts and social media enthusiasts who can help attendees with questions on just about anything in the realm of new media. Feel free to come and go throughout the day or stay as long as you’d like.

If you are new to blogging or social media, then this will be a great place to be around those who are immersing themselves in this area. More advanced bloggers can find answers to questions about content development, WordPress plug-ins, search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, and much more.

Interested in learning more about Twitter? Have one of our friendly team members set you up with an account in a matter of minutes. Hear how this powerful tool can be used to connect and communicate with speakers and fellow attendees before, during and after the conference. Have a cup of coffee while watching a live Twitter stream of your fellow attendees discussing the conference in real time. If you are a Twitter user already, please let us know what you’re up to throughout the event by using the hashtag #TASAmw.

A listing of what’s going on each day in the Bloggers’ Lounge will be posted, but here are some things you can expect while you are relaxing in the Lounge:

Continue the Conversation

These discussions allow for casual continuations of specific conference sessions. Speakers will be on hand at set times for extended Q&A sessions moderated by lounge staff.

Presentation Spotlight

Lounge team members will be live-tweeting and blogging from various sessions. Follow the #TASAmw hashtag on Twitter to see what’s happening.

Q&A

The Bloggers' Lounge will host two Q&A sessions focusing on the power of blogging, social media, and online community building.

Please stop by and join us on Monday and Tuesday, January 30^th and 31^st, for fun and learning in the Bloggers’ Lounge!

The Bloggers’ Lounge is a collaboration between TASA, #BlogathonATX, and qannection.com.

Region 16 superintendents illustrate pain of budget cuts by sharing districts’ stories

2012-01-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

Robert McLain, Mike Lee and Karl Vaughn were tired of hearing the story of how state budget cuts are affecting school districts spun and skewed by a handful of lawmakers and critics to public education. To hear some of them tell it, schools hadn’t suffered one bit when the Texas Legislature cut $5.3 billion of education funding from schools that are already some of the lowest-funded in the country.

So the three Region 16 superintendents decided to do something about it by telling the story district-by-district, and putting statistics behind the anecdotes of larger classes, canceled field trips and drastically reduced staff.

The three district leaders – McLain from Channing, Lee from Booker, and Vaughn from White Deer – came up with a survey to highlight the impact of budget cuts to area school districts and outline how those cuts are affecting classrooms.

Of 63 districts in Region 16, 53 responded. Highlights of the survey include:

85 percent of district budgets were cut due to a reduction in state funding.
91 percent of districts eliminated positions or reduced personnel and/or programs because of a reduction in funding this year or in anticipation of reductions coming next year.
64 percent reduced instructional personnel with 45 percent anticipating more reductions in 2012-13.
62 percent cut back on field trips.
58 percent reduced funding for technology.
26 percent of districts adopted a deficit budget for 2011-12.
49 percent committed to using a portion of their fund balance to finance expenses.

The superintendents said they want Texans to know that school districts across the state are suffering.

“It’s wide and varied,” Vaughn told the Amarillo Globe-News.

McLain said of the survey: “The people in Channing are going to care about how Channing is doing, but we wanted it to reflect how all the districts in the panhandle got hit with this funding situation.”

The three superintendents said they hope district leaders across the state follow their lead and conduct surveys in their region, then share the results with the community and local media.

“It really helps you put into perspective how decisions made at the state level are impacting districts,” Price said.

TASA encourages districts to be frank and specific with your community, lawmakers and local media about the effect budget cuts are having in your classrooms. Texans need to understand that, for the sake of our state’s future, we need to invest more in our children, not shortchange them.

HRO report shows decrease in education funding for 2012-13

2011-12-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

School district leaders, the mainstream media and Texans at large all seem to understand that the Texas Legislature cut funding for public education during the Legislative session this year. For the 2012-13 biennium, school districts are dealing with a $4 billion cut in per-student funding and an additional $1.4 billion cut to grant programs that funded education initiatives.

Still, ever since the legislative session ended this summer some lawmakers and others have been making the claim that public education actually saw an increase in funding. They've based those claims on comparing biennium-to-biennium numbers, not taking into account the fact that Texas school districts will serve an additional 170,000 students over the next two years.

But this week, the Texas House of Representatives released numbers that will make that spin even harder to sell. According to the House Research Organization's report on Texas budget highlights for Fiscal 2012-13, funding for public education decreased from the 2010-11 biennium across the board. The increase in enrollment makes the decrease in funding even more hurtful.

From the report:

The fiscal 2012-13 budget appropriates $50.8 billion in all funds to public education agencies, including the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Teacher Retirement System (TRS), the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the School for the Deaf. Appropriations in all funds represent a decrease of about $3 billion, or 5.6 percent, from fiscal 2010-11 spending.

The report goes on to say that of that $50.8 billion, $47 billion was appropriated to TEA - a $4.4 billion decrease from 2010-11. There was also a $1 billion decrease to appropriations to the Foundation School Program for 2012-13.

I'm sure this won't silence those who want to paint school districts as over-dramatizing the current budget situation, but it sure makes their argument harder to buy.

In defense of public education

2011-12-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

Pardon me for sounding like a broken record, but those pushing the story that education funding actually got a boost this past legislative session are at it again and I can’t help but respond.

The latest spin comes from Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, a nonprofit organization that promotes limited government. In a post on the group’s website titled “When an Increase is a Cut”, Sullivan claims Texas public school districts are crying wolf when it comes to spending cuts, that education funding actually went up. He also paints Texas school districts as wasteful and administratively heavy.

Below are some of the claims made in the post and TASA’s response. We’ll tackle more of the assertions made in the rather lengthy tome in an upcoming EduSlate post.

Empower Texans: The fact is public education spending from general revenues (a term the state uses for money we Texans send in the form of taxes) increased by $3 billion from the last biennium (a two year budget cycle.) Federal funds decreased by about the same amount, because the one-time Federal “stimulus” was not repeated.

So overall, public education spending went up slightly. But when those facts are fed into the “more money means better education” machine, the result is the allegation of a $5 billion cut… because they wanted to spend $5 billion more.

I’m not sure where that “fact” came from, but according to the Legislative Budget Board, General Revenue Funds for education total $51.2 billion for the 2012-13 biennium, an increase of $1.8 billion, or 3.7 percent from 2010-11. As was mentioned in the Empower Texans post, Texas also lost $3 billion of one-time federal stimulus funding. What wasn’t mentioned in the ET post however was that the state used that one-time infusion in 2009 to supplant state funding for reoccurring expenses, rather than using the money to supplement education funding as was intended. Now that the money is gone, it’s equivalent to a $3 billion cut in state funding.

The important thing to remember about the increase from biennium to biennium is that Texas public schools will serve 170,000 more students in the next two years than they did in 2010 and 2011. The budget actually fell short of funding individual students by $4 billion. Those students will need classrooms, teachers, instructional materials and technology. They’ll need bus transportation to school, a healthy breakfast and lunch, and someone to help them register at the front office or take care of them when they’re sick. Some will need support from specialists because they have developmental delays or disabilities, or they don’t speak English. Looking at the cuts on a per-student basis is the only realistic way to build a budget.

On top of the $4 billion loss in per-student funding, lawmakers also cut $1.4 billion for critical education programs like Communities in Schools, Texas School Ready Program and T-STEM. The Texas Education Agency’s budget was slashed by 36 percent, drastically affecting the agency’s ability to provide crucial services to school districts.

Those who want to make public schools look like the bad guys can cherry pick the stats all they want, but those in charge of school district budgets know the truth. Districts across the state are reeling from significant budget cuts this year and many will see a greater cut next year.

Empower Texans: When considering how little teachers make compared to administrators, and considering the one-to-one ratio between non-teachers and teachers on the school payrolls, a casual observer could readily assume public education was more about employing adults than educating kids.

The 1:1 ratio argument gained some traction early this year when a study that claimed the ratio of teachers to non-teaching staff members had shifted from 5:1 in the 1970s to 1:1 today became a rallying point for some lawmakers. But, as with any statistic, context is needed. According to research by Moak, Casey and Associates, Texas didn’t count all staff in the 1970s. The largest portion of non-teaching staff – auxiliary personnel – weren’t counted until the PEIMS data system was established in the 1980s, so the two numbers are not an apples-to-apples comparison.

When looking at comparable data, the percentage of teachers to non-teachers has actually not changed substantially since the 1980s. The percentage of staff that are teachers has declined slightly, from 52 percent to 50 percent since 1989, but the ratio has remained essentially the same for more than 20 years. Also in the last 20 years, there have been significant changes in state and federal requirements that require staff for implementation and reporting.

And, by the way, all those non-teaching positions counted in the 1:1 ratio aren’t “administrators”. Central administrators make up only 1 percent of school employees statewide. Even if you add campus administrators into that number, they still only make up another 3 percent of public school district employees.

Who are the rest of those employees counted in that 1:1 ratio? They are professional support (9 percent), educational aides (10 percent) and auxiliary staff (27 percent).

Professional support is a broad category of positions, from people who write curriculum and provide teachers with professional development to computer technicians who run the district’s network. They are also auditors, accountants, risk management experts, special education coordinators and dieticians. Their salaries are commiserate with their education, skills and experience, but most do not make more than their peers in the classroom, as Empower Texans suggests.

Educational aides help teachers in classrooms, often with special needs children, providing one-on-one attention to kids who need it most. Auxiliary staff includes bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and school secretaries. This group of employees, who have incredibly important jobs, make far less than teachers.

Empower Texans: Our teachers have proven themselves highly resourceful in stretching dollars and making ends meet, while administrators lavish upon themselves perks and benefits beyond the dreams of Midas. Check out the portable buildings used for students, and then drive past the temples administrators often build for themselves.

As an education reporter, and now working for TASA, I’ve actually had the privilege of visiting many school districts across the state, and that includes their district office headquarters. I have yet to encounter one of these “temples”. Some of them are very nice buildings, but in every district with a nice central office, the schools and facilities for students are even better. More often, I’ve seen outdated offices in desperate need of a facelift and recently I was at a district where central office was housed in a metal building.

As far as the amazing perks, benefits and salaries, superintendent contracts are public record and posted on districts’ websites. Elected school boards make the decisions on what to offer superintendents in a compensation package to attract the best person for the job. I’ve seen these men and women work and I can tell you it is a grueling, seven-day-a-week, often 16-hour-a-day job. Texas school superintendents are highly educated – many with doctorate degrees – and often manage multi-million dollar budgets, thousands of employees and are responsible for the welfare of thousands of students. The vast majority are career educators who have dedicated their life to public schools and their students. For them, nothing else matters. For this demanding job that requires the skill set of not only an experienced educator, but also a savvy CEO, the average pay of a Texas school superintendent for 2011-12 is $123,079.

Empower Texans: Texans today pay more than $11,000 per child on public education in state, local and federal funds, yet no one would argue we’re getting the return so many dollars should buy. Texans are paying top-dollar for an inefficient public education, yet the administrators clamor for more simply because they want it.

Again, not entirely sure where this figure comes from, but according to a survey released this year by the U.S. Census, Texas spends $8,540 per student, ranking 42^nd in the country. The only states that spend less than Texas are Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Nevada and South Dakota. The report also found that Texas spent less per student than any other state on employee benefits. The per-pupil average in Texas was $1,005 compared to $2,263 nationally.

And this ranking was pre-budget cuts. Imagine where we may rank next year.

Contrary to what groups like Empower Texans seem to believe, the leaders of Texas public schools aren’t interested in squandering taxpayer money and investing in programs that don’t benefit kids. What they are focused on is providing a world-class education for the children of Texas and preparing them for college and the workforce. That takes money, especially at a time when the state’s population is growing and shifting, with the majority of incoming students labeled at-risk for a variety of factors. Investing wisely in education will only boost Texas economy and ensure a brighter future for everyone in the state. That should be something we can all agree on.

New report shows surge in abstinence-plus approach to sex ed

2011-11-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Texas is often criticized for its dubious distinction of having the third-highest teen birth rate in the nation. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, a teen gets pregnant every 10 minutes in Texas.

Some have taken the criticism a step further to include the state's focus on abstinence-only sex education.

However, a report out today by the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund shows an up-tick in the percentage of school districts going beyond abstinence-only in their sex education curriculum to include information about contraception.

According to the report, more than 25 percent of districts are taking an abstinence-plus approach, up from 3.6 percent of districts just three years ago.

The decision to teach beyond abstinence-only is made at the local level. Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller said the increase in districts teaching abstinence-plus is a positive. She also said the State Board of Education should adopt new health curriculum standards that provide more information about contraception, as well as the importance of abstinence, to help school districts provide comprehensive and effective sex education programs.

"It's clear that more and more local school officials realize ignorance won't protect our kids," Miller said in a news release about the report. "So now we're seeing the adoption of common-sense sex education policies that deal with a real public health crisis and that polling shows most parents support."

Read the full report: "Sex Education in Texas Public Schools: Progress in the Lone Star State"

Dewhurst tells Texas Tribune lawmakers didn't cut education funding

2011-11-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

Are we really still debating this?

Once again, the message that school districts didn't lose out this legislative session after all is being emphasized by some lawmakers.

At a Texas Tribune event Thursday morning, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is also running for the U.S. Senate, explained to the Tribune's Evan Smith why he thinks it's inaccurate to say the Legislature cut $4 billion from public education.

"We changed the school finance law," Dewhurst said. "And under the old law we were expected to increase our funding for public education by $8 billion. We increased our funding for public education by almost $4 billion. Only in government if you expect $8 billion increase and get $4 billion is that a cut."

Not to quibble, but first of all the Legislature cut public education by closer to $5.4 billion - slashing $4 billion from the Foundation School Program and another $1.4 billion in education grants that funded critical programs.

But back to the main point: Why can't we agree on whether education funding was cut or not? If you're an administrator that had to balance your district's budget this year, you know the difference between the reality and the spin.

Yes, the overall amount budgeted for the 2012-13 biennium for public education is slightly more than the previous two years. From $49.5 billion in 2010-11 to $49.6 billion, according to numbers from the Texas Education Agency. But that increase is nowhere near enough to serve the additional 170,000 students that will show up in Texas schools over the next two years at the same level of programs and services Texas students received last year.

When looking at per-student funding, the budget falls $4 billion short of funding individual students at the same level as 2010-11. For more specifics on the numbers, check out my post from this summer: No matter how you slice it, schools are losing funding.

Meanwhile, while some are denying that schools have been shortchanged, Texas AFT released the results of a survey Thursday that illustrate how budget cuts are affecting students and teachers.

About 92 percent of respondents said they've experienced layoffs in their districts, including teaching positions and teacher assistants. Nearly 80 percent reported cuts to programs that serve students, including pre-kindergarten, special education, art, music and tutorials. Eighty-seven percent said class sizes increased in their districts this year.

Survey comments included:

"Classrooms are maxed out. Students are over-tested and frustrated, leading to behavior problems and causing even more loss of learning. The push towards inclusion (of special education students) with insufficient staff is causing loss of learning and in some instances safety issues. Teachers are being overworked, leading to lower performance."

"Supply budgets have been drastically cut. This impacts the learning environment, because we lack basic supplies for students. Teachers have to utilize their own funds for supplies or do without."

"The morale is lower than I have ever seen it. Most teachers are questioning their calling and looking for something else."

"This is the first year, out of 11, that I regret teaching. I dread coming to work."

More than 3,500 teachers, school employees and parents responded to the survey, according to Texas AFT. The organization plans to do a follow-up survey in the spring.

Linda Bridges, president of Texas AFT, said the survey confirms the major impact budget cuts are having on schools.

"Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other state leaders are spinning a tale of balancing the state budget while maintaining adequate funding for public education; the real truth about the severe harm of these cuts is portrayed in the stories we've now heard from teachers across the state," she said.

School leaders have to make sure their communities know what really happened: Texas lawmakers balanced the state's budget on the backs of schoolchildren. No, the cuts weren't as bad as we feared they might be, but they're still devastating and we can't afford them.

Enrollment report highlights challenges for public schools

2011-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

A new report from the Texas Education Agency on enrollment in Texas public schools has some interesting information district leaders may want to share when talking about challenges in public education.

Former State Demographer Steve Murdock for years has been warning of a population trend of declining numbers of Anglos in Texas and a growing number of minorities. Murdock, also the former U.S. Census Bureau director and now director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University, says between 2000 and 2040, the state's public school enrollment will see a 15 percent decline in Anglo children, while Hispanic children will make up a 213 percent increase.

Why is this alarming? Because education and income levels for Hispanics lag considerably behind Anglos, Murdock told the Houston Chronicle earlier this year. If the trend continues, by 2040 roughly 30 percent of the state's labor force will not even have a high school diploma and the average household income will be $6,500 lower than in 2000 - and that's not adjusted for inflation.

TEA's report shows the trend is indeed continuing and that Texas public school districts are facing their biggest challenge yet. The students filling Texas classrooms come with greater challenges and needs than ever before, yet instead of more resources to help these children, school leaders are reeling from a $5.4 billion cut to education funding delivered to them this year by state lawmakers.

According to the report, there are now 4.9 million students enrolled in Texas public schools, a 21.2 percent increase over the past decade.

Between the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years, African American and Hispanic enrollment increased, while enrollment of white students decreased.

Hispanics had the largest numerical increase in enrollment between 2009-10 and 2010-11, growing by 81,316 in just one year. Last school year Hispanic students accounted for 50.3 percent of total enrollment in Texas public schools.

The percentage of economically disadvantaged students has risen in step with the increase in minority students. A decade ago, there were just over 2 million economically disadvantaged students in Texas public schools, or 49.2 percent of all students. By last school year there were nearly 3 million economically disadvantaged students, accounting for 59.1 percent of all students.

Let's break those numbers down a little further and make some comparisons: The overall public school population from 2000-01 to 2010-11 increased by 21.5 percent, while the number of economically disadvantaged students increased by 45.5 percent. And according to Murdock, that trend will continue.

Also over the past decade, the number of students receiving bilingual or English as a second language services increased by 56.4 percent and the number of limited English proficient students grew by 45.8 percent.

These numbers come as no surprise to educators, but they are a stark and definitive reminder of what schools are facing and they should paint a pretty clear picture of what kind of stakes we're playing with when we shortchange public education.

If this report isn't a wake-up call, I don't know what is.

If Supreme Court strikes down margins tax it triggers a special session

2011-10-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on the constitutionality of the state's business franchise tax. Plaintiffs in the case argue that the Texas Constitution doesn't allow a personal income tax without voter approval and that the decision to tax partnerships amounts to a personal income tax.

The state contends that a partnership is a separate entity from the individual partners and can be subject to a tax.

For school districts, the big question is what happens to that revenue stream if the court strikes it down? The tax was enacted by the Legislature in 2006 to make up the difference when lawmakers cut property taxes by a third. The tax has far underperformed what it was projected to bring in, setting up the budget shortfall schools now face.

This past legislative session there was discussion of closing loopholes in the tax to bring in more money. Now, the decision rests with the state Supreme Court on whether to cut off the stream entirely.

Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson asked Deputy Solicitor General Danica Milios what it means for school funding if the tax is found unconstitutional.

Milios responded that it would send the Legislature back into special session.

A ruling is expected sometime in the next month.

Bastrop ISD superintendent offers thanks for help and support

2011-09-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Bastrop and neighboring Smithville ISDs continue to deal with the aftermath of wildfires that devastated their communities and left many of their students and employees without homes. Bastrop Superintendent Steve Murray sent us an open letter today, addressed to the school districts and people of Texas, thanking the many who have offered help and support.

Relief funds for district employees who lost their homes have been established at First National Bank of Bastrop. Donations can be made at any First National Bank location for the Bastrop ISD Employee Relief Fund and the Smithville ISD Employee Relief Fund.

Here's Steve's heartwarming message:

Dear Fellow Texans and Educators,

I am the very proud Superintendent of Schools for the Bastrop Independent School District in Bastrop, Texas. I have served the children and citizenry of Bastrop ISD and Bastrop County for almost two years and while I typically speak to my pride in being the Superintendent for Bastrop ISD and the pride we collectively have for our school district (this year's district theme is a simple yet strong statement of pride - "WE are BISD!"), recently both tragic and heroic events have caused that sense of pride for our school district, our community and this great state to grow exponentially.

As most people across Texas and across the nation are aware, our county has experienced the most destructive wildfire disaster that Texas has ever experienced. We tragically lost two county residents, had over 1,500 homes and 34,000 acres of land destroyed, have hundreds of families (including many of our precious children) displaced and homeless as a result of these catastrophic fires. In a word, it has been devastating.

Yet, as will often occur out of tragedy, horrific loss and despair - we have experienced an outpouring of love, generosity and concern from thousands of people of all ages in our own community, across the State of Texas and outside our state boundaries from communities large and small nationwide. From classrooms and schools collecting pennies, stuffed animals, toys and school supplies to student councils statewide urging their classmates to give to help others in need to corporate donations; and from neighbors with rakes and sifters to thousands of fire fighters, law enforcement and other first responders and caregivers risking their own safety and lives - we have been the recipients of a tremendous display of humanitarian spirit and selfless acts of service.

Simply saying "Thank You" just doesn't seem appropriate enough - but in so many ways and in so many cases that is simply all that was given and, while not expected by those serving, was simply appreciated and seen as more than enough.

Prior to Sunday, September 3, 2011, I had served the children of Texas for over thirty years and had witnessed my fair share of tragic and wonderful things in that time. In the last two weeks or more I have witnessed those extremes in a completely different manner, and with a vantage point that allows one to be awestruck as well at both ends of the spectrum. On Thursday, September 15th, during the halftime of our televised varsity football game between our Bastrop Bears and our friends from San Marcos, I was indeed awestruck and humbled beyond words when over 400 first responders from all over Texas and across the country stood behind me in the middle of our field to receive the applause, cheers and overwhelming expressions of adoration from a packed home side stands filled with students, moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles and Bastrop County citizens (many of whom had lost their homes, had been and were still displaced and had spent the past two weeks volunteering to help others). To say that this was an extremely emotional and uplifting experience for all involved would be quite the understatement.

For those not able to be there that special evening and to the thousands of children, parents and school folks, as well as emergency management, law enforcement personnel and first responders across the state and beyond that have touched our lives and blessed us with your kind words, your thoughts and prayers, your gifts and your service - we once again simply say "Thank You."

None of us want to experience anything of this nature during our lives or careers ever again, yet I truly believe that we are all better people for having gone through this experience. We are better because we have heard, seen or experienced the very best in others throughout this ordeal and know that we will continue to hear from and witness such going forward as we work together as a very proud community and school district to recover, restore and rebuild.

Sincerely,

Steve Murray

Superintendent of Schools

Bastrop ISD

Bastrop County

Bastrop, Texas

Power On Texas video captures the spirit of Visioning Network

2011-09-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, POWER ON TEXAS is a really cool project by the Texas Education Agency that focuses on the digital learning revolution - how it's taking hold and how it needs to spread in Texas.

POWERONTEXAS.com includes videos featuring seven Texas school districts at the leading edge of the technology-fueled movement toward 21st Century Learning. The project compliments the work of TASA's Public Education Visioning Network and even includes a link to our document, "Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas". Power On Texas builds on many of the concepts and issues identified in the visioning document.

We're especially excited about this video, which we feel captures the spirit of the Public Education Visioning Network.

Check it out here....

Jobs bill could send $2.2 billion to Texas for teachers

2011-09-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

President Obama's American Jobs Bill would create a $30 billion Teacher Stabilization grant that would be awarded to each state based on population. For Texas, it could mean about $2.2 billion, if it passes Congress.

That's in addition to money the state and local districts could get through the $25 billion School Modernization grant program (See previous blog post) bringing the total Texas schools could be eligible to receive to an estimated $4.5 billion.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan estimates the teacher stabilization program could save about 280,000 teacher jobs across the country.

In his speech to Congress last week about his bill, Obama stressed the importance of funding education.

"Pass this jobs bill and thousands of teachers in every state will go back to work," Obama said. "These are the men and women charged with preparing our children for a world where the competition has never been tougher."

Texas schools could get $2.3 billion from Jobs Bill

2011-09-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

President Obama is crisscrossing the country trying to sell his $447 billion jobs bill to the American people. The bill, which would send an estimated $85 billion to state and local governments, went to Congress on Monday.

The American Jobs Bill includes a proposal to put workers back on the job by rebuilding and modernizing schools across the country. In Ohio Tuesday, the president talked about the need for new school infrastructure, particularly in some places where students study in 100-year-old buildings.

“Some of the schools, the ventilation is so poor it can make students sick. How do we expect our kids to do their very best in a situation like that,” he said. “Every child deserves a great school and we can give it to them, but we’ve got to pass this bill.”

The American Association of School Administrators released a report Tuesday that details the benefits of the program for each state as well as the 100 largest high-need public school districts, which will receive funds directly. Texas has the highest number of those districts of any state with 19 on the list to receive money directly. Florida has the second highest number with 14, and California is third with 11.

According to AASA, the state of Texas would be eligible for $2.3 billion to invest in K-12 infrastructure. Those 19 high-need districts would be eligible for $1.2 billion.

From the AASA:

“The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools. This investment will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. It also includes a priority for rural schools and dedicated funding for Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools. Funds can be used for a range of emergency repair and renovation projects, greening and energy efficiency upgrades, asbestos abatement and removal, and modernization efforts to build new science and computer labs and to upgrade the technology infrastructure in our schools.”

The average public school building in the United States is over 40 years old, according to AASA, and many are much older. Many of them are in desperate need of modernizing to make them more efficient and provide the necessary space and infrastructure for a 21^st century education. Schools spend more than $6 billion each year on energy bills – more than they spend on computers and textbooks combined.

With schools slashing budgets across the country, the backlog of deferred maintenance and repair projects in schools is at least $270 billion, AASA estimates.

The American Jobs Bill includes:

$25 billion in funds will be used to upgrade existing public school facilities. $10 billion will be directed toward 100 largest high-need public school districts. $15 billion will be directed to the states. Funds cannot be used for new construction. The President’s plan also proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges.

Safer, Healthier, and Technologically Advanced Schools of the Future. Permissible uses of funds would include a range of emergency repair and renovation projects, greening and energy efficiency upgrades, asbestos abatement and removal, and modernization efforts to build new science and computer labs and to upgrade technology infrastructure in our schools. Local districts will also be able to put these funds to work to invest in upgrades to allow schools to continue to serve as centers of the community –including upgrades to shared spaces for adult vocational and job development centers. These efforts will not only make our schools safer and healthier learning environments, but also ensure that our schools are fully equipped to teach 21^st century skills in math, science, and other technical fields and to serve as effective centers for workforce training and development.

Maximum flexibility to the states and funding for small repairs and large-scale maintenance and upgrade projects. Funds could be used for a range of projects, including greening and energy-efficiency upgrades; asbestos abatement and removal; improvements to after-school facilities and community spaces; and modifications to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To ensure that schools in the most disrepair will be able to make necessary enhancements, almost 40 percent of the funds will be directed toward the 100 largest high-need public school districts. Each of the 100 Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) with the largest numbers of children living in poverty would receive a formula amount proportionate to its Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I Part A allocation within 60 days of enactment.

The remaining approximately 60 percent will be given to states to allocate, and states would have flexibility to direct those funds to additional high-need districts, including schools in rural areas. Funding would be allocated to states on the basis of their Title I shares. States would be required to obligate those funds by September 30, 2012, and outstanding balances would be reallocated to other states. States would direct half the funding to local school districts on a formula basis, and the other half through an application process in the most high-needs districts, with a priority for rural districts. A portion of the funding would be set-aside for Bureau of Indian Education schools (0.5 percent) and for the Outlying Areas (0.5 percent).

Funds will be put to work quickly. For formula grants, states would be required to get funds to districts within three to six months of enactment and the districts would have to expend the funds within 24 months of enactment. The selection criteria would prioritize projects that would be completed quickly, while affording grantees more time flexibility for their bigger projects. To reduce the risk that districts will allow projects to stall, the American Jobs Act requires the funds be spent by September 30, 2012.

The 19 high-need Texas districts and the amounts they’re eligible to receive are:

Houston ISD $233.6 million

Dallas ISD $191.6 million

Fort Worth ISD $84.9 million

Austin ISD $69.3 million

San Antonio ISD $69.1 million

El Paso ISD $66.2 million

Brownsville ISD $60 million

Aldine ISD $50.4 million

Alief ISD $44.8 million

Arlington ISD $39.1 million

Ysleta ISD $39.3 million

Laredo ISD $37.3 million

Pasadena ISD $33 million

Northside ISD $35.1 million

Edinburg CISD $32.8 million

Garland ISD $30.8

La Joya ISD $34.8 million

Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD $31.6 million

Corpus Christi ISD $28.2 million

Note: Estimated allocations are preliminary projections.

Obama's plan includes renovating schools, hiring more teachers

2011-09-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

President Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress tonight, issuing a blunt call to pass his bill: a $447 billion package of tax cuts and government spending aimed at resuscitating America's economy.

His proposals included an expansion of a cut in payroll taxes and new spending in public works, including money to renovate as many as 35,000 schools and put teachers back to work. Obama also said his plan would not add to the deficit.

"Here’s the other thing I want the American people to know: The American Jobs Act will not add to the deficit. It will be paid for," the president said.

This summer, Congress came to an agreement to cut about $1 trillion in government spending over the next 10 years and Congress must also come up with another $1.5 trillion in savings by the end of the year. In his speech, Obama asked Congress to increase that amount so that it covers the cost of the jobs bill.

"And a week from Monday, I’ll be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan -- a plan that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long run," he said.

The speech, of course, gave no details on how the money would benefit schools, but education was a frequent theme.

"There are private construction companies all across America just waiting to get to work….And there are schools throughout this country that desperately need renovating. How can we expect our kids to do their best in places that are literally falling apart? This is America. Every child deserves a great school -- and we can give it to them, if we act now."

"The American Jobs Act will repair and modernize at least 35,000 schools. It will put people to work right now fixing roofs and windows, installing science labs and high-speed Internet in classrooms all across this country."

And on the subject of teachers:

"Pass this jobs bill, and thousands of teachers in every state will go back to work. These are the men and women charged with preparing our children for a world where the competition has never been tougher. But while they’re adding teachers in places like South Korea, we’re laying them off in droves. It’s unfair to our kids. It undermines their future and ours. And it has to stop. Pass this bill, and put our teachers back in the classroom where they belong."

The president said he hits the road Friday selling his plan in every corner of America.

Central Texas fires force some school districts to close

2011-09-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Several Central Texas school districts are closing schools Tuesday as wildfires continue to threaten their communities. Schools are being used as evacuation centers for local residents.

All schools in the Bastrop Independent School District will be closed today and all extracurricular actives have been canceled.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, Bastrop Superintendent Steve Murray and district leaders are assessing the situation every 12 hours to determine how long schools will remain closed.

“We’re just playing it by ear like everybody else,” Murray told the Statesman. “I anticipate that if things proceed like they are, that we’ll have to close school again.”

Murray said Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott called him on Monday to see how the state can assist and to let him know that the Texas Education Agency will work with the district on school waivers for the missed days of school.

“If we have to be out of school for a few days and we miss a little instruction, it pales in comparison to the basic needs that these folks have,” Murray said. “Right now, we’re in the mode of just taking care of each other and making sure everyone is safe.”

Smithville ISD schools and six schools in Leander ISD will also be closed today. Leander's Vandegrift High School is being used as a Red Cross shelter. Superintendent Bret Champion told the Statesman the school has been a hub for people in search of information or in need of a place to stay. Four schools in the Steiner Ranch area — Canyon Ridge Middle School and Bush, Steiner and River Ridge elementaries — will be closed until school officials can determine any damage. Until the fires are out and electricity is restored to the area, district leaders will daily reassess whether the schools will reopen, according to the Statesman.

As of 9:30 p.m. Monday, several wildfires continued to burn. Gov. Rick Perry said he will seek a major disaster declaration from the federal government to help in recovery efforts from the Texas wildfires.

Five hundred people have been evacuated and at least 13 homes destroyed by a fire in Leander, officials said.

The 300-acre fire, which began about 4:40 p.m., is burning in an area that stretches from Bagdad Road to U.S. 183, and from Crystal Falls Parkway to South Street. Officials said at 9 p.m. that the blaze was 70 percent contained.

In Bastrop, about 25,000 acres had burned and 476 homes have been destroyed in the county as of 3:45 p.m. Monday, according to the Texas Forest Service.

The fire in Steiner Ranch was only 25 percent contained, officials said at a press conference about 4:30 p.m. Monday Twenty-four homes have been destroyed, 30 homes have been damaged, and 125 acres have burned, officials said.

Strong winds and heavy flare-ups have combined to help the Pedernales Bend fire escape containment, officials said Monday afternoon. The fire, which started near Haynie Flat Road about noon Saturday, was about 50 percent contained late Monday. The fire has gone south of Texas 71 and split into a new fire.

Crews were still fighting the fire, which has gone south of Texas 71 and has split into a new fire, late Monday night. The fire has burned about 6,400 acres and was about 2 miles wide 5 miles long at its peak, officials said.

All of the 67 structures that were damaged, including at least 44 homes or businesses, were west of the Pedernales River, according to officials. No word on how many homes were destroyed.

TASA announces 2011 Honor School Boards

2011-09-02T10:01:00.001-07:00

Five school boards from across the state were selected today as Honor School Boards in the Texas Association of School Administrators’ annual School Board Awards Program. The program has recognized outstanding Texas school boards for their commitment to schoolchildren and their communities since 1971.

The statewide Honor School Boards, listed with their superintendents and nominating education service center regions are:

Barbers Hill ISD, Superintendent Greg Poole, Region 4

Copperas Cove ISD, Superintendent Rose Cameron, Region 12

Denton ISD, Superintendent Ray Braswell, Region 11

Lubbock ISD, Superintendent Karen Garza, Region 17

Ysleta ISD, Superintendent Michael Zolkoski, Region 19

The Honor Boards were selected by a committee of nine Texas school superintendents from a field of regional finalists based on specific criteria including: support for educational performance; support for educational improvement projects; commitment to a code of ethics; and maintenance of harmonious and supportive relationships among board members.

Gonzalo Salazar, superintendent of Los Fresnos CISD and chair of this year’s selection committee, said narrowing the finalists down to five Honor Boards was difficult.

“Looking at these school boards, it’s clear that there are a lot of good things happening in our public schools,” Salazar said. “There is a lot of innovation going on and everyone has student achievement at the forefront.”

The selection committee praised the Barbers Hill school board for its commitment to excellence, demonstrated through dedication to initiatives like the National Teacher Certification Program and multiple instructional supports for academic programs. The committee also noted that Barbers Hill’s 100 percent senior graduation rate is “phenomenal.”

Copperas Cove’s board drew kudos for its use of social media to communicate with the public and a commitment to training, which in turn demonstrates a commitment to academic excellence. The committee also commended Copperas Cove for fiscal management, including building a new school out of general funds.

Denton’s school board impressed the committee with their involvement and dedication. Five of the seven board members are graduates of the Texas Association of School Board’s program Leadership TASB, and all board members are active advocates for public schools, both in the community and among lawmakers. The board also demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence with 85 percent of Denton’s graduates pursuing post-secondary education.

Lubbock ISD’s board stood out for it’s laser focus on improvement, including its resolve to carry out a strategic plan that sets high standards and delivers a road map to achieve those standards. The committee was also impressed with the board’s willingness to make tough but necessary decisions, even if they aren’t popular ones, and a commitment to innovation in the classroom.

The committee called Ysleta’s academic performance “outstanding” and noted that student achievement was particularly remarkable when considering Ysleta’s population of 82 percent economically disadvantaged and 95 percent minority. Committee members said there is clear evidence of a cohesive board and praised the relationship between board members and the superintendent.

Salazar said its clear that the Honor School Boards are working hard even in the face of shrinking resources.

“I’m so impressed with the commitment from these school boards,” he said.

The selection committee will interview all five Honor Boards in person on Sept. 30 at the TASA/TASB Convention in Austin. The Texas Outstanding School Board will be announced at the convention’s First General Session at 4 p.m., Sept. 30.

All five Honor Boards and the regional finalists will be recognized at the General Session. The remaining regional finalists are:

Point Isabel ISD, Superintendent Estella R. Pineda, ESC 1

Carthage ISD, Superintendent J. Glenn Hambrick, ESC 7

Hutto ISD, Superintendent Douglas Killian, ESC 13

Lytle ISD, Superintendent Michelle Carroll Smith, ESC 20

New report shows 1 out of every 4 kids in Texas lives in poverty

2011-08-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual Kids Count Data Book Wednesday and, once again, Texas ranked near the bottom in key indicators of child health and wellbeing.

Of the 6.6 million children in Texas, the foundation found that 24.3 percent live in poverty. Women receiving late or no prenatal care made up 40 percent of births and 13.5 percent of all live births were to teens ages 13-19. For the second consecutive year, Texas had the third highest teen birth rate in the nation.

The state also saw a 14 percent increase in the number of babies born at low birth weights and an 11 percent increase in the number of infant deaths since 2000.

Another startling statistic: Texas has had the largest percentage of uninsured children in the country for nine of the last 10 years. Nearly one out of four children – 23.3 percent – are uninsured.

Looking at all the indicators combined, Texas ranks ninth worst in the nation in terms of child poverty, according to Texas KIDS Count director Frances Deviney.

"There's been a steady climb in child poverty throughout the 2000s, but over the data from the last couple of years that we have, we've seen a real spike. Texas now has one of every four kids living in poverty," Deviney said.

"Poverty is really one of those bellwether indicators where we say if we don't really see a significant turnaround, we're going to have a whole generation of kids getting off on the wrong foot for the rest of their adult lives."

Sadly, reports like this are no surprise to educators. They see these children every day in their schools and are doing their best to meet students’ overwhelming needs. That monumentally difficult job will be even tougher this year with more than $5 billion in budget cuts to Texas public schools, including to programs that specifically target children in poverty, like full-day pre-kindergarten and Communities in Schools.

The Legislature also cut money to family planning services, so the state’s teen birth rate is likely to rise even higher, according to Deviney.

The report also found that 30 percent of Texas children live in families where no parent has year-round, full-time employment. Many are in homes where parents earn minimum wage or less and don't have access to private healthcare coverage.

With historic cuts to the state's education finance system, and no plan to restore funding come 2013, how can we build a skilled work force that will attract higher-paying jobs?

Hopefully our state leaders pay attention to reports like this and consider the ramifications of slashing aid to a system that is dealing with a massive number of increasingly needy kids. Those littlest and most vulnerable Texans need more of an investment, not less.

AYP results to be released Thursday

2011-08-02T20:32:00.000-07:00

Less than one week after state accountability ratings were released, the Texas Education Agency will announce how Texas schools and districts performed on the nation’s accountability standard: Adequate Yearly Progress.

TEA plans to post the results on its website at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Explaining AYP results has always been tricky, particularly when they often conflict with state accountability ratings. This year may be even more challenging for districts since many are dealing with lower ratings from the state due to changes in the state’s formula, including the elimination of the Texas Projection Measure, higher passing standards and more students than ever before being tested.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced in June that he would offer waivers to states from parts of No Child Left Behind because Congress hasn’t made much progress on reauthorizing the law.

The US DOE hasn’t provided a lot of details on the waiver process since then, but according to Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog, here’s what’s under discussion:

• There would be three kinds waivers under No Child Left Behind, and states would have to sign up for all of them—it wouldn't be an either/or thing. This is something Duncan made clear in the initial waiver announcement.

• To waive the 2014 deadline for all students to be proficient in math and language arts, states would have to adopt college- and career-readiness standards and assessments. It's not clear yet what that would mean. But, presumably, Common Core would be involved. Student growth could be used to measure achievement.

• To essentially freeze in place the law's system of sanctions, states would have to propose their own differentiated accountability systems that would incorporate growth and establish new performance targets. States also would have to establish differentiated school improvement systems that more accurately meet the needs of schools with different challenges. The accountability systems would not have to include choice or free tutoring. Districts also no longer would have to set aside Title I money for such programs.

• To waive the law's highly qualified teacher requirement and get funding flexibility, states would have to adopt evaluation systems for teachers and principals that are based on growth and make sure districts actually do what they say they're going to do.

I asked TEA if Texas would seek relief from No Child Left Behind requirements but was told there would be no waivers requested relating to AYP for 2011.

However, a TEA spokeswoman said Commissioner Robert Scott will decide at a later time whether to pursue any waiver requests from the US DOE relating to AYP in the future.

Last week, the DOE gave Idaho approval to keep its annual proficiency targets in math and reading the same for the third year in a row after Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna told the feds he planned to defy key parts of NCLB.

In a letter to the state, DOE officials made it clear that the approval is a change to Idaho’s accountability plan, and not a formal waiver.

But without details about the waiver process, Idaho isn’t the only state to jump the gun, according to Education Week. Tennessee and Michigan are the latest states to formally seek a waiver.

Other states, including South Dakota and Montana, have flat out told the feds that they plan to freeze proficiency rates.

Regardless of what’s happening across the country, Texas is still being measured against the stick that requires 100 percent proficiency in all sub-groups by 2014. When explaining your schools' results, a quick tutorial of how the system works – and most importantly how the performance of a handful of students can brand an entire school – is essential. The community should understand that the proficiency rates go up every year until the only way to meet AYP is for every single student to be proficient – a noble but impossible goal.

No matter how you slice it, schools are losing funding

2011-07-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

We all expect a little spin coming out of a legislative session, even one as historically challenging and ultimately devastating as this one. But the latest popular line from some who wish to downplay the cuts to public schools is one that is especially difficult for school leaders to stomach.

There are those out there congratulating the Legislature (in some cases congratulating themselves) for increasing funding for education. That’s right, increasing.

There’s math behind the statements that make them sort of true – in fact the Austin American-Statesman’s PolitiFact Texas ranked once such statement as “half true.” But in practice, it’s absolutely a falsehood and Texas school superintendents know it.

School leaders are making difficult decisions to freeze salaries, cut critical positions, lay off teachers, close schools and eliminate programs. And they’re making those decisions because of a $4 billion cut to the Foundation School Program and the elimination of nearly $1.4 billion in discretionary grants used for initiatives like full-day Pre-K, teacher performance incentives and dropout prevention.

So what’s the basis of the claim that education funding actually increased? Here’s a breakdown that will hopefully be helpful if this comes up in your community and you need to explain that, regardless of what others may be saying, your schools are dealing with a substantial cut in funding.

According to numbers from the Texas Education Agency, the $49.6 billion budgeted for public education for the 2012-13 biennium is slightly more (0.2 percent more) than the $49.5 billion budgeted for the previous two years. However, that tiny increase is not nearly enough to cover the additional 170,000 students that will show up in Texas schools in the next two years. Those students will need classrooms, teachers, instructional materials and technology. Some will need support from specialists because they have developmental delays or disabilities, or they don’t speak English. There’s not enough money in the budget to maintain the level of programs and services those students received last year.

But, some legislators are insisting they funded enrollment growth. How? By changing the funding formulas. Despite an overall increase, the budget falls $4 billion short of funding individual students at the same level they were funded in 2010-11. That means a significant overall decrease in per-student funding because our student population is growing so rapidly – and the majority of that population are at-risk children who are the most costly to educate. So lawmakers can say they increased education funding, or they can say they funded enrollment growth, but they can’t say they did both. It’s simply not accurate.

Some lawmakers are touting an additional $3 billion in state funding for education to offset a loss in federal funding. But there’s more to the story. The $3 billion in federal money Texas received in 2009 was one-time stimulus money, and the fact that it was a one-time infusion was made crystal clear to state officials. Rather than use the money to supplement the state’s education budget as it was intended, state lawmakers used it to supplant state dollars for reoccurring expenses. When that one-time federal funding went away, as everyone knew it would, the state could no longer afford to pay the bill.

The Texas Education Agency was another victim of budget cuts, and reductions there will ultimately affect school districts too. The state slashed TEA’s budget by more than 36 percent. The agency began the year with more than 1,000 employees but after two rounds of layoffs is now down to 717. The biggest cut came this month when 178 people lost their jobs. Nearly every department was affected and the massive cuts will certainly hamper TEA’s ability to provide services to districts.

Lawmakers cut almost $16 million in funding from Education Service Centers – nearly 40 percent of their budgets – critically undermining another valuable resource for local school districts.

Any way you slice it, Texas schools lost out this legislative session. There is substantially less per-student funding due to the $4 billion cut to the Foundation School Program, funding for many important programs was eliminated altogether, and hundreds of millions of dollars were cut from other critical initiatives like Communities in Schools, Texas School Ready Program, and T-STEM.

TASA's Visioning Institute highlighted in Dallas Morning News

2011-07-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

A story in Monday's DMN focusing on increased testing due to the STAAR system and end-of-course exams was also an opportunity to highlight the work of TASA's Visioning Institute and the passage of legislation that will create the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium.

DMN reporter Wendy Hundley talked to Lewisville superintendent Dr. Stephen Waddell and TASA's Casey McCreary about concerns with STAAR.

“Many superintendents, in both large and small districts, are concerned about what we call the ‘triple jeopardy,’” McCreary told the DMN, referring to STAAR’s increased testing schedule, more rigorous exams and tougher graduation requirements.

The story ended on an upbeat note, highlighting Senate Bill 1557, which will create a consortium of up to 20 school districts that will be granted the flexibility to create the next generation of learning standards and accountability systems.

“No one is calling for an end of testing,” Dr. Waddell told the paper. “We just think it’s gone too far. It’s gone to the point where it’s harming children instead of helping them. We could be doing something better and more useful for our kids.”

Could school finance plan blow up again?

2011-06-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Quorum Report posted a commentary late today on a possibility that TASA governmental relations staff began hearing speculation about earlier this week: Could the school finance plan embedded in Senate Bill 1 stymie the Legislature once again?

In the post, Quorum Report editor Harvey Kronberg explains that the reason the plan is proving divisive is because “the pain of school funding cuts is not all evenly distributed. Rural Republicans in particular believe that most of their school districts get creamed while suburban districts fare relatively well.”

Kronberg goes on to say that Republican freshmen may have assumed voting against Democrats was the way to go, but now they’re realizing that, in many ways, they may have more in common with Democrats than they do with their suburban Republican peers. They may be coming to the realization that voting for the school finance plan is a political move that could cost them re-election.

Stay tuned….Thursday should be interesting.

Talking points: Opposing Vouchers

2011-05-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts said Tuesday he’d move to table any amendment to a fiscal matters bill that hadn’t been heard in committee, signaling that he’d try to table any school voucher proposal. However, there was talk last night that the language might be brought up as “an amendment to an amendment.”

There is certainly still a strong possibility that the so-called Taxpayer Savings Grants Program could find its way into legislation. Right now, it’s pre-filed as an amendment to SB 1811 by Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville.

A vote on a school voucher program could be a close one. It is vitally important that you call your representatives and tell them to vote NO on ANY voucher program language.

Reasons to oppose the Taxpayer Savings Grant Program or any voucher program:

Texas public schools are facing unprecedented and massive cuts to public education and the structural deficit and broken school finance system that created the budget shortfall have not been adequately addressed by this Legislature. To devise a plan that strips money from public schools at such a time is unconscionable.

At a time when the state is maintaining a laser focus on accountability, transparency, college readiness and measuring student performance, lawmakers should not consider a program that embraces none of these things. The Taxpayer Savings Grant Program includes nothing about improving student achievement or accountability for how taxpayer money is being spent. There is no mechanism for tracking a student’s progress and ensuring students are receiving a quality education.

This session the Legislature is considering increasing standards for charter schools. Why would Texas want a voucher program with zero accountability at a time when standards for all taxpayer-funded schools, including schools of choice, are aiming for higher standards than ever?

While the group promoting the voucher program says it could save the state $2 billion over the biennium, that number is a guess, at best. The program could actually end up costing the state money. There are 600,000 students in private and home schools in Texas – what happens if they become eligible for a voucher? What about incoming kindergarten students who would’ve attended private school anyway? They would be eligible for a voucher under the proposal, taking money out of public school classrooms.

The $5,143 the voucher would provide is not enough to cover most private schools’ tuition for a year. This program would be a new entitlement program to subsidize private-school tuition for affluent Texans. Is that a good use of taxpayer dollars at a time when lawmakers are making cuts to the Foundation School Program totaling somewhere between $4 and $8 billion over the next two years?

Florida launched the country’s first statewide voucher program more than a decade ago, but it was plagued with problems and legal challenges. The state Supreme Court invalidated the plan in 2006, saying it violated a constitutional mandate to create a free and uniform public school system. A voucher system in Texas could cost the state money in legal challenges and could ultimately crumble due to legal violations.

Bringing up a proposal rife with such controversy and potential for divisiveness in the waning days of what most are saying is the most difficult legislative session in memory is a bad idea. Taking away crucial funding from public schools on top of the billions in painful cuts to public education already in the current House and Senate budget bills is unthinkable. Urge your lawmaker to stand up for public education and vote no to any attempt to create a voucher system in Texas.

Voucher program could be among amendments to fiscal matters bills

2011-05-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

With just two weeks left in the session and no agreement on funding for public education on the horizon, the Texas House is poised to tackle another controversial school issue that most didn’t see coming: Vouchers.

The State Fiscal Matters bills – SB 1811 and SB 1581 - are scheduled for consideration on the House floor tomorrow and numerous amendments are expected. One of those is likely to be an amendment offered by Rep. Sid Miller that would provide for “grants to reduce state expenditures.”

The program is outlined on a website called Taxpayer Savings Grants “A Win-Win for Texas Students and Taxpayers.”

A group called Texans for Voluntary Taxpayer Savings, Inc. operates the website. It lists 15 groups among its “coalition of supporters” including: Americans for Prosperity, Texas; Texas Public Policy Foundation; Tim Lambert, executive director for the Texas Home School Coalition; the Waco Tea Party; and the Lake Fork Tea Party Patriots.

According to the web site, the program would save the state $2 billion over a biennium by offering the voluntary grants to all parents with children in public schools. The grants would be the full price of tuition at a private school or 60 percent of the state average per-pupil spending ($5,143), whichever is less. The website claims this arrangement would save the state $3,429 for each student that took a grant.

If the proposal became law it would likely be the largest, most encompassing voucher program in the country. Most voucher programs are of a smaller scale and target low-performing schools or low-income children. Florida launched the country’s first statewide voucher program more than a decade ago, but it was plagued with problems and legal challenges. The state Supreme Court invalidated the plan in 2006, saying it violated a constitutional mandate to create a free and uniform public school system.

TASA will vigorously oppose any amendment that comes to the floor that proposes to create a voucher program, even if thinly disguised as a “savings grant.”

We urge our members to contact their legislators and tell them to vote no on any amendment that would create a voucher program and take funding away from already cash-strapped public schools.

Here is a complete list of supporters listed on the webiste:

Americans for Prosperity, Texas
Monsignor Dermott Brosnan, Founder, Patrician Movement
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Institute for Justice
Ministers for Education
Waco Tea Party
Lake Fork Tea Party Patriots
Tim Lambert, Executive Director of the Texas Home School Coalition
The Justice Foundation
JoAnn Fleming, Executive Director, Grassroots America - We the People
Liberty Institute
Conservative Republicans of Texas
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Young Conservatives of Texas
Texas Institute for Education Reform
Bro. Stanley Culotta, CSC, MD-President, Holy Cross of San Antonio
Rosemary Edwards, County Chairman-Travis County Republican Party

H-E-B awards nearly $500,000 in prizes to educators, schools and districts

2011-05-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

H-E-B handed out nearly half a million dollars in awards Sunday night to educators, individual schools and districts, thanking them for the hard work they do every day and the incredible results they produce.

The grocery store chain’s Excellence in Education Awards program has handed out more than $5 million to educators, schools and districts across the state since it began in 2002. It’s the largest monetary awards program for educators in Texas and one of the largest in the nation.

“No profession bears more responsibility than that of a teacher or school administrator,” Charles Butt, H-E-B chairman and CEO, wrote in his welcome message in the program for Sunday night’s event held at the downtown Austin Hilton. “We appreciate the contributions made not only by tonight’s honorees, but also by thousands of other Texas teachers and administrators who are working together to provide a top-level education to our state’s children.”

This year, in celebration of the program’s 10th anniversary, H-E-B added a new category: the H-E-B Fit Campus award. Ten schools from around the state were honored and received a $10,000 grant.

Like every year, H-E-B honored teachers in three categories - Rising Star, Leadership Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award – based on years of experience. Principals are also eligible for awards in elementary and secondary categories. Districts are recognized in large and small district categories.

H-E-B launched the program nearly a decade ago in cooperation with the Texas Association of School Administrators as a positive way to support public education in Texas.

“TASA is proud to participate in this awards program that recognizes the hard work and expertise of Texas educators,” said Johnny Veselka, executive director for TASA. “Through the generosity of H-E-B and Mr. Charles Butt, teachers and principals across the state are reminded that they’re appreciated and that the work they do is valued.”

More than 5,000 educators across the state were nominated for this year’s Excellence in Education Awards. H-E-B begins the process by asking customers, employees and community members to submit the names of their favorite teachers, principals and districts. Each nominee receives a letter with instructions on filling out the online application. The application asks for information on a nominee’s professional experiences, educational philosophies and achievements.

Judges from the Colleges of Education at Trinity University and Texas State University reviewed more than 800 completed applications and narrowed them to 244 semi-finalists. Five regional judging panels made up of former winners, administrators and university and community leaders chose the 40 statewide finalists, who were notified during surprise visits to their schools. Each teacher finalist received a $1,000 check for themselves and a $1,000 grant for their school. The principal finalists received a $1,000 check for themselves and a $2,500 grant for their school.

2011 H-E-B Excellence in Education Winners and Finalists

Rising Star – award for teachers with less than 10 years of classroom experience. Winners receive $5,000 for themselves and $5,000 for their school.

Elementary winner: Lindsay Richard, Wilderness Oak Elementary School, North East ISD

Elementary finalists:

Kimberly Buskirk, Gardens Elementary, Pasadena ISD
Jennifer Garcia, Hornsby-Dunlap Elementary School, Del Valle ISD
Vanessa Rincones, Sam Houston Elementary, Harlingen CISD
Christy Zamora, Flour Bluff Early Childhood Center, Flour Bluff ISD

Secondary winner: Nghia Le, Washington High School, Houston ISD

Secondary finalists:

James Butler, Uvalde High School, Uvalde CISD
Penny McCool, Lee High School & STEM Academy, North East ISD
Jason Sabotin, Arlington Heights High School, Fort Worth ISD
Jennifer Welch, Cunningham Middle School, Corpus Christi ISD

Leadership Award – for teachers with 10 to 20 years of classroom experience. Winners receive $10,000 for themselves and $10,000 for their school.

Elementary winner: Jimmie Lynn Walker, Cambridge Elementary School, Alamo Heights ISD

Elementary finalists:

Cindy Cormier, Jan Schiff Elementary School, Fort Bend ISD
Michael Massad, Sr., Patton Elementary, Austin ISD
Martha McLeod, Fulton 4-5 Grade Learning Center, Aransas County ISD
Michael Sweet, Carman Elementary, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD

Secondary winner: Rachelle Grace, McAllen Memorial High, McAllen ISD

Secondary finalists:

Carol Briggs, Westfield High, Spring ISD
Melissa Cooper, Murchison Middle, Austin ISD
David Foss, Alamo Heights High, Alamo Heights ISD
Judy Holmgreen, Alice High, Alice ISD

Lifetime Achievement – for teachers with more than 20 years of classroom experience. Winners receive $25,000 for themselves and $25,000 for their school.

Elementary winner: Richard Landmann, Forest Ridge Elementary, College Station ISD
Elementary finalists:

Jayne Doxsey, Reeces Creek Elementary, Killeen ISD
Diana Maxwell, Fort Sam Houston Elementary, Fort Sam Houston ISD
Dora Newell, Thigpen-Zavala Elementary, McAllen ISD
Belinda Silva, Menger Elementary, Corpus Christi ISD

Secondary winner: Yolanda Fernandez, Del Rio High, San Felipe Del Rio CISD

Secondary finalists:

Linda Colman, Cuero High, Cuero ISD
Janice Cuccia, Fox Tech High, San Antonio ISD
Carole Smithwick-Kiebach, Seven Lakes High, Katy ISD
Ella Whitley, Midway Middle, Midway ISD

Principal Award – one elementary school and one secondary school principal each received $10,000 for themselves and $10,000 for their school.

Elementary winner: Galen Hoffstadt, Luther Jones Elementary, Corpus Christi ISD

Elementary finalists:

Dolores Cisneros-Emerson, Morningside Elementary, Brownsville ISD
Levinia Lara, Hoffmann Elementary, Northside ISD (San Antonio)
Ann Lilie, Summitt Elementary, Austin ISD
Erin Tite, James F. Bay Elementary, Clear Creek ISD

Secondary winner: David Gonzalez, George Washington Middle, United ISD

Secondary finalists:

R. Scott Allen, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston ISD
Michael Cardona, Lee High, North East ISD
Patricia Castillo, Cunningham Middle, Corpus Christi ISD
Charles Pickitt, Richardson High, Richardson ISD

Statewide District Award – the large district category winner (4A and 5A) receives $100,000 and the small district category winner (1A 2A, 3A) receives $50,000.

Large district winner: Harlandale ISD, Superintendent Robert Jaklich

Large district finalists:

Brownsville ISD, Superintendent Brett Springston
Conroe ISD, Superintendent Don Stockton
Edinburg CISD, Superintendent Rene Gutierrez
Mesquite ISD, Superintendent Linda Henrie

Small district winner: Splendora ISD, Superintendent Thomas Price

Small district finalists:

Aransas County ISD, Superintendent Joseph Patek
Argyle ISD, Superintendent Telena Wright

Statewide Fit Campus Winners - Each campus receives $10,000 toward implementing a new health and fitness program or enhancing a current program.

C.D. Fulkes Middle, Round Rock ISD, Principal Nancy Guerrero

Tejeda Middle, North East ISD, Principal Brenda Shelton

Friendswood Junior High, Friendswood ISD, Principal Dana Drew

Fulmore Middle, Austin ISD, Principal Lisa Bush

Irene C. Cardwell Elementary, San Felipe Del Rio CISD, Principal Linda Guanajuato-Webb

Pleasant Hill Elementary, Leander ISD, Principal Lana Collier

Rodriguez Elementary, Seguin ISD, Principal Yomeida Guerro

Solomon P. Ortiz Elementary, Brownsville ISD, Principal Sandra Lopez

South Belt Elementary, Pasadena ISD, Principal Candy Howard

Webb Middle, Austin ISD, Principal Rey Garcia

Perry's call doesn't sit well with senators

2011-05-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Gov. Rick Perry held a teleconference last week with the anti-tax group Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. The organization placed calls to thousands of Texas voters at the beginning of the teleconference, and those who didn't answer got a voicemail from the governor.

"Like you, I know it's essential that we live within our means, whether it's the family finances or the state budget," Perry's message began. "As our economy generates jobs at a rate other states can only dream of, we need to maintain the discipline that got us here. The legislators that we elect, whether they serve in the House or the Senate, need to keep our state living within its means by cutting spending, protecting the rainy day fund and saying no to any new taxes or revenue schemes."

Some members of the Senate apparently took the message as a personal rebuke. The Senate's version of the state's budget spends more money than the House version - though it still cuts $4 billion from public education - and there has been discussion about dipping into the Rainy Day Fund in the Senate. That option seems to be a nonstarter in the House.

One of the Texans who received the call was the wife of Sen. Steve Ogden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

“I don’t appreciate it. It’s not helping,” Ogden told the Austin American-Statesman. “To have them calling my wife trashing me does not make me happy, no.”

Two bills now aiming at opening UIL to private schools

2011-05-13T14:42:00.001-07:00

A bill by Sen. Dan Patrick to allow private schools to participate in UIL competitions has already passed the Senate and is waiting on its chance to be heard in the House.

But Patrick is hedging his bets and doubling his efforts by hitching his bill as an amendment to another bill by Rep. Scott Hochberg that also deals with UIL issues, but has nothing to do with private schools.

Patrick’s bill, SB 1214, passed the Senate 22-7 last week. It allows private schools onto UIL playing fields with two major exceptions – football and basketball.

Patrick, who has tried to get the UIL to open up to private schools since 2007, said exempting those two sports was necessary to get the bill passed. The football/basketball exemption was added to the bill as an amendment on the Senate floor.

Patrick’s bill now goes to the House for consideration. It’s been referred to the House Public Education Committee.

Meanwhile, Hochberg filed HB 370, a bill that would allow students who transfer to a school or move into the attendance zone of a school for the purpose of participating in an extracurricular activity or a specific UIL competition to participate if it’s not offered at the school from which the student transferred.

Hochberg’s bill passed the House unanimously, and then headed to the Senate. Patrick, added an amendment to Hochberg’s bill on the Senate floor that included essentially the text of his bill regarding private schools participation in UIL competitions. On Tuesday, the Senate approved the bill 30-1.

The bill as amended requires final approval by the House. Once the bill is eligible in the House, Hochberg will either accept the amendment or request the bill go to conference committee.

Texas is one of a handful of states with separate athletic championships for public and private schools. The UIL has about 1,300 members. The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, or TAPPS, has about 250.

For years the UIL has battled lawsuits and legislative pressure seeking to bring public and private school competitions under one umbrella. UIL members point out that private schools have the ability to recruit athletes, offering scholarships and incentives, creating an unfair advantage.

The UIL has given up some ground on the issue: In 2003, they allowed Houston Strake Jesuit and Dallas Jesuit to compete because those schools had become too large for TAPPS and had nowhere else to play.

In 2008, Strake Jesuit had the top-ranked boys’ basketball team before losing in the state semifinals. Dallas Jesuit became the first private school to win a state team championship in the 100-year history of the UIL when it won the Class 5A boys’ state soccer title in 2010.

TASA is encouraging it’s members to call their representatives and ask them to vote against any measure that would expand private schools’ participation in the UIL.

Public school students deserve an even playing field. Allowing schools with the power to offer scholarships to elite athletes to compete with traditional public schools, where sports teams are fielded from the students assigned to that school and nothing more, is patently unfair.

Raise Your Hand Texas gets Hollywood heavyweight and business leader to speak up for school funding

2011-05-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Raise Your Hand Texas has enlisted some heavy hitters to advocate for public education funding in public service announcements that recently began airing on television.

Movie star and eighth-generation Texan Tommy Lee Jones says “Don’t bankrupt our future by cutting back on our kids” in the RYHT spot featuring him. Another commercial features Texans native Ed Whitacre, former chairman and CEO of General Motors and AT&T, who says: "Education isn't a cost, it's an investment."

Check out Tommy Lee’s commercial.

Texas PTA poll shows support for using Rainy Day fund

2011-04-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Texas PTA conducted a poll of its members and found that the vast majority support using a portion of the Rainy Day Fund to address the state's funding shortfall.

View the results of the poll that focused on three questions regarding public education funding.

Rallies draw dozens supporting cuts to state budget, thousands opposing cuts

2011-04-06T14:48:00.001-07:00

Dueling rallies took place at the Capitol today – one held to praise the members of the Texas House for passing HB 1 and making massive cuts in funding in areas like education and healthcare, and one decrying that move and imploring lawmakers to spend the Rainy Day Fund and find new sources of revenue to fund programs important to Texas, public education chief among them.

The first gathering, held at 11 a.m. on the north steps of the Capitol was actually a press conference organized by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Empower Texas, the Liberty Institute, and the National Federation of Independent Business-Texas. Also on hand to speak were Tea Party presidents from San Antonio and Waco.

About a hundred people gathered for the press conference where the theme of government “living within its means” was struck again and again.

Arlene Wohlgemuth with the Texas Public Policy Foundation said its time for Texas to “tighten its belt” and that spending government money takes money out of the private sector. The House, she said, did the right thing in passing HB 1, though Wohlgemuth believes cuts could go even deeper. She, and every other speaker at press conference, opposes touching the Rainy Day Fund and any attempt to raise additional revenue.

“States with lower taxes and lower regulation laws outperform those with higher taxes and higher regulation,” she said.

Talmadge Heflin, director of TPPF’s Center for Fiscal Policy said House members did “yeomen’s work” in passing HB 1, though he said it isn’t a perfect bill because, in his opinion, cuts don’t go far enough.

“It’s a bill that doesn’t raise taxes and takes no money out of the Rainy Day Fund,” Heflin said. “The Senate needs to make more cuts rather than looking for more revenue.”

Several speakers hinted at the number of supporters at their press conference compared with the thousands expected to gather just an hour later on the south steps of the Capitol, saying they represented Texans who didn’t take a day off to come protest.

Those that did, however, seemed to think it was worth a vacation day or missed pay for a day to come participate in the political process. Organizers of the Save Our State rally expected to have a final count later Wednesday evening but by noon well over 2,000 supporters flooded the south steps and lawn of the Capitol, many carrying banners and signs with a “No Cuts” message.

The rally, organized largely by the Texas State Employees Union, drew parents, college students, educators and state workers from across Texas. Union chapters and community organizations from around the state sent busloads of people to the Capitol for the event.

Representatives Sylvester Turner, Joaquin Castro and Mike Villarreal also arranged for buses to bring constituents from their districts.

“We’re here to save our state,” said Judy Lugo, president of the Texas State Employees Union. “We’re all here today because we’re all in this together. Every Texan, now and for years to come, will suffer the consequences if the Texas Legislature does not change course.”

Amid changes of “No cuts” and “It’s raining, it’s pouring, Perry is snoring,” organizers also thanked lawmakers who voted against HB 1, at least 15 of whom attended the rally.

Sen. Kirk Watson spoke to the crowd, telling them the state is facing a crisis and lawmakers aren’t addressing it.

“It’s a crisis that threatens our families, our children and our future,” he said.

The president of the Texas League of Young Voters, Osadeba Oomokaro, told the crowd that growing up in Missouri City, Texas, he received a great education and his teachers told him that with hard work and ambition he could accomplish anything. Now, the young college student said he feels state lawmakers are taking that promise away.

“You can not make the cuts and expect us to pay for it. You can not make the cuts and kill our dreams,” he said. “You can not make the cuts and expect us to be quiet.”

How to contact legislators

2011-03-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

To make it easier for our members who want to send an email to senators and representatives on the Senate Education Committee and the House Public Education Committee, here's a list of those people with links to their email forms. Unfortunately, members don't provide email addresses but have a form on their web pages to send them an email. Click on their name to fill out the form and send them a message. The Legislature needs to hear from school district leaders about how budget cuts are affecting them.

My previous blog post provides some talking points if you'd like to use them.

Senate Education

Chair: Florence Shapiro

Vice-Chair: Dan Patrick

John Carona

Wendy Davis

Mario Gallegos

Steve Ogden

Kel Seliger

Leticia Van de Putte

Royce West

House Public Education Committee

Chair: Rob Eissler

Vice-Chair: Scott Hochberg

Alma Allen

Jimmie Don Aycock

Harold Dutton Jr.

Ryan Guillen

Dan Huberty

Mark Shelton

Todd Smith

Mark Strama

Randy Weber

Talking points for lawmakers, the media and your community

2011-03-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

It is crucial for superintendents, school board members, teachers, parents and all Texans who care about the future of the state to make sure their voices are heard in Austin – and timing is critical.

The current proposed budgets in the House and Senate call for draconian cuts to Texas public schools, cuts so deep that there’s no way to avoid a major impact on the way we deliver education. We need lawmakers to make education a priority, to minimize the impact on education and give school districts the flexibility to weather cuts.

Please contact your legislators as soon as possible. Here are some key points to make with them, emphasizing that school superintendents and local school boards need as many tools as possible to mitigate budget cuts:

•    Vote YES to using a portion of the state’s Rainy Day Fund for public education. Leadership and the Texas Legislature have already taken raising taxes off the table this session. Discussions about severe cuts to public education are ongoing and the proposed House budget would cut funding for public education by $9.8 billion and the proposed Senate budget would cut $9.3 billion.   Such massive cuts would result in a loss of funding of approximately $1,000 per student. Without raising new taxes, the only way the Texas Legislature could reduce the proposed cuts for public education is to rely on funding from the state's Rainy Day Fund. The Rainy Day Fund belongs to the state and it exists for emergencies. Public schools are in a state of emergency.

•    Support legislation to replace the 22:1 class size limit with a district wide average of 22:1 and provide that no class may exceed 25 students. With massive budget cuts looming and 85 percent of district’s budgets going to salaries, the 22:1 mandate in grades K-4 would mean districts would have no choice but to create much larger classes in higher grades. Flexibility on this mandate, while still maintaining a cap of no more than 25 students in those classes, would allow district leaders to spread the burden more equitably while still ensuring a manageable class size limit in those early grades.

•    Help districts avoid layoffs. Current state law prohibits school districts from decreasing the salary of full-time teachers, nurses, counselors, librarians, and speech pathologists below the 2010-11 salary level. Repealing this provision would allow districts to lower salaries of existing employees, reducing personnel costs to minimize or avoid layoffs.

•    Support legislation to allow school districts to temporarily furlough employees. Under current law, an educator employed under a 10-month contract must provide 187 days of services. School districts are required to provide 180 days of instruction for students. Allowing districts the ability to temporarily furlough employees for up to seven non-instructional days and reduce salaries accordingly would provide districts financial flexibility while keeping teachers employed and without reducing the number of days students attend school.

•    Support legislation to change the deadline of notification regarding renewal of term contracts. Current law requires districts to provide notice of intent to non-renew a teacher’s expiring contract 45-days prior to the last day of instruction. In order to meet the 45-day notification deadline, districts must send these notices out in mid-April. The 45-day nonrenewal notice deadline should be changed for several reasons: It is bad for students, as it occurs while teachers are administering the state tests; it is bad for teachers, because student test scores are not available in time to inform the district’s personnel decisions; and it makes efficient budgeting and planning impossible, because staffing plans must be developed before districts knows how much state funding they will receive. School districts need a permanent change to the notice deadline, making it at the end of the instructional year rather than mid-April to give district leaders the flexibility in the future to budget efficiently and, more importantly, to make sure students aren’t negatively impacted.

Talking points for media and/or the community: Explaining the budget shortfall

Explaining Texas’ school finance system and how we arrived at the budget crisis the state finds itself in today isn’t easy. Your community needs to understand that the state’s shortfall is due to a structural budget deficit, not only the economy, and certainly not because of money mismanagement at the district level. Here are some key points to make that case:

•    Because of changes the Legislature made to the school finance system in 2006, our district has been operating with essentially the same amount of per-pupil revenue for the past five years. Meanwhile, annual costs - including a state-mandated teacher pay raise - have continued to go up. Standards have continued to increase as well, which means districts are not only being asked to do more with less, but do it better.

•    The next two years bring even more challenges and districts need adequate funding to meet those challenges. (Here talk about your district's growing or declining enrollment and explain how the scenario affects your district's bottom line, such as hiring more personnel, building facilities for growing districts, the challenges of less funding for declining enrollment and decisions that have to be made of closing schools for districts with declining enrollment. Also talk about growing population of economically disadvantaged, LEP and special education students and how these groups require more personalized instruction.)

•    During the 2012-13 school year, we will begin administering end-of-course exams, which will be more rigorous than the exit-level TAKS. Despite the budget deficit, lawmakers have so far been adamant that there should be no delay in implementing the new system, even though they acknowledge the financial strain it will place on districts. (Be specific about what types of programs will need to be implemented to prepare students for EOC's and other costs associated with the new testing program.)

•    Because we have been in financial crisis since the Legislature froze funding levels in 2006, our district has already cut costs wherever possible. (Give specific examples of cost-cutting measures.)

•    During this past school year, we spent $__ per student, of which $__ went directly to instruction. Only __ percent of the district's budget was spent on district administration and __ percent was spent on campus administration. If our state funding is cut at the level that lawmakers are now talking about, we anticipate having to cut the following programs and services: (be as specific as you can.)

•    Failing to invest in today's schoolchildren is dangerous and ultimately unfair. Texas children need and deserve a quality education. If funding is cut for our schools, our students and the state's economy will pay the price.

Save Texas Schools expect thousands at march and rally

2011-03-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

School superintendents have long seen the current budget crisis looming on the horizon and have been urging legislators to do something to repair the structural budget deficit that would ultimately lead to the budget shortfall we have today.

But with all the media attention now squarely focused on education and what draconian cuts will mean for local schools, teachers, parents and students across the state are taking notice and getting involved.

Perhaps the best example of the groundswell of support for public schools lately is Save Texas Schools. The group has its roots in Austin, where local parents concerned about potential school closures began organizing. But they soon took their message statewide and now have thousands of supporters from across Texas. As of Thursday afternoon, almost 3,300 people were following Save Texas Schools on Facebook.

On March 12, Save Texas Schools is holding a march and rally at the State Capitol and are expecting at least 3,000 people to attend.

Their core message runs parallel to TASA’s legislative priorities and is similar to TASA and TASB’s Make Education a Priority campaign focus.

From the Save Texas Schools website:

What is Save Texas Schools?

Save Texas Schools is a nonpartisan statewide volunteer coalition of parents, students, educators, business leaders, concerned citizens, community groups and faith organizations. Our goal is to educate our state’s elected officials about the importance of maintaining funding for Texas public education – from pre-K through college – to the maximum degree possible, within the context of the current state budget crisis and beyond.

What Does Save Texas Schools Stand For?

Save Texas Schools calls on our state’s elected leaders to make education a top priority. Specifically, we ask them to take the following emergency measures immediately:

Use the $9.3 billion Texas “Rainy Day” Fund to support schools.
Sign the paperwork for $830 Million in federal aid for teachers.
Fix school funding laws to be fair to all districts and to our state’s growing student population.

The march will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 12, at 12^th and Trinity, one block east of the Capitol. The rally will be from noon until 2 p.m. on the south steps of the Capitol. According to the group’s website, a list of speakers and entertainment is in the works for the “historic, non-partisan, family-friendly event.”

Tracking the Education Dollar

2011-02-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

An updated version of Tracking the Education Dollar in Texas Public Schools is now available on TASA’s web site.

The report, prepared by Moak, Casey & Associates and sponsored by TASA, TASB and TASBO, has overall information about how much money is spent on education in the state and in what areas, but also breaks down the education dollar from the perspective of the Texas public school student. Figures are presented in terms of pennies on the total education dollar using basic educational costs from 2008-09 PEIMS data.

The data show that education is a labor-intensive business, with 80 percent of the education dollar going to salaries and benefits.

This can be a very useful document for sharing budget information with your community. Hope you find it helpful.

In education, one size doesn't fit all

2011-02-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

There’s another statistic out there lawmakers are paying attention to and using as a justification for cutting funding for public schools.

It’s from the Legislative Budget Board and shows that Texas has more employees per student than any other state in the country. According to the LBB, Texas has 273 employees for every 10,000 students. That’s substantially higher than California, which has 193 employees per 10,000 students.

Some lawmakers have pointed to that and intimated that if California can get by with fewer people, why can’t we? Well, right off the top of my head, I think the first question we should ask ourselves is do we really want to model our public education system after California’s?

But I figured we need some research to back up a defense of that number beyond bashing California. So here it is. Yes, we do have more employees per student than California. The answer is largely due to our sheer geographical size and the fact that so much of Texas is sparsely populated, making small schools a necessity. Smaller schools are more expensive to operate per student than large schools. That’s just an economic fact.

For example, Texas has only nine high schools in the entire state with a population of 3,500 or more. And only four of those schools – Elsik High and Hastings High, both in Alief ISD, North Shore Senior High in Galena Park ISD, and Skyline High in Dallas ISD – are north of the 4,000-student mark. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles County alone, there are 13 schools with more than 4,000 students and many of those approaching 5,000 students.

Some might question if packing that many kids in a school in the first place is a wise investment, but I’ll leave that debate for another time and focus on the economics.

The total number of schools in California is 9,855, with a student population of about 6.2 million students. That means an average school enrollment of 628. Texas has 8,342 schools for 4.7 million students. That’s an average school enrollment of 577.

But you really see what makes Texas different if you break the average enrollment numbers up by school size.

Here’s the average number of students per school in districts based on size:

50,000 students and higher: average school size 765

25,000-49,999 students: average school size 798

10,000-24,999 students: average school size 681

5,000-9,999 students: average school size 631

3,000-4,999 students: average school size 530

1,600-2,999 students: average school size 438

1,000-1,599 students: average school size 323

500-999 students: average school size 230

Under 500 students: average school size 152

Those numbers make it easy to see the economy of scale. And in Texas, where so many districts are geographically large and rural, 1.3 million kids attend school in districts of 10,000 students or less.

Another interesting fact, while Texas has more employees than California, a higher percentage of those employees are classroom teachers. While 50 percent of Texas public school employees are teachers, that number is 46 percent in California.

Our demographics, geography and population are beyond school districts’ control. Public school leaders are doing their best to provide Texas schoolchildren with what they need to succeed. And what Texas students need is not necessarily the same thing students in Oklahoma, Arizona or even California need.

Education isn’t one size fits all.

Clearing up the misconceptions about 1:1

2011-02-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

At a time when the Legislature is looking to gut education funding, it seems a lot of interesting, previously obscure, statistics pop up and get repeated.

One of those is the 1:1 ratio of teachers to non-teaching staff in Texas and, according to one study, that the ratio has shifted from 5:1 in the 1970s. Lawmakers often point to it in breathless tones of disbelief, as if stating the statistic alone justifies cuts in education.

But, as with any statistic, context is needed.

Recent research by Moak, Casey and Associates highlights the misperceptions around those statistics. Here’s the rest of the story: Texas didn’t count all staff in the 1970s. The largest portion of non-teaching staff – auxiliary personnel – were not counted until the PEIMS data system was established in the ‘80s, so the two numbers are not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Moak, Casey found that a look at comparable data shows the percentage of teachers to non-teachers has actually not changed substantially since the late 1980s. The percentage of staff that are teachers has declined slightly, from 52 percent to 50 percent since the 1989-90 school year, but the ratio has remained essentially the same for more than 20 years.

And here’s another thing that bothers me about that argument: The implication that those employees in the “non-teaching” categories don’t contribute to what goes on in the classroom. Of course, we all realize the importance of the classroom teacher and what a critical factor that person is in a child’s education. But there is support that is necessary for that teacher to do his or her job.

In using the 1:1 ratio, some have been referring to all those “non-teaching” positions as “administrators". This brings to mind images of tie-wearing bureaucrats at central office. (Bureaucrats, by the way, who have the responsibility of hiring the best teachers, developing curriculum, cutting paychecks, managing multi-million dollar budgets, keeping track of mountains of regulatory paperwork required by the state and federal governments, etc.)

Those central office folks have important jobs that require specialized skill sets. But if there was a 1:1 ratio of central administration staff to teachers, I think we could all agree that would be ridiculous. In truth, central administrators make up only 1 percent of school employees. That doesn’t sound outrageous to me, nor does it jive with that 1:1 ratio.

You could lump campus administrators in with that number, but they only make up another 3 percent of public school district employees.

So who are the rest?

They are professional support (9 percent), educational aides (10 percent) and auxiliary staff (27 percent).

And what do they do?

Educational aides help teachers in classrooms, often with special needs children, providing one-on-one attention to kids who need it most. Auxiliary staff includes bus drivers who get children to and from school safely, cafeteria workers who feed them breakfast and lunch, custodians who keep their schools clean and safe, and school secretaries who staff the front office, register kids for school and help parents on a daily basis.

In the current budget outlook, it’s inevitable that some of these crucial positions will be eliminated. But to assume that eliminating them won’t affect the classroom is ludicrous. To use a military term, these are “mission essential” people. Cutting these positions will affect children. Their school day will be different. The atmosphere will change. More will be required of teachers, which will mean less time for what they should be focusing on: instruction.

To imply otherwise is at best naïve.

Talking points: Discussing the budget

2011-02-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

Several superintendents during TASA's Midwinter Conference mentioned that having talking points at the ready would be helpful for speaking to legislators, members of the media and the community about how budget cuts will affect public schools and why it's important for lawmakers to Make Education a Priority.

TASA and TASB staff generated some talking points when we were preparing for editorial board meetings at newspapers across the state in the fall. At those meetings, members of TASA and TASB talked about the state of school funding and how budget cuts would affect their districts.

Here are some of the broad points they covered. Feel free to use these in your own districts.

Because of changes the Legislature made to the school finance system in 2006, our district has been operating with essentially the same amount of per-pupil revenue for the past five years. Meanwhile, annual costs - including a state-mandated teacher pay raise - have continued to go up. Standards have continued to increase as well, which means districts are not only being asked to do more with less, but do it better.

The next two years bring even more challenges and districts need adequate funding to meet those challenges. (Here talk about your district's growing or declining enrollment and explain how the scenario affects your district's bottom line, such as hiring more personnel, building facilities for growing districts, the challenges of less funding for declining enrollment and decisions that have to be made of closing schools for districts with declining enrollment. Also talk about growing population of economically disadvantaged, LEP and special education students and how these groups require more personalized instruction.)

During the 2012-13 school year, we will begin administering end-of-course exams, which will be more rigorous than the exit-level TAKS. Despite the budget deficit, lawmakers have so far been adamant that there should be no delay in implementing the new system, even though they acknowledge the financial strain it will place on districts. (Be specific about what types of programs will need to be implemented to prepare students for EOC's and other costs associated with the new testing program.)

Because we have been in financial crisis since the Legislature froze funding levels in 2006, our district has already cut costs wherever possible. (Give specific examples of cost-cutting measures.)

During this past school year, we spent $__ per student, of which $__ went directly to instruction. Only __ percent of the district's budget was spent on district administration and __ percent was spent on campus administration. If our state funding is cut at the level that lawmakers are now talking about, we anticipate having to cut the following programs and services: (be as specific as you can.)

Failing to invest in today's schoolchildren is dangerous and ultimately unfair. Texas children need and deserve a quality education. If funding is cut for our schools, our students and the state's economy will pay the price.

President's speech focused on education - was Texas listening?

2011-01-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

President Obama delivered his State of the Union address last night and spent roughly 10 minutes of his 60-minute speech talking exclusively about education.

Two of the standing ovations his speech drew were when he talked about the importance of teachers, how the field should be respected and how we should be encouraging our best and brightest to go into it.

It reminded me of the grassroots movement TASA and TASB have gotten behind called Make Education a Priority. Education seems to always be at the top of every politician’s list when it’s election time or speech time, but how many really make it a priority?

TASA and TASB are holding a news conference on Monday where trustees and superintendents will implore lawmakers to make education a priority while building the state’s budget. They’ll also address the draconian effects proposed cuts will have on Texas schools.

But beyond the “is it really a priority” question, another irony struck me during the President’s address. He talked about how crucial it is to America’s success that we maintain our leadership in research and technology and to do that, he said, we “also have to win the race to educate our kids.”

Obama painted a vivid picture of the very real competition between the U.S. and countries like China and India. A competition in which we’re faltering, the President said, with nearly a quarter of students dropping out of high school, math and science education that lags behind many other nations, and a ranking of 9^th in the proportion of young people with a college degree.

After highlighting the bad news, Obama issued a challenge: Is America “willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed?” He talked about the role of parents, the community, and schools, and that we need to teach our kids hard work and discipline. He talked about No Child Behind, how it will be replaced this year with a law that’s more flexible and focused on what’s best for kids.

“We know what’s possible from our children when reform isn’t just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals, school boards and communities,” Obama said.

And finally he talked about teachers. How, after parents, the teacher is the biggest impact on a child’s success. In South Korea, Obama said. Teachers are known as “nation builders.” He called for the same level of respect for teachers in the U.S. and the need to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, as baby boomers retire from the classroom.

And here’s where the irony comes in. If you’re a teacher in Texas, or a student at a Texas university studying to be a teacher, that particular comment must’ve been hard to reconcile.

The president is talking about recruiting 100,000 teachers, yet in Texas, draconian budget cuts the likes of which schools have never seen may result in the loss of 100,000 school jobs.

In Texas, we aren’t talking about investing, we’re talking about gutting. In addition to cutting nearly $10 billion from the Foundation School Program over the next two years, the House budget proposal also eliminates grant programs that provide funding for some of the crucial areas the President talked about: $271 million for the technology allotment; $223 million for pre-kindergarten programs; $86 million for the High School Completion and Success Initiative; and $16 million for reading, math and science initiatives.

It’s a difficult balance for lawmakers to be sure. They must be fiscally responsible in tough budget times, and make sure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely. But they also must stimulate the economy and build a vibrant job market.

One thing is for sure, in the global competition America finds itself in today, skimping on education is an incredibly risky move.

National report looks at impact of economy on education

2011-01-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Texas ranked 13^th in the nation on Education Week’s 2011 Quality Counts report released this week, earning high marks for standards, school accountability, early-childhood education, college readiness and economy and workforce.

The annual report has a theme each year, and this time it was the impact of the economy on education.

Researchers at Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit organization that publishes Education Week, surveyed states on the economy’s impact on their education system and examined the effect of stimulus spending on education. According to the ARRA aid report, stimulus dollars have helped create or save about 650,000 jobs, with more than half of those jobs linked to money distributed by the U.S. Department of Education.

Perhaps ironically, Texas is touted as a bright spot in a section of the report called “Economic Snapshots.” It points out that Texas has managed to avoid cuts to prekindergarten, elementary and secondary education during the economic downturn and has an unemployment rate below the national average.

That kudos came the same week that lawmakers learned they’re facing a $27 billion budget deficit, one to rival California’s, as they build the state’s budget for the next two years.

Today, House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, announced he’ll introduce a budget bill Tuesday that assumes no new money for state programs, no new taxes and no use of the Rainy Day Fund.

New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman said in a recent column that Texas state government has relied for years on “smoke and mirrors to create the illusion of sound finances in the face of a serious structural budget deficit.”

“When the recession struck, hitting revenue in Texas just as it did everywhere else,” Krugman went on to say, “That illusion was bound to collapse.”

We know school districts are doing a phenomenal job of preparing students for the next step, whether that step is to kindergarten or college. Texas teachers work under some of the toughest accountability measures in the country and are educating their students to the nation’s highest standards, according to the report.

The question is, will schools be able to maintain that performance in the face of budget cuts that lawmakers are promising? And, what will Quality Counts have to say about Texas and how the economy impacted education here next year?

First Order of Business

2011-01-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

The 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature convenes Tuesday, kicking off what many say will be the most difficult session in recent history. In this blog entry, Ramiro Canales, TASA's assistant executive director of governmental relations, provides his take on what tomorrow holds.

Ramiro Canales:

1-11-11.

The numbers represent more than a date. It is the first day of the 82^nd Legislature, Regular Session. Beginning tomorrow, lawmakers have 140 days in which to address historic budgetary challenges. With a budget deficit looming close to $30 billion and revenue generators off the negotiating table, draconian cuts to programs are expected to be the solution du jour.

Today may set the tone for the 82^nd Texas Legislature. First, Comptroller Susan Combs released her revenue estimate and indicated that available revenue will be around $72.2 billion for the next biennium beginning September 1. The revenue estimate is the first step in the budgeting process and a base budget is expected to be released later this week or next. Using that revenue estimate, some analysts believe that the deficit will be around $26.8 billion since $99 billion is needed to fund services at current levels. The $99 billion figure is based on state agency requests. Additionally, over $4 billion may be needed to cover services for the current biennium. And second, the House Republican Caucus will meet today to discuss the speaker’s race, which has been very contentious. At issue is whether the new super-majority should elect the speaker of the house without input from the Democratic minority. Capitol insiders differ on the significance of the meeting since the real vote that counts will be cast tomorrow afternoon after lawmakers are sworn in.

In previous sessions, the first day has been ceremonial for both the Texas House and Texas Senate. However, in light of planned protests at the Texas Capitol by citizens groups, tomorrow’s vote on the speaker’s race may be protracted and delay the usual starting time for the jovial festivities that are common on opening day. If a speaker of the house is elected on the first day as required by the Texas Constitution, the Texas House will discuss adopting rules for the 82^nd Legislature this week or early next.

The key issue facing the Texas Senate in the next coming days is whether to eliminate or modify the two-thirds tradition, which has allowed eleven senators to block legislation from being considered on the senate floor. Commonly known as the “two-thirds rule,” it has been very effective in killing contentious legislation. Some senators want to eliminate the rule completely. Others want to modify it. The debate over this issue should be lively in the days to come.

Every session has its own character. In the next few days, we’ll know what lies ahead between now and Sine Die.

Stay tuned.

"Make Education a Priority"

2010-12-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

As of Friday, 253 public school districts have adopted the “Make Education a Priority” resolution. That’s a great start. But, we would encourage every school board across Texas to pass the resolution by their January board meeting and send it to your legislators.

Some people have asked what it means to make education a priority? The answer is as simple as the statement: during the campaign season, candidates emphatically stated “education is a priority.” Now that campaign season is over, it’s time for our legislators to “Make Education a Priority” as they draft the state’s budget for the next two years.

The Texas Constitution requires the legislature to fund a system of public education. And, the legislature has designed the system of education we have today. With “Make Education a Priority,” we’re merely asking the legislature to fund the system of public education they created and are expecting us to implement.

If your district hasn’t done so already, pass the “Make Education a Priority” resolution at the December or January Board meeting so that when the legislative session begins in mid-January, no legislator can escape our consistent message: “Make Education a Priority” as you debate and develop the state’s budget for the 2012-13 biennium.

Texas school districts that have adopted the resolution as of Dec. 3, 2010:

 Abbott ISD - Academy ISD - Aledo ISD - Apple Springs ISD - Aransas County ISD - Argyle ISD - Avalon ISD - Azle ISD - Banquete ISD - Beeville ISD - Bellevue ISD - Bells ISD - Big Sandy ISD - Birdville ISD - Blanket ISD - Boerne ISD - Boling ISD - Bonham ISD - Brady ISD - Bridge City ISD - Bridgeport ISD - Brock ISD - Brookeland ISD - Brownsboro ISD - Brownwood ISD - Bryan ISD - Buena Vista ISD - Bullard ISD - Burkburnett ISD - Burkeville ISD - Burleson ISD - Burnet Consolidated ISD - Caddo Mills ISD - Calallen ISD - Callisburg ISD - Carlisle ISD - Carrizo Springs CISD - Carroll ISD - Carthage ISD - Celeste ISD - Center ISD - Center Point ISD - Channelview ISD - Charlotte ISD - Cherokee ISD - Chico ISD - Chireno ISD - Chisum ISD - Claude ISD - Clear Creek ISD - Clyde CISD - Coleman ISD - College Station ISD - Colmesneil ISD - Columbia-Brazoria ISD - Commerce ISD - Comstock ISD - Coolidge ISD - Cooper ISD - Crandall ISD - Crane ISD - Cranfills Gap ISD - Crockett County CCSD - Crosbyton CISD - Crowley ISD - Cuero ISD - Cumby ISD - Danbury ISD - Decatur ISD - Denison ISD - Denton ISD - Diboll ISD - Dripping Springs ISD - Dublin ISD - Duncanville ISD - Ector County ISD - Eden Consolidated ISD - Edgewood ISD - Ennis ISD - Eula ISD - Everman ISD - Fannindel ISD - Farmersville ISD - Farwell ISD - Ferris ISD - Fort Bend ISD - Frisco ISD - Fruitvale ISD - Ganado ISD - Garner ISD - Gatesville ISD - Gonzales ISD - Goose Creek CISD - Graford ISD - Graham ISD - Granbury ISD - Grand Saline ISD - Grape Creek ISD - Grapevine-Colleyville ISD - Greenville ISD - Gregory-Portland ISD - Gunter ISD - Hamlin ISD - Hamshire-Fannett ISD - Hardin ISD - Hardin-Jefferson ISD - Harleton ISD - Hawley ISD - Hemphill ISD - Highland Park ISD (Amarillo TX) - Hillsboro ISD - Holliday ISD - Hudson ISD - Humble ISD - Hutto ISD - Iraan-Sheffield ISD - Jacksonville ISD - Jasper ISD - Johnson City ISD - Jonesboro ISD - Katy ISD - Keller ISD - Kemp ISD - Kilgore ISD - Kingsville ISD - Kountze ISD - La Marque ISD - La Porte ISD - Lake Dallas ISD - Lamar Consolidated ISD - Latexo ISD - Lewisville ISD - Lingleville ISD - Lipan ISD - Little Cypress-Mauriceville CISD - Lone Oak ISD - Louise ISD - Lovelady ISD - Lyford Consolidated ISD - Lytle ISD - Mabank ISD - Malakoff ISD - Marion ISD - Martin's Mill ISD - Mason ISD - Mathis ISD - Milano ISD - Milford ISD - Miller Grove ISD - Millsap ISD - Mission Consolidated ISD - Morton ISD - Moulton ISD - Navasota ISD - Nazareth ISD - Nederland ISD - Needville ISD - New Caney ISD - Newton ISD - Nordheim ISD - Northside ISD - Northwest ISD - Novice ISD - O'Donnell ISD - Olton ISD - Orangefield ISD - Overton ISD - Paducah ISD - Paint Rock ISD - Palmer ISD - Pampa ISD - Panhandle ISD - Panther Creek Consolidated ISD - Paradise ISD - Peaster ISD - Perrin-Whitt Consolidated ISD - Pflugerville ISD - Petersburg ISD - Pine Tree ISD - Pleasant Grove ISD - Port Aransas ISD - Port Neches-Grove ISD - Pottsboro ISD - Rains ISD - Ralls ISD - Reagan County ISD - Red Lick ISD - Red Oak ISD - Redwater ISD - Rice Consolidated ISD - River Road ISD - Robinson ISD - Rochelle ISD - Rockdale ISD - Round Rock ISD - Royse City ISD - Rusk ISD - Sabine Pass ISD - Sam Rayburn ISD - San Augustine ISD - San Felipe-Del CISD - San Saba ISD - Sanford-Fritch ISD - Santo ISD - Savoy ISD - Schulenburg ISD - Seymour ISD - Sharyland ISD - Shelbyville ISD - Sheldon ISD - Silsbee ISD - Skidmore-Tynan ISD - Smithville ISD - South Texas ISD - Southland ISD - Southside ISD - Springtown ISD - Spur ISD - Spurger ISD - Stamford ISD - Stephenville ISD - Sterling City ISD - Sunnyvale ISD - Sweetwater ISD - Tahoka ISD - Thorndale ISD - Throckmoton ISD - Tolar ISD - Trenton ISD - Trinity ISD - Tulia ISD - Valley View ISD - Van Alstyne ISD - Van ISD - Vernon ISD - Vidor ISD - Warren ISD - Waskom ISD - Weatherford ISD - West Orange-Cove CISD - West Oso ISD - West Sabine ISD - Westwood ISD - White Settlement ISD - Whitesboro ISD - Whitewright ISD - Wichita Falls ISD - Wills Point ISD - Windthorst ISD - Woden ISD - Wylie ISD - Ysleta ISD - Zavalla ISD

Teacher groups concerned over changes in Educator’s Code of Ethics

2010-11-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

The Texas State Board of Education endorsed an updated Educators’ Code of Ethics last week that raised so much concern among teachers that every major teacher organization was opposed to the revision.

Here’s testimony provided to the SBOE from Texas AFT’s legislative counsel Patty Quinzi:

“Texas AFT is opposed to these proposed rules because the changes would serve to expand the prosecutorial authority and discretion of (the State Board for Educator Certification) staff while providing professional educators with inadequate guidance regarding what is expected of them in their professional role.”

Quinzi gave three specific examples:

“Section 247.1(b) uses broad language requiring educators to ‘exemplify…good moral character’ without providing guidance as to SBEC’s definition of these terms. Increasing the Code’s use of such language targeting ill-defined ‘immorality’ represents a step backward in the quality of our state’s rules and standards for the education profession. When the Education Code was rewritten in 1995, then-Sen. Bill Ratliff, lead author of the rewrite, cited such vague language as an embarrassment to the state and struck it from the law on continuing contracts. Now with this proposal we see the proliferation once again of the same type of problematic language that never served to communicate to teachers what is expected of them. Instead of improving on the current rules, these proposed rules take the state and the profession backward 15 years. The focus of the disciplinary rules needs to be on job-related conduct, not on someone’s vague notions of ‘character.’

"Section 247.2(1)(A) adds the term ‘intentionally’ or ‘recklessly’ to the existing term ‘knowingly,’ a change that expands prosecutorial authority but gives educators no guidance regarding the appropriate boundary between acceptable and unacceptable conduct.

"Section 247.2(1)(L) would create Standard 1.12, adding ‘abuse of prescription drugs’ to the litany of sanctionable offenses. This rule might make sense if it were linked to an event in which a person is arrested and charged with a crime. However, as written it seeks to police an inappropriately broad spectrum of off-duty behavior. For instance, it would be inappropriate to hold educators to a standard triggering potential sanctions for what could be the result of simple human error, such as taking too many Ambien before going to bed.”

The revisions were proposed by SBEC. SBOE members have the power by a two-thirds vote to reject but not amend proposed rules. They took no action on Friday, which means the revisions are in effect.

Another revision to note updated the ethics code to address social media. The new Standard 3.9 reads:

The educator shall refrain from inappropriate communication with a student or minor, including but not limited to, electronic communication such as cell phone, text messaging, email, instant messaging, blogging, or other social network communications. Factors that may be considered in assessing whether the communication is inappropriate include, but are not limited to:

(i) the nature, purpose, timing, and amount of communication;

(ii) the subject matter of the communication;

(iii) whether the communication was made openly or the educator attempted to conceal the communication;

(iv) whether the communications could be reasonably interpreted as soliciting sexual contact or a romantic relationship;

(v) whether the communication was sexually explicit; and

(vi) whether the communication involved discussion(s) of the physical or sexual attractiveness or the sexual history, activities, preferenes, or fantasies of either the educator or the students.

Austin insiders discuss implications of Republican "tsunami"

2010-11-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Texas Tribune hosted a panel Thursday with a focus on this week’s election results and its implications on the 2011 Legislative Session.

In what’s being described in increasingly dramatic terms as a tidal wave, a tsunami, a bloodbath and Red November, Republican candidates swept 22 incumbent Democrats out of office in the Texas House Tuesday night. They moved from a narrow majority of 77 Republicans to 73 Democrats last session to a 99 to 51 lead.

The implications for public education are massive, according to Thursday’s panelists.

Moderated by Texas Tribune editor Evan Smith, the panel was made up of Austin insiders: Arlene Wohlgemuth, executive director and director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Health Care Policy studies; the honorable Pete Laney, former speaker of the House of Representatives; Corbin Casteel, partner at Casteel, Erwin & Associates and architect of some of the surprise Republican wins Tuesday night; and Jim Dow, executive director of Texas 20/20.

Wohlgemuth and Casteel, the conservative voices on the panel, both said that voters sent lawmakers a clear message this week.

“Stop spending money and stop telling us what to do,” is how Wohlgemuth summed up that message.

Democrat Pete Laney said it will be interesting to see how the super-majority in the Texas House deal with what could be as much a s a $25 billion deficit, especially in light of promises of no tax increases. Balancing the budget, the panelists agreed, could prove devastating.

“We’ll see if they’re as adamant about cutting as they were during the election cycle,” Laney said of candidates who’ve promised to rein in state spending.

“There’s no choice but to cut. Where it’s going to come from, that’s what they’re elected to decide,” Casteel said. “There was a theme in the races. It’s all fiscal conservatism, cut taxes, stop spending.”

Wohlgemuth said her organization would be making recommendations regarding eliminating certain state agencies. She said it’s not just about cutting for the sake of cutting, but shrinking government and eliminating inefficiency.

She also brought up charter schools several times, advocating for lifting the state cap on the number of charters. Taxpayer funded private school vouchers were also mentioned as a likely topic this session.

Wohlgemuth referenced TPPF studies that criticize school district spending. And, while she said TPPF would not support spending any more than half of the state’s rainy day fund to balance the budget, she cryptically criticized school districts for maintaining healthy fund balances.

“We have spent a lot more money on education in both facilities and staff…so I think there’s room there,” Wohlgemuth said.

Stay tuned to EduSlate for more inside scoop on what’s being discussed at the Capitol.

Study finds most inexperienced teachers in poor, minority schools

2010-10-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

Results of a study released last week by the Association of Texas Professional Educators should come as no surprise to superintendents.

Conducted by Ed Fuller, a researcher in the educational administration department at the University of Texas at Austin, the statewide study showed that students in affluent white schools are more likely to be taught by an experienced, highly qualified teacher than those in poor and minority schools.

To measure teacher quality, Fuller created a Teacher Quality Index based on measures such as years of experience, certification status, academic ability and even stability at a school.

The major findings of the study are:

Even after controlling for prior achievement, student demographics and geographic location, teacher quality at the school level is associated with student achievement – especially at the secondary level.
At the elementary level, teacher quality appears to be more equitably distributed than at the secondary level, but this is more likely a result of the combination of a lack of detailed data and the greater supply of elementary teachers than the result of any state or district policies to equalize teacher quality across schools.
Students in lower-performing schools have substantially less access to teacher quality than students in higher-performing schools.
At all school levels, but particularly at middle and high school, students in high-poverty and predominantly minority schools have far less access to teacher quality than students in low-poverty and predominantly white schools.

It’s a challenge for school leaders. Educators know that nothing matters more to a child’s performance than the quality of the teacher in the classroom, yet convincing your best and brightest to teach in the most challenging settings can be difficult.

Teachers at an urban school in a poverty-stricken neighborhood often face overwhelming obstacles, especially compared to their peers at affluent schools.

Their jobs are more difficult, in many cases their commute is farther and their hours are likely longer, yet in most cases they get the same pay.

Fuller says it’s difficult to suggest positive changes at a time when an increase in education funding seems impossible – in fact, cuts are looming – but there are things school district leaders can do to foster teacher quality, which can vary not just district-to-district, but school-to-school within the same district.

“You can look at the working conditions in those low-performing schools and try to address that,” Fuller said.

Fuller advocates paying an extra stipend to teachers who choose to go to hard-to-staff schools, obviously a strategy that requires more money. It’s a program many districts are trying out. Fuller emphasized that the stipends have to be more than marginal to make a difference in recruitment and retention. An extra $1,500, he says, won’t cut it.

Even if districts can afford a healthy stipend – say, $7,000 to $10,000 - Fuller said leaders have to address working conditions or teachers won’t stay. That means hiring an effective principal that inspires loyalty in his teachers, and treats those teachers with trust and respect. Trust, Fuller said, fosters an environment where teachers feel they can be innovative.

Fuller said he’s conducted working condition studies in seven states and consistently the findings showed that the principals had a more positive perception of their own behavior than the teachers. For example, when the principals are asked whether they seek input from teachers, the answer was usually yes. But at many of those same schools, the teachers overwhelmingly answered no.

Fuller said working condition studies can provide valuable information for superintendents. He asks questions like: Do teachers feel supported? Are they motivated to buy into the school vision? Are they being involved in the school’s mission? Is the principal providing an atmosphere of trust and respect?

“That’s how you improve education, you create a team that supports each other,” Fuller said. “We don’t teach that in principal prep programs. We don’t even talk about it.”

Fuller also talked about the importance of equity in facilities and pointed to a mountain of research that has linked the effect of the condition of facilities to human performance, but conceded that addressing that also costs money.

He circled back to the point of collaboration and building a good team with quality leadership – at the principal level and beyond. Fuller is just finishing up a principal survey aimed at studying effective school leadership and preparation. The survey was commissioned by TASA, TEPSA, TASSP, ATPE and UCEA.

“It looks like one of the most important predictors of principal retention is the leadership behavior of the superintendent and/or the immediate supervisor of the principal,” Fuller said. “If superintendents can model the kind of collaborative behavior that creates good working conditions then it’s more likely their principals will follow that lead…There’s no cost to that.”

Superman won't save us, we have to save ourselves

2010-10-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

I finally had the opportunity to see the much-hyped movie Waiting for Superman not once but twice this week.

A group from North East ISD held a screening Monday morning in San Antonio, and Austin ISD hosted a screening at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum Tuesday night.

After the onslaught of media attention surrounding the film, including scores of reviews from advance screenings, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

It seems there have been two camps formed by those who have seen the film. For supporters of charters, it’s a window on what’s working and a two-hour promo for expanding and supporting charter schools. For mainstream public education, the film feels like a personal attack – highlighting only the negative and giving little credit for success in American public schools.

Here’s the way I saw the film: A powerful and moving narrative following the compelling stories of five children and their families. It had cool, catchy graphics and sprinkled footage of the 1950’s Superman series and other ‘50s-era film clips showing public schools as idyllic places as comic relief. But it was a completely over-simplified look at the problems and challenges of public schools. Director Davis Guggenheim picks and chooses both his statistics and his examples of good schools to lead the viewer to one conclusion – charter schools have the answer and teachers unions are the root of all that is wrong in education.

Of course, there are major flaws in those conclusions. First of all, Guggenheim – who also made the Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth – all but ignores the fact that the vast majority of charter schools are not doing any better than traditional public schools in their area. In fact, many do much worse. The schools he highlights in Waiting for Superman are the exception, not the rule.

And while in some states teachers unions have hamstrung administrators, making it difficult to fire poor-performing teachers (New York City’s infamous rubber room where teachers awaited the outcome of grievance hearings for years while collecting full salaries is perhaps the most egregious example,) you can’t blame the unions in states like Texas where unions are essentially powerless due to right-to-work laws. Yet we still have more than our fair share of failing schools in poor, usually urban, areas.

Four of the five children featured in the movie live in some of the most blighted neighborhoods in the country and are zoned for struggling, in some cases failing, schools. The neighborhoods are plagued with high rates of crime, poverty and unemployment and have some of the highest foster care rates in the country.

Yet Guggenheim doesn’t address how these factors affect a child’s education. He points out that the successful charter schools adhere to a “no excuses” policy and a firm belief that every child can learn. He goes farther to suggest that bad neighborhoods don’t beget bad schools, but that maybe bad schools beget bad neighborhoods.

There’s nothing wrong with a “no excuses” approach and I believe every public school teacher worth his or her salt will tell you that every child can learn, but guess how those successful charter schools Guggenheim features pull it off? At SEED in Washington D.C., the children live at the school, removed from their neighborhood and all its influences 24 hours a day. Promise Academy in Harlem is part of the Harlem Children’s Zone created by charismatic entrepreneur Geoffrey Canada, where a community partnership provides a host of wraparound services beginning at birth for children and their families. As Canada puts it, they are transforming their neighborhood block by block. And at KIPP LA Prep, children attend longer school days, Saturday school and parents must commit to being a part of their child’s education.

You can’t watch the film and not pull for the struggling parents working so hard to get a better education for their children. They pin their hopes to a ball dropping out of a spinning basket, a name chosen out of a pile, or a number randomly picked by a computer. Most go to these lotteries with little chance of getting in because of few open spots and a huge number of applicants. But teachers at traditional public schools don’t get to tell their parents they must be invested in their child’s education. Their children don’t withdraw and go to a different school if they can’t make the grade. So how is that model a wholesale answer to the problems of public education?

Despite the contradictions, I encourage everyone – especially educators – to see the film. Any time we can get the entire country focusing on education, it’s a good thing. And it’s important that we don’t try to deny or minimize the problems. They are there, they are real and they are critical. We have to figure out how public education can once again be the great equalizer, how children from every racial, ethnic and economic background can receive a world-class education and be ready for college.

Guggenheim sums up what education needs at the end of the movie in five points: Quality teachers, more class time, world class standards, high expectations, and real accountability.

I agree with every one of those. The question the movie seems to think it answers but doesn’t is: "How do we get there?"

People who have devoted their lives to public education need to be at the forefront of this conversation. Why is it that the word “reformer” is suddenly only applied to newcomers? At TASA, we like to use the word “transform.” Our Academy for Transformational Leadership, for example, is about creating a new vision for public schools and shaking up the status quo.

My fear is that this movie will only polarize two different schools of thought when it comes to reforming education. My hope is that we can realize we all want the same result and politics and egos should be set aside. The focus should be on the children of this country.

We can’t afford to let this problem go unresolved.

Still waiting on "Waiting for Superman"

2010-10-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

I had planned to wait to write about the new movie Waiting for Superman until I’d actually seen it – it’s the journalist in me that demands all the facts before writing the story. The documentary by director Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for another provocative documentary – An Inconvenient Truth - opened in select theaters last weekend and won’t be showing in Austin until October 15.

Those of you that follow me on Twitter know that prior to the movie’s release I was sharing links of reviews and buzz surrounding the movie, but I wanted to leave it at that until I had the chance to see it for myself.

But the onslaught of media attention and relentless promotion of the film prompted me to change my mind. I’ll still write a proper review after watching the movie, but wanted to share with readers the basic synopsis of the movie and what its critics are saying.

Guggenheim claims he had refused to do a film about education for years, but was struck by a wave of guilt as he drove past public schools to take his daughters to the private school they attend in Los Angeles. How that translated into Guggenheim making a film that glorifies charter schools, vilifies teachers unions and, according to several reviews of the film, spends precious little time talking to classroom teachers before coming to the conclusion that America’s public schools are damning children to a life of poverty and, in some cases, incarceration, I can’t quite understand.

The film follows five children on a mission to escape their neighborhood school for a promising charter school. What it doesn’t examine, according to the reviews I’ve read, is the success (or failure) of charter schools.

Guggenheim seems to take for gospel that so-called “reformers” in education have the answer and that getting into a charter school is a ticket to success. Yet tactics used by the reformers he highlights, like Washington D.C.’s Michelle Rhee, have not proven successful. Tying teacher pay to standardized test scores, for example, a key strategy of Rhee’s, has been shown again and again to be an ineffective method of raising teacher and student performance.

A new study by Vanderbilt University concluded that offering teachers annual bonuses of as much as $15,000 had no effect on student test scores. It suggested that teachers already were working so hard that the promise of extra money failed to convince them to work harder or change the way they taught.

It reinforced a Texas study last year, conducted by researchers from Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and the University of Missouri that concluded that the merit-based Texas Educators Excellence Grant (TEEG) program also had no impact on student achievement gains.

Also largely left out, the fact that only one in five charter schools do any better than neighborhood public schools, and in Texas, that number is even lower. Most in fact do much worse. Waiting for Superman prompted the Houston-based advocacy group Children at Risk to examine charter school performance in Texas.

The new report says: “While charters may offer some of our state’s ‘superheroes,’ many others – if not most – are underperforming.” The report also pointed out that many of the high-achieving charter schools included a demanding curriculum and a strong parent commitment – things that sometimes “weed out” some children from the program.

A study by education researcher Ed Fuller had similar results. Fuller focused on charter middle schools in Texas and found that many top-rated charters lost a large share of their students over time. He found that those students tended to be lower performing, leaving the academically stronger students at the schools.

And where do you think those students went? Back to their neighborhood public school, which doesn’t have the option of “weeding them out.”

Fuller told the Dallas Morning News: “Many students who remain in the schools do very well, but the evidence certainly suggest that expanding these charters will not substantially impact the education of the majority of students living in the urban communities that suffer from decades of unemployment and poverty.”

Also, Guggenheim’s film suggests that failing schools contribute to, or maybe even are the direct cause of, cycles of poverty and blight in a neighborhood. Never is the suggestion made that poverty and its byproducts are what make schools in poor neighborhoods the most challenging in which to teach.

While no blame is shared with the community, but left entirely on the doorstep of the public school, Guggenheim also seems to ignore that the successful charter schools he highlights take very seriously the importance of community in a child’s education.

At the Harlem Children’s Zone (charismatic founder Geoffrey Canada is a central figure in the film) for example, educators work hand-in-hand with social service providers, beginning services from birth, and taking care of parents, too.

Another school, SEED in Washington D.C., is a boarding school. The SEED Foundation uses the tactic of removing children from their neighborhood and surrounding them with positive support 24 hours a day. That’s wonderful for those children, but not a realistic solution for wholesale education reform.

All that said, I’m glad a film about education is garnering so much attention. I only hope that people who go see it understand that they're only seeing part of the story, and from a skewed perspective at that. And while it’s fantastic that the film is spawning a storm of education coverage (I’ve always known it was one of the most important beats to cover, why did it take a movie for NBC, CBS and ABS to figure it out?) I also hope journalists will ask the right questions, the tough questions, about reform.

So far, that hasn’t happened. Read the Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss’ blog post on “The strange media coverage of Obama’s education policies.”

And check back with me on October 16. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about Waiting for Superman.

TASB Releases School Finance Plan

2010-09-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

The Texas Association of School Boards has developed a school finance plan, which was approved unanimously by the association's board of directors last week at the annual TASA/TASB Convention.

The plan is designed to address the inadequacies of the current funding system. TASB will work with legislators, school districts and other stakeholders to enact this plan during the 82nd Session.

Compared to the current Target Revenue and two-tiered, multiple-yield school finance systems, the TASB Plan is a simpler single-tier, single-guaranteed yield system that benefits all school districts and provides a scalable framework for distributing public education funds, according to TASB government relations staff.

Check out the plan and let us know what you think.

TASA/TASB Convention this week!

2010-09-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning the TASA staff will be packing up and heading to Houston in preparation for the TASA/TASB Convention that runs Friday through Sunday.

Check EduSlate and TASA's Twitter and Facebook pages for updates during the convention. I'll be writing about great sessions and field trip opportunities, as well as posting information about Honor School Board and Superintendent of the Year awards.

If you're at convention, consider my updates and tweets a way to find out what's going on and where you should be. If you're not, they'll keep you informed and in the loop, and hopefully entice you to come next year!

See you in Houston!

Committee wants to overhaul school finance

2010-09-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

Thursday’s meeting of a school finance committee ended with the same sentiment that permeated the group the first time they met back in March.

The verdict: Texas’ school finance system needs a total overhaul.

“It creates uncertainty, it creates angst,” said Sen. Florence Shapiro, who co-chairs the Committee on Public School Finance Weights, Allotments and Adjustments with Rep. Rob Eissler. “We need to sunset this program and we need to start all over again.”

Both the committee members and experts agreed that the system is hopelessly complicated and includes huge disparities when it comes to how the money is split among districts.

Shapiro told committee members to come to the next meeting with fresh ideas.

"We need to find a better system that works for all of us," she said.

That’s strikingly similar to what she said in March when she told committee members they might need to start from scratch when it came to funding schools.

“We just spent the better part of two hours trying to figure this out, and I guarantee you we have more questions now than we did when we started,” Shapiro said at the March meeting. “We've got to find a way that makes more sense so we can be more responsive to taxpayers.”

The clock is ticking for committee members to come up with a proposal before the Legislature convenes in January. But Eissler and Shapiro both indicated that a budget deficit shouldn’t stop lawmakers from addressing the problem.

Shapiro also addressed speculation that lawmakers were eyeing school districts’ fund balances as a way to help balance the budget. Rumors have been circulating for months that the Legislature may consider requiring districts to spend some of their fund balance before receiving state funding.

“Where did that come from? We have no right to your fund balance,” Shapiro said. “That’s not going to happen.”

TASA sends letter to U.S. lawmakers

2010-09-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

TASA executive director Johnny Veselka sent a letter to every member of the Texas Congressional delegation today encouraging them to work to remove any barriers that are preventing the distribution of $830 million available to Texas school districts through the Education Jobs Bill passed by Congress last month.

While this issue has turned into a very political one, pitting Gov. Rick Perry against U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the Texas Association of School Administrators is only interested in making sure that school districts in our state get the money they desperately need. The letter is meant to urge officials at the federal and state level to work together to make sure Texas schools receive their share of the money as soon as possible.

Here's the full letter:

This year, school districts across Texas are facing unprecedented budget constraints. Almost fifty percent of school districts in Texas passed deficit budgets this year and that number is expected to increase next year. In addition, the state is facing an $18-21 billion shortfall as we approach the next legislative session, which begins in January.

Many Texas school districts have already begun implementing major cuts in programs and services and are anticipating additional cuts next year. At the same time, Texas school districts are implementing new and more rigorous curriculum standards as well as a new assessment program. Trying to meet these increasing standards while drastically cutting funding will certainly have a negative impact on students, teachers, parents and local communities.

The Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) strongly encourages you to remove all legal and administrative barriers currently in place that would prohibit or hinder the immediate distribution of the $830 million in federal funds for Texas public schools that was part of the Education Jobs Bill. This funding is critical for the schoolchildren and teachers of T exas.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need additional information.

Sincerely,
Johnny Veselka
Executive Director

What now for Michelle Rhee?

2010-09-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

John Merrow had an interesting post on his blog Learning Matters about Michelle Rhee, the polarizing superintendent of Washington D.C. schools.

Rhee has a nationwide base of fervent supporters who believe in the drastic reforms she's brought to the D.C. school system since taking the helm more than three years ago. But she likely has just as many detractors - and many of them close to home. Among her changes, as Merrow points out, she's closed nearly two dozen schools, fired more than 15% of her central office staff, and let over 100 teachers go, citing inadequate performance.

But now that Mayor Adrian Fenty has lost his bid for re-election - due in part to powerful teacher union backing of his challenger - what will happen to Rhee? And if she goes, what will happen to the whopping $75 million D.C. schools received through the US DOE's Race to the Top Program? The school system won the money because of its reform efforts.

Read John's full blog post for all the details. And don't forget that you can see John Merrow speak at the TASA/TASB Convention next week.

President releases text of speech

2010-09-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to avoid the political uproar schools across the country dealt with last year, President Obama's press office released Monday night the text of the speech he's scheduled to give at a Philadelphia school tomorrow morning.

Like last year, the message is far from controversial. In fact, it's the same: Work hard, dream big, stay in school.

"But here is what I came to Masterman to tell you: nobody gets to write your destiny but you," the speech reads in part. "Your future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it. And nothing – absolutely nothing – is beyond your reach. So long as you’re willing to dream big. So long as you’re willing to work hard. So long as you’re willing to stay focused on your education."

It seems most school districts are leaving the decision on whether to show the speech live up to individual schools and, in some cases, teachers, as they would do with any breaking news event. While the opposition to giving the president a voice in public schools hasn't been as vocal this time around, I'd still bet many Texas classrooms won't be showing the speech live, and those that do will be giving parents the chance to opt their kids out ahead of time.

Read the speech many are likely to miss here.

Lawmakers ask Perry to keep working toward a solution

2010-09-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

A group of Texas lawmakers sent a letter to Gov. Rick Perry today urging him to continue to work with the U.S. Department of Education to allow Texas to receive $830 million in federal funding through the jobs bill passed by Congress last month. DOE rejected Perry's application for the money because he didn't include assurances required by an amendment to the bill by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin.

State Senators Van de Putte, Ellis, Lucio, Gallegos and Davis all signed off on the letter.

It reads:

Dear Governor Perry,

Texas children started school a few days ago. Some are just beginning to learn their alphabet, while others are thinking about college. Texas parents started school a few days ago as well, along with their children. As parents we hope for a better future for our children. We tell them they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up. We take them to school. We help them with their homework. We attend PTA meetings and contribute to the bake sales. We do whatever it takes to help our children graduate, go to college, and make a decent living.

But we can’t do it alone. No parent in Texas can.

We depend on our neighborhood schools and our teachers to help us prepare our children for better lives.

Our schools and our teachers can’t do it alone either. They depend on the state to help them help us prepare our children for better lives.

You have claimed that Texas has done a pretty good job. You have said that education is a priority. You have shared that it is one of the many reasons families move to Texas. And you claim we’re doing better than other states.

Why change your story now?

Surely, you and other adults in our state and federal government can work towards a meaningful compromise with the U.S. Department of Education to keep our school doors open, our teachers teaching, and our kids learning.

Grown-ups don’t give up and point fingers, grown-ups find solutions. We’re Texas, right? Complicated explanations full of legalese haven’t stood in our way before, and they shouldn’t stop us now. We wouldn’t accept these finger-pointing excuses from our children, and Texans shouldn’t accept them from us.

We urge you to immediately direct your staff and TEA personnel to sit down with the Department of Education and continue to try to find a solution to this impasse, so that this crucial funding can do what it is designed to do – help fund our neighborhood schools and ensure that our children continue to learn.

Better late than never?

2010-09-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the silence, especially during a week that was popping with education news. A family emergency took me to Florida unexpectedly but I'm back at work now.

So, what did I miss? A lot, it seems. Gov. Rick Perry submitted the state's application for $830 million in federal funding but failed to include the required assurances that the state would maintain its current level of education funding for the next three years. Application denied.

Perry claims an amendment by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett requiring the assurance hamstrings Texas because Perry says its unconstitutional for him to bind future legislatures to certain spending levels. Doggett says Perry's legal argument is "phony" and says without his amendment, state lawmakers would likely have used the extra money to help balance the state's budget - one that includes an $18 billion shortfall.

"That's what occurred with $3.25 billion in federal support last year — leaving our Texas schoolchildren with zero additional benefit from the additional federal funding," Doggett said in a statement last week.

But both sides say it's not over yet. Texas may still have a chance at the money - at least in time for next school year - if the Legislature makes the commitment that Perry says he couldn't make when it convenes in January.

Doggett fires back at Perry over jobs bill money

2010-09-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, released a statement today in response to a scathing letter from Gov. Rick Perry to school administrators blasting Doggett's amendment in the federal jobs bill that required Texas meet stricter stipulations than other states to receive its share of the money.

Here's Doggett's statement:

Federal aid to education should actually aid education in our local Texas schools. I understand that Governor Perry fears accountability for using these federal taxpayer dollars for their intended purpose.

It is almost as if the Governor felt he was entitled to his own blank check federal bailout. All his rhetoric and excuses belie one fact. All that stands in the way of our Texas schoolchildren receiving the federal dollars we intend for them is the Governor’s signature on a three-page document.

Governor Perry, on July 1, 2009, added his signature to a request for federal dollars attesting that, among other things: “In FY 2011, the State will maintain State support for elementary and secondary education at least at the level of such support in FY 2006” (attached). He did not raise his phony constitutional argument in signing last year’s similar application that covered a similar three year period of time.

You don’t need a room full of attorneys to scour the Texas Constitution or an 1892 court decision looking for excuses to deprive our local schools of these needed dollars.

All the Governor need do is make an assurance to the full extent of his Executive power. Under this provision, the State can choose whatever level of funding it wants for education. It can cut education by any percentage in an across-the-board budget cut, but it cannot single out education for a greater cut than that applied to other public services in a way that penalizes our public schools for accepting federal aid.

In June, a coalition of Texas school superintendents and Texas education organizations representing Texas teachers, principals, school boards, and school administrators asked Congress to prevent history from repeating itself and ensure that new federal funds for education actually increase support for Texas students (attached).

Better than anyone else, they understand how the State prevented State Stabilization stimulus education funds from providing any additional help to our local schools last year, which is why they recognized the need for extra protection for new education funds sent to our State this year.

If not for our Texas Democratic amendment, our Texas schoolchildren would likely have had zero additional benefit from this $830 million in federal funding. It is not a matter of whether they get the money later, or in one formula or another, it is whether they get the federal funding at all—we don’t need a repeat of what happened previously to the larger $3.25 billion of federal aid.

We didn’t send this federal aid for education to Texas to plug a state budget gap; we sent it to help our schoolchildren.

Perry sends letter to school chiefs

2010-09-03T06:58:00.000-07:00

Just when I say there's no new news on the jobs bill front...

Yesterday, Gov. Rick Perry sent a strongly worded letter to school district administrators and he pulled no punches on what he thinks of the Doggett amendment. Still, the letter gives no indication on whether Texas school districts will see any of the $830 million the federal government has set aside if the state can meet certain stipulations.

Perry does say in the letter that he'll apply for the money but that it's "unlikely" Texas will qualify. If the state's application is rejected, Perry says, he'll ask the Obama administration to hold the $830 million aside until the state Legislature convenes in January. Then, he said, lawmakers can consider action while building the 2012-13 budget that would make the required assurances to access the federal money.

Finally, Perry says he'll ask Congress to repeal the Doggett amendment or pass new legislation allowing Texas to get its share of the money.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett has defended his amendment as a victory for public schools. His intention is to make sure the money goes directly to school districts and isn't used to help balance the state budget.

I'm wondering what his response will be to Perry's letter. I'll bet we don't have to wait long to find out.

TEA highlights how much school districts might lose out

2010-09-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

The Texas Education Agency posted a news release this week with some old – at least by news industry standards – information.

It was a breakdown of how much each Texas school district stands to gain if the state and U.S. Department of Education can come to an agreement on how Texas can access $830 million available through the jobs bill passed by Congress last month, and how much the amount could've been if Texas were allowed to distribute the money through state funding formulas instead of Title I.

Newspapers have been reporting on the same numbers for the past week or more.

It's an interesting point to bring up at a time when no public announcement has been made about whether Texas will even apply for the money. It's been a week since representatives from the Texas Education Agency and the governor's office met with the feds to discuss the stalemate, and with the deadline of September 9 just days away, still no news.

The jobs bill allows U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to send federal aid to states that apply for it. The money can be used to cover teachers' salaries and a host of other school-based programs and several states are already receiving their cut.

But the so-called Doggett amendment that applies only to Texas, included in the bill by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, requires that the money flow through Title I and that Gov. Rick Perry assure the feds that the percentage of state dollars earmarked for schools would not drop for the next three years before Texas can draw down any of the money.

Doggett says he wants to make sure the money is spent for education, not used to plug a budget deficit. Perry says the state Constitution does not allow him to make such assurances. And so, the standoff.

Meanwhile, the school year has started with roughly half of Texas school districts adopting deficit budgets this year, according to the Texas Association of School Board Officials, and at least one district has approved a teacher pay raise that's dependent on the federal help.

Here's hoping we have an answer soon.

A brave new world: blogging, tweeting and Facebooking

2010-08-31T14:17:00.000-07:00

You read that right; a professional writer just used "Facebooking" as a verb.

This is the inaugural post of EduSlate, TASA's new blog that aims to bring our readers insight into what's going on at the Capitol and around the state in the world of education policy.

EduSlate is just one of the new ways TASA is working to bring you up-to-the-minute news as well as in-depth analysis on education issues and how decisions made in Austin could affect local school districts.

My position here as TASA's director of communications and media relations is a new one, and a sign of TASA's commitment to up its game in communicating with members, the media and the public.
We're making several changes that will help get information out faster and to a wider group of people.

Two of those changes include a new presence on the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook. Follow us @tasanet on Twitter and find us on Facebook by searching for Texas Association of School Administrators.

We'll no longer be sending out the weekly TASA XPress, a subscription-only publication sent via email that highlights the week's legislative news, and we're also axing our "Legislative Alerts" which went out via email when news dictated.

Instead, we hope to be more timely by posting both breaking news and longer analysis pieces on the "Capitol Watch" section of our Web site. You can find it on one of the green tabs across the top of the home page.

Each time we post a Capitol Watch update, we'll also tweet the news on Twitter with a link back to the full story on Capitol Watch. We encourage all our members to sign up for a Twitter account and follow us. You can even sign up to receive a text message on your phone each time we post a new tweet.

We'll still send out an email, called a TASA Alert, to all our members if news happens that we think you should know about immediately.

And of course, news from Capitol Watch will be teased in the ever-popular TASA Daily, with an opportunity to link back to our Web site to read the full story.

Our goal is to provide information on several different platforms, allowing our members to use whatever tool works best for them.

We do want you to consider our Web site the primary spot for news and analysis of what's happening in Austin and what it means for school leaders, teachers and students.

And, personally, I hope you become addicted to EduSlate and make habit of looking for new posts to get the inside scoop on how TASA is working for you in Austin.