Is Texas Education In Trouble?

Today, we hear a lot about how well Texas is doing- increased job growth, low taxes, companies dieing to come here, etc. The 83^rd Legislature balanced the State’s budget but did they spend your money on the right things. Are political platitudes causing our children’s education and future to suffer?  To continue to be successful on the job creation front, our state also has to produce the talent companies need now and in the future.

We are lucky to live in The Woodlands where we benefit from one of the best run and managed school districts in the State, CISD. But we cannot totally isolate ourselves from what is going on around us. I am not an educational expert but I am concerned that overall our educational system is in trouble.

Recently, my concern was further brought home in an interesting article I read in the Chronicle Wednesday morning. The article was about the school district law suit currently underway, but it covered several interesting points regarding education in general:

1)    The suit involves more than 600 districts. These districts still argue that the recent new funding and reduced testing implemented by the 83^rd Legislature did little to fix our educational issues. The legislature boosted funding $3.4 billion but did not fully restore the $5. 4 billion they eliminated in 2011. 40% of the districts are still receiving less than  they received in 2011

2)    The State’s Legislative Board estimated that the increase spending per pupil over 2010-1011 was only 2%

3)    Texas has slipped to #49 in spending per pupil.  Spending is not the only benchmark of quality, but we also appear to be achieving poor results for the low amount money being spent. Go figure!

The results for the remaining five end-of-course exams have been mediocre- 45% of sophomores have been unable to pass the English 1 exam. Although testing has been reduced, the standards the schools must achieve have not. Graduation requirements, curriculum requirements and the accountability system have not changed.

4)    The current system is not meeting the needs of low income /limited English students which account for 60% of our students. It is estimated these students cost 60% more to teach. The recent increase in funding did not restore funds for remedial and tutorial programs required by these students. One could say this is a result of an inadequate immigration control program and require to educate the children of illegal immigrants.

5)    Districts lack the discretion to raise funds locally due to legislative caps on property tax rates (cap is $1.17/$100). More than 25% of districts are at their cap and others have not been able to raise their rate due to a lack of voter approval. The cap on tax rates does not give weight that the appraisal base varies significantly between districts.

I believe Texas is on the wrong track and we need to elect people to go to Austin committed to getting us back basics—and a quality educational system  is one of them.