Grading Texas

The Texas Connections Academy, a hightech replacement for the traditional classroom, may fancy itself the wave of the future, but its lessthenimpressive performance for the Houston Independent School District has left about 800 students high and dry.

The academy is a forprofit company that contracts with HISD to run a virtual campus for 1,000 students in grades three through eight. And, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle, it also may be something of a small (probably very small) profit center for HISD. The district receives $7,826 a year from the state for each student enrolled in the academy provided the child completes required courses and passes the TAKS. HISD pays Connections only $6,500 per student and deposits the difference in the district’s general fund.

HISD wanted to expand the program, but the Texas Education Agency nixed the idea because students in the academy had a TAKS passing rate that was 20 percent below the state average. HISD lost its third appeal to TEA this week, meaning about 800 extra students who had signed up for the program are looking for an alternative.

Through the academy, which HISD began in December 2008, the district attempted to attract parents who had been homeschooling their kids but wanted more structure. The tuitionfree cyber school lets students take courses online while working with a certified teacher over the phone or via computer.

“What Connections Academy found was, they had a high proportion of students that were coming from home school environments that did not have a structured curriculum. They had big deficits in math,” Nancy Manley, HISD’s school compliance officer, told the newspaper.

“When you have up to a threeyear deficit in math, you’re not going to catch up students in one year,” she added.

Math deficits in homeschooling? Why am I not surprised?

Here is a link to the Chronicle story:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7192215.html

As you may have heard by now, the state of Texas’ application for $830 million in federal education jobs money has been rejected by the U.S. Department of Education because Gov. Perry tried to change the rules. Specifically, the application, submitted by Education Commissioner Robert Scott, didn’t provide the assurances required by federal law that the state will sustain its own funding commitment to the public schools over the next three years.

According to a story in Quorum Report, Texas still may have a chance at getting the money. If so, that probably would be next year, after the Legislature has had a chance to make the commitment that Perry claimed he didn’t have the authority to make.

By the time the next budget is written, this school year will be over, and the $830 million, if still available to Texas, would be distributed during the 20112012 school year. It would be a case of better late than never, provided state officials – who will be trying to fill an $18 billion canyon in the state budget don’t find a way to divert the money from education. That is what Congress, led by Texas Democrats, was trying to avoid.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, DAustin, who sponsored the amendment requiring the special assurances of state funding, said Perry deliberately had an altered application submitted to Washington, knowing that it would result in federal aid being delayed – or worse.

I think Doggett has Perry’s ploy pretty well figured out.

Educators – and other taxpayers as well – should keep Perry’s gamesmanship in mind when they cast their votes for governor this fall.