Grading Texas

Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro and several of her Republican Senate colleagues talked a good game for teachers in their news conference this morning, but…

“Protecting the classroom is our No. 1 priority,” Shapiro said, telling superintendents to cut administrators first. Her statements were echoed by others, including Sen. Dan Patrick.

Now, the “but” part.

The Legislature should cut administration before teachers and, in some school districts, there doubtlessly is administration that can be cut. But, administrative reductions notwithstanding, even the “kinder” (as opposed to the House) budget cuts being considered by the Senate would cost many teachers their jobs.

The Senate Finance subcommittee chaired by Shapiro has recommended the restoration of $6 billion to the public education budget. The panel didn’t suggest where the money should come from, but even if the $6 billion were added to the budget, the public schools still would be $3.3 billion short of meeting anticipated enrollment growth.

Also, if Shapiro and Patrick are so sure that they can largely solve the school funding problem with administrative savings, why are they both sponsoring legislation to lift the 221 class size cap for kindergarten through fourth grade?

Despite the importance of that cap to maintaining educational quality, superintendents are asking that it be repealed. Why? So they can fire more teachers, of course.

If Shapiro and Patrick care so much about the classroom, why don’t they protect 221 instead of trying to sacrifice it?

Gov. Rick Perry, a career state employee, is something of a hero to the antigovernment Texas Public Policy Foundation because he heeds the TPPF’s advice on axing lesserpaid state workers, including teachers, from the public payroll.

Perry and the TPPF “think tank” are two peas in a pod when it comes to telling lesser mortals how we need to tighten our belts while they slash and burn their way through health care, the public schools and higher education. The University of Texas is among those institutions cutting experienced faculty while watching financial aid for deserving students dry up.

But the UT Board of Regents, all Perry appointees, managed to find $200,000 a year to hire a “special adviser,” a guy named Rick O’Donnell, who used to be a senior fellow for none other than the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the very same tinygovernmentisgoodgovernment TPPF.

A school district could have used that $200,000 to save four teachers’ jobs, and everyone (except O’Donnell) would have been better off.

According to recent stories in The Texas Tribune, O’Donnell apparently was hired to meddle with UT’s research initiatives. He thinks research isn’t good for the teaching environment.

Both the Tribune and the San Antonio ExpressNews/Houston Chronicle had stories today, reporting how some key legislators, both Republican and Democrat, are questioning what is going on and expressing fear that O’Donnell’s views on higher education research run counter to legislative policy.

His hiring and salary run counter to the budgetary emergency.

-From The Texas Tribune and Mysanantonio.com

As did many other Republican freshmen state representatives, Dee Margo of El Paso campaigned against higher state spending and for smaller government. On his campaign website, Margo even mentioned a nonexistent state “surplus.”

So, now that the Republican leadership in Austin is planning deep cuts in public education and other important services, what does Margo do when he goes back home to face questions from worried (and maybe angry) constituents?

He dances.

At least, according to the El Paso Times, that’s what he did at a town hall meeting over the weekend in El Paso, as several of his colleagues doubtlessly have in similar meetings in other communities in recent weeks.

Margo acknowledged there is a “lot of bleeding” in pending budget proposals, but he told the audience that he and other lawmakers from the El Paso area were working behind the scenes to keep their community from taking a large hit. And, since the final version of the state budget hasn’t been written yet, he was able to say that the eventual impact on El Paso’s public schools, universities and other public services is still “up in the air.”

The reality, of course, is that El Paso will take a huge hit in critical public services, and so will hundreds of other Texas communities, unless Margo and lawmakers like him defy the governor and the tea partiers and pass a realistic state budget. That would include taking steps like spending all the Rainy Day Fund and finding new revenue in order to minimize some of the looming cuts.

Pretty soon, Margo will have to stop dancing and start voting.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_17655582

Call it a small step for public education…with a long way still to go.

About $2 billion of the $3.2 billion that Gov. Perry and House leaders agreed to spend from the Rainy Day Fund is expected to go to public schools through the school finance formulas, according to Quorum Report.

Keeping in mind that the original House budget plan was $9.8 billion short of fully funding school finance formulas and keeping up with enrollment growth, it doesn’t take much math to figure out that the Legislature and the governor still have a long way to go toward fulfilling their constitutional duty to maintain a healthy public school system.

Rep. Scott Hochberg, the Legislature’s resident school finance expert, told his colleagues on the appropriations panel that the $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund would restore about $200 in funding per student. Since the initial proposed cut was $1,000 per student, the shortage is still $800 per kid, which still means thousands of lost school district jobs, many overcrowded classrooms and who knows how many additional dropouts.

“It’s a small increase, but it takes a lot of dollars to move that needle,” Hochberg said.

It also takes a lot more political will from the governor and the legislative leadership to do the right thing. They can start by spending the remaining $6.2 billion in the Rainy Day Fund and looking for new revenue sources.