Grading Texas

Money – more specifically, the lack of it – was big news in both Austin and Sacramento today.

In Sacramento, Jerry Brown, the new California governor, laid out his plan for addressing a budgetary shortfall estimated at $25.4 billion. You remember California. It’s that large state on the West Coast, the state that envies Texas, according to Rick Perry, the perpetual Texas governor.

Well, that envy – if it ever existed anywhere outside Perry’s mind – is now officially a thing of the past. That’s because Texas now has an even bigger shortfall, about $27 billion, based on revenue projections released in Austin this morning by Comptroller Susan Combs. The shortfall is the difference between the projected general revenue available for spending during the upcoming biennium ($72.2 billion) and what it would cost to maintain state services at their current levels, taking into account population growth and enrollment growth in the public schools ($99 billion).

In Texas, Gov. Perry and legislative leaders – on the eve of the legislative session, which convenes tomorrow are still insisting that the huge revenue gap be closed with crippling budget cuts to such essential state services as education and health care. In California, Gov. Brown also is proposing budgetary cuts but wants to balance them with a series of tax increases for the next five years.

Unlike Perry, Brown also would specifically protect spending on public education, grades K through 12. Perry talks a good game on the importance of public schools and their role in creating a strong economic future, but Brown actually is doing more than talk. He also is trying to spare public education – and the future of California – from devastating budget cuts.

If Perry has his way in Texas, and Brown prevails in California, guess which state will be attracting the better, higherpaying jobs in the nottoodistant future? (Hint. It won’t have a Capitol in Austin.)

Brown also may represent the interests of Texans better than does Perry. According to an independent poll published in several Texas newspapers over the weekend, Texans strongly oppose spending reductions for schools and health care programs. Some 70 percent said the Legislature shouldn’t cut spending for schools, and 61 percent oppose spending cuts on health care programs for children and low to moderateincome families.

It is time for Perry to stop dreaming, quit bashing California and help fix Texas.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/sharedgen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2011/01/10/revenue_estimate_puts_shortfal.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011003388.html

http://www.statesman.com/news/texaspolitics/voterswantschoolsandhealthcaresparedfrom1173164.html

Many Texans, so far, haven’t paid much attention to all the talk about budgetcutting at the statehouse. And, many who have seen or read something about it have had difficulty relating to the supersized numbers in news accounts. Slowly, however, light bulbs are beginning to blink on, as in the News 8 Austin story (linked below) about Austin ISD considering the closure of Barton Hills Elementary, among several other schools, to meet a $20 million district shortfall.

After the Barton Hills principal sent letters to parents on Thursday, warning of the possible closure, one parent interviewed by the TV station reacted: “I was blown away by the fact that they were saying we were going to have this kind of gigantic budget cut. I mean obviously having two children here, it’s a very personal matter.”

Yes, elections matter, and November’s election is beginning to matter for many Texans who may have thought that the warnings of budget cuts were exaggerated – or intended for someone else.

In other news reports this morning, Round Rock ISD has imposed a hiring freeze, Hutto is considering closing a school and cutting 80 staff positions and Bedford is closing a school as part of a consolidation of elementary campuses.

Unfortunately, there will be a lot more of the same to come.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/275977/austinschoolstargetedforclosureamidbudgetcuts

State Sen. Dan Patrick’s thinking on a number of issues, including the importance of small class sizes, is (to put it politely) muddled. Consider his interview with KTRKTV (Channel 13, Houston), which aired yesterday in a news story about a proposal, which he supports, to remove the 22student per class limit in kindergarten through fourth grade.

“I would argue education is not working perfectly – our dropout rate is pretty high,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the money is the issue. It may be the quality of teaching. It may be the programs we are offering.”

If Patrick thinks the dropout rate is high now – and it is, thanks to more handwringing than intervention from Austin – it will be even worse within a few years after superintendents cram seven or eight more kids into primary grade classrooms, which is what many will do if the 221 cap is lifted. People like Patrick (and there will be a lot of them casting votes under the Capitol dome this year) refuse to grasp the reality that young students in the early grades need a lot of individual attention from teachers to learn the basics, realize the importance of education and be prepared for the challenges of the higher grades. This is particularly true for disadvantaged students, many of whom soon will drop out if they don’t get that early, individual attention.

I don’t know what Patrick thinks he knows about the quality of teaching, but large classes in K4 will require many teachers to spend most of their time babysitting, rather than actually teaching.

Money is a crucial issue in public education – it pays for teachers, textbooks, labs, computers, school buses, etc, etc and it is preposterous for Patrick or anyone else to suggest otherwise. State support for the public schools is woefully inadequate, as well as inequitable, which is why some school superintendents now are alltoowilling to make shortsighted compromises on quality, including the 221 cap, which they will regret later. When parents start raising heck about crowded classrooms, they will blame principals and superintendents before they blame lawmakers.

As the TV story points out, districts already can apply for state waivers from 221 if the limit is unduly expensive.

Former Gov. Mark White, who was in office when 221 was first enacted in 1984, and teacher Frances Smith, president of Cy Fair TSTA, also are featured in the KTRK story, and both make strong arguments for keeping the limit.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7881833

State Rep.elect David Simpson of Longview, one of the conservatives riding the big Republican wave in November, admits he still has a “lot to learn” on the eve of taking office next week. So, to learn something about the public schools, he invited East Texas educators to a meeting in his new district.

Unfortunately, however, he scheduled the meeting during a school day. So, the real educational experts, of course, were in class, teaching. I don’t know if they were even invited. But nine school administrators – six superintendents and three assistant superintendents from eight school districts – did show up. And, guess what they wanted to complain about? Bureaucracy and red tape, according to the Longview NewsJournal, which covered the meeting.

Imagine that.

I am all for eliminating wasteful bureaucracy and red tape. But, maybe, Simpson will schedule another meeting – on a weekend with teachers – so he can also learn something about education, things like the importance of class sizes, uptodate textbooks, adequately equipped science labs and teacher mentoring.

That’s what teachers do. They teach people who have much to learn, and they do a very good job of it. But students, including new legislators, also have to listen.

http://www.newsjournal.com/news/local/article_1c00d2daee805d10b0e24c41b59cabfb.html