Grading Texas

I am no longer waiting for “Superman.” I saw the longanticipated oversimplification (it is, after all, a movie) of the nation’s public education problems at a screening hosted last evening by Austin ISD.

As you may have heard by now, “Waiting for Superman” is partly a cruel drama endured by several families who believe their children’s futures rest on the luck of the draw – their ability to win longshot lotteries for admission to highquality charter schools.

In the process, it strongly implies (wrongly) that teachers’ unions are undermining educational quality and strongly suggests (also wrongly) that charter schools may be some sort of magical solution to poorly performing public schools. In truth, charter schools are a mixed bag, and for each one of the successes depicted in the movie, there are many others that are failures.

The movie does include the disclaimer: “Great schools won’t come from winning the lottery. Great schools won’t come from Superman. They will come from you.”

But how?

The director, Davis Guggenheim, fails to answer that question. I think I read somewhere that he wanted to promote a discussion instead. (That sounds better, of course, than wanting to just sell tickets.) But this discussion has been going on a long time, and teachers and their moviemaligned unions have been right in the middle of it.

Welcome to the discussion, Mr. Guggenheim.

Good charter schools have a place in our educational system. But one thing this movie won’t change is the fact that the overwhelming number of children in this country will continue to be educated in traditional public schools, many of which are very good. Many, however, are not, and that problem must be addressed.

The answers are more obvious than most of our state policymakers want to admit.

The keys to success in public school classrooms are qualified, dedicated teachers with enough resources to do their jobs. Those resources start with an adequate, equitable school finance system funded by the state. In that respect, Texas is woefully lacking, ranking 38th among the states in perpupil spending on instruction. And, many of the districts with the highest dropout rates and other educational problems are those with the least financial resources.

Texas doesn’t lead the country in the percentage of adults without high school diplomas because it doesn’t have enough charter schools. It leads the country in that dubious category because it doesn’t adequately pay for its public schools and aggressively attack its serious dropout problem.

Beginning with our leaders in Austin, we must work harder in Texas to improve our public schools with smaller class sizes, improved teacher mentoring and professional development programs and professional educator salaries. All schools should have the tools and resources necessary to help all students succeed. Students shouldn’t have to rely on getting lucky in a lottery to get a quality education preparing them for success.

How much do a bunch of school kids have in common with a herd of cattle? That may depend on the school and the time of day, of course, but in two Houstonarea school districts, students are experiencing some hightech roundup security.

Thousands of students in the Spring and Santa Fe ISDs are wearing ID badges with radio frequency identification technology, the same technology used to track cattle, according to the Associated Press. The goal apparently is both security and revenue. The technology can help school officials track where a student is – and also help boost a district’s average daily attendance (ADA), on which state funding is based.

According to an administrator in Spring, the technology has allowed that district to recover $194,000 in state funding since the district started using it in December 2008. The reason? Some students counted absent by classroom teachers were found to be elsewhere on campus after being electronically tracked down.

Spring, according to the AP story, has distributed the special ID badges to 13,500 students over the past two years, and Santa Fe began using the badges this year.

The American Civil Liberties Union doesn’t like the system, citing potential security risks.

As a parent, I’m not sure I like the idea of electronic tracking for privacy reasons, but I recognize some potential security value. One thing is obvious, however. The Spring and Santa Fe districts must actually enforce the ID badge requirement on their students – unlike some schools with which I am familiar.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7241375.html

Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden’s proposal for a statewide property tax was ignored by the Legislature in 2006 when lawmakers enacted, instead, Gov. Rick Perry’s Starve the Public Schools Act.

Now, Ogden says he will try again next year. TSTA will wait and see the details of Ogden’s filed legislation before taking an official stance because, as we all know, the Devil (or whatever) is in the details. But here are a few observations.

The statewide property tax idea may have more traction this time because of the $21 billion revenue shortfall and because it is a way for the Legislature to pass the buck on school finance to voters. Constitutional amendments have to be approved by voters – if they get the necessary twothirds majority in the House and the Senate.

The governor, it should be noted, cannot veto a constitutional amendment. Only the voters can.

Would a statewide property tax produce an adequate and equitable school finance system?

Who knows? If the tax rate isn’t high enough, it wouldn’t be adequate. And if local districts were allowed a significant amount of leeway to raise local property taxes, it may not be equitable.

Winning voter approval of any new tax, even if it largely replaces existing taxes, would be iffy in the current political and economic climate. And, realistically, there wouldn’t be enough time for the Legislature and the voters to approve a constitutional amendment offering budgetstrapped school districts any relief for the 20102011 school year.

Has Ogden found a silver bullet? Probably not.

A health insurance crisis facing employees of GrapevineColleyville ISD is nothing short of a nightmare. And although fingers may be pointing in a lot of different directions, the ultimate responsibility rests with the current leadership in Austin and its neglect of the public schools.

As reported by the Fort Worth StarTelegram, teachers and other workers in the North Texas district will see their health insurance premiums jump by as much as 20 percent next year. The new plan also will increase deductibles, double outofpocket maximums and – in the most widely used option – eliminate caps on prescription drugs.

In approving the plan, district trustees blamed an alltoofamiliar litany of declining revenues, rising costs and frozen state spending. And, the district’s financial plight will worsen (including the elimination of almost 1,000 staff positions next year) if local voters don’t approve raising the district’s maintenance tax rate from the current $1.04 per $100 valuation to $1.17 in an election tentatively scheduled for next June.

The bottom line is the public schools in Texas are significantly underfunded by the state, and they were even before the state spotted a looming $21 billion revenue shortfall. Gov. Rick Perry and the legislative leadership worsened the problem in 2006 by ordering reductions in school property taxes and then failing to fully repay school districts for the lost revenue.

If Perry is still in the governor’s office in January, it will be open season on school districts and educators because Perry, as he already has signaled, will insist that lawmakers bridge the revenue shortfall with budget cuts alone. And, the GrapevineColleyville nightmare will worsen – and spread.

Elections have consequences, folks.

http://www.startelegram.com/2010/10/05/2522276/teacherhealthcoststoincrease.html