Grading Texas

SBOE member issues very silly, meaningless defense of DeVos

Many people who supported the unfit Betsy DeVos for education secretary have offered weak rationalizations, but the silliest statement in support of her that I have seen came from State Board of Education member David Bradley of Beaumont.

Bradley told the Beaumont Enterprise this week that criticism of DeVos’ lack of public education experience was irrelevant and that opponents were “simply trying to be obstructionists.”

“I don’t think having worked in public education is a qualification any more than being dead to work on the Texas Funeral (Service Commission), or being an alcoholic to be on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission,” Bradley said.

Bradley should know something about being an obstructionist. His critics would say he has spent much of his long tenure on the state board being an obstructionist to the best educational offerings for Texas school children.

If he was trying to be flippant with the rest of his statement, he flipped it too far. The relevant point is that Betsy DeVos is alive and presumably healthy and in a position to do a lot of damage to public schools and student opportunities.

If you want to see Bradley’s quote for yourself, check the 13^th and 14^th paragraphs of the story at this link:

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Texans-split-over-DeVos-education-secretary-10917291.php

DeVos’ confirmation spurs anti-voucher fight in Texas

Some of the more avid Texas supporters of Betsy DeVos, the most unqualified person ever to become U.S. Secretary of Education, include Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick – who consistently put ideology over what’s best for public school children – and Randan Steinhauser.

Steinhauser heads the latest pro-voucher, pro-education savings accounts, pro-school privatization interest group in Texas. She used to work for DeVos in Washington at the American Federation for Children , a national pro-privatization organization. Now she is working hand-in-hand with Patrick and Abbott in Texas to weaken our public schools and turn our centers of learning and opportunity for all children into profit centers for a handful of education profiteers.

In a comment quoted in the Rivard Report, Steinhauser blamed “outrage” from “teacher’s unions” for the difficult battle DeVos faced in winning Senate confirmation. She was wrong.

Yes, millions of teachers, superintendents and other educators are outraged over DeVos’ blatant lack of qualifications and outright hostility toward public education. But so are millions of parents and other Americans who truly value public schools and the critical role they play in their children’s futures.

Although they certainly helped – and proudly so — teachers alone didn’t overload telephones and clog email in-boxes in U.S. Senate offices. And teachers alone didn’t fight the privatization forces to a 50-50 deadlock in the Senate, where the vice president cast a first-ever vote to break a tie on a Cabinet confirmation.

Texas educators, parents and others who value our public schools too much to allow would-be profiteers to destroy them should be energized by DeVos’ confirmation fight.

Keep contacting your state legislators and demand they vote against vouchers and other school privatization schemes. If you need to, click on the link below and fill in your home address to find out who your state representative and state senator are. Then call or email them and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same. The fight for Texas public schools is far from over.

http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx

How Senate leaders plan to reduce school funding

A couple of weeks ago, Senate Finance Chairwoman Jane Nelson announced the formation of a working group that supposedly will find a “better” way to pay for Texas’ public schools. Don’t hold your breath, though.

If it does anything, the new study group will continue to shortchange public education while increasing the burden on local property taxpayers, who already pay for more than half of public school costs.

If you think my conclusion is unfair and too hastily drawn, consider this. Only a week after announcing the new school funding study, the same Sen. Nelson, R-Flower Mound, filed a bill to gradually reduce and abolish within 10 years the business franchise tax, a major source of school funding. This plan, of course, also has been endorsed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Since Nelson has announced no replacement for the franchise tax, its demise would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to pay for the increase in education funding that school children need, even while leaning more heavily on local taxpayers.

Led by Patrick and Nelson, the Senate majority is about squeezing and privatizing public schools, not about finding a more adequate and fairer way to pay for them. Remember, Texas spends about $2,700 less than the national average to educate a child each year, and Patrick, the Senate leader, wants to make that worse by diverting millions in tax dollars for private school vouchers.

The phasing out of the franchise tax – and with it a sizable chunk of school funding – was promptly endorsed by the Texas Association of Business, which apparently figures the Tooth Fairy is going to find a way to help local taxpayers keep educating the state’s future workforce.

When Nelson announced the school finance “study,” – the umpteenth study of school funding to be initiated over the past 30 years – school finance expert Lynn Moak told the Texas Tribune that the main question is “whether they’re trying to reform school finance within existing dollars or looking for possible additional dollars to fund the system.”

Now, it seems the answer to that question is less money for education, not more.

Texas’ school children don’t need another study of school funding. They need Senate leaders who really value public education.

Dan Patrick’s untruths about vouchers

Sometimes, I don’t think Dan Patrick would recognize the truth if it reached out and bopped him on the nose. I know that’s a cliché, but it almost has a ring of justice for someone who prefers ideological prattle.

In a new political email and video touting Senate Bill 3, the private school voucher bill, the lieutenant governor says, “It will give school choice to every family in Texas.”

Actually, it won’t, far from it. The bill would provide private school vouchers to only a few thousand Texas families, while taking tax dollars from the under-funded public schools that the vast majority of Texas’ 5.3 million school children will continue to attend.

Elsewhere in the message, Patrick says, “I believe every child in Texas should have access to a high-quality public education.” Really?

If so, Dan, then why are you trying to take money from public schools to benefit a handful of private schools, and why did you, as a state senator a few years ago, vote to slash $5.4 billion from the public education budget? Why are you now supporting a Senate budget proposal that would continue to shortchange public schools?

Finally, Patrick promoted vouchers for people who “believe you have the right as a parent to provide the best educational environment for your child.”

There is a better idea. If you, as a parent, really want “to provide the best educational environment for your child,” you can tell your legislators to vote against Patrick’s voucher bill and then vote for someone else for lieutenant governor the next time you get the chance.

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