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Issue 7- February 20, 2004 |
2004 Education Battle Lines are Drawn
Parents
I Teachers I Bureaucrats I
Taxpayers
Where Does the Money Go?
by Janelle Shepard
Represenatives for Americans for Prosperity, Texans for Texas, the
Conservative Coalition Research Institute, Texas Young Republican
Federation, Texas CAAUSE, Williamson County Taxpayers and the
Texas Republican Liberty Caucus met recently in Austin to ask the
state legislature to consider where the money goes in Texas
education. A startling list of problems has been compiled.
continue
Taxpayers demand more education for our tax dollars;
Not more tax dollars for education!
by Peggy Venable
Texans
value education and fund public education well. According to the
National Education Association, Texas ranks second in the nation
in total public education expenditures . According to the
National Association of Budget Officers, Texas ranks third in
public education expenditures as a percent of the total budget.
Moreover, the per-pupil spending listed below does not include all
spending. According to NEA figures, available revenues for the
2002-03 school year were $40.7 billion or $10,400 per student.
(That figure includes local, state, and federal funding as well as
bonds and other income.)
As
administrators, education unions and lobbyists plead and demand more
of our tax dollars, we first want more education for
our dollars before we would consider more dollars for education.
TEXAS
TAXPAYERS ARE PROVIDING MORE DOLLARS FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION, YET AS
THE REVENUES HAVE INCREASED, THE PERCENTAGE OF THOSE DOLLARS MAKING
IT INTO TEXAS CLASSROOMS HAS BEEN DECREASING.
continued
Hoover Institution Releases Koret Task Force Report on Texas
Public School Finance to House Select Committee
Austin-The
Koret Task Force on K-12 Educaiton, based at Standford
University's Hoover Institition, offers ten memoranda for the
consideration of Texas educaiton policymakers. They provide
background and analysis on current education policies and propose
reforms that can be immediately implemented in the state.
Higlights include suggestions for:
School Finance
Improving Accountability
Rewards for School, Teachers, and Principals
A
Professional Contract for Teachers and Principals
Vouchers for Students in Urban Districts with Failing Schools
Scholarships for Students with Disabilities
Improving Charter Schools
Restoring Democracy to Local School Boards
Advancing Reading
Textbooks
The
entire
press release and link to the 72 page
study can be found here.
Email
Us Today.
Do you have examples of education spending abuse? We can direct
you to a new witness protection program!
Your feedback has been great. Your
comments on immigration have been sent to Washington.
Texans For Texas
welcomes you. As you know, Texas is always changing and evolving.
Likewise, our group of grassroots leaders have been evolving into
a better machine for the purposes of educating, energizing, and
motivating the conservative citizens of Texas about public policy
and issues.
Texans
For Texas staffers are listed below. Scattered across the state with
diverse backgrounds, we will share truth and shed light on facts
that are not normally found in today’s media coverage. Please send
us your comments.
Organization Leaders
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Janelle Shepard,
Director
Executive Director of Texans for Texas, Editor of Capitol
Update, registered nurse with 25 years experience. 20 yr
political veteran. Parker County resident, near Fort Worth /
Dallas. |
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Pat O’Grady, COO
VietNam vet, retired Air Force officer. Air Force Academy
grad and an MBA from the University of Redlands, CA.
Architect of 2001 SBOE redistricting plan. |
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Kaye T. Goolsby,
Houston
Legendary campaigner, fundraiser, and events organizer for
multiple national, state, and local causes. Kaye has a
business background & serves on numerous local & statewide
boards. |
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Kyev Tatum, So
Central Texas
Founder, president of Texas Preparatory School, serves
on the Exec. Board of Directors for Region XIII
Education Service Center. A passionate advocate for
education reform, Tatum has become a strong voice for
school choice in Texas.
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Maria Martinez,
Austin
Lifelong grassroots conservative with experience in the high
tech industry and sales. She has roots in Corpus Christi,
but now lives in Austin, Texas. |
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Jorge Uresti,
East Texas
President of the Center for
Hispanic Advocacy, a small business owner and political
activist from Tyler, Texas. |
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Advisory Board
Peggy Venable
Texas Director for Americans for Prosperity. Formerly with
Citizens for a Sound Economy, Peggy also served President
Reagan as a White House liaison to the Education Department.
Bob
Schoolfield
Austin businessman and philanthropist serving as chairman of
the Austin CEO Foundation.
Royal Masset
One of a handful of people who built the Republican
Party of Texas, Royal continues to serve Texas as a
successful political consultant, author and speaker on
policy issues.
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Marc Levin
Grassroots leader in Texas. He is an attorney, vice
president of the Texas Review Society, advisor to the
Young Conservatives of Texas
and associate editor of the Austin Review.
Dwight Williams
Respected Dallas CPA with experience in a variety of
industries - law enforcement, healthcare, sports, real
estate, entertainment and politics. |
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Royally Right
How to Improve Student Acheivement
by Royal Masset
Two
simple changes would have extremely positive results for
public education. I believe these changes would increase
student achievement more than the combined results of every
other proposal I've seen in print.
The first is to increase the school year from 175 days
of instruction to 195 . Student achievement is
directly related to “Time on Task.” In the
stroke of a pen this would render silly all those radio talk
show debates about whether to eliminate art and music classes,
or Physical education, or about how valuable time is being
wasted “teaching to the test.” If we are serious about making
our schools work, then keep them open the same number of days
as the rest of the civilized world.
The second is to measure annual teacher achievement in
the classroom . Accountability on the school level
can only go so far. We must make teachers more accountable. It
is now possible to measure teacher achievement in the
classroom by comparing how much their students improve on
standardized tests from the beginning to the end of their
school year. Teachers with consistently superior results
should get significant pay raises.
continued
REFORM TEXAS
The Myths of Texas Public
School Finance
by Bill Peacock, Guest Columnist
While lawmakers in Austin debate about the future of public
education, there has been little debate over whether we
actually need to increase spending to improve education.
Republicans and Democrats alike seem to believe that we must
get more money for education by shifting the tax burden from
property owners to everyone else. They have ignored the real
problem with our schools: The Texas system of public
school finance is designed to simultaneously drive costs up
and drive quality down.
The
root cause of this flaw is that consumer choice has been
eliminated from Texas public schools. Parents choose where
their children go to church, what clothes they wear, and what
food they eat. And they choose how much these cost. But unless
they are wealthy, they don't get to choose where their
children go to school, what they learn or how much their
education costs.
In
the name of accountability, control of public education has
been placed in the hands of suppliers rather than consumers.
However well-intentioned this design, like with any monopoly,
it has resulted in a destructive power struggle that has
brought about wasteful inefficiency and poor quality.
continued
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