Exploring New Solutions for Texas Education

In a state facing a $15 billion budget shortfall, almost every aspect of government will be experiencing cuts this session. Money allocated for education, which accounts for 56.3% percent of the overall budget, will have to be reduced as a result of this budget decrease. The easiest way for school districts to accommodate these budget changes under current Texas law is to simply layoff teachers because many other options, such as reducing teacher salaries, are prohibited. 

Early predictions estimated that about 80,000 to 100,000 teachers across the state would lose their jobs as a result of the budget shortfall. Many legislators have asserted that the best option is to adjust current law to accommodate changes in the budget, allowing districts more control over how they spend their budgets. By giving school districts the ability to increase class sizes, reduce teacher salaries and offer more unpaid furlough days, many teachers may be able to keep their jobs.

Everyone can agree that education is of the utmost importance. Our children are our future and the quality of their education contributes significantly to their success. Furthermore, every parent wants to see that our education system improves over time. We all want future generations to have better than what we had.

I admire the work of the Texas Senate Education Committee’s attempts to find a compromise between administrators and teachers, but is changing Texas law really the best way to address the budget shortfall? Texas teachers have fought for years to get the minimum teacher salary where it stands today at about $27,000 for first-year teachers. One thing the republicans in the legislature hate more than suggesting using the rainy day fund is suggesting higher taxes, but that may be another solution to the $15 billion shortfall, which is rarely discussed.

Some of the ideas proposed by the legislature I believe would really help alleviate the pressure put on school districts due to dramatically decreased budgets. Allowing more furlough days for teachers is a great place to start, but raising taxes or dipping into the rainy day fund would significantly reduce the amount of teachers being laid off as a result of decreased budgets. The two most important education bills proposed in the Texas legislature, SB 12 and HB 400, both of which would allow more furlough days for teachers, but we will have to continue waiting for a budget to pass both chambers to know if the rainy day fund will be used.

-Kaitlyn Van Gorkom

Big Cuts for Public Education Across the Board

When it comes to public education in Texas, the two bills to watch out for in the legislature are HB 400 and SB 12. 

The bills would give school districts more control over their budgets, allowing them to increase class sizes, cut employee pay and offer more unpaid furlough days for teachers. Legislators feel that these two bills provide the best compromise between administrators and teachers according to an article from Bloomberg Businessweek.

Others aren’t convinced these methods are the best way to address the situation. Lonnie Hollingsworth, an attorney with the Texas Classroom Teachers Association told the Associated Press that eliminating the state mandated minimum salary for teachers “is the equivalent of swatting a fly with a sledgehammer.”

But Texas isn’t the only state faced with huge budget cuts forcing school districts to layoff teachers and increase class sizes. Other states such as California, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina are also struggling to deal with large budget cuts. 

According to an article from the Florida Courier, legislators in Florida are looking at a $1 billion cut to K-12 funding in the state, one of the largest cuts in its history. Virtual classes, teacher furloughs, layoffs, fewer buses and four day school weeks are just a few of the options Florida lawmakers are considering in order to manage the budget shortfall. 

Students from Tallahassee-area schools wait outside Gov. Rick Scott's office to protests cuts in education.
Photo courtesy of Michael Peltier/News Service of Florida.

In North Carolina, the budget proposed by the GOP calls for double-digit percentage spending cuts for public education according to an article from Bloomberg Businessweek.

The fact is that everyone is experiencing budget cuts this session and education will be taking a big hit. Now the only question that remains is whether the legislatures will use the fly swatter or the sledgehammer to do it.

-Kaitlyn Van Gorkom

The Push for More Local Control in Public Education

Lawmakers are working to a public education system allowing for more local control, according to an editorial submitted by State Rep. Mark Shelton to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

In the editorial Rep. Shelton said, "This legislature has a unique opportunity to eliminate unnecessary red tape, cut wasteful spending and provide our educators the flexibility they desperately need to educate our children."

Rep. Shelton specifically highlights House Bill 3 (HB 3) enacted in 2009, which relates to accountability, curriculum and promotion requirements, but notes that additional work must be done to make students the focus of the education system.

According to an article from the Associated Press, the Texas House agreed Thursday to tap into the Rainy Day Fund to help pay some of the state's bills for the remainder of the 2011 budget. Both Democrats and Republicans agreed to use more than $3.1 billion of the Rainy Day Fund, but Democrats pushed to use more of the reserve fund to pay for education and other programs.

It is still unclear what the future of education looks like for the Texas public education system. Jobs for teachers are particularly at risk.

"Teachers will be laid off," said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston.

Although this is no surprise by now to teachers in Texas, the extent of the layoffs and the full impact of budget cuts remain yet to be determined.

In the meantime,  continue watching closely Senate Bill 443 (SB 443) and SB 468.

-Kaitlyn Van Gorkom

Let's Move Sheds Light on Austin

Increasing obesity rates in the United States in recent years have caused health and nutritional issues, especially those regarding children, to gain additional attention across the nation.

This issue is currently being addressed in the 82^nd Texas Legislature in a series of bills that focus on altering nutritional standards and physical education programs in the Texas public schools.

In the House of Representatives, these bills include:

• HB 127: relating to the types of beverages that may be sold to students on public school campuses; referred to Public Health.

• HB 280: relating to requiring a health credit for high school graduation; referred to Public Education.

• HB 281: relating to physical education credits required for high school graduation; referred to Public Education.

• HB 643: relating to summer nutrition programs in school districts; referred to Agriculture and Livestock committee.

In the Senate, these bills include:

• SB 185: relating to physical activity requirements for students in public schools; refereed to Education.

• SB 225: relating to including in public school campus improvement plans and in local school health advisory council reports to school district boards of trustees certain goals and objectives or information in order to promote improved student health; referred to Education.

As these bills are debated in Austin, examining steps taken by the federal government in these areas is both interesting and relevant.

Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign has set childhood nutrition as a national priority in America. The campaign addresses the challenges that busy American families, including the Obama’s, experience and discusses how those challenges have an affect on individual nutrition. This video outlines some of the goals of the campaign:

In its first year, the campaign focused on the authorization of the Healthy-Hunger Free Kids Act, signed by President Obama in December 2010. This bill reauthorized the Child Nutrition Bill and, according to the Healthy Schools Campaign’s website, makes a “significant move to shape the future of school food.” It calls for several actions including:

• increasing the reimbursements that schools receive by six cents per meal;

• setting improved common-sense nutrition standards for school meals;

• bringing policies that help schools send consistent messages about healthy eating;

• simplifying the process that children who are eligible for free meals go through to receive those meals;

• piloting expansion of farm-to-school programs as well as organic foods.

As explained by the Healthy Schools Campaign, the creation of such federal policy is critical to the implementation of new programs and alterations to existing programs in state public schools. With the support of the federal government, state governments now have the leverage and the funding to promote nutritional and physical education programs that help fight current habits and obesity prevalent amongst American children.

The School Nutrition Association provides an outline of the large role that the federal government has played in the development of school nutritional programs through United States history. In 1962, President Truman passed the National School Lunch Act to provide reimbursement to states for school meals. Until the 1990s the bill focused primarily on school reimbursement and providing meals to low-income students. Nutritional standards were first introduced in 1993 when the USDA published the School Nutrition Diary, outlining nutritional problems with school meals. Following this report, changes focusing on the need to improve nutritional quality have gained attention and continue to be addressed. 

The proposed bills and alterations to the bills in the Texas Legislature are closely related to the current debate over nutrition and also to the national history of the issue. These current and past events help create a better understanding of the importance and relevance of the current debate in Austin.

-Kathryn Waggoner

Possible Alternatives to Widespread Layoffs

Natalie Brown is a teacher in Dallas ISD who may be one of the 3,100 employees laid off in DISD alone due to cuts in the state budget this year. According to an article by the San Antonio Express, those severe budget cuts are predicted to remove $10 billion in funding from public education in Texas.

"The scariest thing is that you realize you can't go to another school district to find a job," Brown said. View her full story from WFAA below.


Video and full text can be found here.

According to Texas law as it is now, school districts have no choice but to lay off employees in order to balance their budgets. However, two bills submitted during this legislative session offer school districts more flexibility over their budgets.

Senate Bill 468, submitted on Feb. 1 by Sen. Florence Shapiro, proposes giving school districts more local control and the elimination of mandates that prohibit reducing teacher salaries.

Sen. Dan Patrick submitted Senate Bill 443 on Jan. 31, which also provides more flexibility and control for school districts. According to an article from the Coppell Gazette, the bill would allow a district-wide average of 21 students per class instead of the current classroom cap of 22-1.

The bills have been referred to the Education Committee for further review. If passed by the Senate, both would become effective Sept. 1 and the removal of salary mandates would impact the 2012-2013 school year.

-Kaitlyn Van Gorkom

Support for Increased Teacher Salary Levels

Education advocates have been pushing for increased teacher salaries for many years. The National Education Association (NEA), recommends a $40,000 starting salary for all pre-K—12 teachers in order to avoid “[losing] good teachers to better-paying professions.” Currently, the national average salary for new teachers is just over $34,000 according to the NEA.

However, with a budget shortfall of at least $15 billion this legislative session and a reluctance to use the “rainy day” fund, many teachers in Texas are at risk of losing their jobs entirely. According to an article from The Dallas Morning News, if the preliminary House budget plan does not increase, it would mean “a loss of 80,000 to 100,000 jobs in school districts across the state.” Dallas ISD Superintendent, Michael Hinojosa, added that "it's too early to speculate where cuts in payroll will need to take place, but everything will likely be on the table." Many people fear that with these staff cuts, the number of students in each classroom will increase, causing the quality of Texas public education to decrease rapidly.

Photo of DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa courtesy of the Dallas Observer.

According to a blog written by an editorial writer for The Dallas Morning News, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is generally opposed to increasing spending for education and is pushing for different approaches to dealing with the budget shortfall. Some of their ideas for reducing education spending include eliminating regulations such as minimum salary schedules, paying teachers more for an advanced degree and teacher tenure.

Regardless of how school districts plan to handle these overwhelming budget cuts, it seems outspoken support for increased teacher salaries may disappear for a while considering many teachers fear losing their jobs altogether.

-Kaitlyn Van Gorkom