Thoughts at the End of a Challenging Texas School Year

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Today is the last day of school in my district. Usually, this day does not cause me too much pause or reflection because for the last four years since I've worked from the district technology department, it has signaled a transition from "school year busy" to "summer staff development and projects busy." I don't usually breathe or acknowledge the end of school until the first round of summer staff development is done in June.

But this year, things are different. I am acutely aware that when the final bell rings on each campus today, it won't just signal summer break for students or graduation time for the Class of 2011. In my district, it will signal the end of 142 staff members contributing to our educational community and enriching the lives of students. From central administration to campus administration to campus secretarial staff to instructional aides and classroom teachers, positions have been culled and eliminated through attrition or layoffs.

I know some of the faces who are not coming back because they are campus instructional technology staff with whom I've had the privilege to serve for many years. Some of them have been with the district for a number of years extending into the double digits. Their skill sets will be sorely missed by teachers and students alike. I met another face who is not coming back just today when I was out at a campus for a meeting. Gifted & Talented program facilitators have been cut too, taking away a resource from students and adding to the workload of teachers who kept their positions.

All of these cuts are due to the Texas budget crisis, which as of the last articles I read is going to result in a four billion dollar cut in public education spending over the next two years, with no additional funding for student growth. I have blogged extensively about these issues in the past few months.

There is disagreement on what caused the crisis - how much of it is due to the recession and how much due to a structural deficit caused by an under-performing business tax that was put into place in 2006 - but whatever the cause, the results are the same. Fewer educators and school district staff will be serving students across Texas in the coming school year. As of my latest documented count, over 12,000 public education employees will lose their positions when the final bells sound across Texas in the coming days. I do not know if that number will increase or decrease when the legislature finalizes the budget.

There has also been disagreement on how the crisis should be handled. Should the state Rainy Day Fund be used? If so, how much of it should be used? Does the school finance system need to be revamped again? Should ways be found to produce new revenue (i.e. raise taxes on someone somewhere)?

Regardless of opinions on these matters, students and their needs are rarely brought up by the decision makers as they state their positions. I think the people who should be the focus of this debate, the people who have the most to lose (or gain), are the ones who have been most ignored in the conversations. Students.

In a year when Texas is revamping its testing system to up the ante once again and clearly has expectations for continued improvement in its schools, when you fail to address adequate staffing needs, you are ultimately failing to address the needs of students.

Click the photo to enlarge and read the complete
message our librarians sent!

A bright spot at the end of this morale-challenging year took place in our technology department Wednesday. Our district librarians brought us some treats, and among those treats was the message you see at the right. We each received a copy. And when I say each, I mean everyone in the department, from the director to the instructional staff to the student information systems staff to the administrative assistant to the technicians.

What our librarians understand is that it takes everyone in our department to support their efforts and the efforts of the district. Instructional staff are important, but the supporting cast members play a vital role as well.

This analogy plays out over entire districts, too. Without the proper number of instructional staff, the primary mission of a school district - the education of children - is hindered as each instructional person has a finite amount of attention they can give to each student, even when their desire to give is infinite. Larger classes and fewer programs staffed ultimately means less opportunity for students.

The folks in favor of cutting spending no matter what the consequences have tried to make their position more palatable by trumpeting the fact that "only" 50% of Texas public school employees are classroom teachers. The implication being that if you aren't a classroom teacher you aren't valuable to a school district or a child's education. You are a burden on the system and a waste of taxpayer money. Never mind that the 50% statistic has held true for the last 20 years and no one seemed bothered by it before. Never mind that the 50% of employees who aren't classroom teachers directly impact the quality of student learning because they are the ones who feed children, drive them back and forth to school, keep the classrooms clean, fix water fountains and toilets, maintain and repair computers and network equipment, coordinate instructional programs, get messages to students from their parents, and professionally develop classroom teachers to keep them informed on the latest educational approaches. (On a related note, it is untrue that there is a 1:1 ratio of teachers to administrators in Texas public schools.)

If support staff are cut to keep more teachers in classrooms, then duties which belonged to those support staff may now fall back to classroom teachers. Duties such as one-on-one diagnostic testing or covering a class on your planning period to save substitute costs or having to research intervention strategies to help a student instead of having access to a specialist for consultation. Again, as teachers must assume more responsibility because of staff reductions, their time focusing on each child in their classroom is negatively impacted.

As I reflect on the 2010-2011 school year and wonder what the next school year and budget cycle holds, my biggest desire for the future is that educators, policy makers, and legislators will find ways to come together and truly discuss the issues based on actual facts. Truly understand what is at stake and what it takes to meet the needs of the diverse learners in our classrooms and the high expectations of our citizens.

Education should be apolitical; a strong public school system is in the best interest of our society and it should be a no-brainer that we need to prioritize ways to fully fund it. We have plenty of accountability built into state and federal law so the public knows how its money is being spent and what they get for it. Let's work together to continuously improve student achievement and graduate readiness instead of constantly pointing fingers at lawmakers or demanding better products from schools at a reduced price.

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Let's remember we are not trying to improve the manufacturing process for widgets and cogs. We're investing in our most precious natural resource - our children.

It's Raining! Why Texas Should Use the Rainy Day Fund

I am home today with a sick pet. While she rests and we wait to go to the vet, I have been reading up on the latest information to cross my screen regarding the Texas education budget crisis.

I am not glad my pet is sick, but I'm very glad I came across a Tweet from MrDW30 which linked to an article from the Center for Public Policy Priorities regarding the origin of the Texas Rainy Day Fund, examples of how it has been used in the past, and why it makes sense to use it in the financial situation Texas currently finds itself in. I only hope that those who subscribe to Governor Perry's "hands off the fund" approach will read this article and see the sense that is in it.

The full article, Using the Rainy Day Fund to Ensure Our Recovery and Prosperity, is six pages long and well worth the reading. I posted a link to it for my friends on Facebook along with some compelling excerpts which I am also sharing here. I believe these excerpts can form the basis for talking points as you share with your colleagues and friends the important fact that the impending budget crisis can be avoided if our legislators approach it in a balanced, reasonable manner. You might also cite this article in correspondence with your legislators.

Here are some quotes which stood out to me (bolding is mine):

"The Legislature told voters that if they saved tax dollars in the Rainy Day Fund, those dollars would be used to maintain current services in the event of an economic downturn. Voters took the deal, approving the constitutional amendment creating the fund in November 1988. The amendment became Article 3, Section 49-g, of the Texas Constitution."

"In 1991, the Legislature spent the entire balance ($28.8 million) on public schools, and in 1993, spent the entire balance ($197 million) for criminal justice. In 2003, to deal with the last economic downturn, the Legislature appropriated $1.3 billion from the Rainy Day Fund."

"...if we don’t use all of the Rainy Day Fund now to help maintain vital public services, the damage in 2012-13 is certain and great. Cuts would imperil our economic recovery. In the short run, Texas would lose 250,000 public and private jobs just because of the cuts to public education. In the long run, cuts to education would threaten our future prosperity if we shortchanged an entire group of Texas children."

"Why make a decision today to deeply cut critical public services for 2012-13 because we are worried that we might not have the money in 2014-15 to continue to provide the services? Texas has both the time and a process to adjust the budget if the economy does not continue to improve. This same process allows for budget adjustments to address any emergency such as a hurricane."

‎"The Constitution requires a three-fifths vote of the members present to spend the Rainy Day Fund to prevent a deficit in a current budget or to offset a decline in available revenue for a future budget. If all members were present, that would require 90 votes in the House and 19 in the Senate."

"The Rainy Day Fund was created by Texans who knew what it was like to deal with a crisis that threatens economic growth and future prosperity. While they wanted to preserve the fund for real crisis and important needs, they intended it to be used in the very sort of circumstances we now face. Texans will not abide billions ($9.4 billion) kept in the treasury while classrooms are crowded and teachers are fired, while promising young Texans are denied access to college, and while low-income children, the elderly, and those with disabilities are denied the humane protection of a compassionate state."

The entire article is very compelling and very easy to read. I understand more now about why the Rainy Day Fund exists, and I am more convinced than ever that it exists for the exact circumstances we are in today. I encourage you to read it in its entirety for yourself.

But don't stop there. Are you discussing this with your colleagues? I ran into some folks I used to teach with at lunch yesterday, two of them active teachers and one a retired teacher subbing for the day, and none of them were aware of the Save Texas Schools Rally on March 12th, and I suspect that means they probably aren't writing their representatives either. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs are wonderful, but it is my opinion that the most compelling conversations, the ones that move people to action, are the ones that take place in person. If you are reading this blog, then great! Now, go spread the word to everyone who isn't reading. Let's prove this blogger wrong in his appraisal of Texas teachers...

 

Blog photo public domain courtesy of  NASA: http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/nasaNAS~10~10~68788~173778:Heavy-Rains-Drench-Texas