Real Staffing Percentages in Texas Public Schools

Source: Texas Education Agency
Retrieved July 17, 2017

Earlier today, Kimberly Reeves sent out the following Tweet:

I wish @SenLarryTaylor would fact-check himself when he says teacher to administrator ratio is 1:1. it's not true. #txlege #txed

— Kimberly Reeves (@edwonkkimmy) July 17, 2017

The myth of the 1:1 public school teacher to administrator ratio strikes again. It is a convenient myth to believe if you are someone who wants to convince the public that their local school districts don't know how to properly prioritize their financial resources. I had a pretty keen sense of déjà vu, since a similar statement by then Texas Governor Rick Perry led me to write about this same issue in 2011.

I've posted a screen shot above of 2016 staffing statistics as reported by the Texas Education Agency, but just to clarify, here's a quick summary of the classifications of all public school employees by percentage, charter schools included:

• Central Administration - 1.1%

• School Administration - 2.9% 

• Professional Support - 9.8%

• Teachers - 50.5%

• Educational Aides - 9.6%

• Auxiliary Staff- 26.1%

Comments I made about public education staffing ratios in my 2011 blog post still apply:

With teachers comprising 50% of the employees of Texas public schools, and administrators only comprising 4%, it can hardly be argued that there is a 1 to 1 ratio of administrators to teachers in our schools. As a professional educator, I myself would be appalled if that were so.

The 1 to 1 ratio of teachers to administrators only works if you count everyone except teachers as administrators. Lumping professional support, aides, and auxiliary staff in with administrators is inaccurate at best and deceitful at its worst.

If some of our state leaders are going to question the way public education is run in Texas, they could at the very least use accurate information. The Texas Education Agency maintains an enormous amount of data, and I was able to find the most current snapshot of public education data in less than five minutes, by searching their website from my smartphone. Surely, government staffers could do the same?

I will close with the graphic below, which shows a snapshot of state staffing percentages from 2010, the last time I addressed this issue on my blog. The percentages haven't changed much. It's time to put the 1:1 teacher to administrator ratio myth to rest. Now. We have enough alternative facts floating around Washington D.C. We don't need them muddying the waters in Texas.

Source: Texas Education Agency
Retrieved July 27, 2017

---

All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Letter to My Representative Regarding Needed Changes to TRS SB 1458

Texas Senate Bill 1458 has passed the Senate in an unanimous vote and is making its way to the House as early as Tuesday, May 14th. The details on what the bill includes can be found here: http://tcta.org/node/13425. The bill is much improved over its original version, but still denies many current educators access to comprehensive health care when they retire and does not grant a cost of living increase to all retirees. Below is the letter I just emailed to my representative. Although personalized correspondence is best, if you want to speak your mind and are short on time, you can use this form to send a letter to your representative as well. You can customize the letter within the form: http://action.aft.org/c/435/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=6393

Dear Representative Gonzales,

Thank you for responding to my concerns about TRS legislation that has been considered during this legislative session. I am greatly encouraged by the efforts made in the Senate to improve the measures being taken to bring the TRS to actuarial soundness while lessening the impacts on currently active educators who are vested in the Teacher Retirement System.

I am writing to ask for your help again. As SB 1458 comes to the House floor as early as Tuesday, May 14^th, I ask that you offer or support amendments to:

- Restore comprehensive TRS Care health insurance benefits for ALL currently vested TRS members when they retire. As it stands now, only current members who meet a “Rule of 70” will be eligible for  full health care benefits when they retire. The rest of us, including educators like myself who have anywhere from six to twenty-four years in the system and are under age 50, will have to wait until age 62 to be eligible for comprehensive health care benefits. These are benefits all retirees are able to access under current law and which should not be taken away from currently active educators.

- Provide an immediate cost of living increase for all retirees, not just the 30 percent who would be eligible for a potential 3-percent cost-of-living adjustment (capped at $100 a month) under the Senate version of SB 1458.

Thank you for your continued efforts to offer and support legislation during this session that is in the best interest of Texas students and educators.

Sincerely,

Sandra Kendell

Constituent, HD 52

Letter to My Representative Regarding Texas TRS

There is some big legislation pending regarding the Texas Teacher Retirement System. Below is the letter I just sent to my state representative. Fellow Texas educators, have you been following this legislation? If not, you should be, and you should be making your voice heard! A very good update can be found here: http://tcta.org/node/13403. Find out who represents you and follow links to their web pages where you can email them. Phone calls are important, too!

Dear Representative Gonzales,

As your constituent in HD 52, I am writing to ask you to vote NO on HB 1884 as currently written. If passed in its current form, approximately 50% of current Teacher Retirement System members will have an average of 10 years added to the years of service required before they become eligible for full retirement.

I am proud to have served the children of Texas for the past 20 years and look forward to serving them for many more. I appreciate the legislature’s work to ensure the actuarial soundness of TRS, but believe the state should not change retirement eligibility for veteran educators like myself. Although many TRS members choose to work past the age of minimum retirement, we should still have the option to retire with full benefits after reaching the “Rule of 80”, in which our age plus years of service adds up to 80, instead of having to wait until we are 62 years old.  The “Rule of 80” has applied to us for most of our professional careers, and this rule should not be changed on us mid-stream. It is my understanding that in the private sector, a change such as this would be illegal. Although legal in the public sector, I believe it would be unethical.

I understand that one of the goals for increasing the actuarial soundness of TRS is to give a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to currently retired teachers because a COLA has not been given in over ten years. I also understand that the COLA provided for if this bill were to pass is not guaranteed, and it would be a maximum of $100 per month only for members who retired in 1994 or earlier. That seems like a very small benefit to a small percentage of retirees in exchange for the substantial change in active members’ retirement eligibility requirements that will take place if this bill passes in its current form.

Please work with Representative Callegari to improve HB 1884. If necessary, raise the retirement age for members entering the system from Fall 2013 forward. I would also advocate for an increase in active members’ contribution percentage to improve the soundness of TRS.

As I ask for your help in improving HB 1884, I also want to thank you for co-authoring HB 1383 which will raise the state contribution to TRS to 6.9% in FY 2014 and 7.4% in FY 2015. This is the type of measure which demonstrates that Texas values its education system and the dedicated professionals who are investing in Texas’s future every school day.

Thank you, too, for authoring HB 103 to authorize a one-time supplemental payment to current retired teachers. This also would demonstrate that our state values the men and women who faithfully educated generations of Texans.

I appreciate the positive education changes you and our legislature are working toward during this session, and thank you for taking time to consider my concerns for the future of the Teacher Retirement System and its members.

Letter to My Senator Regarding Texas TRS

There is some big legislation pending regarding the Texas Teacher Retirement System. Below is the letter I just sent to my state senator. Fellow Texas educators, have you been following this legislation? If not, you should be, and you should be making your voice heard! A very good update can be found here: http://tcta.org/node/13403. Find out who represents you and follow links to their web pages where you can email them. Phone calls are important, too!

Dear Senator Schwertner,

As your constituent in Senate District 5, I am writing to ask you to vote NO on SB 1458 as currently written. If passed in its current form, approximately 50% of current Teacher Retirement System members will have an average of 10 years added to the years of service required before they become eligible for full retirement.

I am proud to have served the children of Texas for the past 20 years and look forward to serving them for many more. I appreciate the legislature’s work to ensure the actuarial soundness of TRS, but believe the state should not change retirement eligibility for veteran educators like myself. Although many TRS members choose to work past the age of minimum retirement, we should still have the option to retire with full benefits after reaching the “Rule of 80”, in which our age plus years of service adds up to 80, instead of having to wait until we are 62 years old.  The “Rule of 80” has applied to us for most of our professional careers, and this rule should not be changed on us mid-stream. It is my understanding that in the private sector, a change such as this would be illegal. Although legal in the public sector, I believe it would be unethical.

I understand that one of the goals for increasing the actuarial soundness of TRS is to give a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to currently retired teachers because a COLA has not been given in over ten years. I also understand that the COLA provided for if this bill were to pass is not guaranteed, and it would be a maximum of $100 per month only for members who retired in 1994 or earlier. That seems like a very small benefit to a small percentage of retirees in exchange for the substantial change in active members’ retirement eligibility requirements that will take place if this bill passes in its current form.

Please work with Senator Duncan to improve SB 1458. If necessary, raise the retirement age for members entering the system from Fall 2013 forward. I would also advocate for an increase in active members’ contribution percentage to improve the soundness of TRS.

As I ask for your help in improving SB 1458, I also want to ask you to support HB 1383 if it comes to a vote in the Senate. HB 1383 will raise the state contribution to TRS to 6.9% in FY 2014 and 7.4% in FY 2015 and has the support of over 100 representatives at this time. This is the type of measure which demonstrates that Texas values its education system and the dedicated professionals who are investing in Texas’s future every school day.

I would also ask you to support HB 103 if it comes to a vote in the Senate. This bill will authorize a one-time supplemental payment to current retired teachers. This also would demonstrate that our state values the men and women who faithfully educated generations of Texans.

I appreciate the positive education changes you and our legislature are working toward during this session, and thank you for taking time to consider my concerns for the future of the Teacher Retirement System and its members.

Texas School Budget Cuts: Efficiencies & Impact. #SXSWedu

Notes from presentation at SXSWedu 2013
http://schedule.sxswedu.com/events/event_EDUP7940

All reports available on Children at Risk website. You can also follow Children at Risk on Twitter.

Children at Risk - sharing findings from research on impact of budget cuts.

The best public policy we've ever had is high quality education. That requires funding.

We are now 49th in spending per pupil in The United States.

65% of students represented in CAR research on impact of budget cuts.

The types of cuts instituted, like deferred tech upgrades, deferred maintenance, staff attrition, etc, cannot be maintained long term.

Pre-K is the most researched educational practice for long term positive outcomes. It is one of the programs that was cut.

How can we fix this?

Increase funding and equalize per-pupil spending.

Reinstate funding for Pre-K and increase quality standards. We only meet 40% of national standards.

Texas Education On iTunes U

Notes from Fall 2012 TCEA TECSIG Breakout Session
Kathy Ferguson
Texas Education Agency

Direct Link to Texas Education on iTunes U (Need iTunes to launch...)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/institution/texas-education/id388351943

Texas Education on iTunes U is part of Project Share.

Access Texas Education on  iTunes U through www.projectsharetexas.org in the resources feature on the home page.
or
through the iTunes store through the iTunes U button in the top navigation menu. Select iTunes U, then go to K-12 in the top right navigation menu. Find Texas Education under T, of course!
or
through the iTunes U App on your iDevice!

When you get to Texas Education in iTunes U, look at the What's New area at the top to see the latest and greatest uploads.

There are also Science Features, OnTRACK for College Readiness, and featured school districts.

All content in iTunesU is reviewed by TEA curriculum specialists.

Texas Education needs content from districts! 

Content should be classroom friendly:

• Engaging
• High Quality
• Age Appropriate
• Appropriate Classroom Length (typically no more than 10 minutes)

If you submit content, you will need cover art (600 x 600 png file works best), a title, a description, and a copyright. Copyright decisions should be made at the district level. Consider Creative Commons.

iTunes file formats can be video, audio, or PDF. If possible, develop videos with Closed Captioning.

Tech Details

• Audio files (AAC, MP3) with extensions .m4a or .mp3 - up to 500 MB
• Video files (MPEG-4) with extensions .mp4, .m4v, or .mov - up to 1 GB
• PDF or ePubs files of supplemental material (these download to the iTunes library or optionally to the iBooks app on an iOS tablet device)

How do you share your content?

• On iTunes site there is a Share Your Content link near the bottom of the right-hand navigation menu.
• Documents with guidelines for submission are included here
• After you go through the process of filling out the submit content form, TEA will send a legal agreement form which the Superintendent needs to sign off on.
• Content goes through a multi-step review process, including a technical review and a curriculum content review
• Content should not promote or advertise a commercial product.
• If you use third-party content, make sure you have copyright permission.
• Have documentation saying that you have written permission from parents to record their children and submit it for potential use on iTunesU.

Links for more info:

• www.projectsharetexas.org
• www.tea.state.tx.us/itunesu

Contact information:

• itunes@tea.state.tx.us
• Kathy.Ferguson@tea.state.tx.us
• 512-463-9400

Please Avoid Unnecessary & Harmful Changes to Education Law

Texas Capitol © 2006 Larry D. Moore
Used Under a Creative Commons ShareAlike License
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Texas_capitol_day.jpg

Below is the text of an email I just sent to my representative in the Texas legislature. When Senator Wendy Davis forced a special session to bring to light the major changes to education funding in our state that were being ramrodded through at the end of the regular session, she did a good thing. Unfortunately, the special session has also provided opportunities for harmful education legislation that died in the regular session to see the light of day again. If you are a Texas parent, educator, or concerned citizen, please look into these issues for yourself and write your representatives ASAP with your concerns. The session is moving at a furious pace...time is of the essence in communicating with your legislators!

I am thankful for the many educators and organizations who are helping to keep me informed of these quickly evolving issues via email and social media. By working together and letting our voices be heard, we can make a difference!

---

Dear Representative Gonzales,

I recently wrote about my appreciation of you during this legislative session on my blog. You can visit the post here if you are interested: http://edtechsandyk.blogspot.com/2011/05/learnings-from-participation-in-texas.html. It's a lengthy post, so you can scroll to the My Representative Listens section toward the end if you want to just read what I wrote about you.

As bills regarding Texas school children, their parents, and their teachers are being rapidly filed during the special session, as your constituent I would ask you to avoid unnecessary and harmful changes to Texas education law. As my blog post stated, I have appreciated your listening ear throughout this legislative session, and I know I can count on you once again to consider my views on these matters. 

My understanding of education issues this session is that they revolve around the overall state budget shortfall. I know that the House and Senate are close to an agreement on how to cut $4 billion in spending on public education from the 2011-2013 Texas budget. While the issues surrounding this shortfall have been frustrating to me, I am even more frustrated with the "related" legislation that is working its way through the special session and is potentially harmful to students, parents, and teachers involved in our education system.

As I list the bills below and ask you to oppose them, my fundamental questions about each one are: 

• What is the purpose of the proposed legislation in light of the current education funding crisis? 
• Does the proposed legislation help mitigate the the present budget crisis, and if so, how? 
• If it does indeed help to mitigate the crisis, should it not be a temporary measure to answer what should be a temporary crisis?
• How will the proposed legislation, be it temporary or permanent if passed, negatively or positively impact the educational experience of students, the right of parents to be informed about their child's education, and the professional and ethical treatment of educators in Texas?

I realize that some of these bills may not make it out of committee, but given how quickly things seem to be moving, I feel it is prudent to express my opinions now rather than later.

Please Oppose HB 8 (Eissler - still in Public Ed. Committee)

• HB 8 would eliminate the state minimum salary schedule for teachers, replacing it with a single minimum salary of $27,320. What is the purpose of this elimination? The minimum salary schedule is not breaking Texas public schools (most schools pay over this salary schedule already) and it gives persons who choose education as their profession assurance of a minimum salary which increases based on experience over time. If Texas wants to keep attracting potential educators to our schools, we need to stay competitive with the multiple other states who guarantee minimum salaries for their teachers.
• HB 8 would also make it easier for districts to fire teachers in the middle of the school year if needed for a reduction of force. Such a provision would allow districts an "out" if they plan poorly for the number of staff they can afford at the start of a school year. It would also negatively affect students who would loose teachers with whom they've already bonded and who know their educational progress and needs well. There is no reason a properly run school district should have to declare a RIF in the middle of a school year.
• HB 8 includes a provision for increasing class sizes to up to 25 students without directly notifying parents. Parents should be notified individually in writing, not simply via a website posting, if their child's educational experience is going to be impacted by increased class sizes.
• HB 8 strikes the requirement that in the event of a RIF teachers on continuing contracts are to be let go in reverse order of seniority. Getting rid of this requirement will put long term, experienced educators at greater risk for losing their jobs because they make higher salaries than teachers with fewer years of experience. To deprive students of the most experienced educators is not in the students' best educational interest, nor is it in the best interest of less experienced teachers who depend on the mentorship of their more experienced colleagues. Throwing out seniority as a factor in RIFs is also disrespectful to teachers who have dedicated themselves to the profession and their district for the long term.
• HB 8 strikes the requirement that in the event of a RIF teachers are to be let go in reverse order of seniority. Getting rid of this requirement will put long term, experienced educators at greater risk for losing their jobs because they make higher salaries than teachers with fewer years of experience. To  deprive students of the most experienced educators in a district is not in the students' best educational interest, nor is it in the best interest of less experienced teachers who grow in their educational practice under the mentorship of their more experienced colleagues. Throwing out seniority as a factor in RIFs is also disrespectful to teachers who have dedicated themselves to the profession and their district for the long term.

Please Oppose HB 17 (Callegari - still in Government Efficiency and Reform Committee)

• HB 17 would eliminate the state minimum salary schedule for teachers. My reasons for opposing this are listed above under HB 8 which includes the same elimination.

Please Oppose HB 18 (Eissler - passed out of Public Ed. Committee June 5th)

• HB 18 eliminates the need for districts to show undue hardship to petition for class size waivers during the critical literacy building grades K-4. Class size waivers at these grade levels should only be considered as a last resort.
• HB 18 also allows a district to delegate waiver requests to the superintendent, which would bypass the need for a public hearing before the school board. Parents should have a right to hear from a district why an action which will impact their children's learning opportunities is being considered and should have a forum for asking questions and sharing their opinions about such a decision.
• HB 18 allows notice of a class-size waiver to simply be posted to a district website rather than individually mailed to the families of affected students. As I stated on a similar provision of HB 8, parents should be notified individually in writing, not simply via a website posting, if their child's educational experience is going to be impacted by increased class sizes.

Please Oppose HB 19 (Aycock - passed out of Public Ed. Committee June 5th)

• HB 19 will take away the rights of educators to a hearing in front of an impartial, independent hearing examiner when faced with a mid-contract termination of their employment because of a declaration of “financial exigency” by their school district. This bill changes the non-renewal process for all educators on term contracts. Instead of holding termination hearings before the school board or an independent hearing examiner appointed by the commissioner of education as in current law, school districts could hire outside attorneys to conduct non-renewal hearings with lesser procedural safeguards than under current law. Surely an educator should be able to directly face the persons who are deciding not to renew their contracts and should have the right to an impartial party taking part in the process?

Please Oppose HB 20 (Huberty - passed out of Public Ed. Committee June 5th)

• Like the same provision in HB 8, HB 20 changes the number of days prior to the end of the school year that an employee must be notified of non-renewal of contracts from 45 days to 15. This will lead to increased anxiety for teachers wondering if they will be employed the next school year and lessen by a month the amount of time they have to pursue another position. A 45 day notice allows most teachers in a district to put away concerns about future employment and allows them to focus more energy on teaching students during the critical Spring standardized testing season.

Please Oppose HB 21 (Shelton - passed out of Public Ed. Committee June 5th)

• Like a similar provision in HB 8, HB 21 strikes the requirement that in the event of a RIF teachers on continuing contracts are to be let go in reverse order of seniority. Getting rid of this requirement will put long term, experienced educators at greater risk for losing their jobs because they make higher salaries than teachers with fewer years of experience. To deprive students of the most experienced educators is not in the students' best educational interest, nor is it in the best interest of less experienced teachers who depend on the mentorship of their more experienced colleagues. Throwing out seniority as a factor in RIFs is also disrespectful to teachers who have dedicated themselves to the profession and their district for the long term.
• Additionally testimony was given on this bill that the legislation, if passed, would retroactively change the provisions of continuing contracts and as a result would very likely be struck down when challenged in the Texas court system. 

Please Oppose HB 33 (Sid Miller - still in Government Efficiency and Reform Committee)

• HB 33, the proposed Taxpayer Savings Grant Program, effectively initiates a private school voucher system whereby parents who put their children in private schools will be able to receive partial reimbursement for their private school tuition from the State of Texas.
• The argument that money will be "saved" because the grant will be less than the per-pupil allotment that would have gone toward the child's education in public school is weak at best. Regardless of the amount of money spent, the fact remains that taxpayer money meant to fund public education which is already $4 billion dollars short for the next biennium will be given to private schools which are not accountable through adherence to state law and mandates for how they spend the money. 
• It is the right of every citizen to decide how to best educate their children, however, money collected for the education of public school children should stay dedicated to public schools.

Representative Gonzales, I thank you once again for taking the time to read my views on pending legislation. These requests and opinions come from the heart of an experienced professional educator who is deeply concerned for the future of our public school system and the teaching profession in Texas.

Above all else, on these bills as well as other education and budget related bills, I ask you to make decisions that you know in your heart are in the best interest of and which prioritize the quality education of Texas students. Legislation which weakens parental involvement, reduces the number of experienced educators serving our children, or results in current and potential educators being less attracted to the teaching profession in Texas is not in the best interest of our state's children.

Thoughts at the End of a Challenging Texas School Year

Photo by Flikr User redjar
Used Under a Creative Commons License

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.

Photo by Flikr User goldberg
Used Under a Creative Commons License

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.

Learnings from Participation in the Texas Political Process

I have been learning a great deal about the political process since the start of the 2011 Texas legislative session by participating frequently in legislative matters pertaining to public education. As the Texas budget crisis and its implications for our public schools drew my attention to politics in a way it had never been drawn before, I called, wrote letters, and emailed Senators and Representatives with my opinions. Thanks to the Texas Computer Education Association's (TCEA) Educational Technology Day at the Capitol on March 21st, I learned how to visit with my Senator and Representative (or their staff) in person to advocate for my views on pending legislation. Also thanks to TCEA's legislative activities, I even had an opportunity to testify before the Senate Education Committee regarding proposed changes to the Texas Education Code which were favorable for moving from traditional textbooks to digital materials in Texas public schools. (It looks like HB 6, the companion to SB 6 which I testified on, is going to pass!)

The Team of Concerned Parents, Educators, and Citizens I
Traveled the Capitol with May 21, 2011

Through my connections on Twitter and Facebook, I learned about the Save Texas Schools coalition and participated in a rally of 11,000+ concerned Texas parents, citizens, and educators on March 12th. I participated again in a Save Texas Schools event just yesterday, as a Rally in the Capitol was held while legislators were working to finish the legislative session before the end of May.

My Comfort Zone

I learned from these various experiences that I am much more comfortable with traditional, interpersonal forms of communication on matters of public interest than I am with protest rallies. While rallies are good news makers and can get an issue on everyone's radar, I think dialog has more chance of making a long term impact than does a protest rally. Dialog is also much more in my element, or comfort zone, than shouting protests at the doors to the House of Representatives. The Save Texas Schools Rally in the Capitol actually helped cement these perspectives for me, because it included time to visit the offices of legislators as well as the actual organized "protest" time outside of the House doors. I learned new perspectives by talking with the legislative staffers, and also learned that some of them agree with the positions I hold. I probably learned the most, though, from those who disagree with me. Not that they changed my mind, but they did help me to see a different side of the issue. I think in understanding the positions on all sides we have a better chance of meeting somewhere in the middle, hopefully for everyone's benefit.

Biggest Takeaway

My biggest takeaway from this legislative session? I have a voice, and I need to use it. We elect legislators to represent us; they cannot read the minds of their constituents. Voting in the election is just the beginning of our responsibility. We need to stay informed on the issues and act on the information. And if you want to get past the sound bites in the media, you're going to have to do a little digging, or stay connected to others who are digging like professional organizations or grassroots watchdog/advocacy groups. If possible, get information from a multitude of sources; somewhere in the middle of it all is a course we can all set and live with.

Becoming informed also puts you in the position of being able to inform others. Based on the information I was taking in, I was led to create a website to track educator job losses and try to inform others about how Texas public schools are funded. I can easily point friends and colleagues who have questions to that site. Creating it helped me internalize important information that I used when communicating with legislators, or when I heard our Governor cite statistics that were not accurate.

Second Biggest Takeway

Perhaps my second biggest takeaway was this: The citizens and legislators involved in the political process are all human beings, just like you and me, and I truly believe that citizens and legislators, no matter which side of the issue they come from, want what is best for their communities. We may not all agree on what is best or where the highest priorities should be, but we are all involved for the purpose of making today and the future better for ourselves and those who will come after us.

I may be a Pollyanna, but after all of the interaction I've had with stakeholders and legislators over the past few months, I refuse to believe much of what I've heard and read regarding an unspoken agenda on the part of some political groups to destroy public education. If there are such people out there, I believe they are in a fringe minority. What the majority of us want is improved public education. There is of course, a great deal of disagreement on how to improve our public schools. We need to keep the conversation going around what it takes to improve education. Assertions that there are organized groups trying to undermine education take energy and focus away from dealing with the real issues such as an equitable funding system for Texas public schools and the overemphasis on standardized testing as a measure of educational success for students and teachers. If we can meet at a table in the middle of all this and talk with each other instead of hurling accusations, maybe we can finally make headway in improvement of our public schools.

My Representative Listens

In all of this, I also have to give kudos to my representative, Larry Gonzales, and his staff, for taking time to meet with me and talk with me on the phone on multiple occasions this session. During the March 21st TCEA Educational Technology day, I saw Representative Gonzales at the Capitol elevators and took a moment to introduce myself to him. I could tell he was in a hurry, so I was not going to repeat to him what I had already spoken to his chief of staff about earlier in the day, but he stopped and took time to ask me why I was at the Capitol that day. A few weeks later, he phoned me personally to let me know he had voted for one of the bills I had been there to advocate for. Just yesterday, I stopped by his office, not to share any opinions about anything but just to say thanks for all the work he and his staff were doing and for always politely taking my comments and calls during the session. And he remembered me when I walked in the door, as he mentioned  our meeting at the elevators two months ago and remembered the school district I work for. Wow! He then took time to update me on legislation he had worked on and share some of his perspectives on current legislation. All this while his wife and two kids were there trying to grab a little lunch with him since he has been quite busy the past few weeks.

I do not agree with every vote Representative Gonzales has made, as I'm sure you don't agree with everything your Representatives and Senators have done, but one thing you should acknowledge is this: They stepped up. They ran and now they are in Austin working for you. It is largely a thankless job since you can never make everyone happy. It is truly a sacrifice of time and I am grateful for the men and women who fill these positions and keep our democracy working.

And It's Far From Over

The legislative session may be coming to an end, but my learning in this area is far from over. There are also consequences to be faced based on the at least $4 billion in cuts to education spending that are coming. I only hope we can keep the conversations going in the interim between now and 2013 and that we can work together to find permanent solutions to school finance and do what is best for the future of public education in our state. Even when people disagree, if they are willing to dialog and work together to find solutions, then there is hope.

Learn to Separate Fact from Fiction via Governor Rick Perry

Yesterday I noticed my blog was getting a great deal of traffic courtesy of the TexasISD.com website. I'm always curious about these things, and when I went to investigate, I found that TexasISD had linked to my blog post about the inaccurate information Governor Perry is spreading regarding teacher layoffs and teacher to administrator ratios in Texas public schools.

I found it ironic, to say the least, that just above their link to my blog post, TexasISD had linked to an article published in the Austin American-Statesman titled "Perry: Learn to separate fact from fiction." It turned out to be an editorial written by Perry himself.

On reading the editorial, the gist of which was that a disinformation campaign across Texas is not accurately representing the Governor's record on funding research in higher education, I was struck in particular by two quotes:

One proven tactic of propaganda is that if you want to distract people from the conversation you should be having, don't be afraid to lie ... and lie big.

and

Public debates about university excellence and accountability are necessary and healthy. But these false claims about university research are damaging our universities and Texas as a whole.

I agree wholeheartedly with Governor Perry's points here. And I wonder if he realizes he himself is guilty of the damaging tactics he is pointing out as he continues to insist that widespread education layoffs are not occurring and that there is one administrator for every teacher in Texas schools?

I also wonder if anyone else notices that the second quote above could still be true with just a couple of word substitutions:

Public debates about Texas K-12 education and accountability are necessary and healthy. But these false claims about Texas public schools are damaging our education system and Texas as a whole.

How I wish we - that's all of us, on all sides of public education issues in Texas - could live up to the ideal that HONEST public debate is necessary and healthy.