Please Avoid Unnecessary & Harmful Changes to Education Law

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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

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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.

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.

Governor Perry Is Wrong About Texas Teacher Layoffs & Public School Staffing Ratios

Official Photo of  Texas Governor Rick Perry from
governor.state.tx.us/about/

Yesterday, I listened to a radio interview Texas Governor Rick Perry did with KRLD 1080 AM radio in Dallas via Scott Braddock's website.

Today, I am writing to say he is wrong about the extent of educator layoffs in Texas and that he is also wrong about the staffing ratio of teachers to administrators in the school districts in our state.

Below is a recording of the interview, and below it is a transcript of the relevant portions of the interview which I myself transcribed. To hear the portion of the interview related to this blog post, click the play button, and after the audio file streams down (you'll see the sound wave pattern fill up across the screen), drag the play bar to the 4:15 mark and listen through the 6:06 mark.

Governor Perry on Immigration, School Funding, and Texas Wildfires by Scott Braddock

The portions of the interview to which I am referring are found between time stamps 4:15 and 6:06. Any emphasis in the transcript below is my own for the purposes of my responses.

4:15 Question from Caller: I’m asking what happened to the financial stability that he campaigned that Texas had when now we’re having massive cuts in education and all other types of programs and he campaigned and touted about the fact that Texas had a surplus. What happened to that?

4:35 Host: What did happen to the surplus, Governor?

4:37 Governor Perry: Well what we said was that we had a rainy day fund of nine billion dollars. We knew there were going to be challenges from the standpoint of our current budget. Texas is still creating jobs. We’re still the strongest economy in this country. But the idea that we’re some island in these 50 states is…no one said that we weren’t going to be impacted by the national economy…

5:06 Host: What are we going to do with all these laid off teachers?

5:07 Governor Perry: Well first off I think you’re seeing a substantial misinformation campaign going on out there. There’s not some huge, “massive” as she used the terminology, number of laid off teachers. And here’s a more important question. In Texas now, we’ve hired a huge number of non teachers into our public schools. Administrators, etc.

5:34 Host (talking over Perry at first): Yeah. Do you stand by the number that you gave…Governor Perry I’m sorry…Do you stand by the number you gave previously…Do you stand by the number you gave previously that there was 1 to 1 ratio of administrators to teachers?

5:45 Governor Perry: That is absolutely correct. And the issue becomes the local school districts and the local administrators are the ones that are going to decide how to manage their personnel loads. And if they’re laying off teachers while they’re keeping administrators on, then I think you’ve got some real questions to ask of the school boards and the administrators at that particular point in time. 

There's not some huge, "massive"...number of laid off teachers...

In response to the Governor's statement that "There's not some huge, 'massive'...number of laid off teachers," I submit as a counterpoint a website I have been updating with published reports of confirmed school district layoffs. This is not "misinformation." These are published reports.

I will concede that not all of the 12,211 job eliminations and layoffs documented here (as of the writing of this post) are classroom teachers, but a major portion of them are. And all 12,211 of those positions represent people involved in the education of children in our Texas public schools. I am not sure what the Governor defines as "massive", but I think any industry that is experiencing layoffs in the tens of thousands might qualify as having large-scale layoffs. When it is also taken into consideration that only 66 of our 1,234 districts are represented on the site, it is quite possible that the 12,211 number is just the tip of the iceberg, and it is a predictor of more layoffs to come if the legislature cannot find better solutions to our current budget crisis. It is disingenuous under these circumstances to continue to deny that massive education layoffs are occurring.


There is a "1 to 1 ratio of teachers to administrators" in Texas public schools...

My second response is to the Governor's statement that it is "absolutely correct" that there is a "1 to 1 ratio of teachers to administrators" in Texas public schools. To make my point, I first need to define "administrator" the way most of us who work in public schools define "administrator". If you ask educators who the administrators in their school or district are, they will likely answer with the names of people whose titles are principal, assistant principal, superintendent, deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent, chief financial officer, and director.

By this definition, and according to the Texas Education Agency's own statistics as represented in these charts, only 4% of Texas public school employees qualified as administrators in the 2009-2010 school year.

The breakdown for 2009-2010 is as follows:

• Teachers - 50%
• Professional Support* - 9%
• Campus Administration - 3%
• Central Administration - 1%
• Instructional Aides* - 10 %
• Auxiliary - 27%

*According to TEA, “Support staff are defined as therapists, psychologists, counselors, diagnosticians, physicians and nurses, librarians, department heads, and miscellaneous other support roles. This category does not include secretaries.”  Support staff often work directly with students during the school day. Instructional aides also work directly with students alongside teachers. (Information quoted from Texas Association of School Business Officials via Texas ISD.com)

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.

One could still argue that more than 50% of public school employees should be teachers. After all, it is true that the majority of a school's mission is accomplished through teachers working in the classroom directly with students. I, and many other educators would point out, however, that without nurses, custodians, bus drivers, maintenance workers, computer technicians, special education diagnosticians and therapists, professional development specialists, human resources staff, secretaries, instructional aides, and people fulfilling other essential support roles, the mission of the teacher in the classroom would not be possible. Without these important people working to support teachers and students, teachers would have added responsibilities that would take away from their time focusing on student instruction.

An analogy I've heard several times is apt: Would you run a hospital staffed mostly with doctors? Fewer support staff means doctors would have to run all of the tests, process insurance, meet basic needs of patients, and so on. There would not be enough time to meet with patients to diagnose their ailments and plan treatments. Teachers would be in a similar position, not adequately supported to focus primarily on their students, if they had to attend to the tasks the support personnel in their schools and districts take care of every day.

The 1 to 1 ratio of teachers to administrators only works if you count all non-classroom teachers as administrators. Lumping maintenance staff in with principals is inaccurate at best and purposefully deceitful at its worst.

If you are interested in even more in depth analysis of the ratio of teachers to non-teachers in Texas school districts, I highly recommend the following links:

• Misperceptions About School District Staffing from Moak, Casey, & Associates
• Analysis of Educator Roles and Responsibilities in Texas: 1991-2011 by Dr. Ed Fuller
• Has the Percentage of Texas Public School District Staff Who Directly Impact Student Outcomes Changed Over the Last 20 Years? by Dr. Ed Fuller

Concluding Thoughts

I understand our state is in a financial crisis and that there is disagreement on how best to address it. What I would like to see, however, from anyone on any side of the budget and education debates, is accuracy and honesty. If we truly believe our approach is right, we should not have to twist the facts or leave out important details in order to persuade others to support our solution. If spin is necessary, then I am tempted to conclude there is more to the agenda than just balancing the state budget.

Note: On Wednesday, May 18th, I posted a brief follow-up to this blog post.

Texas HB 400 is Bad News for Teachers and Students #txedbudget #savetxschools

The more I read about Texas HB 400, the more concerned I become about its provisions, and the more grateful I am that it was sent back to committee on a technical point of order yesterday. I hope that time runs out on this bill before it passes.

After reading the information below, if you agree that HB 400 is bad news for teachers and students, be sure to contact your representative today and let him or her know how you feel.

ATPE has a good summary of what this bill will do in their 4-21 legislative update. I will quote the points below for your convenience, but I encourage you to visit their web page as well:

If passed, HB 400 would:

• Eliminate the experienced-based minimum salary schedule for teachers, counselors, nurses and librarians, and require each district to create new compensation systems based on performance factors such as student test scores and teacher appraisals. 
• Eliminate the 22:1 student-to-teacher class-size limit for grades K-4, and allow districts to place up to 25 students in a class. Under HB 400, districts would only have to meet a 22:1 district-wide average student-to-teacher ratio. 
• Allow districts to permanently weaken educator contract and due process rights as well as salary protections. The bill changes timelines and notification procedures as well as eliminates your right to a neutral hearing officer in a contract termination.
• Allow a district to declare financial exigency for a reduction in force (RIF) without demonstrating that it has exhausted the alternatives, as well as give districts the permanent ability to furlough educators’ professional development days and reduce salaries.
• Make permanent changes even though districts are dealing with a temporary budget crisis, and make it easier for districts to terminate educators or reduce salaries indefinitely.

Here are some news stories which shed a little more light on the bill and who supports and opposes it.

• Technicality Slays House Bill on Class Sizes...For Now - Texas Tribune
• Point of Order Delays Contentious Education Policy Bill - Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
• Bill Raises Class Size Limit to Cope With Cuts - El Paso Times

Last Wednesday, I received information on this bill from TCTA, the professional organization that I belong to, and in response, I emailed and phoned my representative. At the time, the bill was set for debate and vote on Thursday, so I used some of TCTA's language in my email to my representative. Below is the email I sent to him.

Dear Representative Gonzales,

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to personally call me yesterday and let me know that you had supported HB 6 and that it had passed the House unanimously. As your constituent, I appreciate the time you took to listen to my concerns and make a vote in the best interest of Texas public education and learning materials for students.

Representative Gonzales, I was encouraged to note during the 2010 election campaign that your wife is an educator. I was hopeful based on your close ties to the education profession that you would be a friend of education and teachers as you make your decisions and represent your constituents in the legislature. Today I am hoping more than ever that you are truly a supporter of education and the education profession in Texas.

I am writing today to ask you to oppose HB 400 in its current form and support the Phillips amendment to HB 400 being brought forth by your fellow Republican Larry Phillips.

HB 400 in its current form is detrimental to public education in Texas because:

• It harms classroom instruction by allowing larger class sizes and removing parent notification provisions. Aside from being very detrimental to young students, larger class sizes = fewer classrooms = fewer teachers. This is not a proposal to save teacher jobs or help prepare students for the new accountability system.
• By permanently eliminating the state minimum salary schedule and other salary-related laws, HB 400 allows districts to reduce teacher salaries significantly and permanently. The salary schedule is one of the few mechanisms the Legislature has to direct money to instruction.
• The bill permanently removes key legal protections for teachers so that districts can terminate contracts mid-year much more easily – making it easier to fire teachers, not save their jobs. This reduces incentives for districts to look for cuts outside the classroom or do good financial planning.

I realize we are in difficult economic times and this bill may seem as if it is intended to give school districts more flexibility during the current budget crunch, but if that is the true purpose, then why does the bill propose to make these changes permanent? Instead of permanently weakening provisions which protect quality instruction (class size limits), forever taking away a guaranteed minimum salary for teachers (making the profession less attractive and allowing districts to direct dollars away from the classroom), and removing legal contract protections for teachers (again making the profession less attractive and reducing incentives for districts to look for budget cuts outside the classroom),it would be wiser to implement temporary provisions to mitigate the current funding crisis.

The Phillips amendment to HB 400 allows some temporary changes to current law to give districts flexibility during the financial crisis and minimize teacher job losses. 

• The commissioner of education could temporarily ease the requirements for obtaining a class-size waiver, but parental notification provisions should be retained.
• Limited salary reductions and furloughs would be allowed temporarily during the budget crisis, but only to the extent of district funding losses, and only after a public hearing to fully explore all options. 
• Furloughs/salary reductions would have to apply to all contractual personnel, i.e., administrators as well as instructional staff. 

Thank you for your time in considering my concerns regarding HB 400 and my request that you support the Phillips amendment.

It turns out that my representative is one of the bill's co-authors, but that did not dissuade me from writing to let him know my opinion.

Your turn! If you are as concerned as many educators are about the provisions of this bill, make sure you take advantage of its return to committee and let your representative know how you feel.

Contact the TX Senate Finance Committee ASAP! #txedbudget #txbudget #savetxschools

I received an email this morning from Save Texas Schools reminding me that the Texas Senate is expected to issue its budget bill tomorrow, Thursday, April 21st. It is important that Texans concerned about school finance contact these Senate members and thank them for and encourage them in their efforts to create a budget that does not cut as deeply as the House version of the budget does.

If you doubt the difference, take a look at these cuts from Round Rock ISD and see the number of programs and jobs that can be saved under the Senate version of the budget versus the House version.

Save Texas Schools provided this handy contact list for the Senate Finance Committee members. Now you have no excuse for not contacting them! Even if your Senator is not listed there, contact at least one of them. As a Texan, their decisions impact you and your schools no matter where you live.

Here is a suggested email, also from Save Texas Schools.

Dear Senator _____________________, 

Education is the greatest investment we can make in the future of our state. I understand the current budget crisis, but I also know that Texans can find solutions to the toughest problems. I ask you to support the following: 

1. Finding new revenue and non-revenue sources of funding that will reduce the proposed budget cuts to education. Proposed cuts will put 100,000 teachers out of work, close schools and eliminate vital programs. 

2. Use of most or all of the Rainy Day Fund to reduce budget cuts. This is the time the fund was created for. Given the current price of oil, the fund will also replenish quickly. 

3. Fixing the ongoing structural deficit, so that we are not back here in 2013 with the same crisis. I am encouraged by Senator Ogden’s proposals to reform the failed Margins Tax. 

Texas is currently 44th in its investment in education, and will likely be 50th if the new cuts are enacted. This is not acceptable! We are a wealthy state and the current crisis is man-made. Let’s fix the problem, stop the politics, and invest in our children. 

Sincerely, (Name) (Address)

I encourage you to speak with passion from your own heart, however. I think emails that are individualized gain more attention; they do not look like one organization's "blast campaign", but show the true feelings of the constituents. That said, if all you have time for is the suggested email above, then send it! They need to know we care about education and we are paying attention to what they do.


Speak up, Texans! The future of our children depends on it!!

A Message for Texans

This is why. Why I have been thinking and blogging about budgets and politics and legislation lately. Because the thousands of Juliannas and Matthews and Amandas and Seans in Texas schools deserve educations that are adequately funded to provide rigorous instruction in core courses, enrichment classes to broaden their experiences and tap into their talents, and support programs to fill in the gaps in areas where they struggle.

Texas school children do not deserve to be pawns in a political game of balancing the Texas budget with a "cuts only" approach while the governor and legislators refuse to access available Rainy Day funds to mitigate the crisis or permanently fix the structural deficit that helped get us here in the first place.

Do not let our kids down.

Citizens, please email, call, and write your legislators today and tell them to prioritize education funding.

Legislators, please listen to the majority of Texas citizens who do not want to drastically cut education funding.

Texas children and the future of our state are worth it!

Texas Can Do Better

Indeed, Texas can do better when it comes to the way our current state leadership is trying to balance the budget using a "cuts only" approach. I became aware of the video below via a post on Miguel Guhlin's Around the Corner blog. It is sponsored by the Texas Can Do Better campaign which is sponsored by the Texas American Federation of Teachers.

I am not an AFT member, but I am 100% supportive of efforts by anyone who is trying to get the truth out there, which is:

• We will continue to hit this same education finance wall every two years until our state leaders choose to fix the structural deficit that is built into the budget due to an under-performing business tax that is supposed to be financing education.
• A "cuts only" approach to balancing the Texas budget will result in 65,000 jobs being lost in public education, which will reduce programs intended to support and enrich the learning of Texas children.
• The state should use the majority of the Rainy Day Fund to mitigate the current budget shortfall while concurrently passing legislation to permanently fix the structural deficit.

The video below from Texas Can Do Better is a compelling explanation of what is at stake if we do not insist that our legislators prioritize education funding and find a permanent fix for school finance in Texas.

Texas Leadership is Out of Touch...We Must Not Be Silent!

My highlights from an article published on the San Antonio Express-News website.

• Gov. Rick Perry has some nerve to suggest that in the face of the state's fiscal crisis, any public school district wants to lay off teachers
• Fair enough. Budget-cutting decisions by school districts are being made by local communities. What Perry always conveniently leaves out of the picture is the gun he put to their heads. The line from the governor to likely teacher layoffs is direct and starts with the work five years ago of Perry's Texas Tax Reform Commission.
• Perry was looking for headlines, not push-back. And push-back was what Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn tried to give just one month after Perry and Sharp crowed about their plan. In a strongly worded letter, Strayhorn warned Perry that he was directing lawmakers to “write the largest hot check in Texas history.” Specifically, her analysis showed the scheme was $23 billion short of what was needed to cover the promised property tax cuts over the next five years.
• Countless news accounts have replayed the reckless legislative act. So it's astounding that Perry would shun accountability and plow ahead as if voters don't know or don't care.
• He added insult to injury Wednesday with his assertion that schools have added “a rather extraordinary amount” of nonclassroom employees and his suggestion that cuts should start there because they don't affect the classroom.
• Recent research by Moak, Casey and Associates reveals what can only be described as either Perry's ignorance or his deception. The 1-to-1 ratio of teachers to nonteaching staff has held for more than 20 years. Teachers are central to the classroom, of course. But it's troubling that the governor discounts the support provided by others like bus drivers, custodians, curriculum coaches or counselors.
• Alamo Heights Superintendent Kevin Brown borrowed a metaphor he's heard in testimony before legislative committees to describe the choices that districts are being forced to make.
  
  “It's like choosing whether you want your heart or your lungs. What kind of decision is that? You want them both!”

If the disconnect between our state's leadership and the realities faced by Texas public schools wasn't obvious before, it is now. I hope my fellow Texans are communicating with their representatives. There is evidence that more moderate Republicans are seeing the light. It's going to take them to make any kind of headway with the current budget crisis and needed school reform.

It's hard not to give up hope in the face of everything that is going on. But please don't. Please make your voice heard. The children of Texas aren't old enough to vote and tell our leaders what is necessary. We need to speak for them. Please contact your legislators and Governor Perry today!

Texas Capitol photo © 2006 Larry D. Moore, used under a Creative Commons ShareAlike License. Original photo link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Texas_capitol_day.jpg

Robert Scott - Texas Education Commissioner - #SXSWedu

Scott is very imprssed with the turnout at SXSWedu. It is an honor for Project Share to be chosen as the focus of SXSWedu.

Scott testified for 2.5 hours before the House Appropriations Committee this morning. Like having multiple root canals done at the same time.

Use of technology at state and district level can help us overcome a $9.8 billion shortfall.

Scott observes his own children connecting globally with friends via Skype and using their laptops seamlessly in their schooling every day. His son is vice-president of his theater company and its webmaster. His daughter helped create a monage video for their 8th grade class before they all went to separate high schools for 9th grade.

Scott visited Texas A&M with his senior daughter and two of her friends. He saw fully interactive operating rooms with VR manequins that act as patients for students to learn with. Our kids need to be prepared to funciton in these environments.

Texas is very data rich and information poor - we collect a lot of data but we don't push it back out.

Education is finally starting to embrace technology as a necessity rather than as an afterthought.

Need for online courses will become more and more apparent in the wake of budget cuts. Ex: High school in Austin has laid off their German teacher for next year; how can students complete German next year? Online courses will be necessary.

Special education and special populations benefit from technology. A west Texas child with an immune deficiency disorder can attend school and interact with his peers via a robot that represents him. Students with communication deficiencies can use iPad apps to communicate.

Spontaneous translation of language via phone is on the horizon. This technology will be a game changer in content instruction for second language learners.

A father in England losing his voice to a health problem is recording it so he will be able to "read" to his baby as his child grows up, even after his voice is gone for life.

Skype allows students in a DAEP setting can get instruction from the original teacher on their home campus.

Freedom and accountabilty, rather than state mandates, can empower teachers to make the best decisions for their students.

Online professional development saves money on travel for teachers.

Scott is committed to Project Share. 277,000 teachers have accounts in Project Share. He will find the money even in the wake of budget cuts. Even if the legislature doesn't fund it, he'll find grants or private funds. (People in audience clapped at this!)

Recommended book to read: The Global Achievement Gap

States using the common core standards will become Microsoft - monolithic; Texas will become Apple - being responsive and innovative. Project Share is a part of that innovation.

In the next week when the House starts to move on the budget, legislators will become uncomfortable with the cuts they are looking at. Negotiations will begin in earnest. There will be cuts. The question is what the extent of the cuts be?

End of course and STAAR tests are at least two jumps in rigor ahead of TAKS. We can't meet these expectations with severe budget cuts. Mr. Scott testified to this in front of the legislature this morning. (Much clapping from the audience!)

There are no silver bullets, but there are killer apps like Project Share.

It's not about students being able to read a texbook online and saving $50 on the book; it's about providing collaboration and authentic feedback. Example: Students design bridges and professional engineers assess them and interact with them.

Project Share is being promoted on PBS so educators will be made more aware of the program.

I've Written My Representatives; Have You? #TxEdBudget #SaveTxSchools

They are word processed, printed, signed, stuffed in envelopes, addressed, stamped, and waiting to be mailed in the morning.

What are "they"? My letters to Governor Rick Perry, Senator Steve Ogden, and Representative Larry Gonzales. That's what.

If you are Tweeting and Facebooking and blogging, great. If you are consuming information on the budget crisis, also great. If you are talking to your educator and noneducator friends, even better. But make sure you don't forget that the people who most especially need to hear you are in Austin, Texas, right now. And they won't hear you if you aren't emailing, writing, and phoning. Often.

Below is the text of my letter to Senator Ogden. My letters to Perry and Gonzales were similar, although I customized them a little to each person. For example, I thanked the governor for his support of the Texas Virtual Schools Network and mentioned to Representative Gonzales that I know he's close to public education issues since his wife is an educator.

Feel free to read my letter and use ideas from it if you like. Your letter will be more impactful if it is full of your ideas, however. They need to hear each of our individual voices in Austin.

The Honorable Steve Ogden
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711

Dear Senator Ogden,

I am writing you as your constituent, a proud Texan, and a professional educator who has spent my entire eighteen year career investing in the education of children in Texas public schools. I am gravely concerned about the future of our children’s education.

Governor Perry’s words from his governing principles regarding education in Texas speak volumes toward my concerns:

"The single most effective step a person can take toward a better life is getting a great education, and Texas has made a concerted effort toward creating better, more accountable schools to make a great education easier to achieve during a time of increasingly global competition."
Source: http://governor.state.tx.us/initiatives/education/

Texas public schools and the educators they employ have made concerted efforts toward meeting the high goals demanded by the citizens of Texas and our federal government. They cannot continue to make these efforts, however, if they are not adequately funded. They simply cannot cut operational and program costs to the degree necessary to make up for a projected $10 billion shortfall in education funding from the state. Without adequate funding, school districts who dedicate 85% of their budgets toward salaries will have no choice but to lay off teachers.

An estimated 100,000 educators out of work when the final school bells ring in May 2011 will be devastating to the ability of school districts to properly differentiate instruction for students, offer them innovative programs, and continue to increase student achievement as new testing requirements come into play in the 2011-2012 school year.

I urge you, Senator Ogden, to lead during this budget crisis and encourage the use of the Rainy Day fund to mitigate the projected budget deficit. I also urge you and our legislature to come up with a reasonable and sustainable plan for funding schools in Texas. The current plan, which ties districts to target revenue from 2006, does not take into account cost increases for goods and services, and it further restricts districts by withholding state funding if they increase local funding, effectively giving them no recourse to increase revenue to make up for the looming state shortfall.

I also believe an increase in the state sales tax or another means of increasing revenue for the state should be considered. When there is not enough money to make ends meet, sensible spending cuts can be made and supplemented with additional revenue streams. This is how families and companies balance their budgets. Texas should do likewise.

According to the Texas Legislative Study Group, our state has the second highest public school enrollment in the nation, but ranks 38th in expenditures per student, 43rd in our high school graduation rate, and dead last (50th) in the percent of adults 25 and older with high school diplomas (Source: http://texaslsg.org/texasonthebrink/). To increase these standings and stay globally competitive, Texas must prioritize funding public education to provide the best education it can for its students and attract the best educators to its schools.

Senator Ogden, you have had my vote in each of your elections. As a concerned citizen and voter, I hope you will take a hard look at the devastating effect a “cuts only” approach to balancing the budget will have on our children who are the future of Texas. I also hope you will prioritize addressing our current budget and funding issues while putting new initiatives on the back burner. I must admit, I was confused as to what your priorities might be when I read about the recent constitutional amendment you proposed to require Texas to fund textbooks for private schools at a time when we do not have enough money to adequately fund public schools.

I will be closely watching how education budget issues are addressed during the 2011 legislative session, and my future voting decisions will be heavily influenced in favor of state leaders who are proponents of a strong education system in word and who follow up their verbal support with the financial support our schools desperately need.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and concerns on education funding in Texas.

I've done my civic duty. Now it's time for you to do yours. Not sure where to start or need to catch up on some facts? Check out my previous posts on the Texas education budget crisis.


Mailbox photo used with permission from http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/733099