June 2006 |
TEXAS CAN FINALLY FOCUS ON SCHOOLS, NOT TAXES Now that our lawmakers have passed a new school funding mechanism, it’s time to focus on real improvements to our schools. The Texas Education Reform Caucus – a bipartisan group of educators and business leaders – urges our state’s leaders to quickly begin considering reforms that will most directly and measurably improve learning in the classroom. Before the next regular session in January, we ask lawmakers to aggressively meet with educators and business leaders to discuss and debate the proposed education reforms. To improve our schools will take a broad partnership of stakeholders. This collaborative process begs the question – what is the role of the Legislature in school reform? Two decades ago, Texas did not have a high performing school system. Today, however, our state is a leader in preparing students for college, enabling students to reach a standard of excellence and closing the achievement gap. We’ve seen marked improvement, thanks to a balance of three elements: accountability of schools for results, local control and building capacity of the system. The state’s role has been to set high standards and holds districts accountable for meeting them, give districts the freedom to design their own policy framework for results and provide adequate resources and other capacity measures. The state has not been in the business of micromanaging schools. Since 1995 when the Education Code was revised, the state’s share of public education funding dropped to below 40 percent while it passed dozens of new requirements impinging on local control. Lawmakers reversed that funding trend this session and increased education spending by almost $1.5 billion – about a 4 percent increase. The funding increase is welcomed, but not so are the new state mandates such as the 65 percent rule, uniform school start date during the last week of August and the recently proposed November school board elections. These requirements will have no impact on student learning and diminish the empowerment of local school boards and educators. The state should focus on the results, not the “how to,” so that local school districts can innovate and develop their own reforms. The Legislature did just that this session when it passed HB 1 authorizing a locally designed teacher incentive program. The state will provide the resources and framework while holding districts accountable for how well the money is spent. Districts can develop a variety of models offering incentive pay for teachers in shortage areas or low-performing campuses or merit pay for improved student performance. Clearly, districts have different needs that will largely determine how they allocate their dollars and manage their human resources to make the most improvements in a school. School districts should have more flexibility to hire the teachers and administrators who will most effectively improve student achievement and operations. Without competitive compensation, Texas cannot staff its high schools with qualified science and math teachers. Ultimately, education reform should be about improving the quality of education our children receive. Texas policymakers have helped lead a revolution in our public schools over the past decade. But many of the regulations and some of the new proposals under consideration may no longer be necessary. In fact, they could stand in the way of the next giant step on the journey to better schools for all Texas children and a prosperous future for all Texans. ### Jim Nelson is a former Commissioner of Education and superintendent of the Richardson Independent School District. Abe Saavedra is superintendent of the Houston Independent School District. |
