Public education in Texas faces massive cuts

[pateticorecords]

Exactly what people in Texas need... less education, good grief!

The kids with affluent parents will get a good education and those less fortunate will continue slipping into the same cycle of under funded education.

When will the people wake up and demand equal educational opportunities for all children. The children are the future o...f this country, we continue to fall behind on educating them

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_texas_budget

[MasterKiller]

Funding for schools everywhere needs to be reworked. The current system just doesn't cut it.

[curenado]

People are weary of hearing "It just takes more money" and they are weary of the public school system which makes undeniable demands on paernts and fails to live up to it's own.
Continually pumping money into something is not viable or workable,
Parents should look into private education and getting private school vouchers for their State.
Public schools here are a joke and the kids are a couple years behind other kids - I wouldn't pay a nickel for that. Parents should have the ability to choose vouchers and better oppotunities for their kid.
We don't live in a communist country (thank God!) and if 30 years of good money after bad and dumb kids getting worse is all the public system can show, maybe a little righteous competition is just what they need to get off the disability wagon and be worth something.

[BJJ-Blue]

Curenado said it best. One thing I do want to add is that we need teacher testing as well. But of course the Teacher's Union is always opposed to that.

As to Texas, we are gaining people daily. We were one of those States who gained Congressional seats this year. While liberal States like California, Illinois, and Michigan are losing people left and right. Texas has an unemployment rate below the national average, and 4 of the Top 10 housing markets are here in Texas. We are a success story, no matter what the liberals say about us.

[SanHeChuan]

Perry is a dumb ass.

Perry turns down nat'l edu. funds

One thing I do want to add is that we need teacher testing as well.

What kind of Testing?

[curenado]

Seems to me like he was pretty smart actually. Did you see why he didn't want the money?

"“I will not commit Texas taxpayers to unfunded federal obligations or to the adoption of unproven, cost-prohibitive national curriculum standards and tests,” Perry wrote. “Texas is on the right path toward improved education, and we would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children’s future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington, virtually eliminating parents’ participation in their children’s education.”


“If Washington were truly concerned about funding education with solutions that match local challenges, they would make the money available to states with no strings attached,” he said.


Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott said he “overwhelmingly” supports Perry’s move in a statement...."

He is not the only Governer letting the FEDs keep some of their "loaded package" attempts lately...

[Drake]

Maybe if they spent less on the military and more on education, we'd be making some progress instead of being in a decline. Yeah, I said it.

[mooyingmantis]

My wife is a teacher in Ohio. She has both a teaching certificate and a special education certificate. She also has a Master's Degree, which is required of teachers in Ohio.

A typical Bachelor's Degree in Ohio costs about $30,000 - $40,000 at one of our public universities. A typical Master's Degree in Ohio starts at about $30,000. Throughout their teaching career, they will also invest several thousand more dollars in required continuing educational units (CEUs).

Unfortunately, Ohio funds its schools through homeowner taxes, along with State and Federal monies which can only be used for specific projects (building schools, technology programs, etc.). Of course, school systems in communities primarily made up of the elderly and lower income residents, like my wife works in, are taking a real beating. In the last few years, the school system my wife works for has lost 30 - 40 teachers due to retirement and downsizing. These teachers will not be replaced due to lack of funds.

The new trend is to blame the teachers for the fact that American children are not keeping up with children in other countries. School systems, in an attempt to break the teacher's unions, are leading the charge. However, with larger classes due to less teachers, unruly students due to less stable families, and poor funding which takes away educational materials, teachers are in a situation where they are set up to fail.

[curenado]

Indeed good points.
That is one reason to push for vouchers. Public schools are highly populated with some highly negative people. The state of public schools is a reflection of the public. Things have evolved as such that you got to go private to ensure the same level of quality unless you are in a school that does not have much problem (plenty don't..) but the costs and taxes you would have to pay to live by a decent public school would be a lot more than with vouchers.
As to the decision he made, our gov here has declined fed checks before because of all the strings attached.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Maybe if they spent less on the military and more on education, we'd be making some progress instead of being in a decline. Yeah, I said it.

Agreed, to a point, imagine what we could have done to our education system if we had taken all those billions of $$$ that we have just thrown in the garbage can in Iraq and Afghanistan training those highly effective national military units and police forces. We would have a much larger return on our investment.

[BJJ-Blue]

Indeed good points.
That is one reason to push for vouchers. Public schools are highly populated with some highly negative people. The state of public schools is a reflection of the public. Things have evolved as such that you got to go private to ensure the same level of quality unless you are in a school that does not have much problem (plenty don't..) but the costs and taxes you would have to pay to live by a decent public school would be a lot more than with vouchers.
As to the decision he made, our gov here has declined fed checks before because of all the strings attached.

More good points.

When you create a welfare class, they are at least smart enough to figure out education means nothing to them. They are taken care of no matter if they drop out in 6th grade or become class Valedictorian. Why work hard when you have zero motivation to?

[GLW]

“welfare class”

Exactly WHAT does that mean? Who are they? Class-ism ?

“teachers will not be replaced due to lack of funds.”

Texas schools are funded with property taxes – hence so many Independent School Districts (ISDs). People move, homes get foreclosed on, property values drop, and school funds drop. So you spiral into trying to do more or the same with less and you end up doing less with less.

“That is one reason to push for vouchers”

The voucher system proposed in Texas was NOT free money. Basically, you take YOUR kid and YOUR money out of the school system and go to another. What happens?

Well, the already beleaguered ISDs will suffer by losing MORE money. Your voucher money comes out of THEIR money – one for one – you get $2000, the ISD you live in LOSES $2000. Sure fire way to make that ISD go DOWN in quality.

You go to the local private school or another ISD with better schools. The private school has MORE applicants…and supply and demand being what it is, they RAISE tuition to what the traffic will bear. Your voucher becomes all but meaningless. The ISD you try to go to has a waiting list too…they can afford to accept only the best – so they stay OK but all but the brightest students end up not having a place there….So, if you can’t afford the private school, the kid is not in the top academically (or- it is Texas so – they can’t play football), you end up back at the original school that others luckier than you basically looted…and your kid ends up with an even worse situation.

Oh yeah, vouchers will work just fine.

How about no voucher but a one for one federal tax credit for education (like your tuition is deductable) ? That STILL reduces federal funds…

Do the math on tuition. The numbers I have seen bandied about for the vouchers is in the $2000 to $3000 per year per student range. In Houston, the least expensive private school for k-8 runs over $5000 per year. For 9-12, that number jumps up to $10,000 per year. Now, if the private schools all of a sudden have MORE students applying (ie. the more expensive schools in Houston are more expensive due to reputation, having a waiting list, an admissions criteria that is stricter, and charge what the traffic will bear.)

So, if the applications go up and the people in the school already are paying $5000 per year and these people now are getting $2000 from their voucher, the tuition in the first year will probably go up to $6000 – you THINK you are getting a tuition cut of $1000. But the next couple of years, it goes up…and pretty soon, you are back to the $5000 (or more PLUS your $2000 voucher.

[Drake]

More good points.

When you create a welfare class, they are at least smart enough to figure out education means nothing to them. They are taken care of no matter if they drop out in 6th grade or become class Valedictorian. Why work hard when you have zero motivation to?

Maybe because welfare class is a crappy place to be? You have a negative take on the poor people of this nation if you think people are generally content to be taken care of at a minimal level with no ambition to improve themselves. I strongly disagree with that assessment.

There are underlying reasons why people underperform, and they are taught in virtually every management class out there. I suggest you educate yourself prior to making such sweeping accusations with nothing to back it up. And no, random quotes do not count.

[BJJ-Blue]

Maybe because welfare class is a crappy place to be? You have a negative take on the poor people of this nation if you think people are generally content to be taken care of at a minimal level with no ambition to improve themselves. I strongly disagree with that assessment.

There are underlying reasons why people underperform, and they are taught in virtually every management class out there. I suggest you educate yourself prior to making such sweeping accusations with nothing to back it up. And no, random quotes do not count.

If they are not content to live that way, why do they refuse to change? It was on full display during Katrina. You have 3 generations deep of welfare recipients who had no idea what to do when the Gov't checks didn't show up. In those areas it's often looked down upon to succeed in school. Does the term 'Uncle Tom' mean anything to you? I was 'bussed' in junior high (7th-8th grade) to a bad part of town. We actually had 2 guys who DROVE to that school! All they did was show up, cut up in class, and try and pick up girls years younger than them. And the kids from that part of town looked up to them!

There is ZERO reason to fail in this country. We have free lunches/breakfasts in school, English as a Second Language for those who don't speak English, counselors, and tons of grants/programs for low income kids to go to college. Look at the dropout rates in the parts of town where there is little to no Gov't money going into it vs the parts of town where Gov't money flows like water. Why are the failing schools always in the districts that receive the most Gov't aid? If Gov't money is the solution, then then East LA schools should be outperforming Beverly Hills schools.

Why are the worst parts of any city the areas that get the most Gov't aid?

People wouldn't live in ghettoes if we didn't pay them to.

[Drake]

One thing I've learned during my time in academia is that you don't make outlandish and outrageous statements without SOMETHIGN to back it up besides "Hurricane Katrina OMG!" or a referral to gov't funding of schools being causation for them failing. That being said, have you thought that maybe the funding is an attempt to keep the system from collapsing altogether, or have you thought that certain disadvantaged areas (ie parents who grew up poor, as it is scientifically proven that having a wealthy or even middle class family background gives you a disproportionate advantage) might have to work twice as hard as their better off peers?

I grew up poor, and I can say firsthand I was almost sucked in to permanent poverty. You have no support structure, the city is concerned with taking care of its wealthy and middle class, and the culture around you is one of "it sucks, deal with it, because the opportunities just aren't there". I still have no support structure in my life, so if I fail, everything I worked for goes down with me.

The federal funding is enough to keep those schools afloat. As opposed to nicer schools with laptops at every desk, that funding keeps teachers there and the basic supplies running. You are confusing causation with attempts to keep the system from collapsing entirely.