Welcome to DailySentinel!

Home > Postcards > Archives > Education category

Education

November 20, 2009

Investment firm ousted over SBOE gift dislosures

The real estate investment firm entangled in a dispute with State Board of Education members Rick Agosto and Rene Nunez over gift disclosures got the heave-ho from the board on Friday.

AEW Capital Management LP had qualified as one of the 68 firms that could be tapped for making future real estate investments for the $22 billion Permanent School Fund.

But on Friday, the board plucked AEW from the list and approved only 67 eligible firms.

“As a public fund, we needed someone who could be a little bit more accurate,” said Board Member David Bradley, chairman of the Permanent School Fund committee.

“At a minimum, it was sloppy,” Bradley said. “At the worst, it was intentional.”

Disclosure forms submitted as part of AEW’s application indicated the firm had given gifts to Agosto and Nunez gifts, including football tickets, golf games and meals. Agosto and Nunez disputed that they had received the gifts; AEW subsequently amended its gift report.

Several board members abstained from the AEW vote, including Geraldine Miller. Her family’s company, Henry S. Miller Realty Services LLC, has a direct business relationship with AEW, according to a document submitted to the Texas Education Agency.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

November 18, 2009

Frustration over dearth of Latinos in social studies standards

State Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, ticked off the number of Latino historical figures who will be required learning under the new social studies curriculum standards.

In kindergarten: none. In grade 1: none. In U.S. government: none.

“You are truly not looking at the entire history of this state and accurately reflecting individuals who should be included,” Chavez told the State Board of Education. “Your government section has none, as if we don’t exist.”

In total, there are only 16 Latinos among the more than 160 historical figures who must be taught, she said, yet Latinos represent over 40 percent of the state’s population.

“This is no longer just about Cesar Chavez. This is about an entire community,” Norma Chavez said.

But Board Member Pat Hardy, a former social studies teacher herself, said aiming for a certain number of Latinos in the standards to mirror the size of the population would be arbitrary and not necessarily historically accurate.

“I contend that that is revisionist,” Hardy said.

Chavez retorted that the historical revisionism is on the other side by “neglecting the true reflection of our great state.”

Permalink | Comments (23) | Post your comment Categories: Education

November 17, 2009

Bradley calls SBOE gift reports "grossly inaccurate"

The sting of the criticism has yet to subside for two State Board of Education members who say they were unfairly slapped by media reports in October that they received gifts from a firm vying for Permanent School Fund work.

The lingering effects were evident Tuesday when the committee that oversees the school fund approved a pool of 68 qualified real estate investment managers, including the firm that claimed it provided gifts of meals, football tickets, golf games and more to Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio, and Rene Nunez, D-El Paso.

Committee Chairman David Bradley, R-Beaumont, said the gift reports from AEW Capital Management were “grossly inaccurate” and he offered an apology to Agosto and Nunez because the disclosure had cast them in a bad light.

“We can’t fix stupid,” Bradley said.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

November 5, 2009

Agosto will not run again for SBOE

State Board of Education member Rick Agosto will not seek re-election next year, he said.

Trinity University literature professor Michael Soto, 39, announced Thursday that he will seek the Democratic Party nomination for District 3, which stretches from San Antonio south to the border.

And several top Democratic Party leaders from San Antonio, including state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte and former State Board of Education member Joe Bernal, are backing Soto.

Agosto, who was first elected in 2006, said he needs to spend more time with his family and investment business.

“I’ve enjoyed my time there,” but being a state board member basically can be a full-time job, Agosto said.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

November 2, 2009

Long history between lawyer, State Board members

When State Board of Education Member David Bradley had a legal question about investing the Permanent School Fund, his first stop was not the lawyer hired by the board to answer such inquiries. It was Austin lawyer Kevin O’Hanlon.

A former general counsel for the Texas Education Agency, O’Hanlon was asked by Bradley to explore the idea of investing a small portion of the $22 billion public school endowment in charter school facilities, the Statesman reported Monday.

O’Hanlon has represented charter schools, including American YouthWorks in Austin, and his involvement in this issue stems from his strong personal and professional ties to several board members, including Bradley, Rene Nunez and Rick Agosto. All three serve on the Permanent School Fund committee.

On the charter school issue, O’Hanlon’s involvement started well over a year ago with a presentation promoting the idea to a State Board committee in July 2008, according to the meeting’s minutes.

At the same time, O’Hanlon was part of a team of lawyers bidding for a Permanent School Fund contract to pursue securities litigation, records show. A board rule prohibiting contact between board members and bidders would have been in effect since the bid was submitted in May. The prohibition continued through this August when the bid process was ended without a hiring decision.

Bradley said he asked O’Hanlon to make the presentation and did not discuss the securities litigation job.

The relationship with board members extends beyond State Board business.

O’Hanlon has has provided legal services to Bradley, R-Beaumont, Agosto, D-San Antonio and Mary Helen Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi, according to disclosure forms filed as part of the bid. Nunez, D-El Paso, has been a friend for a long time, O’Hanlon said.

His law firm also paid a $300 treasurer filing fee for Agosto in 2005 and O’Hanlon gave the candidate another $1,500 that same year, campaign finance records show.

Agosto said O’Hanlon’s firm represented his company, Aureus Partners, but no longer has a business relationship with him. They met when O’Hanlon was a lobbyist for Agosto’s employer, Fortis Investments, which was a money manager for the Permanent School Fund several years ago.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

October 23, 2009

Texas' School Fund returning to health

The state’s Permanent School Fund, now at nearly $22 billion, is up almost 40 percent from its low-point last spring and finished the 2009 fiscal year in good enough shape to produce a little bit of money for public education this year.

Legislators wrote the 2010-11 budget assuming there would be no money available from the public school endowment given the fund’s steep slide in 2008.

That meant that more than $1 billion had to be found elsewhere to pay for textbooks and other education spending. Some of the $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money was used to close that hole.

Now, there is almost $58 million that could free up money elsewhere in the state budget, assuming the State Board of Education approves the disbursement.

That amount is a relative pittance compared to the $577 million that would have gone to the state’s education budget in 2010 if the tanking economy had not wreaked havoc on the fund.

But the availability of any money for 2010 is an auspicious sign that the fund might be healthy enough next year to perhaps spin off the full amount or more.

“For all the clutter that has been going on, no one can say we haven’t been doing a good job,” said David Bradley, chairman of the State Board of Education committee that oversees the fund.

As of the end of August, the fund’s annual return was -8.56 percent, which was a respectable performance given the ugly economic environment. The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was down 18.16 percent return over the same period.

A month later, the fund is now up 2.55 percent for the year.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

October 16, 2009

Ethics revision underway at State Board of Education

The barrage of negative headlines about the State Board of Education’s oversight of the $19.5 billion Permanent School Fund was fresh in the minds of the board members who set out on Friday to tweak the board’s ethics policy.

They said they want to streamline disclosure rules and establish a process for the board to address potential ethical concerns when they surface.

“I’m just trying to eliminate the confusion and the gotchas,” said David Bradley, R-Beaumont, chairman of the board’s Permanent School Fund committee.

Board Chairwoman Gail Lowe, R-Lampasas, said it will be important for the revised policy to not only address clear conflicts of interest but also the potential for and appearance of conflicts.

The full board will discuss the policy changes in November and take an initial vote in January.

Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment Categories: Education

September 17, 2009

Board members want to save Christmas, Chavez in social studies curriculum

The State Board of Education sought to quiet some controversies on Thursday as the state’s social studies curriculum standards for public schools undergo revision.

Board members made clear that they would not embrace some politically unpalatable recommendations, such as no longer explicitly listing Christmas and Cesar Chavez in the standards.

Both recommendations had prompted public outcries even though the changes never meant the subjects would not be taught in Texas classrooms.

The board members, who are scheduled to adopt the standards in March, set out to leave their imprint on the framework for the next generation of textbooks and lessons in history, government, economics and geography.

Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: Education

September 11, 2009

No "war on Christmas" in social studies curriculum

The conservative Free Market Foundation warned on Friday that a “war on Christmas” has been declared in Texas’ social studies curriculum standards that are undergoing revision.

“Christmas out, Diwali in for Texas Social Studies,” reads a blog headline posted Friday, referring to a change made in the first draft of the new standards that adds the Hindu celebration of Diwali to a study of significant religious holidays while removing Christmas.

But the group’s call to arms ignores that the sixth-grade curriculum in question is about contemporary world cultures. And the curriculum-writers were trying to add some balance among five major world religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism.

Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment Categories: Education

September 10, 2009

Social studies fight ready to heat up again

The next round in the State Board of Education battle over the social studies curriculum standards is about to begin.

Next Thursday, the board-appointed expert reviewers are scheduled to testify before the board about the standards written this summer by groups of educators and interested community members. The reviewers’ suggestions for changes are now available online.

Some of those same experts touched off a firestorm in July with their first round of recommendations for what Texas students should learn about history, politics, economics and civics.

To help monitor this process, a history professor at the University of Texas at El Paso has launched a Web site to help the public easily follow the ins-and-outs of the board’s decision-making.

Keith Erekson, the director of the Center for History Teaching and Learning at UTEP, said the implications of the board’s decisions are far-reaching. He would like the site to help people understand the process and how they might participate.

Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Education

August 5, 2009

McLeroy swats back criticism on social studies

State Board of Education member Don McLeroy was clearly unswayed by a letter from the American Humanist Association last week criticizing the ongoing rewrite of social studies curriculum standards.

He offered this one line answer in an e-mail to the association: “Here are some reasons I disagree with your statement.”

Then McLeroy attached an essay he wrote entitled “The Gift of Medieval Christendom to the World” and a YouTube video of his July appearance on Fox News discussing, as the caption reads, “how much faith belongs in U.S. History.”

Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 30, 2009

State Board advised to keep religion out of social studies

A special disdain seems to drip from the lips of some members of the State Board of Education when they utter the words “secular humanist,” so the letter and petition sent to the board Thursday from the American Humanist Association is not likely to be warmly embraced.

But that didn’t stop the association, which promotes an ethical philosophy free of theism, from offering their two-cents in the ongoing social studies curriculum battle.

The letter encourages the board members not to craft social studies curriculum standards that would “present the United States as having biblical foundations and would minimize our nation’s strong tradition of separation of church and state.”

Three board-appointed reviewers recommended that the state’s social studies curriculum focus more on the role of the Bible and religion on the founding of the country.

Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 24, 2009

UPDATED: Texas' $3.2 billion education stimulus plan OK'd

The U.S. Department of Education has approved Texas’ application for using $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said.

That money will be used to pay for textbooks and a $1.9 billion increase in school funding, which covers an $800 raise for all Texas teachers.

There had been concerns that the Texas application might not win federal approval.

Congressional Democrats had complained loudly that Texas misused its stimulus money by filling the state’s budget holes with the federal dollars while leaving untouched the $9.1 billion rainy day fund.

“While I am pleased that our hardworking Texas teachers are each assured a well-deserved raise, we could and should have done much better by our local public schools,” Doggett said.

UPDATE: Gov. Rick Perry offered this statement Friday afternoon:

“I’m pleased that the U.S. Department of Education has approved Texas’ application for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds, which will help increase public school funding, providing each school a minimum additional $120 per student,” Perry said.

“Providing quality education to our state’s school children continues to be a top priority. Texas lawmakers appropriated this money, along with more than $30 billion in state funds, to enhance educational excellence in our state.”

Permalink | Comments (129) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 20, 2009

TEA releases 2008 dropout information

The annual high school dropout rates in Texas fell across-the-board in the 2007-08 school year compared to the previous years, according to figures released on Monday by the Texas Education Agency.

But the dropout rates for African-American and Hispanic students — 16.1 percent and 14.4 percent, respectively — still were about three times that of White students.

The picture was even more dire for student in bilingual and English as a Second Language programs, where almost 31 percent have dropped out.

Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 17, 2009

Unexpected charter vote shows deep SBOE tensions

Any hope that State Board of Education Chairwoman Gail Lowe would usher in a new era of peace and harmony on the board was quashed Friday on the final day of her first three-day meeting.

The full board rolled over a decision by the Committee on School Initiatives to delay awarding the state’s sole available school charter. Four members of the committee are often dissenting votes on key board decisions.

The charter was given to Koinonia Community Learning Academy in Houston.

The academy’s proposal was one of seven considered Thursday evening by the committee, whose members said they wanted more time to mull the lengthy applications.

“Everything can change on Friday,” when the full board gets to act on committee decision, said Board Member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, and he said there was no need to wait until September.

But Board Member Geraldine Miller, R-Dallas, said the move “makes it very obvious that there is a power issue here and I resent it.”

Miller is not a member of the committee.

The unexpected decision means that a dual-language charter school proposed for Southeast Austin missed out on the open spot for a new charter school.

The state last year hit its cap of 215 public charter schools and a bill to lift that cap failed to clear the Legislature this past session. That situation set up the stiff competition for the one available charter, which was freed up when another school closed.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 15, 2009

Board backs Scott on shunning national standards

The State Board of Education gave its assent after-the-fact to Education Commissioner Robert Scott’s decision not to participate in the drafting of national standards for math and English.

It was hardly a surprising position for the board members, who covet their authority to craft the curriculum standards that drive what makes it into textbooks and Texas classrooms.

“Stay firm,” said Board Member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands. “Our standards are awesome and we appreciate your support of that.”

The national standards effort, which is being led by the governors and state education leaders across the country, is also a top priority of President Barack Obama’s education team. Participation in that process will be one consideration when some $4 billion in grants are doled out to states.

Texas is one of four states that have chosen not to participate in the drafting of those national standards.

“My goal is, regardless of what comes out of the common core, ours will always be better,” Scott said.

Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 10, 2009

Lowe to lead State Board of Education

Gov. Rick Perry on Friday named Gail Lowe, R-Lampasas, as chairwoman of the State Board of Education.

Lowe, co-publisher of the Lampasas Dispatch Record, was first elected to the board in 2002 after serving on the Lampasas school board.

Perry’s pick avoids the controversy that would have followed if he had selected one of the members whose names have been floated as likely candidates, including Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richardson.

Lowe consistently votes with the conservative wing of the 15-member board but she has typically been a quiet presence.

She will succeed Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, who confirmation was scuttled this spring in the Texas Senate.

Permalink | Comments (26) | Post your comment Categories: Education

June 19, 2009

UPDATED: Pre-K bill vetoed

Gov. Rick Perry has vetoed a bipartisan bill aimed at improving the quality of pre-kindergarten classes in Texas, bill author Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, said Friday afternoon.

“It’s a bad day for public education and for Texas’ youngest and neediest children,” Patrick said.

House Bill 130 would have put in place new quality standards for pre-kindergarten classes, including teacher training and class size limits. The classes serve children who are homeless or in foster care, have a parent in the military, have limited English-speaking skills or whose families are low-income.

The original bill would have expanded pre-kindergarten classes from half-day to full-day for the children who now qualify for the program. But the initial $623 million price tag proved too much for the Legislature to swallow in a tight budget.

The final bill that cleared the Legislature, while keeping the quality standards, provided $25 million in grant money for districts that already have full-day pre-kindergarten but were slated to lose state funding.

UPDATE: Perry wrote in his veto statement that the money would be better used to expand the number of children served in the existing program.

“Under the funding formula for the existing grant program, $25 million would serve more than 27,000 students over the next biennium, which is 21,000 students more than the estimated 6,800 students that would have been served under the bill’s proposed program - or a 305 percent increase,” Perry wrote.

But Patrick noted that the $25 million does not provide the districts the full amount needed to offer full-day classes, so the districts will still bear significant costs.

Even with the veto, those districts will get the money but the quality standards will not take effect.

One-hundred House members had signed on to the bill, which had the strong backing of House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts.

“More Republicans supported the bill than not,” Patrick said. “Clearly, many Republicans as well as Democrats understand that pre-k education is an investment for which there is a great return.”

Advocates on both sides of the issue minced no words in responding to the veto.

“Gov. Perry was correct to veto HB 130, which created an additional and unnecessary government full-day pre-k program,” said Brooke Terry of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “This legislation wrongly focused on inputs rather than results, and did not include the private sector as a full partner in providing early childhood education.”

But Jason Sabo of the United Ways of Texas said the veto was a “a willful neglect of the future.”

The research is clear that needy children greatly benefit from high-quality, full-day pre-kindergarten classes, Sabo said. And everyone benefits from those students doing better in school, he added.

“We are making the conscious choice not to abide by what researchers tells us work,” Sabo said.

Permalink | Comments (32) | Post your comment Categories: Education

UPDATED: Electronic textbook bill signed into law

School districts will be able to tap state textbook money for buying laptop computers or other technology needed to access electronic teaching materials, under a bill signed by Gov. Rick Perry Friday.

State Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, the sponsor of House Bill 4294, has said the objective was to give school districts the flexibility they need to make to update how students get their lessons.

But some members of the State Board of Education had strongly objected to the bill because they said it diminished the board’s authority and turned it over to the Education Commissioner. They launched a vigorous campaign calling for a veto.

Another significant Perry constituency, however, saw it differently.

Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, came out in favor of the bill.

“Schools need access to every resource and tool available to ensure they can reach and inspire Texas students because if our children aren’t prepared to be a vital part of a 21st century Texas, we will all suffer the consequences,” Hammond said in a news release this week.

UPDATE: Despite signing the bill, Perry did give a little something to the State Board of Education.

He issued an executive order that says “changes must be made to clarify that the State Board of Education has the responsibility to review and approve content by” the next Legislature.

In the meantime, Perry ordered that the board members have an active role in the review of digital content, including seats on the panels that will recommend materials and the opportunity to weigh in before the Education Commissioner approves an electronic textbook.

Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment Categories: Education

June 17, 2009

Congressional move to redirect Texas education money falters

Texas Democrats in Congress failed to get into law a provision that would have forced Texas to change how it will distribute $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money for education.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said a couple months ago that he planned to use an amendment to a budget bill to clarify that the money should go directly to the school districts, not help the state plug its budget holes. The state has used that money to increase funding for school districts by $1.9 billion and pay for textbooks.

But the supplemental spending bill for the nation’s wars, which was supposed to be the vehicle for the provision, cleared the U.S. House on Tuesday without the Texas-specific directive.

Doggett said in a statement that “Congress could and should have provided clear guidance to block the diversion” of the education stimulus money.

“It did not, which is one of the reasons why I voted against the bill,” Doggett said.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

May 31, 2009

School accountability bill to governor

The bill overhauling of the state’s school accountability system won unanimous assent both the House and Senate Sunday night and is now headed to governor.

House Bill 3 aims to increases students’ “college readiness,” reduce the reliance on high-stakes testing in the lower grades, and students more flexibility in their course schedule.

The final product was the result of an “intense and robust” negotiation process, as House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands put it.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Education

May 26, 2009

Senate kicks out $1.9 billion school finance bill

A minimum $800 across-the-board pay raise for teachers was grafted into the $1.9 billion school finance bill unanimously adopted by the Senate Tuesday night.

The Senate version had included money in House Bill 3646 for a pay raise, but it gave school districts discretion over how to distribute that money.

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said the school districts, not the state, are the teachers’ employer and “they have the teachers’ best interests at heart.”

“What we’re giving them is a lump sum of money for those teachers,” said Shapiro, chairwoman of the Education Committee.

But Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, argued that it is basic fairness to ensure that every teacher got something and pushed to add the same language that was in the House version that won unanimous approval.

Shapiro told members as debate got underway that the $1.9 billion was not the answer to the state’s “school finance woes.”

“It is going to get us out of this session with more money to every school district in the state of Texas,” Shapiro said.

Austin ISD does a little better under the Senate’s approach, getting $14 million in additional funding rather than the $10 million in the House version.

Several education bills that had already been approved by the Senate but stuck behind the House train wreck were added to the school finance bill.

“Is it Christmas?” Shapiro quipped.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Education

School leaders urge moving forward on accountability

Addressing the veto specter surrounding the school accountability bill, school leaders said Tuesday the worst thing that could happen for students is nothing at all.

“My concern is that we do nothing,” said Salem Abraham, president of the Canadian ISD Board of Trustees and member of the interim committee that examined the accountability system.

“I’m hopeful that we wouldn’t do all this work and take all this public input and in the end have this thing vetoed,” Abraham said on a conference call organized by several school groups.

Gov. Rick Perry has indicated that he is displeased with the direction of the school accountability bill, particularly a change in the rules for promoting kids the next grade even if they fail the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: Education

May 20, 2009

McLeroy confirmation back on track

Senators on Wednesday breathed new life into the confirmation of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy.

Nominations Committee Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, had left McLeroy’s confirmation languishing in committee for weeks because there was said to be enough opposition on the Senate floor to block the confirmation. A two-thirds vote of the 31-member Senate is needed to confirm the governor’s nominee.

But in a hastily called meeting at a senator’s desk, committee members voted 4 to 2 to send McLeroy’s confirmation to the floor. Democratic Sens. Kirk Watson of Austin and Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso were the nays.

Jackson said Wednesday that McLeroy had been meeting with the members to change some minds and had reportedly been successful.

The floor debate, which is expected to be lively, could come on Monday or Tuesday, Jackson said.

Watch the committee meeting - and post-meeting comments by Watson and Jackson - below.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Education

May 14, 2009

The Stephen F. Austin, Sul Ross, Sam Houston Preservation Act

The Texas House on Friday, probably, will strike a blow to preserve the names of some of the state’s all-time greats.

HB425 by Rep. Wayne Christian, set for Friday’s local, consent and resolutions calendar, would bar changing “the names of certain public institutions of higher education that are named after state historical figures.”

Here’s what the bill analysis says: “Some colleges and universities in Texas have been renamed, either to reflect an affiliation with a university system or for other reasons. In certain cases, renaming has resulted in the loss of a name with historical significance and has caused an adverse reaction on the part of some aggrieved alumni.”

It’s one thing to change Southwest Texas State University to Texas State University. But it would be another if a change took Stephen F. Austin’s name off the state university in Nacogdoches (that’s Steve on the right) or Sam Houston’s off the state university in Huntsville or Sul Ross’ off the state university in Alpine.

Hence, HB425, which bars a name change “in a manner that removes the name of (an) established historical figure from the name of the institution.”

Permalink | Comments (33) | Post your comment

April 30, 2009

McLeroy confirmation blocked

The confirmation of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy is dead in the water, Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said Thursday.

Jackson, chairman of the Senate Nominations Committee, said McLeroy will be left pending in committee because there is enough opposition on the floor of the Senate to block his confirmation, which requires approval of two-thirds of the senators.

There are too many other important issues to take up on the floor to waste time on a doomed confirmation, Jackson said.

After a contentious confirmation hearing last week, Jackson said he would take the temperature of his colleagues before determining whether to give McLeroy a committee vote.

McLeroy, R-Bryan, was first elected to the State Board of Education in 1998 and would retain his seat as a board member even if not confirmed as chairman by the end of the legislative session. Gov. Rick Perry would then pick a chairman from among the other board members who would not face Senate confirmation until 2011.

Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment Categories: Education

April 29, 2009

Unanimous consent on HB 3

The House version of the school accountability bill followed its Senate companion with a unanimous vote Wednesday evening.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

Effort to end school closures goes nowhere

State Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, made an impassioned but ultimately unsuccessful plea to remove school closure as the ultimate sanction in the state’s school accountability system.

Dukes argued during the debate of House Bill 3 that the threat of closure undermines a school’s ability to improve and punishes students and communities, particularly low-income communities.

Several schools in Duke’s district have faced the specter of closure.

Webb Middle School teetered on the edge of closure until the community rallied behind the school and performance dramatically improved. Johnston High School, however, did not improve enough and last year was one of the first schools closed by the state under the accountability system.

Two other Austin schools, Reagan High School and Pearce Middle School, could also be closed under the existing system if their performance does not turn around this year.

But the bill’s author Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said removing closure from the Education Commissioner’s quiver of sanctions took away a key motivation for communities to do something about failing schools.

He added that the sanctions provisions in the accountability system have been loosened. No longer is closure mandatory and schools have been given extra time to improve.

“It still puts a burden on a local community that hasn’t’ be able to force (the school district) to give them what they need,” Dukes said.

Dukes’ amendment, which was co-authored by Donna Howard, D-Austin, was tabled and no action taken.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

School achievement bill gets Pearce amendment

Debate on Senate Bill 3, the accountability reform plan for public schools, just got an amendment added at the request of Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin.

Watson’s Amendment 6 would allow the state education commissioner to immediately implement some provisions of the new law “related to interventions and sanctions” against under-performing schools, even before the bill — if approved by the Legislature and signed into law — takes effect.

Pearce Middle School is under the gun for being underperforming, and faces a fast-approaching deadline to improve.

“There are a lot of provisions in this bill that could benefit that situation at Pearce,” Watson said. “This amendment would allow (the commissioner) to use them now.”

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

April 28, 2009

School punishment bill passes

Legislation that would require public school districts to consider mitigating factors before they punish students for misbehavior was approved today by the Texas Senate.

The author: State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, who admits he got booted from his third-grade classes for fighting.

“I had it coming. I admit that,” said Gallegos, the author of Senate Bill 2270. “But there are a lot of cases that have come out where schools use zero tolerance policies and kids are being disproportionately punished.

“We want schools to think twice when they punish a student, take everything into consideration.”

Current law authorizes but does not require that school districts take mitigating factors into account before they mete out punishment to students — including suspension, removal or expulsion.

Mitigating factors can include such things as self-defense, intent or lack of intent at the time of the incident, a student’s disciplinary history or a disability that substantially impairs the student’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of their misconduct.

Gallegos said the measure was prompted, in part, by the story of a 10-year-old Tomball boy who was booked and photographed by police for pulling a fire alarm on a dare from classmates.

Permalink | Comments (27) | Post your comment Categories: Education

April 27, 2009

Squeaker of a vote on School Fund constitutional amendment

Texas voters could soon have a say in who manages the investment of the state’s $22 billion Permanent School Fund that is dedicated to public education.

The Texas House of Representatives agreed put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would move investment decisions from the elected State Board of Education to an appointed body of financial professionals named by high-level elected officials, including the governor, land commissioner, House speaker and comptroller.

In a display of parliamentary high drama, the initial tally fell one vote short of the critical 100-vote threshold needed to allow the measure to skip another House vote and go straight to the Senate.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

April 22, 2009

McLeroy nomination in jeopardy

State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, faced searing questioning during his uncommonly long confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Senate Nominations Committee.

And Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said McLeroy’s nomination is on shaky ground because he might not be able to get the required two-thirds vote from the Senate.

Democratic senators Kirk Watson of Austin and Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso challenged McLeroy over his leadership during a number of controversial Board of Education decisions, including the recent adoption of new science curriculum standards that critics say undermine the teaching of evolution.

Shapleigh said he plans to have McLeroy separated from the others when his nomination comes up on the Senate floor so that it could be debated and voted on individually.

Permalink | Comments (69) | Post your comment Categories: Education

April 17, 2009

Once again, House says no to school vouchers

The House of Representatives once again enacted a prohibition on using state money for private school vouchers late Friday night in a 122 to 23 vote for an amendment introduced by Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton.

The same measure was attached to the appropriations bill in 2007 but was stripped during the conference committee with the Senate.

Nevertheless, the vote was cited repeatedly in the intervening months as an indication of the Legislature’s intent on the controversial issue as the Texas Education Agency allowed non-profit groups to get state money for bringing dropouts back into school. Critics said that move opened a backdoor for school vouchers.

Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 31, 2009

Austin schools ask for some Social Security relief

Here’s a question for the TAKS test: How can the same teacher salary in Austin actually be 6.2 percent less than in Round Rock?

Answer: Austin is one of the few districts in Texas that is still part of Social Security so its employees pay 6.2 percent of their salary into the federal retirement system each year in addition to the contributions to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

The effect is a reduction in take-home pay for employees and a big tab for the district, which matches the employees’ contribution. Last year, the cost to Austin $37 million.

Austin school officials say they are at a competitive disadvantage in hiring new teachers because other local districts’ employees do not have that expense and they want some state help to even the playing the field.

Permalink | Comments (25) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 30, 2009

House approves bill to put video online of State Board of Education meetings

The Texas House today tentatively approved a bill by Austin Democrat Donna Howard that would require live video webcasts of State Board of Education meetings.

The Texas Education Agency now puts only an audio feed of board meetings online. With just the audio, it’s sometimes difficult for members of the public to understand who is talking, Howard said.

“This would allow you to actually see what’s going on,” Howard said.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 24, 2009

Over half the House signs on to PreK bill

A $300 million effort to move to full-day prekindergarten for eligible children has already won the support of more than half the Texas House of Representatives.

By Tuesday, 79 co-authors, both Republicans and Democrats, had signed on to House Bill 130, sponsored by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington.

So the political stars seem to be aligned for the bill, which sets standards for class sizes, curriculum and teacher qualifications as well as extending the school day.

The big key question will be whether the money can be found in a tight, tight budget.

The substitute bill introduced Tuesday, mirroring a change in its Senate companion, has cut the price tag in half by delaying the start date a year to 2010 to make the cost less daunting.

Eligibility for prekindergarten does not change under the bill. It would still be restricted to about 200,000 children, including foster children, those that are learning English, or come from low-income, homeless or military families.

Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, offered a less expensive approach in House Bill 1891 to provide prekindergarten for the same groups of kids through private providers.

The $12.9 million proposal, which would serve about one-fifth of the children and provide funding for half-day classes, would complement Patrick’s bill by targeting those children who are eligible but not participating, Madden said.

Both bills were left pending in committee.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 18, 2009

'Biggest Loser': Educate kids to stay fit

Texan Michelle Aguilar is a role model to many after dropping 110 pounds to win the reality TV show “The Biggest Loser” last year, but she says she doesn’t want kids to have to be like her.

She wants them to know how to make the right food and fitness choices early, before they reach the level of 242 pounds, which is what Aguilar weighed before joining the show with her mother as a teammate.

Aguilar came to the Capitol today (honored in the Senate this morning) with the American Heart Association to promote legislation to improve physical education programs in school.

For “Biggest Loser” fans: Keep an eye out for Aguilar’s upcoming appearances on the show, now in its seventh season for a “couples” edition. Aguilar said she returns for an episode for a challenge while host Alison Sweeney is away giving birth, and again when the field narrows to the final four.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 17, 2009

Does accountability system offer path to a career or a track to nowhere?

The proposed overhaul of Texas’ school accountability system sought to give students different paths that lead to graduation as a way to keep school relevant to all kids and reduce dropouts.

But to some people, those paths are seen as tracks that would direct kids - particularly low-income, minority kids, they say - away from college, according to committee testimony Tuesday.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 16, 2009

Teachers: Don't close Reagan High School

Hundreds of teachers and school workers lobbied for changes in accountability, increased funding and better salaries around the Capitol today.

Among the sea of bright blue t-shirts, Reagan High School teachers, parents, alumni and supporters held signs pleading to keep the Austin school open.

Reagan High School, along with Pearce Middle School in Austin, is in danger of closing after the state rated it academically unacceptable over the past few years. While teachers and advocates have pushed for eventually overhauling the accountability system that grades the schools’ performances, there are other proposed bills that could actually save the school from shutting its doors. State Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, filed House Bill 1238, which would remove automatic school closure as a sanction and help the community stay involved in improving the school. Houston Democrat Sylvester Turner authored a similar piece of legislation.

Watch the video below of Reagan advocates at the rally.

Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 9, 2009

Big sticks left in accountability bill

School closure and other sanctions against low-performing schools were left intact in the school accountability overhaul filed last week.

And for-profit operations would now be eligible to operate schools that had repeatedly failed to meet the state standards, according to the legislation written by the education committee leaders in both chambers, Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, and Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.

Those provisions in the long-awaited accountability legislation left Allen Weeks, president of the St. John’s Neighborhood Association, disappointed that the state’s system will still be used to shame communities and put their schools in the hands of others.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 5, 2009

School accountability bill out

The long-awaited accountability overhaul bill has been filed. It is a 142-page tome so get comfy.

Here is the Senate version.

More to come later today. Presser scheduled for 2 p.m with Sen. Florence Shapiro, chairwoman of the bill’s parents Senate Education Committee, and Rep. Rob Eissler, chairman of the House Public Education Committee.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 3, 2009

Money for mid-sized schools finance fix in question

Mid-sized school districts such as Wimberley ISD came to the Senate Education Committee Tuesday seeking a little financial relief and walked away with a partial victory.

In a 5-0 vote, the committee gave its assent to repealing a portion of the school finance law that stops property-rich, mid-sized school districts from getting the extra money that other similar sized school districts get.

The “mid-sized adjustment” is intended to help districts with 1,600 to 5,000 students because those districts don’t enjoy the same cost-saving economies of scale as do large school districts.

About 35 mid-sized school districts, however, have been prohibited from accessing that money even though they have the same economy-of-scale issues as less wealthy districts, said Clayton Downing, executive director of the Texas School Coalition, which advocates for property-rich schools.

But the substitute language that was approved by the committee left a big question about whether the districts would get any new money as a result. The senators said they hoped to address that issue when they rewrite school finance rules this session.

“It’s a little bit better than nothing but not much,” Downing said.

Wimberley Superintendent Dwayne York said he was frustrated about the sudden switch in bill language but this vote was an important first step to getting the district the financial help it needs.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

February 16, 2009

Stimulus money might fill textbook void

With no money coming from the Permanent School Fund at this point, the State Board of Education has been fretting for some time that the Legislature would not find the $913 million needed for textbooks in the upcoming 2010-2011 budget.

But Education Commissioner Robert Scott said Monday that the economic stimulus legislation awaiting President Obama’s signature could provide a ready source of money for the textbooks.

Texas can expect $3.2 billion to $3.9 billion from a pot of “fiscal stabilization” money for education in addition to another $2 billion split between programs for economically disadvantage student and special education students.

That “fiscal stabilization” is specifically closing holes in state education spending, such as the $1.2 billion that will most likely not be available for school funding because the Permanent School Fund taken a big hit in the market tumult. The yield from the PSF usually covers the cost of textbooks plus a little more for general education spending.

Scott told the House Appropriations Committee using that federal money would ensure that give the PSF a little time to heal.

The federal money could also help pay for echnology and repair of some hurricane-battered schools, among other items, Scott said.

Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment Categories: Education

February 4, 2009

Steroid testing $6 million tab a lot to swallow

An incredulous Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, needed some clarification.

Was the state planning on spending another $6 million on a high school steroid testing program that yielded a grand total of four positives out of 10,500 tests?

“Do you really think we need that?” he asked.

The response from the other members of the Senate Finance Committee seems to indicate that the answer was, uh, no.

Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, noted that his son was among the students randomly selected to be tested.

“I’m really glad to hear your son was not one of the four,” Harris said.

Hinojosa suggested that the program might be better focused if used in cases where there is a suspicion of steroid use or probable cause.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Education

February 2, 2009

TAB: Toughen up education standards

Texas needs to toughen its school accountability standards and provide a more “honest” picture of how well schools are educating students, Bill Hammond, executive director of the Texas Association of Business, said at a news conference Monday.

It is a refrain often heard from TAB that Texas schools are failing to produce graduates with the basic skills they need to succeed in the workforce. And the state hides that fact by using low passing standards on its tests and continuing to pass students along to the next grade even if they fail the required tests, Hammond said.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Education

January 30, 2009

TEA gets stay on court-ordered bilingual ed plan

A court-ordered plan for how the Texas Education Agency would remedy constitutional problems with the state’s bilingual education programs will not be coming this week as anticipated.

The U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, this week granted TEA a stay pending oral arguments in June. U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice last summer mandated the plan and set a due date of Jan. 31. TEA appealed the ruling.

The plan was to outline how the state would fix Texas’ secondary school programs for students with limited English-proficiency beginning in the 2009-2010 school year and develop monitoring the bilingual programs in all grades.

In its appeal, the state argued that TEA would have to “implement changes that…are not likely to be insubstantial,” such as creating a monitoring plan for all of the Texas’ school districts and developing a new language program for secondary students.

“If defendants ultimately prevail on appeal, they will be faced with a dilemma: either continue the severe disruption of completing the change or revert to their previous system,” the appeals court order reads. “The former option, they contend, might render meaningless whether defendants prevail on appeal. The latter option could mean ‘eliminating staff positions added just to comply with the order.’ “

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

January 21, 2009

Kress joins TAB

Former Bush administration education adviser Sandy Kress will be the education point man for the Texas Association of Business during this legislative session.

A strong advocate of school reform, Kress will likely be deeply involved in the rewrite of the state’s accountability system. Kress, who has a long history in Texas education circles, served during the interim on a select committee addressing the accountability system.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Education

January 13, 2009

Uncertainty of textbook funding worries SBOE

The financial market conditions have probably rendered the Permanent School Fund unable to spin off any money for state education spending in the upcoming budget.

And that has members of the State Board of Education worried that finding money for textbooks will not be a priority for legislators given the state’s budget hole.

On Tuesday, the board members gathered, some by video conference, for a special meeting to vote on one item: allowing the fund to make up any lost payments if the fund conditions improve.

Board Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, said the vote shows a “willingness to try to help them as much as possible.”

They hope it will encourage legislators to cover the $900 million tab for textbooks in the next budget.

“These reading books are absolutely critical and to put this off…that’s unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable,” board member Geraldine Miller said. “We need to fund the reading books.”

Books for the elementary grades, Miller said, were particularly important. That tab would run about $273 million.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

January 7, 2009

Craddick's top education aide leaving for UT

Harrison Keller, the top education policy advisor to outgoing Speaker Tom Craddick, has taken a post at the University of Texas as the vice provost for higher education policy and research. He will start Friday.

The job has long been in the works and the timing of his departure is not related to Craddick ceding the speakership earlier this week.

Keller is widely respected in education circles for his understanding of difficult issues facing education.

House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said Keller “has been a very strong influence (on education issues) because of his technical knowledge and ability to synthesize information,” Eissler said. “I hate to see him go.”

Another education leader, Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, said he has a computer folder of “stuff Harrison has sent me.” It is a veritable research library of key education issues from around the country and around the world.

“His greatest contribution has been really to focus us on using measurable data to drive policy decisions,” Hochberg said, rather than policymaking by anecdote.

In his new role, Keller will focus on big-picture higher education policies, such as affordability. It is rare, he said, for an institution such as UT to take a proactive approach to difficult policy issues.

“It’s an exciting place to be,” Keller said.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Education

December 5, 2008

Some new money for education promised

At a gathering of school leaders Friday, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott asked the group how many were from districts with a budget deficit this year.

Hands shot up across the room, illustrating the difficult financial position in which school districts across the state find themselves under the current school finance system.

Legislative leaders promised the educators a little bit more money in the upcoming budget.

There will be $2 billion of new education money in the base budget, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick said at a pre-session seminar of the Texas Association of School Administrators and Texas Association of School Boards.

That amount will be in addition to the $1.5 billion in additional money needed to pay for the new students who will come into the Texas public schools during the 2010-2011 budget.

Such an increase could boost the per student spending by 2 percent.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Education

November 19, 2008

School Fund will provide $300 million less for education

The financial market turmoil has taken such a toll on Texas’ Permanent School Fund that it will provide about $300 million less for public education in the upcoming 2010-2011 budget than the $1.4 billion it will produce for the current budget.

The practical effect of the smaller distribution is relatively small. But the symbolic effect is huge.

The fund has dropped from $26.5 billion last October to $17.5 billion today, erasing many of the returns of the past 10 years.

The State Board of Education on Wednesday was in the untenable position of protecting the fund for the state’s future students and providing something for today’s students.

Those two guiding principles of managing the fund are “at war with each other,” said James Voytko, president and chief operating officer of RV Kuhns & Associates Inc., the financial consultant for the fund.

Board Chairman Don McLeroy said the compromise of sending a little something — 2.5 percent of the average market value over the past four years — is the right thing to do.

“We have to pay something. It’s not fair to the current students,” McLeroy said.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

November 10, 2008

Shutting the door on school vouchers

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, is looking to close what some public school advocates say was a back door to private school vouchers.

SB 186, submitted on Monday, removes language from the education code that allows nonprofit organizations to get certain public grant money.

The inclusion of that language in the 2007 law allowed nonprofit private schools to compete for the public grant and made the relatively small $6 million program to help dropouts the focus of intense criticism.

Three nonprofit organizations were among the recipients, which prompted a lawsuit from the Texas State Teachers Association. The association failed in an effort to block the Texas Education Agency from disbursing money to the nonprofits but the overall lawsuit continues.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Education

November 3, 2008

Board of Education member's Obama commentary criticized

Here is some pre-election commentary on the Christian Worldview Network Web site by State Board of Education Member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond.

Needless to say, she is not a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency.

But her rhetoric that an Obama administration will likely lead to martial law has been criticized as “reprehensible” and “reckless” by the Texas Freedom Network, an organization that advocates for religious freedom in the public schools.

Dunbar, who was elected to a four-year term in 2006, is a graduate of Regent University Law and has written a book called “One Nation Under God: How the Left is trying to Erase What Made Us Great.”

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Education

October 2, 2008

Biz groups want improved education system

A newly formed coalition of business groups on Thursday called for tougher student accountability standards and more money for performance-based payments to teachers as a way to improve Texas’ workforce.

“The public education system in Texas needs to be strengthened in order to meet the needs of employers,” said Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, one of the founding groups of the Texas Coalition for a Competitive Workforce.

“We need to keep more kids in school and graduate more children who are career or college ready,” he said.

As an example of shortcomings in the education system, Hammond pointed to the large number of first-year college students — about half, according to a 2007 report — who must take remedial courses.

The other coalition members include the Texas Institute for Education Reform, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Governor’s Business Council and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

The coalition is silent, however, on how to pay for higher standards and their other demands.

Among the other priorities are flexibility in course requirements so that students can learn some core lessons while also getting career-skills training.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

September 10, 2008

UPDATED: Combs launches new Texas college tuition plan

State Comptroller Susan Combs launched a new Texas college-tuition savings plan today, encouraging parents to check out an online calculator intended to demonstrate how much college that participants in the Texas Tuition Promise Fund can buy.

“It’s actually kind of entertaining,” Combs said of the calculator.

Combs offered examples of how much parents might need to pitch into the fund to cover future college tuition for a newborn or 7-year-old child.

The online calculator—here—wasn’t viewable from my computer at about 11 a.m., but the Web site opened later.

UPDATE: On the calculator, I checked on what it would cost a late-starting parent to assure four years’ tuition at the state’s most expensive four-year public colleges and universities through the plan for a child who turned 13 in August 2008.

Sitting down? The expected payment would be $955.50 a month, accumulating to $45,863.96 over four years.

There’s a reason Combs stressed the significance of families investing early.

In her example, parents of a newborn would be expected to pitch in $60.36 per month over 18 years—just for the kid to afford one year of the average cost of tuition and required fees at a Texas public college or university.

Parents of a 7-year-old child would be asked to contribute $81.53 a month over 10 years to afford one year of the average cost of tuition and required fees at a Texas public college or university.

Thanks to an astute reader for guiding me to correct my reporting on Combs’ examples.

The enrollment period for the new program, which was authorized by the 2007 Legislature, starts today and runs through February. Combs noted that participants don’t have to start paying in until May.

The program is Texas’ second try at a prepaid tuition plan.

The new plan offers families the choice of buying “units” in three types of plans that can be used as currency at schools. The units lock in tuition at current prices.

Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment Categories: Education

August 28, 2008

AG rules on whether Bible course is mandated

Texas school districts are not required to offer a Bible elective course created by the Legislature last year, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in an opinion issued Thursday.

But districts will still have to offer some kind of instruction in religious literature, whether integrated into an existing course or offered separately.

The ruling has advocates on both sides claiming victory.

The Liberty Legal Institute said in a news release that Abbott agreed with their assessment that schools must include instruction on the Bible’s impact on literature and history.

Dan Quinn, spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, said most schools already meet that requirement.

TEA officials said Thursday afternoon they were still sorting through the opinion and did not have a definitive answer.

Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: Education

August 19, 2008

Bilingual ruling appealed

As expected, a federal court ruling on bilingual education in Texas was appealed by the Texas Education Agency on Monday.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice found in July that the state had not properly educated middle school and high school students with limited English proficiency. The order, part of a decades-old case claiming violations of the Equal Education Opportunities Act, called for TEA to develop a new language program for students in secondary school and improve monitoring of the program.

The appeal kicks the decision up the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal.

Permalink | Comments (17) | Post your comment Categories: Education

August 11, 2008

Judge allows dropout grants to go forward

The Texas Education Agency was cleared on Monday to send up to $1 million to three nonprofit organizations that won grant money to help dropouts finish school.

The Texas State Teachers Association, which sued the agency last week over the inclusion of nonprofit recipients in the $6 million dropout recovery grant program, had sought a temporary injunction.

State District Court Judge Stephen Yelenosky denied the request but the case will proceed.

At the heart of the case is whether the agency had the authority to give public money to private nonprofits. The teachers group maintains this move creates a “stealth voucher program” by diverting public money to private interests.

Lawyers from the Texas Attorney General’s office argued that the legislation creating the dropout grant program states explicitly that nonprofits are eligible for the money.

TEA awarded grant money to 22 entities, including school districts, charter schools, community colleges and others. Each grant recipient will get up to $150,000 for startup costs, plus additional money for every student they move toward a high school diploma.

The Christian Fellowship of San Antonio could earn up to $510,000 while both the Community Action Inc. of Hays, Caldwell & Blanco Counties Inc. and Healy-Murphy Center Inc. could get $270,000 each.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Education

August 7, 2008

TAB wants tougher accountability system

The Texas school accountability system is not doing a very good job holding schools accountable, Texas Association of Business president Bill Hammond said at a news conference Thursday.

“We can’t have a first-rate education system in Texas with a second-rate accountability system,” Hammond said.

He took issue with the recent decision by Education Commissioner Robert Scott to give school districts another one-year reprieve on tougher dropout rules. That decision kept some districts being labeled academically unacceptable.

And the standards are too low, said Hammond, adding that schools can be deemed “academically acceptable” if only 50 percent of their students pass math.

Texas businesses — Hammond’s membership — are the ultimate consumers of the Texas education system’s product and they are finding the product lacking, he said.

Hammond called on the Texas Education Agency and legislators to be more “honest” about how the education system is performing. But he didn’t have any specific recommendations to improve the system.

He did make clear that more money for schools is not the answer, according to TAB.

“If money were the solution, the problem would have been solved long ago,” Hammond said. “The public schools system in Texas needs to do better with what they have,” Hammond said.

There was a roomful of school superintendents last week who would probably disagree.

At a school finance summit organized by Scott, superintendents complained that the state is ratcheting up the performance standards but not given the districts the resources to improve the schools.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Education

August 5, 2008

Teachers group sues over dropout grant

The Texas State Teachers Association has sued the Texas Education Agency over dropout recovery grants awarded Monday to three private, nonprofit entities.

The group argues in its TSTA lawsuit 080508.pdflawsuit that TEA does not have the authority to grant public money to nonprofit organizations to provide direct student services.

Critics have maintained that Education Commissioner Robert Scott is using this $6 million dropout recovery grant program as a way to create something akin to a school voucher so that public dollars can be used at private schools. Scott has repeatedly denied this contention.

The lawsuit seeks initially to prevent TEA from sending money to the three organizations — Christian Fellowship of San Antonio, Community in Action Inc. of Hays, Caldwell and Blanco Counties, and the Healy-Murphy Center Inc. Each organization was awarded $150,000 in start-up money.

“Given the finite pool of money available for dropout recovery and the pressing need in our state, diverting public money to private educational programs clearly shortchanges public schools that need it and could effectively use it,” said Rita Haecker, president of the teachers association.

Grants were also awarded to 19 public school districts, charter schools and community colleges. The aim of the grant program is to lure high school dropouts back to school and provide programs tailored to their needs.

Scott said in a statement that the state needs to marshal all its forces to respond to dropout problem.

“It’s incredible that TSTA thinks that non-profit organizations don’t have a role to play in reducing the dropout problem and increasing the graduation rate,” Scott said.

Scott pointed out that the state has given public money to private, nonprofit organizations in the past.

Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 18, 2008

Bible course standards approved

The State Board of Education on Friday adopted Bible course curriculum standards that critics say provide little guidance on how to teach the course without running afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

In a 10-5 vote, the board approved curriculum standards largely mirror the standards now used for developing independent studies courses in social studies or English. They do not specifically address how to teach the Bible and what the students should learn, beyond some broad language from the law.

In 2007, the Legislature approved a high school elective course aimed at using the Bible to understand literature, history, policy and more. The material must be presented in a neutral manner without proselytizing.

The first course under this law will be offered in the 2009-2010 school year.

Permalink | Comments (49) | Post your comment Categories: Education

July 17, 2008

Bible course standards OK'd by subcommittee

The curriculum standards for an elective Bible course sailed through a subcommittee of the State Board of Education on Thursday with a 3-1 vote.

The issue goes before the full board on Friday for final action.

Stemming from a law approved by the Legislature in 2007, the course will focus on the Bible’s impact on history and literature. The law calls for the material to be presented in a neutral manner without proselytizing.

But critics of the curriculum standards, which are required by the law, say they are too vague and will leave districts vulnerable to legal challenges.

State Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, made an unusual appearance at the subcommittee meeting Thursday to urge the board not to adopt the standards. Instead, he wants the board to develop detailed and content-specific standards that will provide districts’ clear guidelines for offering the course.

“For this course, that has the imprimatur of the state, this was an attempt to say: ‘We want to make sure you can offer this course safely,’” Hochberg said of the bill.

Two of Hochberg’s colleagues on the on the public education committee, Republicans Rob Eissler and Diane Patrick, backed his position in a letter to the board:

“The Legislature expects the Board to adopt specific curriculum for elective courses, and the Board has consistently done so, until now,” according to the letter signed by the three legislators.

But Board Member Terri Leo said the proposed standards, which largely mirror the general social studies standards, are specific enough and have gotten the approval from the Texas Attorney General, as required by the law.

“I don’t see where there is specific language that says we have to come up with brand new (curriculum standards),” Leo said.

The Attorney General last week said the standards were constitutional, a determination required by the law. But it could not be determined if the course was constitutional, the attorney general wrote, because there were no courses to examine.

Jonathan Saenz of the Free Market Foundation said the call for more specific standards is a stalling tactic — it will take at least two years to develop the standards — and a roadblock to academic freedom.

“That is time and that is a loss of choice and opportunity and freedom for students to take this course,” Saenz said. “That is two years they have to wait.

Board members Leo, Cynthia Noland Dunbar and Barbara Cargill voted for the standards while Lawrence Allen dissented.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

School Finance Summit scheduled

The Texas Education Agency will hold a School Finance Summit on July 29 to discuss some key issues for the 2009 legislative session.

The immediate focus will be on adjusting how much money schools get for transportation, technology and other specific items.

“There are some things we need to do to keep school districts afloat,” Education Commissioner Robert Scott said Thursday morning.

Also on the agenda will be the big and vexing school finance question of how to distribute money to districts across the state.

The summit will be held in room 1-104 of the William B. Travis Building from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

June 25, 2008

Vouchers were not part of high school bill, legislators say

State education officials had hunkered down for day-long hearing Wednesday on a small but controversial grant program to help dropouts finish high school.

Within an hour, the speakers had made their points and left.

Most said the Legislature never approved a program that would send public dollars to private schools, which is allowed under the grant program, and the Texas Education Agency was overstepping its authority by creating such a program.

First out of the gate, state Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, summed up the opposition to the use of public money for private schools while noting that there is universal support for finding ways to help dropouts.

“This pilot program closely resembles a voucher program though we have been assured it is not,” said Patrick, a member of the House Public Education Committee.

Any program where public money can flow directly to private schools can accurately be described as a voucher program and Legislature has spoken loud and clear in opposition to private school vouchers, Patrick said.

Education Commissioner Robert Scott, who was not in attendance, has said repeatedly that this grant would not be a voucher program because it does not give money to parents to shop around for a private school nor does it take money from school districts.

Patrick’s point was echoed by a statement from three legislators who served on the conference committee in 2007 that negotiated HB 2237, a high school improvement bill that opened the door for this grant program.

HB 2237 passed both the House and the Senate with only dissenting vote, wrote Sen. Royce West, Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, and Rep. Scott Hochberg, all Democrats.

“Rarely do we see such consensus surrounding legislation. Clearly, the will of the legislature to help address dropout rates in Texas is strong. Equally strong however, is our decade-long stance against the use of taxpayer funds to pay private school tuition. Commissioner Scott’s proposed rule directly contradicts the will of the 80th Texas Legislature, which refused to pass any measure that would allow tax dollars to be used to pay tuition at private and religious schools.”

The two speakers testified in support of allowing private schools to participate.

“Public schools have had their opportunity to educate these students,” Peggy Venable of Americans for Prosperity. “I wonder what we’re so afraid of.”

The next step is for Scott to finalize the grant program rules later this summer.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Education

April 21, 2008

Pay, support for educators key to school success

It will be no small feat for the Texas Legislature to attract and keep good teachers and principals in Texas schools, particularly those schools that most need high-quality educators, according to testimony before the House Public Education Committee today.

Schools must recruit better qualified teachers, provide adequate support and pay to keep them in the profession and provide top-level leadership from principals.

None of that will be easy — or cheap, the committee heard.

“If you really want to do it, we have to come at it with real money,” said Ted Melina-Raab with Texas-AFT, a teachers group.

Holly Eaton of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association said particular attention should be paid to compensation for experienced teachers.

A teacher with 10 years of experience in the classroom makes about $43,000 in Austin compared to a first-year teacher who brings in almost $39,800, according to an association analysis.

“It’s hard to attract and retain the best and the brightest when your salary growth is unlikely to keep up with inflation over the years,” Eaton said. “The state needs to address the issue of teacher pay soon, by providing funding for more ‘stretch’ in the teacher salary schedules and increases in salary that reward experience.”

Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association note that working conditions has now surpassed salary as the reason teachers give for leaving the field.

Keeping experienced principals, too, is key to school success but they tend to leave in droves after five years on the job, University of Texas researcher Ed Fuller testified.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 27, 2008

Bible curriculum moves forward

A subcommittee of the State Board of Education gave its OK Thursday to Bible course curriculum that religious freedom advocates say is problematic.

The vote was 3 to 1 with Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi the sole dissenter.

Now the curriculum goes to the full board, which will take up preliminary approval on Friday.

Strong opinions on both sides marked the subcommittee’s discussion.

Board Member Terri Leo said a student or parent who does not like the Bible course offered by the district does not have to take it because the course is an elective.

But Berlanga said the board would best serve the state by developing specific curriculum for the course, as it does it most every other subject.

The Texas Freedom Network has objected to the proposed curriculum, saying it does not provide guidance to school districts on how to craft the Bible course to protect students’ religious liberty and to not run afoul of the First Amendment.

The Texas Attorney General must ensure that the curriculum passes legal muster once the board gives its final approval.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Education

March 11, 2008

The silence is deafening on vouchers

Silence met an effort Tuesday to clarify whether a school voucher program targeting dropouts could be developed under a statewide plan to improve high schools.

“I don’t believe in government by stealth or sleight of hand,” said Don McAdams, a member of the panel developing the legislatively mandated plan.

So McAdams asked the voucher question directly after several voucher opponents raised concerns Monday that some language in the plan — talk of alternative delivery systems — opens the door to vouchers despite the Legislature’s rejection of such a program.

He got nothing. Silence.

McAdams seemed to take that as assurance.

“The language means what it says,” McAdams said.

It might not be so simple.

Education Commission Robert Scott, who is a member of the High School Completion and Success Initiative Council, said Monday that vouchers could be useful for helping high school dropouts to complete their education and a program could be created using the Texas Education Agency’s rule-making authority.

The council’s refusal to reject vouchers explicitly must mean they are still on the table, said Texas Freedom Network spokesman Dan Quinn.

“They have not reassured anyone that there will not be an attempt to implement a voucher scheme administratively when they couldn’t get it through the Legislature,” Quinn said.

Permalink | | Categories: Education

February 29, 2008

Spellings calls for more high school accountability

The next frontier of No Child Left Behind is “high schools, high schools, high schools,” U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said Friday.

Spellings has been meeting with policymakers across the country in recent months to discuss the law and has consistently heard concerns about high schools, particularly drop-outs.

Her latest stop was Austin to address a joint hearing of House and Senate education committees.

“We need to focus on providing more rigor, more relevance, more preparedness in our high schools,” Spellings said.

But the current law requires only one test in high school so there is little data to determine why students are struggling in high school.

“We cannot cure a problem that we have not adequately diagnosed,” Spellings said.

Spellings dismissed a recent study conducted by researchers from Rice University and University of Texas at Austin that found the Texas’ test-based accountability system contributes directly to low graduation rates.

“I think it tells us virtually nothing,” Spellings said as she pointed to methodological issues with the study.

Permalink | | Categories: Education

December 18, 2007

School finance pioneer Craig Foster dies

Craig Foster, whose encyclopedic grasp of school finance helped change the way the state of Texas funds its schools, died with his family at his bedside Monday night at a Kerrville hospital.

Foster, 69, was diagnosed in September with a rare form of cancer, Uveal melanoma, that had spread to his liver. After months of experimental treatment at M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston, the family moved him to Kerrville last week.

The co-founder of the Equity Center, the largest organization of limited wealth school districts in the nation, Foster was a key figure in the Texas Supreme Court declaring the system of school finance unconstitutional in 1989. He was also instrumental in making sure the Legislature created a system that would meet the Supreme Court’s standards in the mid-1990s.

Simply put, Foster believed that school districts and their students in poor regions of the state were miserably funded. He marshaled data to demonstrate irrefutably the gap between rich and poor school districts, former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff said.

“The fact that poor school districts, who literally were being told to make bricks without straw enjoy something nearing equity in funding today is, in large part, because of Craig Foster,” said Ratliff, chairman of the Senate Education Committee at the height of the school finance battle in the early 1990s. “That’s a huge legacy for Texas.”

Foster served as executive director of the Equity Center, which carried on the fight for limited wealth districts, for 18 years. Ratliff appointed him a citizen member of the Joint Select Committee on Public School Finance in 2001.

Foster had been involved in public finance issues in Texas for more than 40 years.

Permalink | | Categories: Education

November 7, 2007

Leander school bonds pass

Leander voters on Tuesday approved a $559 million bond package, the largest school bond proposal in Central Texas history.

The Leander bond proposal — a single proposition — included eight new schools, land for an additional nine campuses, a new stadium and additions and renovations to other buildings. Voters approved it 5,283 to 4,197, according to unofficial final returns released early this morning.

It was the second bond vote for the district in less than two years. In May 2006, voters approved a $286.1 million package to build eight schools but rejected $6.9 million for upgrades to the stadium, including a new sound system, a press box and additional restrooms.

Greg Grounds , chairman of the pro-bond Leander Building for Learning PAC, said he was encouraged by the strong support in early returns.

“It looks like the voters liked the citizens committee’s plan to open a high school earlier than we had planned,” Leander school board President Jim Sneeringer said. “I’d like to thank our citizens for their trust. I promise that we’ll be careful with their money.”

A facility advisory committee made up of parents and community, city and business leaders recommended the package based on its study of student growth projections. According to enrollment projections, Leander, which expects to enroll 28,954 students this year, could have 58,618 students by 2017.

Leander’s package eclipsed the $519.5 million program approved by Austin in 2004, which included money for eight new schools, renovations at more than 100 campuses, and land for future campuses and a performing arts center.

The Leander district has 30 campuses and might need as many as 22 more in the next decade: 16 elementaries, four middle schools and two high schools.

Permalink | | Categories: Education

October 23, 2007

'White smoke' on community colleges?

Negotiations between Gov. Rich Perry’s office and legislative leaders concerning community college funding have been difficult and protracted ever since the governor vetoed $154 million for employee health insurance in June.

But Rey Garcia, president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, is expressing optimism that a resolution could emerge shortly. Borrowing language associated with the signal that cardinals have selected a pope, Garcia put it this way:

“I think there will be white smoke very soon.”

Of course, white smoke was predicted a long time ago.

The state’s top three political offices — governor, speaker and lieutenant governor — pledged in September to come up with a new funding plan. And early this month, officials said they were edging closer to an agreement.

“I think we’re still in back-and-forth mode, but I do think we are very close to an agreement,” gubernatorial spokeswoman Krista Moody said.

Among the apparent sticking points: how much money to pump back into community colleges, and, of that, how much should be earmarked for performance incentives sought by Perry.

Permalink | | Categories: Education

October 16, 2007

Scott named education commissioner

Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday named Robert Scott, one of his closest advisers and a powerful force at the Texas Education Agency for many years, to lead that agency as the state’s education commissioner.

Scott will be the third commissioner appointed by Perry but the first of the three to lack experience as a school superintendent or teacher. Jim Nelson, the last commissioner appointed by George W. Bush, also came to the job without working as a teacher or administrator.

Scott, 38, has been acting commissioner since June, when Perry told then-commissioner Shirley Neeley that he would not reappoint her. He oversaw day-to-day operations of the agency as chief deputy commissioner under Neeley, and previously served, separately, as an adviser to Perry, Nelson and former commissioner Mike Moses.

“With an unmatched record of service and commitment to Texas’ students, Robert has the experience and dedication needed to raise the bar in classrooms and make sure students receive a top-notch education,” Perry said.

As commissioner, Scott will oversee the state’s 4.6 million-student education system and write the fine print on executive orders from Perry and laws passed by the Legislature. He’ll also head an agency with 915 employees and an annual administrative budget of $123 million.

He’s twice been interim commissioner. When the Legislature faced a budget shortfall in 2003, he led an effort to scrap almost 200 jobs and $40 million in operating costs.

Jeri Stone, executive director of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, said she was not troubled by Scott’s lack of experience in the classroom, instead praising his “broad policy experience.”

“He’s worked closely with us in the past, he’s been accessible and he’s been willing to modify based on our concerns,” Stone said.

Linda Bridges, president of the American Federation of Teachers - Texas, was more skeptical.

“In positions like this we would prefer someone have some hands-on experience in public education so that they undertand what we’re doing from being in the trench level, instead of trying to understand it from the outside,” Bridges said. “But our goal is to work with whoever is there.”

Scott was the subject of some controversy this summer when a report from the agency’s inspector general said he and others at the agency had helped friends and associates win subcontracts to provide consulting and other services. Scott said the report was untrue, and the state auditor’s office has been investigating its claims for months.

The new commissioner, who will make $180,000 per year, said Tuesday that much of his time will focus on the ongoing process of rewriting the state’s curriculum to help students better prepare for college and teachers better understand the state’s expectations.

“Aligning all of those rewrites to make sure we have clear and consistent standards is hugely important,” Scott said. “It’s not all over the map right now, but the standards are not grade-level specific.”

Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Education

June 6, 2007

Perry expected to approve safety belts mandate

Gov. Rick Perry is expected in Beaumont on Friday to sign into law a measure mandating lap-shoulder safety belts in large school buses, a local leader said Wednesday.

Perry is penciled in to sign the legislation at West Brook High School in Beaumont. In March 2006, a chartered school bus carrying 23 soccer players from West Brook High overturned, killing two girls and injuring others. The bus lacked seat belts.

Parents of the girls had urged lawmakers to mandate lap-shoulder belts. The House and Senate adopted a proposal requiring belts only if the state comes through with funding for the changes.

Michael Truncale of Beaumont said Perry might have committed to the signing ceremony partly because one of the girls who died in the crash had just been awarded a scholarship to Texas A&M University, Perry’s alma mater.

“That may have played some role,” Truncale said. He added that he expects lawmakers to find dollars in the 2009 legislative session to pay for buses with the belts.

“With the way it passed and the governor’s exclamation point, I think it will become a priority,” Truncale said.

Perry’s office had no immediate comment.

Under the change, all new buses purchased by a school district, including school buses, school activity buses, and school-chartered buses, on or after Sept. 1, 2010, would have to be equipped with three-point (lap/shoulder) seatbelts. The mandate would apply to all buses contracted for use by a school district on or after Sept. 1, 2014. In either case, though, the requirements would not take effect unless lawmakers appropriate funds to cover the cost of changes.

Permalink | | Categories: Education, Governor, Public safety, State budget

May 28, 2007

P.E. bill heads to governor

A bill that would require 30 minutes of daily physical activity for Texas elementary school students is heading to the governor’s desk.

That is already a rule, but this would put the requirement into law.

The measure would also require annual fitness assessments of students in grades 3-12.

The bill’s author, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said more than a third of Texas students are overweight.

“We can reverse this trend, but only if we restore in our public schools a strong focus on basic health and exercise,” said Nelson, a former school teacher.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Education

May 23, 2007

House gives final OK to PE requirement

Texas elementary school students would have to participate in “moderate or vigorous physical activity” for at least 30 minutes a day — or 135 minutes a week — under a measure given final approval by the House this afternoon. That’s already a rule, but this would put the requirement into law, according to the office of Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, the bill’s author.

The proposal has already been approved by the Senate. It now returns to that chamber since it was changed in the House.

The proposal, intended to combat obesity-related diseases, originally required the daily physical activity for students in kindergarten through eighth grades. The current version only requires it for kindergarten through fifth grade; it also requires students to take four semesters of P.E. in grades six through eight.

The measure also calls for physical assessments of students.

Permalink | | Categories: Education

May 8, 2007

House passes committee version of Bible bill

House members tentatively passed legislation tonight allowing high schools to continue to have the option of offering courses on the literature and history of the Bible.

In the process, they resisted an effort by the bill’s author, Rep. Warren Chisum, to require that all schools offer the course as an elective.

The version of the bill approved by the House requires the Texas Education Agency to design training for teachers of the course. It also says schools can offer classes based on books from religions other than Christianity.

After Chisum filed his first bill, the House Public Education Committee took public testimony on several days before changing the bill significantly into the version approved Tuesday.

“The bill as amended will pass both houses,” said Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Education

April 30, 2007

House says aye to seat belts in school buses

House members voted resoundingly for requiring school districts purchasing school buses after Sept. 1, 2010 to make sure the buses have seats with three-point seat belts—though they attached a financial escape clause.

Members of a Beaumont girls soccer team injured in a wreck last year applauded the 124-15 preliminary approval of House Bill 323, sponsored by Rep. Tuffy Hamilton, R-Mauriceville.

Before the vote, Hamilton accepted an amendment by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, suspending the mandate unless the state gives districts funding to pay for compliance.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Education, House

April 23, 2007

House OKs counselor mandate

Rep. Kelly Hancock’s proposal requiring school counselors to tally and report to the state the instances they refer students to facilities or services outside of a school won tentative House approval today over objections from Rep. Valinda Bolton, D-Austin, and others.

Bolton, who led opposition that temporarily turned back the measure last week, queried Hancock this morning on the necessity for the proposal.

She’d said last week the reporting requirement could both deter students from seeking counseling and touch off retaliation in cases where individuals use the reports to guess at which student was being referred for what reason.

From outside the Capitol, the Plano-based Free Market Foundation urged approval “so parents can know what is going on at their school. All student information will remain absolutely confidential to the public. This is an important bill for parental rights and the protection of children.”

Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, speculated after the 74-69 action that the change means residents of small communities could divine when students are getting referred to Planned Parenthood or other groups providing birth control counseling.

Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, added an amendment exempting school districts with 5,500 students or less from the mandate. Hancock, R-Richland Hills, said the change would bring more accountability to what counselors do.

Permalink | | Categories: Education, House

April 19, 2007

Bolton assails counseling mandate

Austin Rep. Valinda Bolton, telling colleagues she spent two decades overseeing shelters for battered women, led opposition today against a measure that would require school counselors to tally instances when they refer students to facilities or services outside of a school.

Bolton, a first-term Democrat, said the proposal by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, could both deter students from seeking counseling and touch off retaliation in cases where individuals use the reports to guess at which student was being referred for what reason.

“It puts victims at risk,” Bolton said in debate. “It puts victims at risk because schools are small communities. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out who got a referral for what.”

Reps. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, and Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, likewise signaled their concerns, while Hancock stressed that he wrote the measure so that only counselors with more than 20 referrals would have to write the summary reports — in any case keeping out the names of individual students.

Members appeared to give the measure preliminary approval by 67-66. After a requested verification — showing numerous members not actually on the House floor at the vote — the proposal fell by 63 to 62.

It’s not entirely dead, however. After the narrow rejection, members voted in favor of Rep. Harvey Hilderbran’s request that the vote be reconsidered Monday morning after he works with Hancock on an amendment that would raise the threshold for reported incidents at a school before a counselor would have to file a report.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Education, House

April 16, 2007

House moment of silence

At 3:49 pm today, the Texas House paused from business for a moment of silence in memory of the shooting victims at Virginia Tech University. Members stood by their desks. Audience members, in the overhead gallery, remained sitting.

Permalink | | Categories: Education, House, State budget

March 29, 2007

This aint your 2005 House

By far the most interesting moment of today’s long, and I mean long, House debate over the state budget was when members voted to scrap the state’s sizable incentive pay program for teachers and replace it with a modest across-the-board pay raise for teachers.

Defenders of the incentive program point out that some teachers will get $800 when they could have gotten between $3,000 and $10,000 if lawmakers would have stuck with the incentives. And some school districts have been working for months designing their incentive programs.

Still, the vote points to the growing strength of the state’s teacher groups, which strongly favor across-the-board increases over incentive pay.

Maybe even more significant was an overwhelming House vote to block any state money from being used in a private-school voucher program. Two years ago the House beat back vouchers by a very narrow margin. This time it wasn’t even close.

Some explanation for all of this lies in the fact that the anti-voucher language will not make it into the final budget, and incentive pay for teachers is very likely to live to fight another day. But for the time being, the House hardly looks like its old self.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Education

March 26, 2007

Cracks start to show in testing plan

A couple of weeks ago, the heads of the House and Senate education committees laid out a major overhaul of state testing in high school. The plan would end the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in grades nine through 11 and replace it with 12 end-of-course tests, with students required to average a passing score on all 12 to graduate.

House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said Monday he’s working on a revised proposal that would require students to still take the 12 tests, but only pass four of them to graduate. It’s not yet clear which ones they’d have to pass — probably one from each major subject, and you couldn’t count lower-grade classes like freshman English or Algebra I. The idea of averaging a passing score, instead of passing all of them, would be out.

That proposal more closely resembles the current system, in which students have to pass the 11th-grade TAKS in each subject.

Eissler points out that students would still have to take all of their end-of-course exams because each would count for 15 percent of their grade in that class.

Eissler also said he wants to push back the start of end-of-course tests until the fall of 2011, instead of 2009, as the legislation now reads. Several school officials testified to legislative panels last week that they need more time. Eissler said a delayed implementation would allow more time to make sure the curriculum measured on the test is in good shape, plus allow more time to make sure the questions are appropriate, so all of that does not have to be crammed into a couple of years.

An aide to Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said Shapiro still wants all 12 tests to factor into whether students graduate.

Asked about the difference in his approach and Shapiro, Eissler said, “That’s what conference committees are for.”

Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Education

February 19, 2007

Zero tolerance for teachers' groups?

Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, has a plan to get tough on teachers’ groups who get out of line.

Zedler filed a bill late last week that would impose an unspecified civil penalty on teachers’ groups that spread false or misleading information, “including information that omits relevant facts in order to elicit a particular opinion.”

Maybe he’s trying to intimidate them, or maybe he’s trying to avenge someone’s defeat in the 2006 elections.

The proposal isn’t likely to go far, but its filing reinforces the discord that has developed between educators and legislators in recent years.

Groups representing teachers, school boards and administrators fought vigorously against the efforts of the legislative leaders to change the school finance system in 2005. Their opposition helped push the issue into 2006, when lawmakers approved a plan that drew more bipartisan support but was still described by key teachers’ groups as inadequate.

The fights carried over to the campaign trail, where teachers’ groups and others helped defeat key Republicans, including Kent Grusendorf, the former chairman of the House Public Education Committee.

If the same standard was applied to the politicians, thousands of campaign operatives would be out of work, and probably dozens of legislators from both parties would be sitting at home.

Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Education

February 12, 2007

Vouchers could improve dropout rates, supporters say

More private school vouchers could lead to lower dropout rates, according to a study from groups that support school choice.

The study was commissioned by the National Center for Policy Analysis, Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, and the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit started by the late economist dubbed “the nation’s leading voucher advocates” by The Wall Street Journal.

The study estimated that public school graduation rates would increase by 2.4 percentage points to 4.8 percentage points with more private school enrollment. Supporters argue that public schools’ educational quality improves with competition from private schools.

“School choice won’t fix the problem, but I think it’s an essential first step,” said Robert McTeer, a distinguished fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, former chancellor of the Texas A&M University system and former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Former Education Secretary Rod Paige also expressed support for expanded school choice, saying the “consequences of continuing without aggressive modification are too dire.” Paige, the former Houston schools superintendent, said he supported state involvement in school choice as long as their conditions and standards were not overly burdensome to private schools.

The group maintains that a lower dropout rate would save the state between $27 million and $53 million annually over the expected life of the students due to increased health care and incarceration costs along with the loss of tax revenue associated with many high school dropouts.

Fewer than 7 percent of Texas students attend private schools.

Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Education

February 7, 2007

Teachers skip school

Four Austin teachers participated in the Association of Texas Professional Educators’ lobbying day at the Capitol Jan. 29, which was a teacher in-service day in the Austin school district. The district doesn’t hold classes on in-service days.

State rules require students to receive 180 days of instruction each semester, with teachers allowed to take off up to six days per year for staff development. The exact number varies from district to district. On those days, educators most often attend training programs, seminars or conferences.

In 2005, some lawmakers expressed their disapproval when 400 educators visited the Capitol on an in-service day, saying that it seemed unprofessional.

The four Austin association members used personal leave time to visit the Capitol last month. On its Web site the group lists standardized testing, school finance, teacher retirement, vouchers and charter schools among the issues it will watch this session. The Austin teachers could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Education

January 29, 2007

School districts to get safety kits

Each school district in Texas will get a child-safety program including lesson plans and a DVD for students in kindergarten through second grade.

Each district will get 25 videos to lend out to students and can purchase more. The Safe Side, which makes the materials, is donating the programs to each district.

John Walsh, host of America’s Most Wanted, joined Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Monday to announce the distribution of the safety kits through the Texas Association of School Administrators. Walsh also said he would visit with Dewhurst about the lieutenant governor’s efforts to toughen penalties for child sex offenders, which he praised. Walsh said some states pass ineffective laws against child predators just so they can take credit for having something on the books.

Permalink | | Categories: Education

Postcards

RSS feed

What's on this page?

Categories

Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F

Education

November 20, 2009

November 18, 2009

November 17, 2009

November 5, 2009

November 2, 2009

October 23, 2009

October 16, 2009

September 17, 2009

September 11, 2009

September 10, 2009

August 5, 2009

July 30, 2009

July 24, 2009

July 20, 2009

July 17, 2009

July 15, 2009

July 10, 2009

June 19, 2009

June 17, 2009

May 31, 2009

May 26, 2009

May 20, 2009

May 14, 2009

April 30, 2009

April 29, 2009

April 28, 2009

April 27, 2009

April 22, 2009

April 17, 2009

March 31, 2009

March 30, 2009

March 24, 2009

March 18, 2009

March 17, 2009

March 16, 2009

March 9, 2009

March 5, 2009

March 3, 2009

February 16, 2009

February 4, 2009

February 2, 2009

January 30, 2009

January 21, 2009

January 13, 2009

January 7, 2009

December 5, 2008

November 19, 2008

November 10, 2008

November 3, 2008

October 2, 2008

September 10, 2008

August 28, 2008

August 19, 2008

August 11, 2008

August 7, 2008

August 5, 2008

July 18, 2008

July 17, 2008

June 25, 2008

April 21, 2008

March 27, 2008

March 11, 2008

February 29, 2008

December 18, 2007

November 7, 2007

October 23, 2007

October 16, 2007

June 6, 2007

May 28, 2007