Just say no

The waning days of the 83^rd Texas legislative session are going to come down to yeas and nays.

The Senate HB 866 which reduced the number of tests public school children have to take. That means students who do well on state exams could skip mandatory tests (required grade level examinations) in sixth grade. That assumes that Texas can get a waiver from the federal government which requires 14 different tests by the end of eighth grade under the No Child Left Behind Act.  The law mandates our nation’s 98,000 public schools make “adequate yearly progress” and make remedial changes or risk losing federal funding.  Texas has over 80,000 fifth graders and 60,000 eighth graders who may be held back this year because of poor performance. While students have two opportunities to retake tests (in May and June), the bill’s supporters say resources used to administer tests can be targeted to help those most in need.  Further complicating the matter is that the Senate’s version still needs to be approved by the House which also eliminated tests in the fourth and seventh grades.

That’s a sticking point.

One measure that had legislators on pins and needles was mandatory drug testing (the use of biological material to detect specific drugs) for all unemployment recipients.  SB 11 by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) required all unemployment recipients answer a screening survey about possible drug use in order to receive benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families  (the federal and state government’s joint social welfare program).

Time ran out on the clock at midnight last night, however, when a compromise failed. It is noteworthy that one amendment was proposed which would have required mandatory drug testing for legislators.

One provision that makes it easier for UT-Austin to just say no is a measure that extended the university’s admissions’ cap.  Texas’ ten percent rule allows all students who graduate in the top of their class be admitted to their choice of public universities.  In 1997 the state legislature established the ten percent rule in reaction to Hopwood v. Texas from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals which struck down public universities’ attempts to enhance diversity by using race as a key factor in admissions. By 2008, so many students in the top 10 percent of their class were using the rule that UT-Austin had to admit virtually everyone.  That hurt minority applicants who were good, but not good enough to meet the 10 percent cutoff.  So UT-Austin successfully obtained a waiver which was extended this week to effectively allow UT-Austin to admit the top seven percent.  Now the waiver is has a sunset provision (regulation that will eliminate the bill’s application) effective in 2017.

We will see what the U.S. Supreme Court has to say because we are waiting on a June decision in the Fisher v. Texas case which considers whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment permits the consideration of race in undergraduate admissions decisions.

Just say maybe.

 

Making ’em pay

Looks like the state of Texas may be getting an “F” for funding on its spending for primary and secondary schools.  Texas was in court defending against a lawsuit comprising two-thirds of state school districts who have sued over $5.4 billion in cuts enacted during the 82^nd biennial cycle. The litigation also challenges the new testing requirements to make standardized tests tougher.  The schools are pushing back and refusing to “do more with less.” Four different coalitions of school districts, along with Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education (TREEE—a group advocating for education reform) have challenged the state.  The schools argue that by cutting spending and increasing test requirements, the state has overburdened public schools to the point where they are  “hopelessly broken”.

The last time this landed in the Texas Supreme Court in 2005 it wasn’t pretty–the court held that Texas schools were not in compliance with state constitutional requirements for education because spending levels were not meeting minimum requirements. The same constitution that mandates the “maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools” under Article 7, also mandates under Article 3 that expenditures cannot exceed revenues.

Therein lies the dilemma.

The “No Child Left Behind” (2001) requires minimum proficiency levels to ensure quality schools.  Schools have largely implemented the NCLB law by using tests to measure student success, and Texas is an example of a system that seems to be failing.   The National Education Association shows Texas falling from 41^st (2011) to 45^th (2012) out of all the states and the District of Columbia with per student spending decreasing from $9,446 to $8,908.   Additionally, the state has enacted new STARR  tests (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) which strains precious resources given our need to provide additional monies to support testing for low-income and English language-learning students who tend to score lower on state exams.

What’s a state to do?  Education becomes a political football because it is part of the state’s discretionary spending (funding which does not establish mandatory levels of funding). It seems unlikely Texas will do that unless ordered to take drastic measures by the courts, and that report card still hasn’t come out yet.

Texas Round-up

1) San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff squared off in a debate about whether the city should make taxpayers pay an additional 1/8^th cent increase to the sales tax to fund pre-kindergarten programs.  Doesn’t sound like much, but it maxes out the sales tax percentage that the state allows cities (8.25% of sales). Castro argues it will improve long-term education quality, and Wolff argues it is an unnecessary tax increase.

2) The Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, John Jay Myers, came out with his most expensive ad to date going after Democrat Paul Sadler and Republican Ted Cruz arguing that we need to get government out of people’s lives.  Myers is also mad that he was left out of the U.S. Senate debate sponsored by WFAA-Dallas, and he has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.

Eyes on Education

No doubt when Texas public schools went back into session last week there were several relevant trends.  First, we continue to have a majority-minority enrollment—meaning ethnic minorities and racial groups are the majority within the student population. The largest population growth for those under 18 years old was among Hispanics. Of 979,000 students added to the census rolls since 2000, 931,000 were Latino/Latina.  Second, the sustained sluggishness of the economy has an impact on public schools and can strain the system.  Students who are economically disadvantaged and those whose families have low SES scores are at greater risk for not doing well in school.  SES stands for “socio-economic status”, and it measures three variables—income, education, and occupation.   About 60% of public school enrollments in Texas classrooms include students with low SES scores.  Students with limited English skills are about 16% of those students—and Hispanic students are the vast majority.

The last trend is shrinking resources.  Despite an increase of almost one million students in the last decade, funding for public education has not kept pace. In the 2011 biennium (the Texas legislative session that meets for 140 days in odd numbered years), the legislature cut over 4 billion dollars. Texas has struggled in recent decades to finance public education, and the governor has had to call the legislature into special session to sort out financing. The Texas constitution allows the governor to call special sessions as necessary—it cannot exceed 30 days and only issues set forth by the governor can be considered. Indeed current education cuts were a result of a special session called by Governor Perry.

Doing the math, the educational forecast for Texas schools shows that by 2050 our enrollments will increase from five to nine million students. When it comes to doing their homework, if the state legislature does what it did this season and refuses to increase funding to keep pace with enrollments, hard to tell how Texas will rank either short- or long-term.  We are usually in the bottom 20% for school finance, and currently Texas ranks 40^th nationally for financing education.

These challenges have an effect not just on primary and secondary school systems, but also on success beyond compulsory education (mandated school attendance) because of college readiness scores.  Only 38% of low-income students do well enough on their college entrance exams to be “college ready”, and only five percent of those with limited English language skills are ready for college.   Maybe that’s why 30% of Texans said that education was the most important issue facing Texas today.  And maybe legislators themselves may need to go back-to-school when they go back into session in 2013 to figure out a way to deal our shifting demographics.