By Sujata Dand, KERA reporter
Dallas, TX – Mrs. Brown, teacher, Alex Sanger Elementary: What are we going to do with our title? Circle the main idea.
Sujata Dand, KERA reporter: Nine year old George is concentrating very hard on the worksheet in front of him. His teacher, Mrs. Brown, systematically works through the reading comprehension questions using the overhead projector. George looks a little confused. The pressure is on; the third grade students at Alex Sanger Elementary in Dallas are just days away from taking the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Test, better known as the TEKS.
Larry Allen, Principal, Alex Sanger Elementary: It's a high stakes environment, and everyone is taking it seriously and trying to their very best.
Dand: Principal Larry Allen knows the goal of the curriculum-based TEKS test is to find out if George and his classmates are performing at grade level. But making that happen may be easier said than done - Mrs. Brown's class is made up of English language learners. A third of all Dallas public school students have limited English skills; more than 78 percent are on free or reduced breakfast and lunch plans. But Allen knows none of these factors, common in urban school districts, will be taken into account when George takes the test. It's a serious business. It's a business - it's not elementary fun and games, so to speak. Education today is about results. In the mid-1980s, the business community reformed education, changing the focus from enhancing the learning process to standards-based accountability. John Stevens is Executive Director of the Texas Business and Education Coalition, a group that grew out of the movement.
John Stevens, Executive Director, Texas Business and Education Coalition: Educators actually see their job at the leadership level of actually leading a continuous improvement effort, which is very consistent with business principles, focused on improving that bottom line. Bottom line is not profit. The profit in education is student achievement.
Dand: The coalition's board is made up of prominent business execs and educators and takes credit for Texas' reputation as having one of the top accountability systems in the nation.
Francisco Garcia, Deputy Superintendent, Dallas Independent School District: Our position is, we certainly embrace accountability.
Dand: Deputy DISD Superintendent Francisco Garcia says research has helped teachers learn how to look at student progress and find gaps in the curriculum. It's also improved test scores. For example, for all third graders who failed the TAAS test, the state required smaller classes with an 11-to-1 student-teacher ratio. Under the plan, more than 90 percent of all third graders passed. This year, Garcia says, the funding was cut in half.
Garcia: We don't mind accountability, but it does show that it does take additional resources to meet the needs of students.
Dand: Dallas Superintendent Mike Moses and 80 percent of all superintendents in Texas say their districts need more money. Parents in many wealthier suburban districts say their children don't have resources because, under Robin Hood, property-wealthy districts share part of their property tax revenues with poorer ones. Many of these same school districts have reached their property tax limit, and that's led lawmakers to hunt for alternative revenue sources and ease the burden on homeowners.
Florence Shapiro, Texas Senator, District 8: So, although we are hearing from the superintendents blanketly saying that we need more money, we are also hearing from taxpayers that we're paying too much tax
Dand: State Senator Florence Shapiro co-chairs the state education committee. Sitting in her art-deco advertising office in Plano, the former teacher says the first goal of Texas lawmakers is to cut property taxes in half and find $8 billion to make up the difference to fund schools.
Shapiro: So we're trying to find a system that will get everybody a fair and equal amount that they have to pay, and not just some businesses pay and other businesses don't; some property taxes are higher, some are not.
Dand: The senator prefers a low rate business activity tax with a very broad base and no exemptions. Other options on the table are expanding and raising the sales tax and closing the loophole on corporate franchise tax.
Shapiro: I think we just can't say we are going to need more money without really knowing where that money is going to go and whether we are spending it appropriately at this moment in time.
Dand: Business leaders on the Coalition's board say lawmakers can't just rearrange how taxes are levied to meet the status quo. They say schools need more money to address student growth and increasing populations of non-English speaking students. The Coalition's director, John Stevens.
Stevens: We believe that there needs to be capacity in the school finance mechanism to generate more revenue to support public schooling. I can't put a dollar figure on it, and I can't tell you how much that is, and I don't think the state should say we're going to spend $600 dollars more per student or $800 more per student.
Dand: Texas ranks 32nd in per pupil spending. 2002 statistics show that the state average was $7,248 per student.
Rick Perry, Texas Governor: I believe that when schools see the money available to them in making progress, they will raise the bar of excellence.
Dand: Governor Perry is interested in the results of the study because he is focused on spending - pushing for all new dollars to be earmarked for incentive-based programs.
Perry: I've discussed today some results-based performance initiatives. I happen to think when you tie education dollars to results, you'll get more results for your education dollar.
Dand: The governor cites the success of $100 incentives to schools for students taking advanced placement tests - exams that allow students to test out of college classes. State Democrats and education groups are appalled by the plan, saying tying school funding to student achievement will only lead to greater inequality within the state's districts. Even Republican Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhorn, who is rumored to be launching her own campaign for governor, believes Perry's plan leaves kids behind and widens the equity gap. Strayhorn's concerns resonate with career educator Dr. Lee Alvoid, an SMU professor.
Lee Alvoid, Ph.D., Professor, Southern Methodist University: One of my fears about the bottom line money thing is a principal said to me, "I don't want to feel like when a gifted child comes to enroll in my school, I celebrate, and when a child with disabilities comes, I turn my head." And, basically this kind of system, of where the money goes to the bottom line scores, will make us put a price tag on kids' heads. Won't want to make teachers run away from the hard to work in schools.
Dand: Alvoid used to fly from Dallas to Austin on the private jets of CEOs when she sat on the Texas Business and Education Coalition's board. The former principal often reminded the suits that board rooms are different from classrooms.
Alvoid: If you go to a manufacturing model, they have some control over their raw materials. If some product that they are using has a defect in it, it goes into the scrap pile. We don't do that with kids. You don't do that with human beings.
Dand: And Alvoid says it takes more than one test to assess students skills. But for parents, more testing sends up a red flag. Especially in middle class suburban schools, parents complain the focus on results is stifling their children's creativity and critical thinking skills. Clay Tarpley's daughter is a student in a district just 50 miles north of Dallas.
Clay Tarpley, parent: Teachers know what they are accountable for, and they are going to do everything they can to get those results. But sometimes they do that at the exclusion of other important aspects of education.
Dand: Educators, though, say testing is here to stay. What's left for lawmakers to figure out is what will replace Robin Hood, and whether the solution will meet the expectations of business leaders, teachers and parents, who find themselves in a quandary: wanting tax relief and efficient government, but also seeing the need for resources to continue to improve test scores and provide students with a well-rounded public education. Governor Perry says he won't call a special session until the state's education committee comes up with an answer. The committee hopes to make a recommendation later this month. For KERA 90.1, I'm Sujata Dand. Email Sujata Dand Catherine Cuellar, KERA 90.1 reporter: In far north Dallas, where the economy depends on telecom jobs, the key word this election year is "offshoring." It's highly charged - conjuring up images of tech service call centers relocated to India, or a middle-aged senior staffer training a replacement half his age and willing to work for a quarter of his salary. But the reality it describes is nothing new, according to economist Bernard Weinstein. Bernard Weinstein, Director, Center for Economic Development at University of North Texas: The so-called exporting of jobs has been going on for a long time but I don't really like the term "exporting of employment." What we're talking about is the relocation of employment. We're in the global economy whether we like it or not, so resources and investment are going to float to those areas that have either the lowest cost or the most sufficient workforce relative to the job that's being performed. Cuellar: But for an unemployed software engineer like Tom Zabel, there's a disconnect between economists and workers whose jobs are going away. Thomas Zabel, software engineer: I know the economists are saying, for example, jobs are being created, but we're seeing a lot of people that are losing jobs that they can live on - that paid maybe $70,000 a year - and those jobs are going away; and a lot of those people are now finding jobs that may pay them $20,000 a year. They'll find two jobs like that. They're making less than they were making before, maybe not enough to live on with two jobs, and that's getting counting as two created, one gone. They're saying we've gained a job, but we really haven't. Cuellar: Policy makers must balance the anxiety of skilled workers who fear their jobs going overseas with demands from corporations, whose big budgets fuel the north Texas economy and fund campaigns. Offshoring will be a key election issue, especially in the congressional race between Republican Pete Sessions and Democrat Martin Frost. Sessions declined to be interviewed for this story, but Frost has voted against recent free trade agreements with Singapore and Chile. Martin Frost, U.S. Representative (Democrat, Texas District 32): I think that there is a balance here and that - first we were outsourcing our manufacturing jobs - that was 10 or 15 years ago - and they were saying well, it's cheaper to move the plant someplace else. Now we're outsourcing our information technology white collar jobs. What's gonna be left? Are we going to have a lower standard of living for our country? Sure, some products might ultimately cost less, but people will have less money to buy those products, and I don't believe that's a trade-off that most American workers, whether blue collar or white collar, want. Cuellar: But businesses that create jobs are dependent on global trade. One major local employer, Texas Instruments, has about one-third of its staff in Texas, and half its total labor force in the U.S. But more than half of TI's clients are elsewhere in the world. Dan Larson lobbies on tax and trade law in Washington, D.C. for the company. Dan Larson, Director of Government and Media Relations, Texas Instruments: We're competing with companies and countries around the world who have really impressive incentive programs to get companies to move to their country or to encourage companies to send their employees there or create new jobs there. We have to enter those markets if we're going to preserve the company as a global player. You know you will have jobs here, and you will have operations here to serve the markets here, and frankly, serve markets around the world. Cuellar: As companies get larger and compete globally, American employees are faced with some tough choices. When Enrique Olachea's former telecom company was acquired in a corporate merger, he could have left the state and kept his job. He chose to stay here, and his search for work continues. He doubts politicians can do much to influence the economy. Enrique Olachea: If the companies are so focused on profitability and shareholder return, then how can government legislation change that? I don't know if there is any direct effect the government can have. Cuellar: Congress does have one powerful tool to influence corporate behavior - the U.S. tax code. The House Ways and Means Committee, which deals with tax law, includes Republican Representative Sam Johnson from Plano: Sam Johnson, U.S. Representative (Republican, Texas District 3): The President's tax reductions in the past year and a half have stimulated the economy. The reason he's trying to propose making all those tax cuts permanent is so that the economy will stay on an uptick and not decrease anymore. You raise taxes and people are going to start pulling back their horns and not spending money, and the economy will dump. Big businessmen are not going to expand; they're not going to continue to build new businesses if taxes prohibit them from making a profit. Cuellar: Texas Democrats, including Dallas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, think targeted spending for infrastructure is a better way to stimulate job creation. Eddie Bernice Johnson, U.S. Representative (Democrat, Texas District 30): What we've gotten into is giving a lot of the money back for the tax breaks for the very wealthy, which has not improved the economy. The jobs have not trickled down because what they're doing is improving their productivity, which means fewer people with more work; and it's improving in there on Wall Street, but it does not improve those people that are still unemployed. Their jobs are not coming back. Cuellar: But advocates say continued global outsourcing of manufacturing and service-sector jobs promotes future innovation at home. Free-market economists like Weinstein think changing tax laws to be business-friendly is unnecessary, and often plays on fears rather than facts. Weinstein: In terms of legislation or incentives to keep businesses in the United States who might want to go abroad or expand their operations abroad, I think that would be really bad public policy. If we're going to preach a global trade and investment, if we believe in globalization, then we shouldn't be putting these constraints on the movement of capital or the movement of people; but again, that's a very sensitive political issue when the perception is that foreigners are taking American jobs, either because they come into the United States and compete for jobs or because companies ship employment to other countries. Cuellar: Businesses feel American employees benefit from multicultural collaboration, and that their bottom line requires hiring skilled foreign-born workers. But American employees often resent the use of visas to bring them here. H1B visas hire full-time engineers and computer scientists. Paula Collins, Texas Instruments' Director of Government Affairs, says the visas make sense, given the state of higher education today. Paula Collins, Director of Government Affairs, Texas Instruments: More than 50% of the Masters and Ph.D.s that are graduating from U.S. universities are foreign nationals. And so if we want to access that talent at our own schools, we need to utilize the H1B visa in order to bring them into the company. It's counterproductive for the United States to train foreign scientists and engineers, and then send them home to compete against American businesses. Cuellar: Nevertheless, the tech industry's use of H1B visas declined 75% from 2001 to 2002. And candidates from both parties say they want to keep a tight lid on imported labor until laid-off Americans find jobs. Representative Sam Johnson. Sam Johnson: Two or three years ago, businesses couldn't find enough skilled workers, so that's the reason that H1B was expanded, and I was for that. I believe that H1Bs have outlived their usefulness today, and we need to work on American workers and American students coming out of colleges getting the technical expertise to work in our businesses, and that's where education comes in. Cuellar: But the federal budget for retraining and education has been cut since 9/11. The most obvious way for politicians to impact that - and court votes - is to bring home the bacon, designating funds for local projects, and they're doing that. But they also vote globally. Despite passage of new trade agreements with Singapore and Chile in Congress last year, free trade is being debated on the campaign trail. Labor unions and corporations both have a lot at stake. They will throw their resources behind candidates in the 2004 election, and keep offshoring a front burner issue. For KERA 90.1, I'm Catherine Cuellar. Email Catherine Cuellar KERA 90.1's Voter Follow Up series continues on March 3, 2004 with a look at jobs and the economy by reporter Catherine Cuellar, and on March 4, 2004 with a look at healthcare by reporter Bill Zeeble - each morning at 6:40 and 8:40.