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Will the Governor's recent executive order improve education?

By Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-489681.mp3

Will the Governor's recent executive order improve education?

Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: Three months ago, after repeated, legislative failures to pound out a new education funding bill, Governor Perry took some matters into his own hands. He issued an executive order demanding that all school districts put 65 percent of their dollars into the classroom by the end of 4 years.

Texas Governor Rick Perry: The action I'm taking today will mean more financial accountability for taxpayers, more efficiency in school spending, and more money directed to the class room, so that more children achieve

Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: Governor Perry's 65% rule was driven by the National Center for Educational Statistics, part of The Department of Education. It says that percentage is the minimum of what should end up in the classroom. In Texas, the average is below sixty one percent. When Perry spoke at Dallas's Houghton-Mifflin book distribution center in August, he said a billion and a half more dollars would end up in classrooms as a result, & without raising taxes

Perry: That means that schools that do not already meet this standard will be spending more on items like class room technology, computers, science lab equipment, instructional materials, supplies.

Zeeble: Perry's order reflected a growing trend nationwide. Tax payers, says Sandy Kress, want to know their money's being well spent. The former DISD board president was a key designer of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, & a consultant for the Texas Business for Educational Excellence during the last legislative session.

Sandy Kress, consultant, Texas Business for Educational Excellence: I think the public believes that too often we have spending that really doesn't go anywhere, doesn't lead explicitly to improvements in student performance. Not to say it's a significant amount of money, not to say there shouldn't be expenses at the administration level, but are they being done efficiently, effectively?

Zeeble: While the 65 percent rule may be an attempt to prioritize school spending, some educators worry it may actually muddle things up. At a recent school board convention in Dallas, John Rouse, the Superintendent of Comfort Schools in central Texas, stated the main problem: there's no definition yet for what qualifies as a classroom expense

John Rouse: Comfort ISD Superintendent: The cliche is the devil's in the details. Do you get to count libraries, staff development? I believe those all are instructional. If we count those, we're very close to 65%

Michael Davis: Alpine ISD Superintendent: We think that transportation is part of that, part of getting students to the class room.

Zeeble: Alpine ISD Superintendent Michael Davis is from the Big Bend region

Davis: We think that athletics programs are still a teaching tool, that they are involved in teaching many more things than making good plays - teaching leadership, team work.

Zeeble: Texas Education Agency leaders know educators need a definition for a classroom expense. So two different commissions are working on it, with answers due early next year. Garland school board member Linda Griffin, who's also a board member for the state school board association, is concerned about shortfalls in the remaining 35 percent of a district's budget. Perry's plan, she says, creates problems

Linda Griffin, Garland school board member, member TASB: I think it's impossible. If everything's for instruction how does a building get repaired? Let's take a good one. The utilities rates have already doubled. We're hearing in the winter they may triple. If we take 65 percent out and do what Governor Perry tells us to do, then how do we pay for everything else that's going on? I think its poor timing, bad timing, I think it's bad information. I've asked them to show me how they think we can run a district based on what their rules are

Zeeble: Griffin says the state just doesn't understand the school budget process. But Superintendent Michael Davis, from Alpine, thinks it's more than that. Pushing accountability and budget transparency, he says, is just a way to avoid finding more money - including from taxes - to pay for education.

Davis: This comes down to privatization and a Republican move is what it is. There's no question about it, it's 100 percent politics

Zeeble: Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley rejects that argument, saying accountability is bipartisan

Neeley: The one thing Democrats and Republicans agree on is the need for more transparency. I didn't hear it as a party issue, but coming from every side. Can you have more transparency? If people want to call it political, they can

Zeeble: Mike Moses, Education Commissioner under George Bush, and past DISD Superintendent, DOES think partisan politics are at play here.

Mike Moses, CEO Westmark Systems, former TEA Commissioner: I happened to be in Austin at a time when there was a lot of bipartisanship being done. In fact Representative Kent Grusendorf, Senator Bill Ratliff, Representative Paul Sadler, Democrat, Speaker Pete Laney, Democrat, Bob Bullock, a Democrat, of course Ratliff, Grusendorf and Senator Bivins and others were Republicans. But we had a lot of bipartisanship. And I don't know that I've seen that same kind of effort by some Republican to reach over to the Democrats when trying to carve out what the education policy of this state should be

Zeeble: Many blame House Speaker Tom Craddick and his hard line against taxes, for a divisive atmosphere in the legislature. Senator Florence Shapiro, who chaired the state's Senate Committee on Education, understands those who say politics are interfering with education. But she sees something else

Senator Florence Shapiro: Change is difficult in an institutionalized activity. Any time you look at changing something, there's going to be fear. I think, as we do something like this, then as time progresses, there'll be no more fear. As we put together the committees that Commissioner Neeley has, and they spend time looking at it, then there'll be less and less of a problem with what we're trying to do.

Zeeble: Meanwhile, the legislative fight over education funding and reform continues. The Texas Supreme Court is due to issue a ruling any day now on the suit brought against the state's Robin Hood funding plan. Once issued, the legislature must then craft a new law judges will approve. The next time lawmakers meet, other aspects of financial accountability reforms that died this session - including a clearing house for best school practices - are bound to see debate again. For KERA 90.1 I'm Bill Zeeble.

 

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