This past week while studying for the 4th and final test for our government class, I thought it was interesting reading about how Texas has such low per capita funding for students. The result given was the low graduation rate and less than stellar SAT scores.
However I am not so quick to begin writing letters to our Texas Legislator and demand higher funding for schools. I am not convinced that more money equals higher academic performance. I simply use examples of a number of states and cities that have already tried higher funding. In my examples, funding was between 25%-350% more than Texas spends.
However, despite the much higher funding per student, scholastic performance had not improved. In South Carolina for instance, the districts with the highest concentration of low-income families received the most money. These districts are among the lowest performing in the state.
Another fantastic example is schools within our nation’s capitol. Washington D.C. schools are spending astronomical amounts of money per student despite some of the lowest performing schools in the country. The author of the article Andrew J. Coulson points out that at the time this article was written, D.C. was spending more per student than the cost of tuition at Sidwell Friends. S.F. is where Chelsea Clinton attended in the 90’s while living in the White House. It goes without saying the graduation rate and academic performance test scores at S.F. are much higher than local public schools. This coincidentally, is the same school President Obama is sending his children.
With this information I must ask the question. Is funding directly related to better performance? The answer is no. It is something much deeper than just money. Texas needs to completely re-evaluate its education policy. Not unlike when we started bussing students to reduce segregation. Why not bus students from east Austin to Westlake. Education is obviously an extremely important issue, so a farther drive and a little more gas money is worth it in my opinion.
Also, I believe the voucher system should be looked into for a serious contender. I know the separation of Church and State is an issue for some. However there are many private schools in the city that are not based on religion. The teachers make more money also. And the performance of students is well above average.
In no way is this a racist comment but African-American and Hispanic students seem the most at risk of not graduating. If we can focus on the cause of the problem the effects will diminish. By contracting to private companies we can increase the number of schools and lower the number of students per teacher giving more attention to students who are at risk. Maybe this isn’t politically correct but it might work.
In closing, I know nothing I have said is new and hasn’t been said before, but the problem remains. We must do something about our education system. I do not believe it involves putting more money into the system is a fix. Nor are any of the ideas proposed in this blog. A combination of the two however could lead to surprising results. The future of Texas really rests on the outcome of the success of our children. Someone has to take care of us. With the rising cost of “life” for an aging generation, a paycheck from Burger King just isn’t going to cut it.
I found your post one of the most interesting so far and completely agree with your point: The academic decline in the Texas public school system is not a direct result of it being poorly funded. In fact, Texas spends most of it's money on funding schools. In large, I think that the problem lies with the standards set for students. I'm hopeful for new school improvement bills passed last week that will eliminate tedious requirements placed on students and teachers that don't prepare them to succeed on the SAT or in college, i.e. the TAKS test. Students are not performing at such low rates solely because of money, but because they are ill prepared. I found an interesting quote on this topic from House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, saying, "The current system did not help our kids as much as we thought it would, we have serious, serious achievement gaps in terms of preparing students for college." He continued to say that while scores on the TAKS test jumped substantially over the years, Texas scores on the ACT and SAT have remained low. So its not so much that we need more money, but that we should put the money we have to better use before "flushing" more funds down the toilet.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I also was greatly entertained by the facts given in your post about highly funded schools who perform the worst in the nation. I don't understand why on earth Obama would cut the No Child Left Behind program that provided vouchers for students who could not afford private school. I recently read a story on the news about a teenager in Washington DC who was going to school on the voucher program and talked about how her single mother was going to have to get a second job to help keep her in private school for her junior and senior year. It honestly makes me angry. He himself would NEVER let his kids step foot in the public school in DC.
Anyhow...Great post!!!
The Texas education system fails in many ways. Compared to other states, we don't pay our teachers well, have low SAT scores, and aren't as good at keeping students enrolled until their high school graduation. In light of that, I think it's important to note that we also don't invest as much in our students as other states do.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I do agree with you in that funding alone will not solve our problems. As seen by the cases you mentioned in South Carolina and Washington DC, it's possible for a district to spend a lot on students and have that not necessarily equate to an improvement on their system. But what these programs may have failed to notice is that a quality education comes from various outlets, where money only plays a small role. Active involvement from parents, teachers that are fully involved in their students' progress, and a consistent level of quality among public schools are other aspects that can provide a young student with the opportunity to achieve success.
Like you said, it will take a combination of reforming our system alongside a monetary investment to move things forward. I'm not sure if a bussing system between social demographics is the answer, but lowering teacher ratios, especially in urban districts, would be a good start. Perhaps even a rewards program to offer teachers the motivation to continue a good job could help as well, but such ideas need the support of better funding to work toward a better system. Funding isn't the only answer, but it's not the culprit. Once we acknowledge our weaknesses, we can begin to make a smart investment toward the future of our next generation.