In “Texas improves school funding but still trails states,” even though Texas is one of the biggest states in the nation, yet they rank 40th in terms of money spent per student. The sheer amount of student population should be enough inventive to increase school spending because Texas teaches more students that surrounding smaller states, therefore, Texas takes on a bigger impact on the educational and economic impact on the country, and smaller surrounding states. During economic downtimes, a reduction in state aid to school is inevitable; a reasonable solution would be to bring funding back to the original numbers when the economy improves. That is easier said than done when the state only approves a $3.4 billion increase even though they previously cut back spending by $5.4 billion years earlier. Nearly all aspects of the public education system are poorly funded. Texas teachers are below the national average for salaries. With a state as large as Texas, funding for schools should be a top priority.
Standardized testing has come under mass criticism in recent years; the article “Texas education: top 5 issues at the Legislature” examines this further. Although some headway is being
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396). Even with the effort from legislators, Texas “[remains] low compared with those in other states.” Changes in education sometimes take much longer to display noticeable improvements, or lack thereof. A decision from lack of funding might not be apparent until 10 years from now, when students are integrated into the work force. Education has the potential to solve many of our nation’s problems, but reducing funding opposes what we as a nation are trying to accomplish. In the short term, the state saves money, but in the future, the state could possibly expect to pay more when we effectively fail to properly teach students. Education should be seen as an investment for the
The American public school system faces an education crisis. According to Benjamin Barber, American children barely surpass the lowest standards set for education, especially in literacy, throughout the county’s history. Barber supports the existence of this crisis in his essay “America Skips School”, but argues against a solution to remedy the numerous problems facing the system. Although he acknowledges no solution, Barber suggests a smarter flow of financial resources will address many of the issues, however, he fails to acknowledge the distribution of this money. Barber’s suggestion for smarter financial resources for schools can be effectively implemented through a structured committee focused solely on the distribution of money.
Michels, Patrick. "Testing the Limits: a Texas Mother’s Radical Revolt Against Standardized Tests." Texas Observer. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. .
The article “Public School Finance, School Choice, and Equal Educational Opportunity in Texas: The Enduring Importance of Background Conditions” states, “As a result of the Edgewood litigation, state educational expenditures have increased, and today there is more equality of access to instructional resources across Texas school districts than ever before” (Janssen, 2000, pg.2). Another significant impact from the Texas Supreme Court ruling as the Property Tax finance policy unconstitutional in Edgewood ISD v. Kirby was the increased academic scores of students from elementary through middle school in the two subjects English and math. As explained in the article “Tangible Impact of School Finance Litigation” stating, “In both reading and mathematics, the relationship between the scaled scores for both fourth and eighth graders and whether the state had experienced the filing of an adequacy lawsuit was significant. With scores increasing nationally as a function of time, the filing of a lawsuit increases this impact in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and mathematics” (Lockridge,Maiden,2014, pg.17). Along with these result, the article “The Local Impact of School Finance Reform in Texas” explained “Local views on the new finance program varied across the districts in a
Standardized testing in Texas public schools has parents and teachers furious. It is an argument of Texas Legislature versus those who oppose. Student will take about 17 of these tests before entering high school (Smith A17A). Texas schools are currently conflicted with taking the STAAR tests as it brings upon many arguments. The disadvantages seem to rule out the few advantages test makers tried to pass. Rather than helping students see where they stand, it makes students feel as if they do not stand a chance.
This isn’t due to the lack of research or data that is available, it is rather due to the fact that people can meet informally and out of the public’s transparent view of what happens/what is said at meetings between the state 's’ Board of Regents and the legislatures in office. With humans, the amount of factors when it pertains to why we make decisions can be narrowed down, but it can never be proven. There can also be non-measurable factors involved as well. With that being said, based on my research and my interpretation of the data received by that research, I conclude that the main factor that trickles down into all of the secondary factors of influence is how closely the governor and the legislature follows the main political parties’ platform when it pertains to voting on tax policies and state budget decisions regarding post-secondary education. I came to this conclusion based on strong correlations between the funding of post-secondary education and the percent of property taxes allowed. If one were to use this correlation as the determining factor, Texas, the outlier, would be the state that places the heavier emphasis on post-secondary education and thus, the University’s main interest would be more heavily addressed and appeased in Texas. If one were to look at sheer numbers of
Worthen, Blaine R., and Vicki Spandel. "Putting the Standardized Testing Debate in Perspective." Educational Leadership Feb. 1991: 65-69. ASCD. 1 Dec. 2013
The funding of public education has long been an issue for the state government of Texas. Starting before Texas was even a state, public education funding was at the forefront of politicians’ minds. In 1836, one of the reasons Anglo-Texans wanted to become independent from Mexico was Mexico’s lack of a public school system (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). This drove the desire of President Mirabeau B. Lamar of the Republic of Texas to create legislation that would grant public schools land (A Brief History of Public Education, n.d.). This act set aside four leagues of land per county for the use of free education centers and thus began the funding of public education by the state government (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). In the last 177 years, the Texas Legislature and the Texas Education Agency have created numerous acts and laws regarding the funding of education, but it has been in the last 50 years that this topic has become highly contested, resulting in several lawsuits and endless efforts (by the school districts) to equalize the distribution of funds to Texas school districts (Texas School Finance History, n.d.). In sum, the complex issues and policies that surround the funding of public education are derived from a combination of the legislature, bureaucratic agencies, and local governments in the form of school districts.
This newspaper article discusses why schools have been raising their tuition rates and how this has been affecting their incoming students percentage. It does also touch on the fact that many “out-of-stater...
First, let us begin with the problem that faces Ohio’s education and how it funding has some causes for Ohio’s students to fall behind. To explain further an article posted on About.com in titled, "Ohio Public School Funding Reform,” which states that, Ohio's public education funding system depends largely on property taxes. Schools districts in less affluent areas receive less money to spend per child than other, wealthier districts that collect more in property taxes" (Clarke, par. 4). For example, the lack of state funding can be seen in many different aspects such as, old school buildings that have been patch over and painted to hide its flaws. According to the article, "School Funding: Has Ohio Fix it?," The Columbus Dispatch, ...
Texas politics is long and at times very complicated, due to the amount of state constitutions they have gone through, especially the one we follow today. The first state constitution was in 1827 before Texas gained its independence from Mexico, due to the fighting and Texas achieving its independence in 1836 a new constitution had to be adopted. A few years later a new constitution was needed when Texas joined the United States in 1845. However, when Texas seceded from the United States at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, a new constitution had to be drafted. After the civil war in 1866, yet another constitution had to be written for Texas to re-join the union. Three years later during the reconstruction of 1869, Republicans took control
Prior to the implementation of No Child Left Behind, changes in educational policies were occurring across the United States. While equity and adequacy remained at the forefront of purposeful legislation, states continued to fight for an equal distribution of funding from the national and state levels (Dittmer, 2004). Consequently, school finances became the nucleus of many debates relative to appropriate distribution of funds. The sole purpose of these funds was to ensure the children received adequate resources and, implicitly, states would ensure that these resources were equalized, eventually leading to equalized performance and outcome (p. 175). However, findings over the years have shown significant constraints across states related to the fairness and adequacy of funding. One state in particular, Florida, has been plagued by numerous school funding cases over the pa...
Proper school funding is one of the keys to having a successful school. Americans believe that funding is the biggest problem in public schools. School improvements revolve around funding. There needs to be funding not only in the successful schools but also the schools that aren’t doing as well. In documentary, Waiting for Superman, it talks about how smaller class sizes will help students. Funding is what will help the smaller class sizes. State funding mechanisms are subject to intense political and economic scrutiny (Leonard). Studies have shown that funding is inversely related to accreditation levels (Leonard). School funding needs to be increased, but there must be accountability as well.
To demonstrate, Catherine Rampell points out that “You can definitely debate whether public institutions are spending on the right things (including compensation for both executive and athletic personnel; in most states, the highest-paid public employee is a college athletic coach)” (Rampell). Rampell states that colleges are using their money on possessions they don’t need, but if they spent their money wisely it would help students to not have a burden on them. Institutions must not spend their money on materials that aren’t important to help students gain a higher education without having money problems. When colleges don’t spend money wisely it causes students to take the downfall and help get the college out of debt, like increasing tuition or accepting more out-of-state students. If universities used their money wisely and made smart financial decisions, they wouldn’t be in debt or in a budget gap. While Jeanette Der Bedrosian discusses that “tuition rates” have “increase[d] of at least 5% to 6%” throughout the years and claims that increasing tuition will help colleges get out of debt (Bedrosian), however; Catherine Rampell proposes that “public institutions are[n’t] spending [money]on the right things” and aren’t using money wisely to improve their student’s education (Rampell). All-in-all, colleges shouldn’t limit their in-state students as long as they can solve their money problem by spending money more
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.
Public school education system is important and should be taken very seriously. It is the starting foundation to each and every one of our lives. Our educators, lay down the pathway for education.. In today’s world, teachers play a big role in building America. They are the ones who encourage our children to excel into their greatest self. Without teachers, society would face a drastic downfall. There would not be many professions around. Doctors would be unable to save the lives of our friends and families. There would not be any police officers to protect and serve, nor there be a president to lead this country. The public school education system, as a whole, is something that has been over looked for some time. While other professions are progressing in life, the Public Education System, in general, is staying the same. Teaching is not an easy job. The hours are long, the demands are high, and the working conditions are often challenging .Given the conditions, in which, this profession is carried out, a better financial plan is needed to accommodate for the, unbalanced, priority.