Senate Public Ed Chair Patrick Focuses on School Choice
State Sen. Dan Patrick has a talk radio host’s comfort with publicly aired complaints.
That has made the Republican, who hosts a daily afternoon show on Houston's KSEV-AM, an outlier in a staid Senate whose members prefer to keep their bickering behind closed doors.
But as an upper chamber vastly changed in personality, if not politics, convenes in January, the founder of the Legislature’s Tea Party Caucus has picked what some may consider an unlikely second act: crusader for public schools.
“If there's one message that I want to send, it’s that I want to ...
Comments (22)
donald baker
I strongly support school vouchers and applaud Dan Patrick for supporting school choice. The biggest reason our government schools are so sorry and incompetent is lack of competition. When you have a monopoly then there is absolutely no incentive to have a good, reliable product. That is what has happened in our government schools, we pay more and more every year for more and more educational malpractice. This will, of course, be met with hysteria and demagoguery by the anti educaton teachers union who absolutely fear any kind of accountability. While there are many excellent teachers, there are also many who would be unemployable outside of the government school system. Folks, schools are about educating children, they are not about enriching the teachers union, indocrinating our children in liberal ideaology or providing job security for teachers who may not deserve it. Picture this country with one and one only auto manufacturer and no ability to import foreign models. What kind of a car would we have? That situation exists in government schools and that is why they are so expensive and incompetent.
Proud Texan
Donald, I hate to interrupt your rant, because you seem so excited about this issue. But, Texas has charter schools, private schools and home schools. We have numerous public school districts that take transfer student from other public school districts. We have competition. What we dont have is teacher unions in Texas. You can say it all you want, but it just isnt true. Many people just simply believe that if taxpayer dollars go to something, it should be transparent and accountable. If private schools get taxpayer dollars, they should play by the same set of rules as public schools to ensure we are getting a return on our investment.
I'd be willing to bet you don't have kids in public school after reading your post.
Samdavis
Dan Patrick's record is not one of someone who supports the public school system. Note his emphasis on bringing religious schools into the public sector. We've already seen a long history of Patrick's trying to use legislation to boost his warped religious and TEA Party beliefs and the school voucher proposal is just another example. Like Jerry Falwell, who in the 1960s stated that he would love to destroy the public school system, Patrick is taking the second major step in dismantling public education. The first was his enthusiastic support of funding cuts, the second is taking tax dollars and using them to support religious-based schools. Many of the voucher schools won't have the resources to deal with disabled students or those with learning disabilities. That means those kids will be dumped in a public system that already has its funding severely curtailed. If there's any way to make our public schools worse, this is it. We've already seen enough examples of voucher school ineptitude and abuse. Patrick is more concerned with funneling tax dollars into the Second Baptist School than he is making sure we have a better public school system.
Texas Parents
We're NOT interested in homeschool, private schools, charter schools or virtual schools. We want our children to attend our neighborhood public schools, but lawmakers like Sen. Dan Patrick seem hell-bent on destroying them through this ill-conceived voucher scheme that will divert taxpayer dollars away from our public schools and into privately owned schools. The legislature should focus their attention on the most important issues currently facing our schools; inadequate funding and an over-emphasis on high-stakes/standardized testing.
donald baker
Proud Texan is misrepresenting the issue. When I say school choice I mean the tax dollars follow the student. Yes we have private and charter schools but the tax dollars still go to the failed government school, and the parent still has to pay for the private school. When those tax dollars follow the student, and only then, will government schools become interested in actually educating children. Yes there are teacher unions in Texas however in Texas you are not required to join the union to keep your job, and yes my children were educated in Texas schools years ago when education was the goal of the schools. There is nothing wrong with religious schools, they put children first. Texas is lucky to have people the stature of Patrick in the legislature.
Matt Taylor
This story has been linked on thejavelina.com
printzapper
He's asking those who have kids that go to public school to trust him. He makes an announcement that he is all about public schools. Where last session it was all about cutting school budgets, and doing a little fancy financial shell game to keep the wolves at the door. Now those bills put on hold are due, plus the new ones we've incurred. Where does the money come from?
I'm thinking we should all be afraid, very afraid.
GS Crispus
Public goods such as education, road infrastructure, and water utilities do *not* benefit from competition. This is basic Econ 101. Natural monopolies exist for a reason.
Imagine if someone decided to plop down a competing highway next to an already existing one. Simply buying the land would become astronomically expensive as you neared completion (land owners holding out would ultimately drive up costs until profitability was unrealistic).
Secondly, assuming the road did get built and both could take you to the exact same location, you would have created great inefficiencies to reach this reality. The land use of two major highways would be inefficient, the maintenance of two competing roads would be inefficient and a waste of resources, and the roads would unlikely reach full capacity.
You've essentially wasted a lot of resources to achieve competition that lowers the quality of the road infrastrucute in the first place.
This is what happens with a public good like education.
1) You lose the efficiencies and economies of scale we gain from a public education system. You are doubling/duplicating infrastructure, personnel, and other land resources to provide services less efficiently.
2) When you turn education into a consumer good, you naturally shift costs to other areas a public school would not normally be concerned about. For instance, you are now competing with other schools for students, and will need to focus more of your funding on areas such as marketing; ultimately taking away from dollars actually being spent on education.
3) Less services will be provided when you break up education into smaller entities. A local district school that could provide vocational programs, four core subjects, resources to support those classes due to economies of scale, provide alternative education services for those with disabilities... will have to cut or go without certain programs to save costs. You make districts less efficient by shifting money to less efficient programs...
4) Depending on how the system works, you are shifting further burdens of education away from the taxpayer and to the parent. Transportation costs, for instance, and naturally, some parents will make the rationale choice to not spend as much money on education for their children. Long-term we end up with a less educated workforce in Texas.
Milton Friedman said it best, "I have been impressed time and again by the schizophrenic character of many businessmen. They are capable of being extremely farsighted and clearheaded in matters that are internal to their businesses. They are incredibly shortsighted and muddleheaded in matters that are outside their businesses but affect the possible survival of business in general."
Dan Patrick needs to take his meds.
Meme Me
It's bad enough now trying to regulate the content of our text books, just wait until our tax dollars are handed out to all sorts of Anarchist groups who open their own schools. This is already going on in California. Tax dollars going to fund schools with LaRaza roots who are teaching their students that the US stole the lands from Mexico. How will you like it when radical Muslims fund their schools with our tax dollars to teach jihad?
Proud Texan
So, Donald Baker, are you prepared to let tax dollars go to ALL religious schools? Even those religions you don't agree with? Where do you draw the line? Which religions qualify? Religions that marry 12 year old girls in West Texas? Religions that barricade themselves inside a compound in Waco? This is fun to talk about in generalities, but the specifics are a killer.
The public schools never stopped wanting to educate kids. It's the politicians who have killed our schools, not the teachers.
GS Crispus
@Donald Baker
Schools are about educating kids, not about providing government subsidies to corporate interests. Where was your outrage when Senator Shapiro (Dan Patrick's predecessor), was advocating for EoC testing and other requirements for districts to throw money at corporate testing/technology schemes?
Where was your outrage when Dan Patrick endorsed her policies, following her retirement to the private education sector? Have you been in a school system lately? Do you realize a 1/3rd of the calendar year exists to provide testing opportunities (and money) to these coporate interests that she now works for? I guess Dan Patrick failed to mention that on his radio station while he screamed bloody murder about Communist takeovers of our government and Iranian submarines firing missiles at California.
Oh, right, you've been indoctrinated by a political theology that relies on conspiracy theories and martyrdom for your personal beliefs. I can help you, but you must be willing to listen!
GS Crispus
Hmm, Donald, are you in anyway related to Chris Baker on Dan Patrick's radio station? Do you work for, or have you ever, worked for KSEV 700AM?
GS Crispus
@ Donald Baker
You do realize that only 18% of charter schools have done better when compared to public schools. 34% do worse when compared to public schools.
As for religious schools putting children first? I think they put their religion and profitability before the child. I have had more than one child, who having attended a prestigious Christian affiliated school, and could not pay tuition due to misfortune (parents lost their jobs/home)... could not have their transcripts released to the public schools that took them in. This can mean repeating classes/grades, and is often how private schools squeeze families down on their luck to make sure they get paid.
Do you think this is how it should be when it comes to the education of children? Does this represent your religious values? How about Jesus' views on the needy? I know those vouchers you support would never pay for a full private education to one of these schools. Why should we support an education system that puts their profitability before the children?
Cathy Hodge
I have no problem with public funds going to schools that must abide by the same set of laws that public schools do, i.e. take all who want to enroll, take all no matter ability or health condition, give all state standardized tests, etc. It is always amazing to me how public schools are compared to private schools and "charter" public schools that do not have to follow these guidelines. Public funds should go to only those schools willing and able to accept anyone who walks through their door and deal with the problem sets that come with that, as do public schools do now. Schools receiving public funds should not be able to "pick and choose" who attends, and should not be able to dismiss any student from their school for not abiding by the rules, as public schools must do.
Samdavis
donald, religious schools don't put students first, they put their religious beliefs first. Try attending a religious school where you disagree with the theology. I have and it's a miserable experience. Calling Patrick a valuable member of the legislature is your right but it's not based on facts, something you seem to have a hard time recognizing.
Texas RMS
Let me see if I understand this correctly. Texas says it does not have enough money to pay for its schools. (Of course, no fault for that can put on leadership or the governor who has been in office forever.) So in order to make this situation better, we are going to divide the money up even more. That makes perfect sense, right? To be honest, I get the impression that doing away with public schools altogether would make lots of people happy.
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
Dan Patrick says the term "voucher" is outdated. He also thinks the term "local control" is outdated. He likes to refer to "local responsibility." What "local responsibility" means is that local school districts have no meaningful discretion to raise tax rates to compensate for reductions in state funding. The plan has been to underfund public schools all along, hoping that would undermine public support for public schools. Dan Patrick is just executing the American Legislative Exchange Council playbook. Just because something is private, does not mean it is better. It just means that they're going to build in a profit margin on our children's heads. Republicans talk about incompetence and inefficiency in government. Then they get elected to demonstrate just how incompetent they can make the government. No more outsourcing of the government to the private sector. I like the public schools my children attend. I just wish the state would support and strengthen them, instead of micromanaging them and undermining the local public schools. If I could have voted for Dan Patrick's opponent, I would have, but I got redistricted.
Bob Hammond
Donald Baker,
You do realize, don't you, that tax dollars already follow the children? If a student withdraws from a public school, that school loses that student's share of funding. If he transfers to another public school, the funding goes there with him. If the parents choose not to utilize the public system, then they pay for their school's tuition. Don't even think about trying to use my tax dollars to fund proselytization in whichever wacky religion you blindly subscribe to.
Robert Walton
Education vouchers and the Tea Party .... how to raid the public coffers in favor of their friends' charter school corporations. Patrick's championing of public education has relatively little to do with championing public schools, you know those schools where teachers and administrators are public employees receive government paychecks and whose salaries are a matter of negotiation and relative fairness. Truth is those teachers are paid way too much! In a charter school they are corporate employees, entitled to .... whatever the owners/administrators have to pay them. It's relatively easy to keep open-enrollment charter classrooms going in a manner that shows acceptable results; the Texas regulatory provisions vary by class, each type of charter school operates relatively free of most state and local school requirements.. In a nutshell, charter schools motive is profit, Bottom line- Texas' charter schools favor bright students, corporate profits, low wages with minimal benefits. Explore more differences between open enrollment charter schools and public ones at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2986#FAQ%203
julian heilig
For more research and evidence on school vouchers go to http://cloakinginequity.com/category/vouchers/
Matt Prewett
@BobHammond - you do make a good point that when students leave the district, the state's portion of the funding leaves with them. If they can attend a charter school, the state's portion of the fund does follow them. If their only options are a private school or homeschool, however, the money does not follow them unfortunately.
@Robert Walton - just for clarification, charter schools in Texas are required by law to be non-profit organizations. I am very thankful that our leaders had the foresight to include this requirement. Several states have decided to follow our lead on this in recent years.
21st Floor
Go to the TEA webpage. Find the spreadsheet where all schools and districts are listed and "graded." Find those in the lowest tier. Note that nearly every school listed at the lowest tier (something like "unacceptable") is a charter school. Find all the charter schools, note that nearly every one is graded in the lowest tier.
Consider how many "entrepreneurs" will be attracted to vouchers -- i.e., money in hand from the goverment. Consider how many start ups in any business fail. Remember that those failures' customers are usually one time purchasers. Ask yourself where the repeat buyers -- students with years of education still to complete -- will go.