Hutchison and Perry Debate Education Issues
Education has emerged as one of the more contentious fronts in the gubernatorial campaign, with Kay Bailey Hutchison this week releasing a barrage of school proposals and attacks on the status quo. But the differences between the candidates have more to do with execution than with design.
Her central claims in a recent attack piece: Test scores have remained flat while spending has increased under Perry, and the state’s dropout rate is among the worst in the country.
Even in the murky realm of dropout data, the crisis is evident, with roughly a third of students failing to graduate ...
Comments (4)
dshaas
Despite the grim news, I am beyond thrilled about the reporting that TT is doing on education issues (Brian and Abby are to be especially commended).
The dropout issue is just one of the many that face public education in Texas. Because the marginal cost of each additional student in the system is borne by the state, and not local districts - solving the dropout problem presents a huge financial obstacle for state budget writers.
At somewhere around $5-6K in operating costs per pupil, for every child brought back into the K-12 system, the state has to find that money. This is in addition to growth in overall student population and higher non-controllable costs.
If we, as a state, are going to address the challenges of public education we must find the political will to provide the resources our schools and students needs (in English, we must addressed the state's broken tax system).
Keep up the great reporting and asking the hard questions!
courtneyintexas
I was in jr. high when Sen. Hutchison was state treasurer, but I remember her being criticized for being a penny-pincher--one person called her "miserly"--and I remember this because my grandparents applauded this attribute, and still mention to me that they worked very hard for the money they give the state; they say being miserly "exactly what we want in an elected official." My point is that I think we CAN trust Hutchison to cut wasteful spending. Didn't she call for the end of the state treasurer's office, after all, to save taxpayer's money? The Senator certainly doesn't go to Vegas parties on our dime; learn Spanish in Italy on our dime; and doesn't make Texans pay an egregious sum per month for housing, as our current Governor does.
Kay's made a career of cutting waste: she was a businessperson before being elected Treasurer, after all, not a Democrat member of the House, like Perry.
RebeccaBellMetereau
Kay Bailey Hutchison has announced her goals for education, but she does not address how she would pay for these changes. She touts electronic textbooks as a cost-saving measure, but she ignores one crucial area of cost-savings for education. In terms of getting the most for our money, the method of delivery—books or electronic formats—is not as important as the actual content. If we did not have a State Board of Education that forces publishers to make special versions of textbooks for Texas students, the state could benefit from economy of scale by using the same books that most other states use. At one time, because Texas was such a large market, our book choices dictated textbooks for the nation. This is no longer true. Now, due to advances in desktop publishing, Texas can demand its own dumbed-down version of books, but we pay a steep price. These revisions cost more money and, more importantly, they rob our young people of the full, up-to-date education they need for higher education and the world of work. Let’s bring true accountability to the system and give our students a 21st-education.
bbetzen
It is correct to focus on middle school. Students must be better prepared to pass the 9th grade. Passing the 9th grade is where most of Dallas ISD dropouts have been lost in the past. But, this may have already changed due to the progress in DISD these past 4 years. The number of DISD students taking 9th grade more than once has fallen dramatically. It used to be that almost 1/3 of 9th grade students were repeaters, having failed 9th grade at least once. Therefore, in the 9th grade class of 2005 DISD had 14,890 enrolled. Then each year enrollment began to go down for each 9th grade class: 14,680/2006, 14,079/2007, 13,637/2008, 12,807/2009, and finally for 2009-2010 the number is 12,313. (Annual enrollment numbers are taken in October.) It is not just one project or program leading to this powerful progress, but literally hundreds of efforts focusing on the same goal - getting to 10th grade. See a graph documenting DISD record progress lowering the dropout rate at http://www.studentmotivation.org/DallasISD.htm#graph . It documents current dropout rates which are the lowest on record!
We still have a very long way to go.