Part 2 of 2
In the absence of school finance talks, what lawmakers can still focus on is school reform—and state leaders say it is at the top of the agenda this session.
"Our priorities should begin where our future does—in public education," said House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.
With roughly 500 Texas schools rated Unacceptable by the Texas Education Agency, there is little argument among lawmakers that they should look at fixes.
As ever, the answers vary widely.
Ideas for reform include: Broadening school choice, changing the frequency and manner in which students are subjected to standardized testing, opening the system to more charter schools, revamping the current method of evaluating school districts and enacting a private-school scholarship fund through a a state business tax credit for corporations.
School vouchers
The Texas House has repeatedly rejected the notion of school vouchers.
The larger issue of school choice has less targeted resistance, encompassing ideas that range from lifting caps on the number of charter school licenses that can be granted in Texas to encouraging open enrollment policies that allow parents to choose the best public schools within a district or between districts.
"We are asking the Legislature to put a priority on legislative proposals that meet the needs of all 5 million of our Texas students," said David Anthony, Raise Your Hand Texas CEO, whose education advocacy group announced its legislative agenda Jan. 22. "Adequate funding for pre-K and other education needs, reducing high-stakes testing, and expanding options for career and technical education meet this test, while divisive proposals like school vouchers most decidedly do not."
One issue that seems to provide the most cohesion between advocates on the left and state leaders on the right is the issue of too much high-stakes testing in classrooms.
With the 2012 implementation of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, Texas requires 15 end-of-course exams for a student to graduate to the next grade, nearly five times the average number of tests required by the 10 other states that have similar graduation requirements.
"By now, every member of this House has heard from constituents at the grocery store or the Little League fields about the burdens of an increasingly cumbersome testing system in our schools," Straus said. "To parents and educators concerned about excessive testing: The Texas House has heard you. We will continue to hold our schools accountable. But we will also make our accountability and testing system more appropriate, more flexible and more reasonable."
