Source: Alvin ISD, Friendswood ISD, Pearland ISD/Community Impact Newspaper[/caption]Major public education issues that could affect Alvin, Friendswood and Pearland ISDs are standardized testing and school funding reform when the Texas Legislature convenes Jan. 10 for the 85th legislative session.
FISD Superintendent Trish Hanks said she hoped financial issues would be at the forefront of important items she expects the Legislature to address during its session.
“If they do not adequately address funding to coincide with current expectations of schools, then there will be winners and losers,” Hanks said.
Finance reform
Texas Rep. Ed Thompson, R-Pearland, said he expects the Legislature to begin digging in to the state’s funding system to strengthen the education of students.
“We will be pulling back the many layers to ensure we meet the goal of providing a quality education to our youngest Texans,” Thompson said.
In May, the Texas Supreme Court responded to a lawsuit involving two-thirds of Texas school districts, including PISD, which argued the state’s funding scheme did not fulfill the constitutional requirement of providing suitable support or maintenance of public schools. Although the state Supreme Court said the existing funding scheme was constitutional, it referred to the system as “Byzantine” and in need of reform.
“The main problem with school finance is that property taxes do not adequately fund all school districts,” PISD Superintendent John Kelly said. “The funding formulas are difficult to understand and are a convoluted system of Band-Aids and quick fixes.”
AISD Superintendent Buck Gilcrease said he believes it is important the school finance system is both equitable and transparent. This includes making residents aware that as local property values increase, state contributions decrease.
“Many communities in Texas have become the destination for families attracted by our strong economy,” Gilcrease said. “As a whole, our state benefits from this economic impact; however, taxpayers in fast-growth districts carry the growing tax burden and debt associated with the construction of schools needed to accommodate the growing student enrollment.“
Source: Texas Education Agency/Community Impact Newspaper[/caption]Student testing
State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness—also know as STAAR—testing has experienced numerous challenges in the past year. In April, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced that technical difficulties caused more than 14,000 exam results to be lost.
As a result of the errors, the Texas Education Agency announced in August it would fine the test administrator, Educational Testing Service, more than $20 million.
“I understand that there will be a push toward less tests, and for more of an emphasis on on-line testing, rather than paper and pencil,” Kelly said. “If that is phased in such that districts have time to adjust, those changes could be beneficial.”
The Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability focused on school accountability over the summer and presented recommendations to Gov. Greg Abbott. Some of the commission’s recommendations include using year-round computerized testing and aligning state standards with national ones.
“I’d like the state to become much more efficient by relying on already developed and nationally normed tests for the different grade levels—combined with college admissions testing, certification requirements for different occupations, and Advanced Placement tests,” Kelly said.
School rating systems
Another key element of accountability revolves around the new rating system for public schools that will go into effect in the 2017-18 school year.
In the 2015 legislative session, House Bill 2804 introduced an A-F rating system of evaluating districts.
Hanks said while she believes schools should be evaluated and held accountable for shortcomings, the new system is flawed and opaque.
“I am not in favor of an A-F system. I believe it will not communicate accurately or effectively what people think it will communicate. It will condense several factors into one letter grade, and we still haven’t been told how it will be designed,” Hanks said.
The current rating system ranks school districts as Improvement Required or Met Standard.
Kelly said the current rating system does not effectively measure PISD when compared with similar school districts across the state and beyond.
“The current rating of Met Standard or not does not give enough credit to schools that are doing great things,” he said. “I do want our school district to objectively know how it shapes up as compared to all others in Texas and, by extension, in the nation.”
While some districts are unsure of the new rating system, Kelly said he is optimistic the new ratings will develop into useful metrics.
“I’m not automatically against an A-F rating,” he said. “I assume that the first set of ratings may have difficulties and inequities within them; thus parents may have some initial misconceptions when the ratings are released. But I’m hopeful that the ratings might evolve into something useful.”
Source: House Bill 2804/Community Impact Newspaper[/caption]
