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Here's What One Group Wants to Do in the Name of Reform
While lawmakers in Austin debate the future of public education, there has been little debate over whether we actually need to increase spending to improve education.
Republicans and Democrats alike seem to believe that we must get more money for education by shifting the tax burden from property owners to everyone else.
They have ignored the real problem: The Texas system of public school finance is designed to simultaneously drive costs up and drive quality down.
The root cause of this flaw is that consumer choice has been eliminated from Texas public schools. Parents choose where their children go to church, what clothes they wear and what food they eat. And they choose how much these cost.
But unless they are wealthy, they don't get to choose where their children go to school, what they learn or how much their education costs.
In the name of accountability, control of public education has been placed in the hands of suppliers rather than consumers. However well-intentioned this design, like with any monopoly, it has resulted in a destructive power struggle that has brought about wasteful inefficiency and poor quality.
As a product of this struggle, several myths about public school finance have developed that misinform the public, obstruct scrutiny of the system and block changes that could restore consumer choice to public education:
• More money is needed to improve educational quality.
In the last five years, education spending in Texas has increased from $20.6 billion to $25.8 billion. Yet we've seen little increase in educational quality in return.
The recently reported scores on the new TAKS test show that increases in TAAS scores resulted largely from teachers learning to teach to the test. Corroborating this are the scores of Texas students on the ACT and SAT, which have remained virtually the same since 1995-96 and are below the national average.
• We must increase teacher pay to improve educational quality.
The average Texas teacher in 2002-03 made about $41,000. And many made much more. Top teachers in the Dallas, Austin, Houston, Mesquite and Fort Bend school districts were paid from $53,700 to $61,050. Even first-year teachers in Dallas made $37,000. And they made that for just 10 months of work.
The money we put into salaries is more than enough to attract quality teachers. The problem is that both good and bad teachers get paid exactly the same. The system is designed to reward mediocrity, not excellence.
• We must reform Texas' tax system in order to keep up with the needs of the public schools.
Legislators have chosen to fund the system of public education based on available revenue rather than on the needs of the public schools. This is seen in the fact that growth in education spending has outpaced the growth in the average daily attendance plus inflation.
In other words, Texas legislators spend every penny they can get their hands on. Texas doesn't need to reform its tax system to increase revenues -- it needs legislators willing to make sound fiscal decisions.
• We must determine the true cost of public education in Texas.
Since 1984, the Price Differential Index, the Cost of Education Index and studies by the Legislative Budget Board and the Foundation School Budget Committee have been used to determine the cost of providing an education in Texas. Texas has studied educational costs to death.
All four of these myths are designed to give competition -- i.e., consumer choice -- a bad name by playing on the emotions of the public.
If the public experienced the benefits of competitive reforms, it would give lie to the myths of Texas public school finance and end control of the system by the public education establishment.
With consumer choice restored, parents would see that competition brings them the ability to direct the education of their children.
School districts would discover their freedom to meet students' needs by deciding on curriculums, programs and salaries at the local or campus level. Taxpayers would experience true accountability for their tax dollars, as increased efficiency delivered a better education at less cost.
Texas children deserve schools where their parents direct their education. Educators deserve schools where they are not bogged down by bureaucratic regulations. Taxpayers deserve schools that don't break the bank.
We can begin building these schools today by tearing down the myths of Texas public school finance.
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Bill Peacock is the editor of ReformTexas.org, a Web site dedicated to reforming public education in Texas.
— Bill Peacock
Four myths of Texas education
Star Telegram
2003-12-07
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/7429849.htm
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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