Much has been written lately about the proposed A-F grading
system for districts and campuses across the State of Texas. I’ve referenced this in prior blogs and
expressed my concerns about the fairness of this approach as well as the stigmatization
of campuses and, more importantly, students on those campuses. Perhaps my greatest concern is that we are potentially
using a grading system as a punitive measure, not as a resource or tool to
assist campuses in better meeting the needs of students.
I recently read a report published in March, 2016 by Rutgers
University and the Education Law Center that evaluated states on four different
attributes relative to their support and commitment to public education. Sadly, this continues to be a story of
shortcomings relative to funding and the state’s commitment to meeting the
education needs of all students. The
report, Is School Funding Fair? A
National Report Card, can be found here.
Quoting the opening of the report, the report “evaluates and
compares the extent to which state finance systems ensure equality of
educational opportunity for all children, regardless of background, family
income, place of residence, or school location.” In their effort to address this, the authors
provide an assessment of Funding Levels, Funding Distribution, Effort, and
Coverage. The report’s evaluation of
each is as follows (see the report
for details on each element)
Not a good story! So now where should we apply a grading
system? This falls squarely on the shoulders
of our decision makers in Austin. As Dr.
Brian T. Woods, Superintendent of Northside ISD, so aptly put it in his blog Straight
Talk, “STATE LAWMAKERS FAIL
MISERABLY; CONTINUE TO IGNORE INVESTING IN PUBLIC EDUCATION”. At the very time that lawmakers have pushed
through legislation that mandates implementation of an A-F rating system for
the 2017-2018 school year, we should continue to evaluate them and how well
they are meeting the needs of their constituents; more specifically, how well
are they meeting the needs of the nearly 5.3 million public education students
in Texas?
In
a sidebar on page 1 of the report, the authors note that, “Many of the lowest
funded states, such as Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, North Carolina and
Texas, allocate a very low percentage of their states’ economic capacity to
fund public education”. Texas currently
ranks 40th in per student funding at $7404 per student. But how can this be in a state that, despite
the challenges presented by depressed oil and gas prices, continues to have a
vibrant and growing economy?
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