Friday News Roundup

Teacher Pay, School Choice, Literacy: Top Priorities for 44 Governors in 2023 (The 74)

The 74 recently reported that a majority of the country’s governors are focusing on teacher pay, school choice, and improved literacy as their states debate how money will be spent within public education.

If the past is any indicator of what will happen over the next year or two, most states will fail making any difference in teacher pay, school choice, or improved literacy. Just like the federal government, state governments have become arguably inconsequential compared to local school board decision-making. To most school districts, the purpose of state government is to provide the local district money by which school boards can decide what is and what isn’t important when it comes to K-12 education.

How Could Texas Spend Its Record $32.7 Billion Surplus? (The Texas Tribune)

The State of Texas has a $32.7 billion budget surplus and the Texas Legislature is deciding how to spend the money, if they spend any of it.

The Texas Tribune suggested the money be directed to teacher raises. According to The Trib,

“State education data shows there were 370,431 teachers in Texas during the 2021-22 school year. Their minimum annual salaries ranged from $33,660 (ouch!) for a beginning teacher to $54,540 for a teacher with 20 or more years of experience during the 2022-23 school year (double ouch!).”

“For a teacher just starting their career, the $32.7 billion budget surplus would give, at minimum, a 9.3% salary raise throughout a 20-year career. That would mean that a new teacher’s starting salary would start out at $37,588 and reach $59,612 in their 21^st year – a total of $87,435 more money over the course of 20 years.”

Yea, that’s not going to happen. And, even if it did, a pay increase of $4,000 a year over 20 years is an embarrassing gesture.

More than likely the Texas Legislature will vote a one time salary increase for the state’s teachers and leave it at that.

The chance that they apply the surplus to learning coaches, learning plans, and young learner support across the state is slim to none.

Federal Parents’ Bill of Rights: Dueling Proposals in Congress Set to Escalate Partisan Showdown Over Schools, Pandemic Response (The 74)

Earlier this month The 74 reported,

“In response to the Republicans’ controversial parental rights bill, House Democrats plan to introduce alternative legislation…that will call for ‘inclusive’ schools and oppose efforts to censor curriculum.”

“While the GOP’s approach emphasizes accommodating parents’ requests for information, the Democrats’ version focuses on ensuring schools provide a high-quality education and don’t discriminate against students.”

I’m a big advocate to replace state legislatures and local school boards with parent decision-making when it comes to young learners.

But, until we deconstruct our traditional school system into smaller learning pods and micro-schools, small groups of parents don’t get the right to decide policy for the larger group of moms and dads.

Besides, don’t we have bigger problems to worry about, like the fact that our kids aren’t reading at the level they need to in order to operate in our modern society?

Vermont Senate Democrats Poised to Punt Full-Day Pre-K to Study (The Vermont Digger)

And this is why we need to stop putting our youth’s learning future in the hands of legislatures and school boards.

The Vermont Digger reported recently that,

“Following pushback from the child care sector, Democrats in the Vermont Senate are backing off from plans to enact full-day prekindergarten in public schools.”

“’One of the things that we heard in testimony is how if we took all the 4-year-olds out categorically right away, it would devastate child care facilities,’ said Vermont Senator Ginny Lyons, one of the bill’s sponsors.”

I remember when I was a high school principal seeing research that told me that investing in a child’s first four years far outweighed the investment made when those kids entered 9^th grade.

But here we have another example of adults getting ready to make decisions for adults, and not kids.

Disappointing.

Ending a Years-Long Standoff, State Officials Announce Houston Schools Takeover (The 74)

The 74 reported recently,

“In a long-anticipated move, the Texas Education Agency will take control of the Houston Independent School District – the largest state school system takeover in recent history – Commissioner Mike Morath announced. The move ends a five-year stalemate between Morath and the district’s leadership, which fought the takeover in court.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – when it comes to student learning, the only institution more ill-prepared than the Houston Independent School District might be the Texas Education Agency.

62% of Iowans Oppose Governor Kim Reynolds’ Private School Scholarships Law, Iowa Poll Finds (The Des Moines Register)

According to The Des Moines Register,

“Iowans oppose Governor Kim Reynolds’ signature ‘school choice’ law, which allows families to use taxpayer money to pay for private schools, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.”

“More than six in 10 Iowans, 62%, oppose the law. The program will allow every Iowa family to receive about $7,600 annually per student in an education savings account to pay private school costs such as tuition and fees.”

Governor Reynolds missed an opportunity to open up the learning marketplace beyond the choice between public and private school. What Iowa needs to do is to offer learners choice beyond the public or private option, and then support that learning choice with a more flexible education savings account.

In Rare Move, New Mexico Adds Weeks’ Worth of Extra K-12 Class Time (The 74)

Recently The 74 reported,

“Lawmakers in New Mexico have moved to increase the amount of time students spend in school each year – a notably rare shift, even as educators around the country scramble to bring about a post-pandemic learning recovery.”

“Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 130, which will lift the state’s minimum amount of instructional time for elementary students by the equivalent of 27 days and for middle and high school students by the equivalent of 10 days.”

This might work, but it might not. The idea that kids will learn more just because they are in school longer is a shaky proposition, especially if those young learners are black, brown, or poor and are assigned to a historically low-performing school.

Have a great weekend! SVB