Hochberg on School Finance

From the last person in the state of Texas to pass a school finance plan in the last decade (and, as a point of personal pride, my State Rep) ....

Real Education Reform Won't Sell Children and Taxpayers Short
by State Rep. Scott Hochberg

For all their talk about education "reform", there is little in the legislative leadership's reform proposals that would actually help most Texas children learn or make better use of education tax dollars. Instead, the leadership focuses mostly on punishing the "worst" schools, ignoring the need for higher standards for all students.

Most Texas children attend schools that are good, but not great. Real reform must help these schools get better. And real accountability should control costs, not increase them.

Testing to Encourage Achievement
Let's start with our tests. The TAKS measures only one level of difficulty for each grade, so once a student achieves at the required level, doing better doesn't improve TAKS ratings. If TAKS were a high jump competition, each time you cleared the bar, you would go back and jump again without raising the bar.

Real reform encourages all kids to do their best, not just "good enough." Tests like the SAT cover a broad range of aptitude to recognize true achievement. Our tests should do the same.

And, while we're at it, if we really want the most education for our money, we must stop wasting valuable class time teaching kids test-taking tricks and gimmicks that are worthless after testing day.

Better Teachers in the Classroom
We all agree we need more qualified teachers in our classrooms. If you want to become a lawyer, the state helps pay for your training. Not so if you're a college graduate and want to become certified as a teacher. If we're serious about wanting qualified professionals to become teachers, we should make them the same deal we make prospective lawyers.

Many school districts now use local funds to help prospective teachers pay for training. But the Governor's "65% reform" would penalize districts that pay for teacher training because it's not money spent "in the classroom," even though a well-trained teacher is exactly who we need in the classroom.

In his State of the Union address, President Bush highlighted deficiencies in science and math education. One ill-fated "reform" lowered teacher training requirements to lure engineers to teach math and science. It didn't work. Most engineers aren't interested in teaching K-12, and many who try burn out quickly when faced with classroom challenges for relatively low pay.

Instead of lowering training standards to make engineers into teachers, we should help successful teachers improve their math and science skills. They may not be able to teach calculus, but a properly-trained successful teacher could motivate kids and provide a strong math-science foundation. Then our top math and science teachers could take those kids the next mile.

Making Tax Dollars Accountable
In the name of accountability, school districts spend millions on computers that fill out state financial reports. The leadership's "reform" plan would force districts to make costly changes to these reports, supposedly to make it easier for citizens to spot suspicious expenditures. Meanwhile, the state continues to throw the reports in a drawer.

Fortunately, there are dedicated taxpayers who have time to read reports and attend board meetings. But it's not their job to manage the schools, and we shouldn't rely on them to be our only watchdogs.

Last year, H. Ross Perot recommended using "tiger teams" of state auditors to carefully review district spending nearly as it happens. They'd look for anything out of line and provide warnings to school board members and the public, to stop wasteful practices early.

And, if the state insists on collecting data a certain way, it should provide standard accounting software, so school districts could stop wasting time and money on software changes that have nothing to do with educating kids.

Raising the Bar for Success
Unfortunately, other items on the leadership's agenda also miss the mark. One "reform" would force local school boards to hold their elections on the same day as statewide partisan elections. This has everything to do with partisan politics and nothing to do with learning, but it's a "line-in-the-sand" item for the leadership. And a proposal to have the state set the beginning and ending dates for the school year simply slaps the "reform" label on removing local community control.

In this spring's special session, the legislature should discuss common sense reforms that help all children learn and help us get the most out of our tax dollars. Absent that discussion, a leadership agenda that claims to be "reform" will fail our children.

State Representative Scott Hochberg (D-Houston) serves on the Public Education Committee of the Texas House of Representatives. He can be reached through his web site at www.scotthochberg.com.