Larger class sizes, fewer courses, and fewer scholarship opportunities; these are issues that students may face in the coming years due to impending budget cuts on Texas education. Gov. Rick Perry has proposed cuts to funding education because of the state’s $27 billion budget shortfall. As of late, this proposal has caused much controversy between parents, educators and the state government.
The budget shortfall was caused by a piece of legislation passed in 2005, when the state reduced property taxes by one-third. State legislators combated this issue by raising the business and cigarette tax, however, it did not produce enough money to offset the loss from the reduction of property taxes.
“I believe that there is a business cycle,” John Kitsopolous, Fort Worth City Human Resource Manager said, “the economy goes through natural expansion and deflation, so it is kind of hard to establish a tax that’s going to go up and down with the economic business cycle. In a time when the economy is doing really well it is very tempting to reduce taxes, but when the economy goes down money is going to be tight and this causes problems. Yet, because of this cycle, I really don’t think you can blame the shortage of funds on taxes.”
However, the state does not have enough money to fund public schools without increasing taxes, a step which many elected officials will not take.
“I don’t think most people have confidence that there aren’t economies that can’t be found in the school districts,” Kitsopolous said, “I mean, before, anybody would’ve suggested raising taxes at a time when the economy is doing poorly, but now people have lost their jobs and are having a hard time making ends meet. The school district would have to absolutely, positively convince people that they are operating as efficiently as they can, using every dime of taxpayer dollars for only what is necessary, and that there is no other way to adequately fund the district than to raise taxes.”
Many opponents argue that instead of raising taxes, the state should tap into its Rainy Day fund in order to fund districts across Texas.
“The state has a Rainy Day fund which, to me, is for dire emergencies only,” Kitsopolous said, “I don’t think the Rainy Day fund is there to satisfy the periodic dips in the economy and in revenue. I think the fund should only be used if there was a natural disaster, if several schools got destroyed and they needed to be rebuilt as quickly as possible, but just because we are in a recession, it doesn’t mean the state should use the fund. If reductions are going to come from anywhere it should be within the school districts. For instance, DISD’s superintendent makes $317,000 as his base salary alone, that’s near as much as the president who makes $400,000 yearly; they should cut his salary in order to save money for the schools, it’s just ridiculous.”
Another issue is the decline in property values; if a school closes because it lacks necessary funding, then the homes in the surrounding area lose their value.
“Homeowners have a vested interest in the quality of the schools in their neighborhood,” Kitsopolous said. “Normally people are willing to pay a higher price for homes to be in neighborhoods that have good schools. But when you have nine or ten percent unemployment a lot of people in the neighborhood who have lost their jobs, obviously, don’t have the ability to pay higher property taxes.”
Texas has a large population of students enrolling in elementary and secondary schools, which is currently sitting at 9 percent of the US total and is expected to grow in the future.
“Our students have been and will be affected negatively by these budget cuts. I say have been because, for a number of years our state legislature has worried more about getting re-elected and redistricting and as in the case of Rick Perry, he’s been more interested in throwing out baseballs, than they have been in funding schools,” Ryan Ingrim, Cleburne HS theater teacher said.
“There is no way that possibly losing one third of a school’s teachers will have anything but a negative effect on our students. This is going to put more kids in each class, deplete the resources that schools are already struggling to maintain, and diminish the standards that our schools should be striving to meet. We are already raising a generation of students that can’t think for themselves or aren’t free thinkers,” said Ingrim.
Not only will these cuts affect students, but teachers will be affected as well because many districts are considering cutting courses and jobs.
“In the case of theater teachers, they will be forced to dip into their own pockets to fund things like costumes, props, and sets.” Ingrim said. “Trust me, there is no way any theatre teacher can do this unless they are independently wealthy. But, above all, historically, the first programs to be cut are the arts. I’ve already faced a Reduction in Force at my last school district. If I lose my job, I will look for another. But, like last summer, there will be fewer jobs for more people. Rick Perry scoffs at the number of teachers we will lose because, he feels the number of minimum wage jobs he’s created in this state is double the amount of teachers. So, instead of ‘highly qualified teachers’, we will be able to flip burgers or work at the Gap.”
Also, the budget cuts would affect higher education by limiting course offerings, lengthening the time it takes students to graduate and most importantly, it would cut the number of students eligible to receive the Texas Grant from 86,000 to 27,000.
“It hurts a lot [to think that the state would cut education to colleges].” Madison Thorpe, senior said. “Some of us actually have to pay for our own college and it definitely limits where you can go. If anything they shouldn’t limit scholarships because that’s limiting the future. We are the ones growing up to be the next CEO’s, doctors, and entrepreneurs.”
Currently, Mansfield ISD is waiting to see what approach should be taken towards the budget cuts. The district believes that they will be able to absorb the budget cuts next year using its savings, however, this issue could have a negative impact in two years.
“Mansfield is in sound financial condition,” Bob Morrison, Mansfield ISD Superintendent said in an address to the MISD community, “we are committed to operating on a balanced budget and will remain conservative with our staffing. Our strong fund balance will allow us to wait until we have the facts [about legislative decisions regarding the budget] before we respond.”
As a part of the web-group savetxschools.org, parents and educators will protest in front of the state capitol this Saturday to ensure that their children receive a quality education.
For more information from the Mansfield School District please visit http://yourmansfieldisd.blogspot.com/2011/02/budget-impact-from-proposed-texas.html
I wonder how much could be saved by dropping all the TAKS and now STAR end of year testing?. We could save the budget and save our kids educations all at the same time.
If we were to drop the TAKS and STAR testing, how would we be able to determine whether or not a student is able to progress to the next grade? They test the student’s basic understanding of a subject, and tests like that are a bit of a necessity when it comes to sending students off. If a student didn’t understand a subject, why send them to the next level of it blindly? The area to cut the prices is not in the state-wide testing, it’s in the salary of the superintendent’s and the unnecessary spending that has gotten out of control at schools. While my school cannot provide scantrons for students, it is certainly willing to shell out thousands of dollars towards Mac computers and laptops. The tests aren’t a glamourous commodity.
I probably used commodity wrong. But. Nobody needs to know.
The problem with the TAKS test is that the school’s budget is based on how many students pass it. This encourages the superintendent to make the teachers teach only TAKS-related material. Instead of preparing students for college, it prepares students for mediocrity. This is an issue of greed, not any desire to make the students the best they can be.
teachers don’t know what will exactly be on the TAKS test only a general area, forcing them to teach everything in that area (although not to as much detail as we would like)