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Fri Sep 07, 2012 at 11:30 AM CDT
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| Our friends at the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities have drawn our attention to a new report that shows state and local funding for preK-12 education in Texas is 11.2 percent below 2008 levels after adjusting for student growth and inflation. The report comes from another highly regarded non-partisan policy-research organization, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities based in Washington, D.C.
"These cuts have undermined our ability to educate our children and there will be consequences for the Texas economy," said Chandra Villanueva, education policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities. "Good schools and an educated workforce foster economic growth, and we are undermining our own recovery by reducing our investment in education."
As the report notes, the cuts of more than $5 billion imposed last year have extended the impact of the Great Recession that hit in 2008, causing ongoing public- and private-sector job losses and slowing the pace of economic recovery. The CPPP commented: "In the first school year (2011-12) of the biennial state budget cycle alone, the funding cuts have forced school districts throughout Texas to lay off more than 25,000 teachers and support staff and to obtain waivers to exceed classroom-size limits."
The new report notes that the budget axe in Texas will cut even deeper in the second year of the budget cycle, coinciding with the 2012-13 school year. The continuing cuts in public schools amount to a de-facto policy of disinvestment in education, at the very time the state needs to be producing a well-educated workforce with the skills needed to compete in a global economy.
The full report of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities can be found here: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index....
Source: Texas AFT
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