Burnt Orange Report

Rural Superintendent Speaks Out

By Phillip Martin

In an article titled "Who's to Blame for the in the Legislature's Failure" in the Jacksonville Daily Progress, Dr. James Largent, the superintendent for Rusk ISD in East Texas, asks why legislators like Speaker Craddick and Rep. Berman continue to blame educators for the failure of the Texas Legislature to pass any school reform bills. Some highlights:

Regarding the failure of the Legislature to pass anything - the last time I looked, educators didn't have a vote on the floor of the capitol. If we did, we would have voted for the Hochberg amendment, or the Eltife/Ellis plan. While neither was perfect, they would have been beneficial to ALL students and educators in our great State, instead of providing unfair benefits to a few districts and adding millions of dollars of unfunded mandates as HB2 would have done.

Dr. Largent goes on to discuss the accountability he already faces:

We have TAKS tests, SDAA I and II tests, Performance Based Monitoring, Transportation and Food Service audits, TPRI results, LPAC's, ARD's, LEP's, IEP's, AEP's, PEIMS reporting and many more state and federal programs that we must account for on a daily basis. In addition, we receive the Financial Integrity ratings and our yearly financial audit. And some in the legislature say all we want is more money with NO ACCOUNTABILITY? That is a ludicrous statement made by people who obviously do not know or care what we do on a daily basis.

While Mr. Berman and others were calling for "education reform" we all watched as they introduced (once again) vouchers, a cap on recapture (to allow already wealthy districts to retain more dollars and widen the funding gap between rich and poor school districts), a later school start date and November elections for school board members. These are just some of the "reforms" they proposed, none of which has anything to do with helping educators teach students...

In the end, legislators like Craddick and Berman led the way in denying educators a much deserved raise, watered down the teacher retirement system, and then as a final farewell, gave all educators a kick in the teeth by blaming us for the failure of the legislature to act, while at the same time giving themselves a nice pension increase.

Add this to the list of rural and conservative voices speaking out against the failure of the Republican leadership to lead.

*from the Jacksonville Daily Progress*

Who's to blame for the Legislature's failure?

By Dr. James Largent - RISD Superintendent

I have remained silent as I have seen several articles lately in which Speaker Craddick and locally, Representative Berman of Tyler, blamed the Legislature's failures on educators. After seeing the ad Mr. Berman ran in the Tyler paper last week once again blasting educators, I just could not remain silent any longer.

Regarding the failure of the Legislature to pass anything - the last time I looked, educators didn't have a vote on the floor of the capitol. If we did, we would have voted for the Hochberg amendment, or the Eltife/Ellis plan. While neither was perfect, they would have been beneficial to ALL students and educators in our great State, instead of providing unfair benefits to a few districts and adding millions of dollars of unfunded mandates as HB2 would have done.

While some misguided and misled legislators were calling for more accountability, our staff was going through the mounds of paperwork and test results from the 48 tests we are required to administer to our students. These data are broken down by grade level, subject area, learning objective, ethnicity, economic level, etc., and we must "hit the mark" in ALL areas or else we are deemed failures by people like Mr. Berman.

Two weeks later, we got another report letting us know whether or not we made "Adequate Yearly Progress" as part of the No Child Left Behind project...again, more mounds of data to digest and more plans to produce to address areas of concern. We have TAKS tests, SDAA I and II tests, Performance Based Monitoring, Transportation and Food Service audits, TPRI results, LPAC's, ARD's, LEP's, IEP's, AEP's, PEIMS reporting and many more state and federal programs that we must account for on a daily basis. In addition, we receive the Financial Integrity ratings and our yearly financial audit. And some in the legislature say all we want is more money with NO ACCOUNTABILITY? That is a ludicrous statement made by people who obviously do not know or care what we do on a daily basis.

While Mr. Berman and others were calling for "education reform" we all watched as they introduced (once again) vouchers, a cap on recapture (to allow already wealthy districts to retain more dollars and widen the funding gap between rich and poor school districts), a later school start date and November elections for school board members. These are just some of the "reforms" they proposed, none of which has anything to do with helping educators teach students. This is in addition to our testing program that has gone from TEAMS to TAAS and now TAKS, and every time schools across the state show that we can meet the expectations, the bar gets raised and a new series of tests are developed along with a new series of unfunded mandates. It appears that the current leadership in Austin wants us to fail so they can demand more "reforms" and "accountability." Most of them having nothing to do with helping public school students, but more to do with advancing the political agendas of their wealthy campaign contributors.

On the other side of the coin is the so-called property tax reduction. The plan would have lowered property taxes, but it raised sales taxes and increased fees on such things as car purchases and household goods. Unless you make over $140,000 you would have seen a net increase in what you currently pay in taxes and fees. This doesn't sound like a tax reduction to me. Provisions to add a payroll tax to businesses and end loopholes in the tax law that give huge benefits for many companies were defeated by those lobbies and taken out of the bill, while a payroll tax on schools to supplement TRS Care remains.

In the end, legislators like Craddick and Berman led the way in denying educators a much deserved raise, watered down the teacher retirement system, and then as a final farewell, gave all educators a kick in the teeth by blaming us for the failure of the legislature to act, while at the same time giving themselves a nice pension increase.

I have a suggestion for these legislators. The next time you are called into session, why don't you actually listen to people who have dedicated their lives to educating children. Those of us who are in schools every day and work directly with students might have a little insight on what could be done to make our schools better. Instead of bashing us every chance you get and blaming us for your failures, why not work with us to write a bill that is good for ALL the children in Texas? How about a new "reform" that recognizes the importance of public education and provides equitable funding and resources to actually pay for the high expectations and standards you demand?

I am proud to say that Representative Hopson and Senators Eltife and Staples listened and sponsored bills and amendments to help all children. Unfortunately they could not counter the stronghold the leadership had on many legislators like Mr. Berman, which resulted in yet another failure of the legislature to pass a school finance bill.