Burnt Orange Report

In Education, What Matters Is The Kids

By Phillip Martin

Ed. note: The following is an op-ed by Senator Frank Madla, the incumbent Senator in Senate District 19. He is being challenged by Rep. Carlos Uresti, who's op-ed you can read here.

Last week, I received the single greatest honor of my life. The Board of Trustees for the South San Antonio Independent School District gave Royalgate Elementary School a new name: Frank Madla Elementary School. I have never conceived of the mixture of pride, joy and the humility I feel in the knowledge that one of my community’s public institutions of learning now bears my name.

This new and unexpected honor only serves to reinforce the commitment to education that has been a guiding tenet of my professional and public service careers. As a teacher in the South San Antonio ISD, as a member of its Board of Trustees during the 1970s, as a member of the Texas House of Representatives serving on the initial Blue Ribbon Panel on Education headed by Ross Perot in 1984, and as a State Senator for the past twelve years, I have regarded the education of Texas’ children as paramount in importance. No other issue rivals education because a quality education is the key to achieving every other life goal.

Renovating the state’s school finance system is a tremendous undertaking with many complex weight and formula details that must be agreed on by a majority of the 181 members of the Texas Legislature. These legislators represent both urban and rural school districts and constituencies with vast geographical, social, economic and cultural differences. Like the old story of the blind men describing an elephant, each can explain their specific part of the elephant, but they cannot agree on what the whole elephant actually looks like. And, like the men in the parable, in order to resolve the issue, we must put all of the parts together. As a presiding officer of the Senate observed a while back, “If this was easy, it would already have been done.”

Every member approaches the education issue from a different perspective, each with the responsibility of making sure the unique needs of their area of the state are addressed while, at the same time, trying to understand the unique needs of other areas must also be addressed I am committed to making sure that every child in Texas receives an excellent education, regardless of whether they live in a rural or urban area, and no matter what their socioeconomic status. Along with that, we need an equitable tax system that supports our schools while making make sure those who can least afford to do so, do not pay more than their fair share. Our students should all have top-notch teachers, administrators, equipment, materials and transportation. The bottom line is this: What matters most of all is the kids sitting at the desks.

The Texas Legislature has been put on notice: We must renovate the state’s school finance system, or the courts will do it for us. We have grappled with the problem in the past, but a solution has eluded us so far. As an educator, a school board member and a 33-year legislator, I have both a grasp of complex education issues and the seniority in the Texas Senate that will be needed to help resolve this issue for the benefit of all Texas students.

And with an elementary school not far from my home in South San Antonio as my namesake, every day, I will drive by a concrete reminder of the debt that is owed to every Texas student, from those in kindergarten to those in our higher learning institutions. I believe in them, and I will spare no effort to ensure they have every support needed to reach their highest potential.