“A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.” —Texas Constitution
Many Texas leaders wisely look to our nation’s and state’s Founders for guidance on important contemporary issues. For instance, Gov. Rick Perry, in his recent book Fed Up, refers to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as “the glorious fulfillment of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and, ultimately, the intent behind the passage of the Reconstruction Era amendments.”
Let me suggest, then, a not-so-novel idea with regard to Texas public schools: Let’s look to the past so that we might learn about the present. Let’s ask, what would our Founders do?
The state Constitution of 1876, after all these years, remains the bedrock on which the Texas public school system is built. The constitutional requirement that Texas support and maintain “an efficient system of public free schools” derives almost verbatim from the first state Constitution of 1845, which stated: “A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of this State to make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of public schools.” The key difference between the two Constitutions, obviously, is the latter notion of efficiency. What, then, did our Founders intend with the word?
This much is clear: The Texans who crafted our state Constitution certainly didn’t envision a “miserly” or “cheap” system of public schools, one with just enough resources to scrape by. This notion of efficiency—as in, my F150 is more efficient than your F350—emerged with the advent of modern economics in the twentieth century, specifically with the rise of mass production in industrial factories.
Those familiar with the words of William B. Travis or Sam Houston understand that when they wrote “efficient,” they meant “effective.” (Both military men, they often referred to powerful and accurate artillery as “efficient weapons.”) When our Founders called for “an efficient system of public free schools,” they intended that the legislature provide for schools that worked, and worked well. Our Founders had children in mind, not mass-produced widgets. Our Founders understood that a powerful democracy requires more than “cheap” public schools; it requires prudent investment in all children—including the children of immigrants from distant lands (like Travis and Houston) and newly-enfranchised former slaves—using the best available resources.
The Texas Supreme Court understood this in its Edgewood v. Kirby (1989) decision. The Court wrote that “’Efficient’ conveys the meaning of effective or productive of results”; the Court understood that our Founders cared enough about our democracy to compel a top-notch education for all Texas children no matter who their parents may be.
Regrettably, the Court may once again be forced to remind the Texas legislature of its duty to our children and our democracy. This summer the legislature has shown far too little interest in the future of Texas, and far too little regard for its past.
Key Point: Rick Perry is putting a very narrow and extreme partisan Republican primary agenda ahead of the best interests of 4.8 million Texas schoolchildren.
The facts of this story:
Texas was eligible for up to $700 million in federal education dollars, if we submitted a "Race to the Top" application
The Texas Education Agency spent between 700-800 hours preparing the application
Perry has refused to send the application, as officials have said the $700 million would be "too little money" -- despite the fact that over 200 local school districts have had to raise taxes in order to pay for the structural deficit created by Perry and Dewhurst in 2006
Refusing to send the application nullifies Texas' ability to compete for other grants
Today, Rick Perry will announce that he will not approve the Texas Education Agency's request to seek up to $700 million in federal education dollars. The Statesman's Kate Alexander originally reported last night:
Many states have been going to great lengths to improve their chance at winning some of the grant money. Not Texas.
Both Perry and Education Commissioner Robert Scott have harshly criticized the program’s rules, and Scott suggested that one provision was a harbinger of a federal takeover of public schools.
Scott, reached Tuesday evening, rebuffed a question about the grant application and quickly ended the call. A Perry spokeswoman did not respond to an e-mail request for comment on the decision Tuesday.
The governor’s justification for not competing is that too little money is on the table to implement significant reform in a state with 4.7 million students, the officials said.
$700 million is too little money? Due to the failed leadership of Rick Perry, David Dewhurst, and Texas Republicans in the Legislature, Texas is facing a $14 billion hole next session. Our sales tax receipts are down by over $1 billion, too -- and the DMN tells us why::
A 2006 tax package isn't providing enough money to fund the state's contribution to local school property tax cuts, creating a "structural deficit" that has officials nervous.
Before Perry announced his rejection of the funds, State Representative Garnet Coleman -- who serves as the vice chair of the Select Committee on Federal Legislation, and serves on the Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding -- urged the Governor to accept the funds yesterday in a letter he wrote before Perry annoucned his decision (download a PDF of the letter here):
"While I disagree with some of the policy stances, they are but two of the many ways to receive points in the scoring matrix. I believe you may take issue with some of the policy provisions that can receive points. However, it is important to note that they are not all needed to receive possible grant funds. Submitting the application for Race to the Top Funds will allow our state to compete with other states for grants. Race to the Top is not like unemployment insurance stimulus funds, which you turned down because of possible "strings attached". This is a competitive program where states that do better will receive larger allocations.
The competition part is key -- there are no "strings attached" to this application process, as Coleman said. Last week the Houston Chronicle reported that the Texas Education Agency spent between 700 and 800 hours preparing an application that took Perry less than a day to reject..
Representative Coleman released the following statement, upon learning of Perry's decision to reject sending the application for political purposes:
"It's shocking that Governor Perry doesn't even want to let Texas compete with other states for Race to the Top funds. His argument against applying boils down to the fact that he doesn't like the teacher that will grade his test. This is an application that even awards points for his own pet policies - teacher incentive pay and charter school expansion. He used $10 million in federal funds to create his own teacher incentive pay program in 2005, but he's willing to go back on his own principles in an effort to score political points.
Maybe Governor Perry should take his own advice and not bother competing for reelection. At least then Texas schoolchildren would have a fighting chance at a decent education."
Without watering down their populist message, Texas's most populist Democratic Challengers are winning over traditional Republican activists. The Trans Texas Corridor Hearings by TDoT are uniting activists who usually face off against each other. Democratic Candidates Hank Gilbert (TX Agriculture Commissioner), David Van Os, (Attorney General) and Fred Head (Comptroller) all face opponents who received money from Zachry which is the Corporation chosen by TDoT to share with Citras in the $190 billion 50 year tolled Trans Texas Corridor.
The Dallas Morning News is reporting this morning that Lt Gov Dewhurst has put out tv commercials in Dallas, Houston, and Austin to push for the tax cut plan. Wow, he beat Perry to it. Not to be outdone, Perry is firing back by activating a "dormant non profit", Texans for Taxpayer Relief. They will be running $6 million in ads. You would think with all those extra millions, that the GOP of Texas could just pay for the education of the children of this state.
Every Texan agrees that our children's education is of the utmost importance. That's why parents and voters are fed up with the failed Republican leaders who choose to play partisan politics instead of passing a real bipartisan solution to fund our public schools and provide relief from skyrocketing property taxes.
Via the Star-Telegram, we learn that Rep. Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington), chair of the House Public Ed Committee, will resign if the Lege does not pass legislation to fix school finance this spring.
I, for one, sincerely hope this is one campaign promise Grusendorf (who is in a heated primary against ex-SOBE member Diane Patrick) will keep.
