Texas Schools Are Not Meeting the Needs of the Economy, and That Has to Change

In his State of the State address this week, Gov. Greg Abbott rightly praised teachers across the state, pointing out that Texas now has “more public high schools ranked in the Top 100 and more Blue Ribbon public schools than any state in America.” But he also noted — as is the case in so many states and school districts across America — that far too many students graduate from high school “not ready for college or a career.”Sadly, that's especially true in school districts with high concentrations of low-income students, many of whom are African-American or Hispanic. According to a Texas Public Radio analysis of data from the Texas Education Agency's new school accountability system, nearly half (46 percent) of public schools receiving an F rating have a student population that is at least 80 percent "economically disadvantaged," which includes any student whose family qualifies for reduced-price or free school lunches. And over 90 percent of F-rated schools have a student population that is at least 50 percent economically disadvantaged. These statistics are part of the reason why this newspaper is making an area of engagement the challenges involved in teaching students who are living in poverty.To address this disparity, Abbott rightly declared school finance reform and increasing teacher pay “emergency items,” and urged lawmakers to get behind and vote in favor of the reforms he believes are needed to create a Texas where “every child, regardless of their ZIP code, receives a quality education.”The governor emphasized the need for better pre-K programs and early education, drawing attention to the fact that “only about 40 percent of third-graders are reading at grade level by the time they finish the third grade.” Many kids never catch up from that poor start. Less than 40 percent of Texas high school students who take the SAT or ACT, he said, are prepared for college.To improve in all these areas, Abbott said, “we must target education funding to help our students achieve in school.” In addition to investing in pre-K programs and making sure low-income children have the stability and daily nutrients needed to thrive and compete, that means providing “incentives to put effective teachers in the schools and classrooms where they are needed the most.”More specifically, Abbott urged legislators to “create a pathway for the best teachers to earn a six-figure salary,” adding “the teacher pay system used by Dallas ISD shows this strategy works.” We agree with the governor, and encourage others to follow Dallas ISD’s Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) program that pays stipends to teachers for working at struggling schools. We also believe Dallas ISD’s Teacher Excellence Initiative that gives raises based on student performance is a good model to follow throughout the state.When it comes to school finance reform, the devil is in the details. As in other states, much of the funding for Texas’ public schools comes from local property taxes. So, in a Catch-22 plaguing equitable school funding nationwide, poorer school districts with lower property values often receive less funding.To address that inequity, in 1993 Texas lawmakers passed so-called Robin Hood provisions to “recapture” property-tax revenue from wealthier school districts to go toward public school funding in lower-income districts. But, as the Texas Commission on Public School Finance recently reported, “Recapture as currently structured is growing rapidly and becoming increasingly unsustainable.”According to the commission, whose 13-members heard from more than 150 representatives from 19 school districts as well as scores of education advocates and policy experts over the past year, recapture payments to the state are “expected to reach nearly $2.7 billion” during the current school year and are “projected to nearly double to over $5 billion by 2023.”What’s wrong with Robin Hood provisions that funnel more funds to lower-income districts with lower property taxes? First, as we reported in a recent editorial, “property taxes have risen in Texas by 212 percent from 1998 to 2017, which is twice the rate the average homeowner can afford.”Meanwhile, as property values rise, the number of districts making recapture payments is increasing. When recapture payments were first introduced a quarter-century ago, there were 34 “property-rich” school districts making recapture payments to the state. That number has grown to more than 200 districts, many of which are in fast growing urban areas with changing demographics.As the commission made clear: “Recapture is now causing large urban districts with high concentrations of low-income students (Austin ISD, Houston ISD and Dallas ISD) to send hundreds of millions of local tax dollars annually to the state, joining affluent districts such as Plano, Highland Park and Eanes ISD. If not significantly addressed, recapture paid by local school districts is projected to exceed state funding levels in less than a decade, bringing state contributions down to just 20 percent of education funding.”The governor’s proposal to cap property tax revenue growth at 2.5 percent may not be the ideal solution, but at least it slows the skyrocketing rate of property taxes and reduces the amount of revenue “recaptured” and sent out of high-need school districts like Dallas ISD in the form of Robin Hood payments. At the same time, the governor and the commission propose an infusion of new state funds that can better target schools and students who need it most and better pay teachers who make the most difference.As the governor wrote in an op-ed for this newspaper at the start of the school year: “The future of Texas is in our classrooms today. That future depends on paying our best teachers more, rewarding districts for student achievement and growth, prioritizing spending in the classroom and reducing the burden of ever-increasing property taxes. We must seize this moment to build a better future for Texas.”That’s not to say that all high school graduates need to attend college. Trade schools and vocational training are, in many cases, a clearer path to a stable and rewarding career. But a 40 percent college preparation rate may not be sufficient to meet the needs of a growing Texas economy. As Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan warned recently, a poorly educated workforce will eventually drag down even Texas’ booming economy. But just as important, an educational divide that echoes America’s growing income divide is not healthy for our democracy or fair to those families who still believe in the American dream.Over a half century ago, President John F. Kennedy rightly said, “A child miseducated is a child lost.” In order to compete and thrive in a free society, a quality education — available to all, regardless of race, creed or color — is a necessity. As we wrote recently, traditional public schools are a “pillar of this country’s foundation.” But that doesn’t mean more choices, including charter schools that challenge the status quo and magnet schools like the School of Science and Engineering in Dallas, aren’t important.At the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, when digital literacy and coding are nearly as important as reading, writing and arithmetic for the jobs of the future, it’s crucial that educators embrace innovative approaches and solutions that focus on achievement and providing the skills needed to succeed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution economy.We’re living in a time of miraculous high-tech breakthroughs in communications, artificial intelligence, robotics, genetics, nanotechnology and biotechnology. But those breakthroughs also mean great disruption. Millions of jobs are expected to be replaced by intelligent automation as the Fourth Industrial Revolution transforms not just the way we educate our children and conduct business, but the very concept of work.Educators, government and business have to come together to increase digital literacy and develop new curriculum that doesn’t leave behind the liberal arts but trains and educates for the 21st century, not the 20th century.  Continue reading...