The state's top education official briefed state lawmakers in Austin Monday morning. His message: some aspects of the state's education are not the best.
Texas spends below average per student in part because Texas funds aspects of Pre-K when some other states don't. According to national standards, the NAEP test, Texas students are underperforming their peers.
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WATCH HEREState leaders hope an increased focus on teacher training and pay can boost education outcomes. Education Commissioner Mike Morath Monday morning gave a full-throated endorsement of focusing money towards educators - not just school funding formulas.
Estimates from the Texas Education Agency show a changing school system. Staffers there estimate the total number of students will drop in the next two years, but harder-to-teach students, low-income students, English language learners, and special needs students will increase.
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SIGN UP "The way money is spent matters more than terms of total money spent," Commissioner Morath.
In the all-day hearing, Commissioner Morath answered questions from state senators. His briefing highlighted how low pay and discipline issues are pushing teachers out of the profession, adding to an increase in uncertified workers throughout the state.
"We have a growing number of uncertified teachers. Is it your opinion that we need to work with urgency on that correlation," asked Sen. Brandon Creighton, R - Conroe.
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"Yes. Today, effectively, the state spends no money preparing teachers," said Morath.
A solution, he told the panel, is expanding dedicated funds to pay teachers more and pay for large raises when they are high performers. It echoes an emergency item from Governor Greg Abbott this year to expand a teacher incentive program.
Early drafts of the state budget allot nearly $5 billion for teacher pay raises. The specifics will be debated in the weeks ahead. The other option is continuing a downward spiral, according to Morath.
"I think we are setting people up who have passion and who have a mission, we are setting them up for failure because teaching is not something you just decide to do and start," said Morath, arguing the state could improve with more training, resources, and funding directly towards teachers.
During the last session two years ago, a teacher pay raise proposal got caught up in a larger fight over allowing parents to use public school tax dollars on private and home schools. Last time, neither passed after the school choice voucher proposal was stripped out of an overhaul bill. A very similar debate is coming in the weeks ahead.
Since then, the funding situation in Texas public schools has only become more dramatic. COVID-19 pandemic relief money from the Federal government is drying up and inflation has pushed costs higher for school districts.
