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Essay on texas education policy issues
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INTRODUCTION The funding of public education has long been an issue for the state government of Texas. Starting before Texas was even a state, public education funding was at the forefront of politicians’ minds. In 1836, one of the reasons Anglo-Texans wanted to become independent from Mexico was Mexico’s lack of a public school system (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). This drove the desire of President Mirabeau B. Lamar of the Republic of Texas to create legislation that would grant public schools land (A Brief History of Public Education, n.d.). This act set aside four leagues of land per county for the use of free education centers and thus began the funding of public education by the state government (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). In the last 177 years, the Texas Legislature and the Texas Education Agency have created numerous acts and laws regarding the funding of education, but it has been in the last 50 years that this topic has become highly contested, resulting in several lawsuits and endless efforts (by the school districts) to equalize the distribution of funds to Texas school districts (Texas School Finance History, n.d.). In sum, the complex issues and policies that surround the funding of public education are derived from a combination of the legislature, bureaucratic agencies, and local governments in the form of school districts. HISTORY/BACKGROUND Up until 1968 there was little complaint on what the Texas Legislature and Texas Education Agency had to say about school finances. It was in 1968 that San Antonio’s Independent School District (SAISD) filed the first lawsuit against the state; this particular lawsuit was filed because SAISD felt the fundin... ... middle of paper ... ...he surrounding area are required (and thus get more funding from local property taxes), by law and Education Code, to give a portion of their funding to school districts that are “poor” in order to boost the “poor” school districts performance; this idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor is why it is dubbed the “Robin Hood” plan (Smith, Schools are Reassigned to Robin Hood, 2011). This bill was the first in a long series of proposed bills that was ruled as a constitutional solution for the 1989 Texas Supreme Court case Edgewood v. Kirby, but it is also the reason for the not only the current lawsuit filed by approximately 600 school districts (both wealthy and poor), but also the 2003 school funding lawsuit (Texas School Finance History, n.d.). It has been ruled unconstitional several times throughout its history, yet it still remains in practice today.
Board of Regents (1967). The teacher’s interest as a citizen in making public comment must be balanced against the State’s interest in promoting the efficiency of its employees’ public services. The court found the statements of the appellant were substantially correct, regarded matters of public concern, and presented no questions of faculty discipline or harmony. The statements offered no proper basis for the school board’s action in dismissing the appellant (Oyez, n.d.).
Though he never directly refers to it, the process in which public schools are funded is alluded to several times by Lapham (e.g. “We have one set of schools for the children of the elite, another for children less fortunately born). The flaw in funding for public schools lies in direct community influence. Nearly 1/2 of the funding provided is derived from the property taxes collected from the locality. Since wealthy neighborhoods pay far more property tax than poor ones, schools that lie in wealthy districts and neighborhood are allocated far more capital than schools located in poor areas. This creates a myriad of dilemmas for the poor (most of which they aren’t even aware of because they have never been taught), and innumerable advantages for the rich. Under the current system the children of wealthy families are catered to and groomed...
To begin with, I would like to talk about school funds. I have read in the document, that you gave me that the legislature set aside 1 million acres of land as an endowment for the university of Texas. Later on, the legislature added another 1 million acres to the land. People didn’t think that the land was worth very much. But oil was discovered in 1923 when oilmen decided to look for oil. By 2008, the land had produced $4.4
University of Texas at Austin. Texas Politics, The legislative Branch. Austin, 2nd Edition-Revision 94 2009, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services.
Texas went through a great amount of political change from being dominated by the Democratic Party during the 1960s and 70s, from the Republican Party taking over in the 80s. One of the big reasons for this change was due to the political party’s views. Throughout this essay I will discuss the changes of the political stances in Texas as well as the present day factors that affect America.
Bennett, A., & Brower, A. (2001). ’THAT’S NOT WHAT FERPA SAYS!’: THE TENTH CIRCUIT COURT GIVES DANGEROUS BREADTH TO FERPA IN ITS CONFUSING AND CONTRADICTORY FALVO V. OWASSO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT DECISION. Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, 2, 327.
There is less state funding for local community, educational, and healthcare programs. “Texas has no income tax and no state property tax, so our schools depend heavily on local property taxes”( 2nd work c). Since this is the main way to fund these programs local property taxes are higher. This affects children who attend Texas’ public schools, a state income tax makes it easier to gather money to fund children's public
South Carolina Education Department (2014). The Average Daily Membership. Retrieve on February 25th, 2014. Form https://ed.sc.gov/data/student-counts/AverageDailyMembershipandAttendance.cfm
Only a quarter of Texans have earned a bachelor’s degree, or more, in cities with a population of ten thousand people who are twenty five years old and older. For example, San Antonio with a population of eight-hundred twenty-seven thousand, one hundred ninety-three adults over the age of twenty=five had twenty-four percent that had obtained a Bachelor’s degree on more. This shows how the education crisis is poorly paid attention to. People always think of Texan’s education poorly because they don’t think of a way to resolve and put an end to this type of crisis. One main cause of student’s education is on the fact that most of the families in the south are in need for money. A way to improve this plot, is to improve the salaries in Texas for the lower-class. Cheap labor also contributes greatly making it harder for families to support their children on school necessities. School financing, being a huge factor, students’ chance for success in their
Public and charter schools may look to be the same, but charter schools differ in many ways and have an interesting origin that is often overlooked. The concept of charter schools began in New York City around the late 1980s and early 1990s by a man name Albert Shanker. They were originally created to be teacher-run schools that would provide education and services to students struggling in the traditional school system (Karp, 2013). These schools had operated outside the administrative bureaucracy and the big city school board. Shanker initial concern was that these small charter schools were dividing the district by serving a different population with unequal access as well as weakening the power of teacher union in negotiation over district-wide policies and regulations (Karp, 2013). Because of this Shanker withdrew his support, but charters had continued to grow and states were ...
“Of the people, by the people, and for the people” heralds the Texas Democratic Party. As stated in their 2008 party platform, “we believe democratic government exists to achieve as a community, state, and nation what we cannot achieve as individuals; and that it must not serve only a powerful few (cite).” They believe government should serve the public interest, not the special interests. The idea that government should provide for the welfare of all is their central philosophy. Texas Democrats extend this philosophy to the issue of public education.
Certain funds have to be spent on certain things. This explains why a district might have the funds to pave a parking lot, even though they don’t have money to pay teachers.
The federal government of 1980s attempted to reverse the trend of expansion and relaxed the monetary support of education. According to Christopher Cross (2010), the era of Reagan and George H. W. Bush was marked by “grants consolidation, more decision making at the state level, and extensive use of the federal bully pulpit” (p. 71). Reagan and congressional Republicans first passed the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act in 1981 to integrate and reduce the multitude of programs recently created. It returned authority to the states by granting more flexibility in how funds were to be distributed (Cross, 2010, p. 74). Even though the Reagan administration loosened the fiscal ties on education cutting federal funding by 30%, it relentlessly
As colleges’ funds dry up, colleges must turn to the public to further support higher education. By raising state taxes, colleges can collect funds to help improve the school’s budgets. The state provides funds from the taxes for colleges to receive a certain amount for each student currently enrolled. All community and traditional four year colleges collect these funds in order to maintain the school’s budget. As reporter, Eric Kelderman states, “less than a third of colleges’ budget is based from state taxes”. The school’s budget is how colleges are able to provide academic support programs, an affordable intuition, and hire more counselors. Colleges must now depend on state taxes more than ever for public colleges. Without collecting more funds from state taxes, as author, Scott Carlson explains how Mr. Poshard explains to senators “our public universities are moving quickly toward becoming private universities…affordable only to those who have the economic wherewithal to them” (qtd. in.) Public colleges must be affordable to anyone who wishes to attend. If colleges lack to provide this to students, it can affect dropouts, a student’s ability focus, and cause stress. The problem of lack of funding is that colleges have insufficient funds. Therefore, the best possible solution for the problem of lack of funding would be increasing and collecting more funds from state taxes.
Public funding for education comes either directly from the provincial or territorial government through a mix of provincial transfers and local taxes collected by the local government through property taxes .The provincial and territorial taxes are revised yearly to provide the grant structure that sets the level of funding for each school board based on factors, such as the number of students, special needs, and location. In 1977, the provincial government of Ontario developed a funding formula for education in order to make education more equitable across the province, and since then there have adjustments made to the formula but the basic structure of the formula remains the same. Furthermore, the school