EOC's and the State Budget Crisis: A Perfect Storm

Gov. Perry has a TV ad out right now where the birds are singing and the butterflies are fluttering and he's smiling so big, taking credit for Texas' great economy . . . when in the land of reality, things are a lot more grim.

There's a perfect storm in science education, as one example. Every Texas high school had to implement a fourth year of science course on their campus for all twelfth graders this year. We have new TEKS, some of which have no basis in science. We have no new textbooks. Proclamation 2012, which would have provided money for new K-12 science textbooks was not adopted by the SBOE this year. And, we have End of Course exams starting next year, with most freshman needing to pass EOC's in Biology, Algebra I, English I and World Geography, as a requirement of graduation.

But we have, at a minimum, an $18 million budget deficit  in the Great State, and the Texas Education Agency is recommending cutting $260 million in education programs including:

• eliminating money for new science labs (which are needed for the 4th year of science requirement)
• teacher mentoring
• teacher professional development
• new textbooks

How does cutting any of these key areas help get kids graduated under the new high stakes End of Course program?

If we are serious about graduating students from Texas public schools, we are going to have to find the money somewhere to ensure we have the trained personnel, facilities and instructional materials to make that happen.

This is the fundamental goal of our public school system - to provide an equitable, quality education to all Texas students. These kids don't vote and it's the responsibility of adults to ensure our education system serves them well.