This is the resolution adopted by the Perrin-Whitt school district in Texas, where John Kuhn is superintendent. John is a fighter for children and a member of our honor roll as a champion of public education. He earns his spurs very day as he continues to inspire us.
WHEREAS, the State of Texas has established a system that funds public schools at levels that differ greatly from school district to school district, and
WHEREAS, the State holds all schools—whether high-funded or low-funded—to the exact same academic standards in its academic accountability system, and
WHEREAS, the State has chosen to let citizens mistakenly believe its accountability system compares apples to apples, and
WHEREAS, the State’s accountability system fails to forthrightly acknowledge the funding differences that exist between the school systems it purports to compare, and
WHEREAS, the Texas school accountability system effectively implies that certain schools are inferior academic institutions, and that this is due solely to the inferior practices of educators and not in any way related to state-created funding disadvantages, and
WHEREAS, lower-funded schools are forced by scarcity to invest less than their peers in student supports, teacher salaries, class size reduction, instructional materials, extracurricular programs, maintenance of facilities, and other investments that positively impact student learning, and
WHEREAS, ancient wisdom holds that “to whom much has been given, much should be required,” and
WHEREAS, schools which are higher-funded in Texas tend to achieve, on average, better passing rates on the State’s academic tests and higher state-assigned performance ratings than lower-funded schools, and
WHEREAS, students who reside in one school district are of no less value to their parents or their Maker than students who reside in another school district, and are no less deserving of nor less in need of a quality education, and
WHEREAS, as a direct consequence of its rigid academic accountability for local teachers and its lax accountability for state leaders when it comes to funding efficacy, the government of Texas has evaded true accountability for adequately and uniformly supporting the children of Texas who learn in diverse parts of this land, and
WHEREAS, Texas citizens deserve not only an honest accounting of schools’ performance but also an honest accounting of the Legislature’s fiscal support of schools as they strive toward the state’s own goals; therefore be it
RESOLVED that the ___________________ Board of Trustees calls on the Texas Legislature to tie the school funding system in Texas directly and transparently to the school accountability system in Texas; and, in so doing, to develop a shared accountability system that holds funders no less accountable for their actions than it holds teachers and students for theirs; and which does not unreasonably demand that schools with scarcer resources achieve identical levels of academic performance as schools blessed by this state with disproportionate funding.
PASSED AND APPROVED on this _____ day of _____________________, 2013.
By: ____________________ By: _____________________
Name: Name:
Title: Title:
By: ____________________ By: _____________________
Name:Name:
Title: Title:
By: ____________________ By: _____________________
Name: Name:
Title: Title:
By: ____________________
Name:
Title:
I like it, but can we drop the religious stuff?
Perry/Dewhurst/Patrick talk about “school choice” being the “civil rights issue of our day.” They want to fast track the closing of “unacceptable” schools and lift the cap on charters, they say, because a child’s education should not be determined by their zip codes. The data below expose their real agenda–and that is the destruction of Texas public schools through elaborate privatization schemes.
The following is a list of all the Texas charter schools that were rated “unacceptable” in 2011 (there were no ratings last year due to new STAAR tests). These schools constitute a larger percentage of the total charter schools than do the percentage of public schools rated as “unacceptable.”
Alpha Charter School. American Youthworks Charter School. Austin Discovery School. Azleway Charter School Willow Bend. Bay Area Charter Middle School. Bexar County Academy. Brazos School for Inquiry and Creativity. City Center Health Careers. Comquest Academy. Education Center at Little Elm. Educational Center International Academy. Mesquite Charter Academy. Gabriel Tafolla Academy. George I. Sanchez Charter High School San Antonio. Girls and Boys Preparatory Elementary Academy. Girls and Boys Preparatory High School Academy. Hampton Preparatory Middle Campus. Hampton Preparatory Primary Campus. Henry Ford Academy Alameda School. Wilmer Honors Academy. Preparatory Academy of Houston. Houston Can Academy Charter School. Houston Can Academy Hobby. Jamie’s House Charter School. KIPP Sunnyside High School Houston. Koinonia Community Learning Academy. Lighthouse Charter School. Metro Academy of Math and Science. Meyerpark Elementary. Orenda Charter/Gateway High School. Phoneix Charter School. Cesar Chavez Academy/Por Vida Academy. Corpus Christi Preparatory High School/Por Vida Academy. Por Vida Academy Charter High School. Radiance Academy of Learning. Reconciliation Academy. Richard Milburn Academy. San Antonio Can High School. San Antonio Preparatory Academy/Sendaro Academy. San Antonio Technology Academy. School of Excellence in Education. School of Science and Technology. Shekinah Radiance Academy. Shekinah Walzem Charter. Phoenix School/Southwest. Texas Virtual Academy of Southwest. Tekoa Academy of Accelerated Schools. Tekoa Academy of Accelerated Schools. Tekoa Academy of Accelerated Schools. Texas Empowerment Academy. The Varnett School–Northeast. Varnett Charter School. Vista del Futuro Charter School.
In 2011 there were 496 public school campuses rated “unacceptable.” That is 5.8% of the total of 8,526 campuses in Texas.
In 2011 there were 38 charter schools rated “unacceptable” or 7.9% of the total number of charters–482.
7.9% is 2.1%age points higher than 5.8%. Public schools, therefore, outperform charter schools!
In 2011 there were 34 AEA public school campuses rated “unacceptable.” That is 0.4% of the total.
In 2011 there were 16 of 3.3% of AEA charter school campuses rated “unacceptable.”
3.3% is 2.9%age points more than 0.4%. Again, public schools outperform the charters.
So, the Perry/Dewhurst/Patrick meme about wanting more charters to give parents choice is simply not the real agenda. We believe the real agenda is the elimination of public schools in Texas, and we ask everyone to join us in the fight against that. Preserving public education and funding it appropriately–adequately and equitably in all schools–is the REAL civil rights issue of our time.
John Kuhn is absolutely right! It is time to make the policymakers accountable.