In gangster movies, we’re all familiar with shady characters saying, “It’s a nice place you’ve got here. It would be a shame if something should happen to it.”
We accept it when we see that on the screen because it advances the plot. However, when it happens in real life, and our children’s education is threatened, we owe it to our kids to push back.
As a legislator, it’s my honor to advocate for the families who send their kids to public schools and the teachers who have devoted their lives to their education. That includes pushing for the right balance of school funding and accountability for the administrators who sign the checks. It also includes visibility into school finances, which is why I was frustrated to recently learn about Lubbock ISD’s surprise shortfall and their seemingly rushed proposal for handling it.
A scan of newspaper headlines in other Texas cities shows that school boards across the state (and nation) are talking about closing schools. Some districts began this conversation many months ago with a sober tone based upon the numbers. Others seemingly timed their announcements to coincide with early voting to stoke outrage that could affect choices on individual ballots.
That said, I do not doubt that LISD has a budget shortfall. Enrollment is on the decline because population densities are shifting. This matters because Texas bases funding on children in schools, not the buildings themselves.
As LISD shrinks, surrounding districts are growing in terms of enrollment and funding. At the same time, LISD is subject to a $3.6 million claw back from Medicaid because the federal government taketh away almost as enthusiastically as they giveth. Also, LISD (like all of us) is having to pay much more for goods and services than in years past because of rampant inflation.
In the progressive left’s spirit of letting no crisis go to waste, many are stirring the pot with political statements about school finance and school choice, urging parents to vote for Democrats based on false school finance fears. In choosing this path, those vocal advocates are obscuring the truth of what actually happened during the last legislative Session.
Last year, while I worked with my fellow legislators to increase funding, our schools and allow for school choice (without taking any money from local districts), a gang of education associations (such as the Texas Association of School Boards “TASB” and the Texas Association of School Administrators “TASA”), and their lobbyists (paid with your tax dollars) came at us in wave after wave of opposition. This powerful gang is used to getting its way, and has had way too much influence on Texas education policy for decades.
Tragically for Texas families, this gang consistently prioritizes the self-serving interests of their adult members ahead of our school children.
This came to a head during the fourth of the special sessions Gov. Greg Abbott called. During it, we debated House Bill 1, which I supported (you can read it yourself at Texas Legislature Online – 88(4) ).
Not only did HB1 provide LISD an additional $8,571,531 for the 2024-2025 school year, it also dedicated an additional $20,193,919 for the 2025-2026 school year and set that as the starting point for every future budget. Parents, students and their teachers would be delighted to know that the bill also eliminated the STAAR test.
While the school choice debate has been contentious, HB1’s approach was truly reasonable: it proposed educational savings accounts that would empower parents of the most vulnerable Texas students to seek the best education environment for their child. It did so by adding new money to the system so not a penny would come from a district’s budget. Pretty great, right?
HB 1 would have significantly increased funding for LISD and all school districts across the state, but the gang of education lobbyists pulled out all the stops to kill it. Does it bother you that your tax dollars were used to lobby AGAINST this bill and the additional school funding that went with it?
Setting aside any concern for student success, the gang of associations and their lobbyists let their fear of competition and the accountability that comes with it drive their aggressive opposition to HB1. With that bill now resting in the legislative graveyard, these taxpayer funded lobbyists are off spending their ill-gotten gains while the districts who hired them are struggling to make ends meet (or so they say).As a proud parent of children in Lubbock ISD schools, I understand some consolidation might be necessary because of the continued student population decrease (a 17% decline since 2017). However, threatening to close thriving, high-quality schools that are actually attracting families to the district will only compound the problem of declining student enrollment.If you care about your children and their friends in school, I hope you’ll share your concerns to members of the school board elected to represent you. It’s up to this community to push back on that mob-movie intimidation by the gang of education lobbyists, so we can find sensible solutions for finance and school choice next Session. Our children deserve nothing less.
Source https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/opinion/columns/2024/10/28/opinion-burrows-politics-at-play-in-timing-threat-of-school-closings/75897038007/
