A Reader Writes... (Texas School FInance Situation - Part 1)

In response to the 3/24/2011 post, “Texas School Finance Situation,” a LYS Principal writes:

Sean,

Thanks for putting your thoughts down on paper for us. I've been wondering what would be your read on the finance mess. Thanks for recognizing what Cypress-Fairbanks has done. By the way, I saw your tweet about Lee and Hairgrove. Duryea was also recognized as a National Distinguished Title I school today. I don't know if you consider us an LYS school or not, but I know I learned a lot from you and Dr. Jim Davis in your work with us last year.

SC Response

There is no question that Duryea is a LYS School. I hope you saw that I corrected the announcement oversight later on. That’s the liability of Twitter (and social media in general), though you are getting breaking news, you aren’t getting all the news and all the facts aren’t 100% accurate. However, we were able to share the success of Duryea (by name) and all the LYS schools, as a group, with the U.S. Department of Education. Their primary interest - why did the LYS schools have an increase in commended performance levels when the state, as a whole, experienced a decline.

As for the finance issue, what we are witnessing is the intersection of political ambition, an anti-public school agenda, bad policy and voter apathy. This train wreck has been a long time coming. The only reason why we didn’t feel this pain two years ago is that the governor and the legislature were able to hide the severity of their screw-up by using federal stimulus dollars. Interestingly, these are the same stimulus dollars that they claim to be the source of our nation’s ills. The hypocrisy of it all turns my stomach. And for the life of me, I can’t understand how anyone can reconcile protecting the unborn while at the same time systematically dismantling the protections provided for their born siblings? At what point does the future of a child no longer remain important? I know – it must be age 4. That’s when children should be ready to go to work and quit being a burden to society instead of perpetuating the welfare state by attending Pre-K. But I digress.

Keep pushing the envelope and as always, if you need us we are just a phone call away.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

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