A Crisis in Education

We've heard proponents of drastic spending cuts to our state's education system justify these cuts by using the old adage that "throwing money at the problem won't help anything" and that "we need to spend smarter."

Ok, fine.  Yes, yes yes, you are correct.  Throwing money at anything without a plan of improvement will fail.  That's a cop out that doesn't require much thought or effort, and I'm tired of hearing it.   

I live in the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District.  In the few years prior to 2010, CFISD was able to cut $70 million out of their budget.  In 2010, an additional $10 million was cut.  The DARE program, a popular program to educate students about the dangers of drug use, was eliminated.  Bus service for students within 2 miles of each school was eliminated.  Secondary teachers were given six classes a day to teach (prior to this it was five).  Textbooks, paper, school supplies, teacher budgets, field trips - everything - was reduced to painful levels.  Cy-Fair is the third largest district in Texas, but receive the least amount of state funding of it's surrounding districts. 

In this time, the district has grown to over 106,000 students.  In 2004, there were 79,000.   The schools the district planned to compensate for the surge in student population have been delayed*.  This results in larger classrooms, crowded schools, and students packed into trailers on campus for years on end. 

These are not the cuts the current state legislature is proposing.  These are the cuts that have already taken place.   Dr. David Anthony, superintendent, sent a letter to the district's key communicators addressing not only the cuts that would have to be implemented but discussing the reason for the districts insolvency.   Here are the points that I found most compelling and would like to share:

• Public education budget is $4.5 billion less than last year's budget;

• Provides no funding for student growth;

• Does not compensate for the decline in property values (which is the base for the current school finance system); and,
  

• Results in a decrease in funding for public education of approximately $10 billion.

The state's $20-something billion revenue shortfall is being blamed on the economy, which is partially true. No one can argue that the financial condition of our country and our great state is in a state of recession.

However, the press continues to miss the point that in 2005, the legislature compressed the property tax rate for school districts from $1.50 to $1.00, which was a noble goal. Nonetheless, the cost of making that decision was approximately $14 billion per biennium. To fund this . . .tax rate, the legislature approved the . . ."margins" tax, which was supposed to generate billions of dollars in excess of the $14 billion needed to "buy down" the property tax rate. The problem, however, is that the "margins tax" did not generate more than $9 billion the first biennium and the numbers for the current biennium are between $6 and $7 billion.

The structural deficit, created by the 79th Texas Legislature in buying a dream that they could
not afford, has exacerbated the negative financial condition of the state of Texas and specifically the public education funding system.

"Hold Harmless" is a term applied to strategies that prevent a district from losing funds when a new finance system is approved by the legislature.

There are a number of hold harmless clauses in the current finance system; almost $5 billion worth.

Based on an analysis of Rep. Pitts' budget proposal for public education, the following scenarios are in play for CFISD.

• If the "Hold Harmless clauses" are removed, then CFISD would lose $66 million PER YEAR during the two years of the biennium.

• If the "Hold Harmless clauses" are NOT removed, then CFISD would lose $116 million PER YEAR during the two years of the biennium.

• If the budget reductions are just a straight 15% across the board, then CFISD would lose approximately $100 million PER YEAR during the two years of the biennium.

I want to reiterate that I believe that this is the worst-case scenario and will be changed significantly. However, I am concerned that even if the financial impact on CFISD is reduced by 50 percent, we will still be in very difficult straits! If we were to lose $66 million per year, that would mean that more than 1,300 employees earning an average of $50,000 per year would lose their jobs.

We are in a really difficult place, as tax payers and as parents.  We have representatives that are bent on cutting education regardless of what the constituents think.  I do not feel that, even if Dan Patrick and Gary Elkins were to receive 100,000 phone calls and letters, that they would change their position and use the Rainy Day fund.  It does not serve their agenda.  But it is what it is.  We're stuck with them for a couple years and we have to fight for every teacher, textbook, and program we possibly can because by the time this financial crisis is over, today's children will have already been failed.

I call on each of you to contact your representative, and let them know what your expectations are.  Do you volunteer your time already?  Tell them.  Would you be ok with paying extra taxes?  Would you be ok with them using the rainy day fund or cutting other essentials out of the state budget?  Would you be willing to completely cut out athletic funding and require involved students and booster clubs to fund 100% of the costs to run those programs?   Are there other services in the state budget that you believe can be cut instead?

There simply has to be a way to find cuts in other areas of the state budget.  Our education system can not afford any more cuts.

We are the worst state in graduation rates.  We fall in the bottom of almost every education category that is measured.   No, throwing money at the problem won't fix it.  But will cutting beyond bare bones improve it?   Will cutting beyond bare bones even be survivable?


*Elementary #53 in the Bridgeland community, Elementary #54 on a multi-school site on FM 529, and Elementary #55 on a future site west of Barker Cypress Road were originally scheduled to open in 2010-11, but have been respectively delayed until 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16. Elementary #56, Elementary #57, and Elementary #58, all planned to be built on sites located west of Barker Cypress, were scheduled to open in 2011-12, but have been respectively delayed until 2015-16, 2017-18, and 2017-18. source.