The Texas' Budget & Educational Results

"Our leaders must remember that education doesn't begin with some isolated bureaucrat in Washington. It doesn't even begin with state or local officials. Education begins in the home, where it is a parental right and responsibility."

~ Ronald Reagan ~

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan echoed the words that set the tone for educational success. A culture built upon responsibility and values that speak to parental involvement and educational ownership reveal the basis of an academic system that works.

Furthermore, in his article “Morning Bell: Losing the Future,” Conn Carroll relays feedback from Lindsey Burke on President Obama’s State of the Union address in the area of education, stating that “. . .the Obama administration does not believe the federal role in education is fundamentally flawed.” In essence, Burke highlights the dubious result of centralized control in education indicating that we need a “. . . serious discussion of school choice” (Carroll). Parental responsibility, student ownership in their educational experience where they take their studies seriously, school choice, and an educational system that requires good teachers and reduces waste, will make education better.

On March 23, Texas Senator Florence Shapiro presented during the American for Prosperity—Texas meeting for bloggers on Texas’ approach to education in the budget. She stated that “funding public education is the perfect storm” as political officials hear feedback from their constituents who are both public school staff as well as taxpayers. Currently, within Texas, public education is at the forefront of many individual’s minds, as limited resources require representatives to prioritize what is important and cut what is not.

Senator Shapiro relayed that the classroom is a number one priority in the Texas budget, keeping the best and brightest teachers in the classroom. For every one teacher, however, there is one administrator, which relates to $9 billion in non-classroom positions. Senator Shapiro expressed the need to cut administrators and not teachers. In return, she emphasized that this approach would reduce bloated education and bureaucracy in education. Instead, Senator Shapiro relayed that Texas needs greater productivity through innovation.

After Senator Shapiro’s remarks, I had the opportunity to ask her the following question:

· How can young adults mobilize and help students in the classroom and assist in reducing budget costs? Going into hard to teach areas, serving as mentors, helping in after school, and helping teachers in the classroom will provide students with role models and assists the teachers. If someone could organize this effort it would prove beneficial.

References

Carroll, Conn. “Morning Bell: Losing the Future.” The Heritage Foundation The Foundry.

http://blog.heritage.org/?p=50924 (accessed March 25, 2011).

Reagan, Ronald. “Remarks to the National Catholic Educational Association.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library. http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan-quotes-detail.aspx?tx=2062 (accessed March 25, 2011).