January 19, 2012
Peggy Venable

As school districts across the Texas commit to use our tax dollars to sue the state for still more of our tax dollars, citizens of the Lone Star State deserve the facts.

Texas has over 8,000 public schools and almost 5 million students in those schools. Our schools employ over a half million people. We spend an average of around $10,000 per student. According to the Texas Bond Review Board, independent school districts (ISD’s) are over $108 billion in debt.

January 22-28 is national School Choice Week.

This week presents an opportunity to step back and assess just how we are doing educating our kids in Texas and across the country.

According to the latest snapshot on the Texas Education Agency website, of the 63% of the class of 2009 who took college admissions tests, 27% tested at or above criterion.

Texas is not alone. Twelve percent of the nation’s schools are deemed dropout factories. We are losing generations to a failing system, representing both a human and fiscal tragedy. Dropouts represent a large portion of the unemployed and have poor job prospects.

Education may well be the civil rights issue of our time, as minorities and low income students are predominantly assigned to low-performing schools. Of the industrialized nations, the US is at or near the bottom of student performance. Yet of the 28 industrialized states, only Switzerland spends more per pupil on education than the US.

With the focus on education spending, it is appropriate to consider where those education dollars are going. Most taxpayers are shocked to learn that on average, only half of the education dollars are spent on instruction (under $5,000). And the teacher-to-non teacher ratio in Texas schools is one-to-one.

These statistics are shocking to most Texans. I travel the state and speak to groups weekly and use data obtained from the state and put on a website for the Red Apple Project. Texans can find their own school district listed alphabetically and review how their own ISD is spending their money as well as student performance.

What will they find? Our current monopoly education system is not efficient.

That should surprise no one. The history of economics proves that absence of competition makes the system inherently inefficient.

We would not allow government to tell us where we must live or purchase our groceries based on our zip code. Why do we continue to allow government to direct our children to the school they must attend, based on their zip code? Educational opportunities must not continue to be limited by zip code and family income.

Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support school choice. It is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. It is a kids issue.

Texas is behind the curve as 17 States have some form of school choice.

We have a tremendous opportunity to change the lives of millions of young Texans by providing their parents with an opportunity to direct their children’s education. Parents should be able to send their children to the school where they believe their children have the greatest opportunity to learn.

The education community is powerful in numbers and in utilizing our tax dollars to maintain the status quo. If all employees in Texas ISD’s were employed by a private company, it would be the fifth largest privately held company in the world.

But our education system is not be a jobs program. We need more good teachers and fewer administrators. It’s time we stop catering to the bureaucracy and start focusing on the kids.

Instead of funding bureaucracies and buildings, we should fund education. Allowing our education dollars to follow the child to the school parents select is reasonable and long overdue.

It is time we demand educational freedom and justice for all.