In her opinion, Justice Guzman referenced a quote from Frederick Douglass,“ It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” I could not agree more. A recent report issued by the U. S. Department of Education found that Texas spending on prisons and jails is the highest in the nation and has grown almost five times faster than the state’ s rate of spending growth on elementary and secondary education over the past three decades( Texas Tribune, July 14, 2016). Have we misplaced our values?

The 2014 U. S. Census data ranks Texas 29th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in the percentage of adult population 25 years and older with a Bachelor’ s degree and 50th in the nation in the overall percentage of the adult population who have a high school diploma( U. S. Census Bureau, 2014 American Community Survey). The statistics are very sobering and, frankly, embarrassing.

The problems of poverty are compounded for those children living in families with limited education and household income. As those of us supporting students understand, the problem becomes a vicious cycle which is difficult at best to break. I know that things are bigger in Texas, but shouldn’ t our attentions be focused on providing more opportunities and resources to ensure that the students in Texas achieve the highest completion rates rather than some of the lowest?

One of the things which I enjoy most about school finance and operations professionals is that we are a solution-oriented group. Even before the school finance opinion was issued many Superintendents and school business officials had begun working on updates to the current school finance formula to share in the upcoming legislative session.

Unfortunately, as has happened in the past, it appears that the school community cannot reach consensus as to how to best address the

TASBO. ORG

funding needs of such a diverse and growing state. I fear the school community will be handed a“ solution” by our elected officials that places yet another bandage on top of past bandages and provides no meaningful change if we are unable to reach consensus.

One of the things which I enjoy most about school finance and operations professionals is that we are a solution-oriented group.

The inability to find meaningful change is not limited to our state legislature. The problems of government are many and it is difficult to implement meaningful change at all levels- particularly when a proposed solution may require additional funds or a radical change in philosophy.

Representatives from TASBO recently attended a Joint Advocacy Legislative Conference in Washington, D. C. to meet with our elected officials on important issues impacting IDEA and ESEA funds. While in Washington, TASBO attendees had the opportunity to educate elected officials from Texas alongside our colleagues from the Texas Retired Teachers Association( TRTA) in an effort to modify the current provision of the Windfall Elimination Provision which impacts all public school employees in Texas.

House Bill 711, Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act, as proposed by U. S. Representative Brady from Houston would have partially restored social security benefits to participants in TRS and helped to improve teacher retention that is a growing problem as school districts across the country are facing instructional staffing issues for the 2016-17 school year.

Unfortunately, the hearing for the bill was postponed indefinitely due to a disagreement with members of public pension funds which would have been impacted negatively by the bill’ s language. Once again, well intentioned change which benefitted educators in fifteen states, including Texas, was not possible because of competing interests and a desire to hold onto the past.

I recently read a blog post by Dr. Jim Jackson about de-accumulating

continued on page 6

FROM THE DIRECTOR

TRACY GINSBURG, ED. D.

TASBO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

5