So What Was That About School Funding?

Based on the last part of my previous post, this headline from the Houston Chronicle should come as no surprise:

Next Governor Likely to Face School Finance Problems

This is the critical issue facing the state, as it has since 1993, 1997, 2003, and obviously today. But when a school district like Plano is facing such serious shortfalls, it's surprising when the governor won't admit that there's a problem.

TEX EDUCATION, 2010

An interesting post by Paul Burka regarding the two Republican gubernatorial candidates in Texas. The gist is that Senator Hutchison claims that Governor Perry has let public education founder during his record-setting time in office. Fine by me.

But Burka points out that the senator's own statements on what she would do to solve the problem are woefully lacking, writing:

Here’s what’s missing from the Hutchison battle strategy: She doesn’t hesitate to say that Perry is doing some important things badly, and she doesn’t hesitate to say that she has done good things in the Senate. What she doesn’t say is what she will do when she is elected governor. Voters have no more clue what the top priorities of a Hutchison governorship might be, or how she might carry them out, than they did when she first announced that she was running a year ago.

This is one of the major problems with education--it's always there as a whipping boy for the next cycle, but progress is painfully slow. My sense is that until the state contributes more tax dollars to the schools instead of relying so much on property taxes and recapture, we won't make serious headway.

And There It Is . . .

The DMN weighs in on the editorial page. I'd call it "qualified" support.

RE: Tom Leppert

No editorial today, as I had predicted in my previous post (it's coming though, just you wait), but there is this story in the metro section that examines how previous mayors have interacted with DISD. Summary: Laura Miller was conservatively prudent; Ron Kirk was ready to throw the bums out.

Tom Leppert's Grade Expectations

When Tom Leppert was elected mayor of Dallas in June 2007, one of his platforms was improving DISD. No one doubted his commitment to education, but journalists asked him the question they should have asked him: What does being mayor of Dallas have to do with running the schools? He correctly pointed out that, according to the charter, absolutely nothing. But he also correctly pointed out that the mayor should shine a light on education, offer support, and suggest ways to improve. Public School Dad agreed with all of this.

So today the Dallas Morning News runs a front-pager above the fold called "Leppert Looks at Taking Over DISD." The mayor has spoken to powerful (and popular) state senator Royce West about possible legislation that could make such a change happen, though my sense it that the more likely scenario for takeover would come from the TEA, which would probably appoint a career educator as conservator instead of the mayor. Still, here's the simple play for Leppert: He cares about the schools. He has proven himself to be an effective and popular mayor. And DISD has proven itself to be--how do you say?--"not effective" and "not popular." For a mayor with larger political aspirations, running this proposal up the flag pole makes perfect sense. And given that city manager Mary Suhm seemed surprised to hear this news confirms that. Let's face it--any pressure that the school board and the superintendent feel about their performance is a positive. After all, these are the fine folks who brought you this.

Two small additional points. One, the News didn't do a great job of explaining the mechanics of such a takeover process, either via the Lege or TEA. The sidebar on other major cities that have had their districts taken over the mayor's office--Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C.--is helpful, but no mention of Texas cities would leave the reader with the assumption that this has never happened in our state. That should have been in the story.

Second, you gotta love this bit from trustee Leigh Ann Ellis:

"If this is true, I think it's an underhanded kind of slimy tactic. The mayor needs to just stay in his kingdom down there." Ellis said improvements are being made in the district, but it can't be fixed overnight.

By "overnight," I guess she's measuring that in geologic time. Finally, what are the odds that the DMN editorial page will weigh in on this positively tomorrow? I'd bet a six-pack (of Dr Pepper).

One Needle in a Very Large Haystack

There's a certain irony that on the day the wags at the Wall Street Journal published a story titled "Why Everything Is Bigger in Texas," about the number of past and present players from the Texas Rangers who have been implicated in the growing steroid scandal, another story ran on the front page of the Houston Chronicle. This one was headlined "State's High School Steroid Testing Yields 7 Positive Results."

Texas has embarked on the country's most aggressive testing program for high school athletes, and here are the latest numbers: Out of 29,000 tests, only 11 have been positive. Now, even I hadn't been drug-free in high school, I could figure out that that's only 0.037 percent. And let's be honest, I would have expected that at least 0.037 percent would have been flagged for ingesting a combination of Dr Pepper, heroin, diesel fuel, and Monster Energy drink.

So my question is this: Assuming the numbers are correct, is the program really worth $6 million a year? And if the testing is flawed, why are we paying the National Center for Drug Free Sport that much money in the first place?

NEXT MEETING'S AGENDA: LET'S BE TRUSTEES FOREVER!

Yesterday the Dallas School Board voted 7-2 to extend their terms from three years to four. The two members who voted against the measure, Carla Ranger and Adam Medrano, argued that the measure might be illegal and came at a terrible time, respectively. Both are correct.

Though the argument in favor of the idea is based on saving the city money--elections cost about $270,000 a year--the poison pill here is that the measure takes effect immediately. That means three trustees won't face reelection next May at time when the district is facing perhaps its worst crisis since the desegregation order.

Had the trustees realized what a poor message this sends to the constituents, they wouldn't have gone down this path at this time. It reminds me of when then-Dallas mayor Laura Miller pushed the strong-mayor initiative in 2005. Regardless of how I felt about that issue, I admired her for insisting that if the changes were approved by the voters (which they weren't), they wouldn't take effect until after she left office. That's the kind of transparency the trustees should have strived for.

Who's in the PTA?

Not quite as many parents as I might have expected, but then I'm always amazed at how low voter turnout is as well. Here are the percentages of parents who have joined PTA, broken down by grade:

Pre-K: 48%
K: 60%
1st: 48%
2nd: 56%
3rd: 29%
4th: 37%
5th: 31%

I would have guessed that Kindergarten would have the highest (pre-K feels slightly off the bubble to me) and that 5th grade would be the lowest. There's certainly a downward trend, but the real news is the drop from 2nd grade to 3rd grade. If I were PTA president, I would try to figure out the disconnect there: lower percentages for those kids when they started K, higher number of new students in that grade, or perhaps different PTA leadership when those students started. It will be interesting to note how current class of Kindergarten tracks as they make their way to 5th grade.

More Conversations With a Kindergartener

Setting: The school's playground
Time: 3:15 p.m., a few minutes after the final bell

Enter Public School Dad and the kiddo. She climbs a ladder and scrambles to the top of a slide. PSD stands below her but is almost at eye-level with her feet. The previous evening, she had a super soccer game, and by super, we mean she scored five goals (and not just cheap little goals where she barely had to kick the ball because it was right on the line; these were goals that she led breakaways and outran the other team and booted the ball from AT LEAST eight feet away and zipped it into the net the way a fastball thumps a catcher's mitt . . . you get the idea).

PSD: So, did you tell your teacher about your soccer game last night?

Kiddo: No. [her voice is calm; she's sizing up the slide]

PSD: Well, did you tell your friends?

Kiddo: No.

PSD: Why not?

Kiddo: Because it's a secret.

PSD: Grandmom thinks you don't want to brag, but it's not bragging. I mean, not really.

Kiddo: Well, there's this girl in class, and she told everybody that she's a basketball player, and now everyone wants her autograph.

PSD: Uh-huh. [clearly puzzled]

Kiddo: Daddy, I just don't want everyone asking me for my autograph all the time.

Dial "M" for Moving Violation

First of all, shame on the dear reader who saw this headline and that picture and said to herself, "Public School Dad got a ticket today!" (You know who you are, k1p2.) One need only ask Public School Mom to learn that I have not received a ticket from Johnny Law in a couple of years; unfortunately, though, during that stretch I received two in three days.

Nay, that is not the reason for this post. Instead, I thought I'd combine compelling photojournalism (thank you Canon!) with my trademark blend of reporting and opinion.

Last year in the Dallas area, Highland Park and University Park started the trend of banning cell phones in school zones, which seems reasonable enough because it only affects drivers, not folks riding in the back of limos (buh-dum-bump, rimshot). Then Dallas, Duncanville, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Rowlett, Wylie, and Sachse followed suit. The Garland city council was the only outlier, deciding in July not to enact a ban. Proponents say it's a sensible way to help help protect students; opponents say that it's unnecessary regulation and a solution in search of a problem.

So what do I think? I'm glad you asked.

There's apparently no epidemic of students being run down by jibber-jabbering drivers. I get that. On the other hand, it's no surprise that drivers talking on cellphones can be less attentive and have shorter reaction times--just ask the woman in the Chevy Tahoe I honked at today as she veered into my lane. So how do you balance it? As I learned from my favorite political science professor, the debate comes down to freedom (I can talk on my phone whenever I want) versus order (the community limits individual choice for the greater good).

From a practical standpoint, this is a minor inconvenience with a potentially high pay-off. If one student is saved from an accident because drivers aren't allowed to talk for a brief period of time in a marked school zone, I think the benefit outweighs the cost. Even if critics say that there's no evidence that talking is a problem, I don't see the harm in an ordinance whose ultimate goal is to remind drivers to slow down and pay attention in a school zone.

And from a political standpoint, what elected official is going to vote against these proposals and risk an attack from a future opponent that she "doesn't care about the safety of the kids"? When Garland tabled the idea, the council did so unanimously. There was a reason for that: each member provided cover for the other. Besides, it's not as if we live in New York: in that state, you are never allowed to use a handheld device while driving. If your spouse tries to talk you into moving there, offer that as reason enough to stay in Texas.

Where Do the Kids Go?

According to the Morning News, the TEA has advised districts not to enroll children whose families are in shelters until they know how long the kids will stay. But as of this morning, Grand Prairie had already enrolled five students, Mesquite one, and Fort Worth appeared ready to take in 148.

For parents who evacuated, they can check the status of their home districts here.

School Closings Along the Coast

I spoke to a friend of mine this morning in Houston to ask about Ike and how her family was getting along. The short answer is that they were spared the worst and had minimal damage in their neighborhood. Her son is a senior in the Houston ISD, and she said that he would hopefully be able to go back on Thursday. I checked the Chronicle's Web site and found this list of school closings. Ominously, here are a few details to note:

Goodrich ISD is closed until further notice

Hardin ISD is closed until further notice.

Pearland ISD is closed until further notice.

Hitchcock ISD is closed until further notice

La Marque ISD is closed Monday and until further notice.

Clear Creek ISD is closed all week and until further notice.

The Year in Review

It's hard to believe that we're starting the fourth week of this thing they call kindergarten. Driving in this morning, the kiddo told me, "I love going to school!" When I asked her why in that peppy parental voice of affirmation and encouragement, she told me, "Because of my friends."

It's true: We named all of her friends, and it turns out that she now has more than I have. Way to go, kid!

Overall, I'd say things have been a great success. She's waking up well, and she's not getting upset when we drop her off. Every afternoon that we pick her up--well, almost every afternoon--she's excited about her day. And she seems to be making a name for herself. When the teacher had to take a sick student to the nurse's office, she asked her to watch the class. (I'm letting that sink in; okay I'm ready to go on.) She got to sit in the chair up front, and when Public School Mom and I asked her what she had to do, she said, "When any of the kids sat up during quiet time, I told them, 'Heads down!'" Yeah, this is working out great. One thing she didn't even think to tell us is that the teacher lets her take the attendance folder down to the office as well. I think she's really fitting in.

At this age, I'm interested in her academics of course. But I'm more concerned about how she's treated and how she's treating others. Based on that, she's found the perfect school, I think.

The Playlist

It shouldn't amaze me that my daughter uses the word "iPod," but it does. Anyway, here are the three songs she specifically requested--in order!--on the way to school today.

"Surfin' USA," by the Beach Boys

"Fly," by Sugar Ray

The theme from Indiana Jones

My question is, does this mean I'm raising a well-rounded kid? Or have I already lost complete control?

I Am Also Not Funnier Than . . .

Bruce Handy, who has drawn up this "registration form" for the new school year.