Annotation from SA Charter Moms: We are proud to share guest posts from hallmonitor covering San Antonio'due south public schools.

[Hall Monitor] Texas School Finance Commission: Rough Equity | San Antonio Charter Moms

The March seven hearings before the Texas Commission on Public School Finance were basically the equivalent of me going to New York Fashion Week. A parade of amazing and beautiful things that I can't afford.

I recall my frustration was shared by commission member Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Humble). At the end of the meeting, Huberty praised the initiatives laid out by presenters every bit amazing opportunities for a what equates to a handful of Texas students. Right now, students in those districts who can court philanthropy, shift money, or win grants are benefitting from opportunities that aren't available to students in other districts. Fifty-fifty those currently leading the state in innovation—thanks to budgets held together largely by chewing gum and duct tape—like Dallas ISD are looking at a deficit in the tens of millions of dollars if state funding doesn't change.

"At some point I'm hopeful that in 1 of these meetings nosotros're going to start talking about how we're going to pay for this," Huberty said.

The answer to this frustration but wasn't on the calendar . . . however.

What was on the calendar? More innovative initiatives made possible by a patchwork philanthropy and sheer muscle from superintendents, principals, and teachers.

The focus of the hearing was efficiency, moving students (specially low income students, but all students, really) toward mastery when they have years of footing to brand up. Ultimately, moving students quickly toward higher earning potential is a cost saver, and a money maker for the country. Unfortunately for Texas, it'due south going to require some investment.

Classroom-Level Efficiency

In the classroom, Amy Dodson of Cisco ISD and Karen Hickman of Pasadena ISD spoke about blended learning, the use of engineering to help kids acquire at their own footstep.

The technology should non supplant the teacher, committee fellow member Rep. Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio) confirmed, merely "enhance" their ability to work with students 1 on one to grab up or accelerate.

That is the case, co-ordinate to Hickson and Dodson. While students are working on computers, teachers are working i-on-one or in small groups. Students who are far ahead will stop what they are doing to assist their classmates.

(Notation: I've actually seen this in activity in Harlandale ISD, where students use Reasoning Mind software in their math class. It works exactly like the educators described in their testimonies.)

"This model for educating our students has the potential to revolutionize our educational system," Hickman said. Teachers and students dearest it, equally both feel more empowered and less constrained past a curriculum schedule.

"In light of the more bang for your cadet connotation, what's the investment like to do this?" Bernal asked.

The financial "heavy lift" of getting a blended learning program going—the tech and the training— came from the Chan-Zuckerberg Foundation in Pasadena ISD, Hickson said.

In Cisco ISD, the composite learning initiative could make up for those startup costs, only the state volition need to allow the district to exist released from some required spending, and give information technology breathing room to introduce.

"Requite united states permission to try new things. Give the states permission to struggle and to have ups and downs," Dodson said.

Campus-Level Efficiency

At the campus level, efficiency can exist achieved through the early on higher model, according to Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD Superintendent Danny Rex.

When the state's higher teaching analogous board set up the goal known every bit lx×30, that by 2030 Texas college graduation rate would be at least threescore percent, King knew that his district would have a harder time than well-nigh hit that goal. He was having a hard time getting student to graduate high school, let alone college.

When the district embraced the early on college model, they saw drop out rates go from twice the state boilerplate, to one-half the state boilerplate, King reported. They partnered with local higher ed providers, created workforce training facilities, and paid attention to the needs of private students. The more relevant loftier schoolhouse became to their future, the more students stuck with it.

The commune too began to support students all the way through higher . . . fifty-fifty if it took longer than six years to achieve their degree. Many of them work and raise families as they go through college, but Male monarch said that even with this reality, more are choosing to pursue a degree than to cease at professional certification.

For those supporting family or climbing out of poverty, certifications tin allow them to earn college wages earlier, commission member Sen. Paul Bettencourt(R-Houston) pointed out. "Time is money in these situations."

The gratuitous college credits during high school also shave expensive time off their degree plan, Male monarch added.

"Dr. King is more than of the exception than the rule," commission member Todd Williams said. The state has not provided nearly the funding required to attain the 60×thirty goal. The Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD plan is fueled by gratuitous tuition agreements with community colleges.

The Dallas County Community Higher system, through partnership with Dallas County Hope, has seen similar success through a strong partnership with the school districts. They focus on the "mitt-offs" betwixt heart school and high school, betwixt high school and higher, and between two-year and 4-year institutions. Free tuition for loftier school students is part of the deal.

Not everyone has that luxury, San Antonio ISD superintendent Pedro Martinez said at the offset of his testimony. SAISD'southward early on college high schools—Travis, Brackenridge, and St. Philip's—currently pay $1 1000000 to the Alamo Colleges for courses taken by loftier school students.

District-Level Efficiency

Opening upwardly the commune-level efficiency portion of the testimony, Martinez walked the commission through the commune overhaul to comprehend the Organization of Keen Schools model. Open enrollment schools—many of which have partnerships with universities, nonprofits, and charter schools—have brought options to the district for the first time.

"This is the first time [the community has] ever seen San Antonio as 1 of those districts with choices," Martinez said.

Every program has to be the "top of the top" Martinez said, highlighting the commune's partnerships with the Culinary Found of America. Even the culinary programme needed to be elevated to open up new possibilities for students, he said. The push for excellence is not virtually prestige, Martinez explained, but efficiency, in fact. Pushing students toward universities with low graduation rates is encouraging them to waste material their money.

"The reason we push tier i [universities] and then much is considering they have 70, 80 percent graduation rates," Martinez said, "It'south a ameliorate investment."

These efforts take built momentum, but they accept been largely jump started by philanthropy and intense fundraising in the customs, Martinez said. Now, he feels the district has to go on to deliver.

"There is a tremendous amount of hope in this community that nosotros've never seen before," Bernal, who lives in SAISD, said.

Midland ISD is likewise pursuing the Organisation of Corking Schools model, and confirmed that the results accept been positive for the community, allowing them to serve students in a way that is more tailored to students, proactive with new and high-need families, and in the end a better fit for the relatively isolated Westward Texas district where school choice is not every bit robust as it is in the big, urban centers.

Within those urban lease networks, the committee learned, there are opportunities for greater efficiency. Idea Public Schools, a charter network from the Rio Grande Valley, is experiencing explosive growth in San Antonio, and soon will move into El Paso, CEO Tom Torkelson told the commission.

Nothing moves students more than efficiently than neat teachers and principals implementing rigorous curriculum, Torkelson said. He would see a realignment of the instructor pay structure to prioritize high levels of achievement for low income kids or English Language Learners. IDEA currently recruits teachers from the top of the class at elevation universities, and pays them according to their efficacy. Torkelson explained, "Let's observe a fashion where people who could cull medicine, who could choose engineering, who could choose accounting, cull education."

Refer to the previous commission hearings to learn most the economical feasibility of highly paid teachers under current finance structures.

In the end, every testimony of a highly constructive strategy faced the same question from the commission: How much did it price up front? How much to get it started?

The universal reply: More than than nosotros currently get from the country.

Originally published equally "Texas Commission on Public Schoolhouse Finance: Time Is Money . . . and Some Kids Don't Have Either,"Hall Monitor, March 8, 2018

Read more:

  • "[Hall Monitor] Texas School Finance Commission: Yous Get the Teacher You lot Pay For,"San Antonio Charter Moms, March xvi, 2018
  • "[Hall Monitor] Texas Schoolhouse Finance Committee: Rough Equity,"San Antonio Charter Moms, March 15, 2018