Public Education

Public education has always been a hot issue; especially with the recent proposal for education budget cuts in Texas. Due to the future education budget cuts, legislators are now being stricter on having educators be accountable of their efforts of educating children. Using the school accountability rating, educators of schools rated “unacceptable” will have to give an explanation to their community. 

The Texas Education Agency will be publically releasing their annual accountability rating for Texas’ 1,000 school districts. These rating will categorize schools as being exemplary, recognized, acceptable, or unacceptable. This makes educators and the school accountable for their efforts in educating their students. Unacceptable rated schools will be labeled and the community can question the educator’s ability and efforts. These rating are making some school officials nervous. The rating schools receive will be bannered for everyone in the community to see. This nervousness makes one wonder how bad some schools actually are. Why are these educators worried that their schools will be rated unacceptable? Are these educators actually trying to educate students or are they just trying to just doing as minimal as possible to pass regulations? Do the schools that are rated unacceptable really need extra funding? I understand why schools that have good test scores are worried about budget cuts for they will lose teachers, lose textbook buying ability, and many programs. Schools with bad test scores shouldn’t worry so much about the budget cuts but should worry more changing their educational system and programs to benefit students. The school rating system by the Texas Education Agency will be a good tool for the community to monitor their schools. Parents moving to Texas or new parents can now know which school district can provide a good education for their children. Hopefully the school rating system will be enough encouragement for schools to deal with the education budget cuts and focus on providing education to students. This is one step in improving public education in Texas.

Taxpayers are furious when they hear that the budget for education will be cut when many public schools are already suffering in their ability to educate students. Many taxpayers with children in public schools are willing for the government to increase property tax in order to prevent education budget cuts. Education is a nation builder, especially in a democratic government system. Without educated citizens, our government will collapse. There is urgency in our current financial crisis, but legislators must also think of our country’s future. Cutting the education budget will be a dire mistake in the long run. Legislators must remember that education builds the foundation of our government.