MEDIA ALERT
Coalition
Launched to Impact School Funding
Debate
Texans Overwhelmingly Support Increased Funding
According to New Poll
January 28, 2004
Contact:
Cathy Douglass
TASB
512.689.0925 (m)
Amy Beneski
TASA
512.913.3184 (m)
Austin , TX---- Today the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB)
and the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) announced
that they are launching a statewide coalition to impact the outcome
of the special session on school finance.
The two organizations are launching the effort to ensure that education
quality and increased education funding are the top priority for
legislators when they return to Austin this spring for a special
session. The 7,300 members of TASB and 2,000 members of TASA plan
to work in concert with teachers, parents and business leaders to
build awareness of the issue.
The President of TASB, Bonnie Longnion, and the President of TASA,
Dawson Orr, announced the Coalition to Invest in Texas Schools today
at 1:30pm at a press conference during TASA's Mid-winter Conference
at the Austin Convention Center .
“The first priority of this coalition is to make sure that significant
increased funding that helps all districts and children across Texas
is the first priority of every legislator, every statewide official
and on the agenda of any special session called this year by our
Governor,” said TASB president Bonnie Longnion.
“We must ensure that Texas schools have a seat at the table, and
that our legislators back up the rhetoric that we often hear on the
campaign trail. We are going to deliver a powerful message to all
our elected officials – the status quo in public education funding
in Texas is not good enough,” said Longnion.
TASA president Dawson
Orr said, “ We are encouraged that in his
recent remarks, Governor Perry has shown he recognizes both the improvements
Texas has made in education quality and the need for more funding
to continue those improvements. However, we are disappointed that
his proposal only funds a small percentage of students based on their
performance on standardized testing.”
“We should remember that the rallying cry for former Texas Governor
George Bush has been, “No Child Left Behind.” If this is all there
is in this new plan, I'm afraid it could be best described as, “Most
Kids Won't Get a Dime.”
Several School Board Presidents
and Superintendents from across the state – small and large districts and both property wealthy and
property poor districts – were in attendance at the press conference.
Whether your school is rural or urban, property wealthy or property
poor, we all need additional funding to continue to improve the quality
of our schools,” said Jeff Turner, superintendent of the Coppell
school district near Dallas .
Edgewood school board
trustee, Steffi Martinez, said, “In the early
1990s, nine of Edgewood's 26 schools were rated by the state as 'low-performing.'
By 1998, after we began receiving additional funds through the state's
equalized funding system, none of our schools were designated ‘low
performing' and the Edgewood school district was rated as ‘recognized'
for the first time.”
This funding and the subsequent
rise in our performance levels had a tremendous impact on our entire
community, Martinez said.
Results of a statewide survey of 800 registered voters showed that
73 percent of Texans support increased funding for K-12 education.
Additionally, 70% of Texans
agree with the following statement, “When
Texas ranks 47 th in average SAT scores, and 40 th in percentage
of students graduating from high school, we simply cannot expect
to improve significantly without investing more money in education.
The Coalition's Web site
"www.investintexasschools.org" provides
the public and decision-makers a broad range of information and studies
on school funding. Visitors are also able to sign up for weekly newsletters
to stay informed about the issue as the special session approaches.
The statewide survey was conducted by Mark Allen, managing director
for research at Public Strategies. Allen was an integral part of
the Bush 2000 research team. The 800 participants were randomly selected
registered voters and were contacted from January 15-18, 2004 . The
margin of error for the survey is +/-3.5 percentage points.
In partnership with TASA, TASB commissioned the survey to determine
how Texas voters really feel about education funding. Governor Perry
is expected to call a special session to address school finance issues
this spring.
Coalition to Invest in Texas Schools
The Coalition to Invest in Texas Schools is a coalition of teachers,
school board members, school administrators, parents and business
leaders who support increased school funding. As we have seen throughout
Texas , when schools are better funded, student performance goes
up. Texas currently ranks 47 th in average SAT scores and 40 th in
graduation rates. We can do better. For more information, please
visit our Web site at www.investintexasschools.org
# # #
For more information please contact: Cathy Douglass (TASB) at 689-0925
or Amy Beneski (TASA) at 913-3184 |
