Don't Wreck Texas

I had the opportunity to attend the "Don't Wreck Texas" Prayer Vigil and Protest described in the above press release on April 1, 2011. Most striking was the mock funeral that was held to depict the death of social services, public education, and hundreds of thousands of jobs. The atmosphere varied from somber to outraged as the eulogies for the above mentioned programs, institutions, and individuals were delivered.

Two consistent themes of the rally were: 1) the need to raise revenue rather than cut services; 2) the detriment of cutting services for populations already at-risk.

The revenue crisis in the State of Texas is temporary, but the legislature is taking drastic measures that will set into action far-reaching and permanent effects. In a country that already falls behind other developed countries in the quality of public education provided, cutting financial contribution to these services will only create a greater deficit our children need to overcome.

HB 1 ended up passing on April 1st. What does this mean? Decreased funding for pre-kindergarten and early childhood intervention programs, decreased funding for grants for certain school districts, decreased funding for qualified teachers, their retirements, and benefits, and decreased funding for textbooks, instructional materials, and other educational needs. This means that the "hypothetical" results of its passage are soon to be set into motion...

  

Press Release: April 1, 2011 “Don’t Wreck Texas”: Vigil and Protest for Texas’ Future

AUSTIN -- As the Texas House of Representatives debates the state budget today, Texans affected by proposed deep cuts to public schools, health care, nursing homes, and other key state services are holding a vigil and protest on the steps of the Capitol building. With props including mock coffins and battery-powered candles, testimonials from providers and consumers of state services, and music provided by local Austin musicians, activists say they hope to melt House members’ hearts and start the real debate about how Texas can raise revenue to fix its estimated $27 billion shortfall.

The afternoon will feature a speech by Chau Tran, 2011 Teacher of the Year in Austin Independent School District, who recently found out her contract will not be renewed for the 2012 school year because of state education budget cuts.

“It was devastating to lose my job as an educator, but the real loss is that children across Texas will lose all of these outstanding teachers. This will jeopardize their quality of education. No child left behind will quickly become every child left behind. Out state’s future is at stake, so let’s make the right decision for our children, future, and state by funding public education, “ Tran says.

Faith communities are holding a prayer vigil in the House Chapel throughout the House budget debate. Volunteers are praying in 20-minute “shifts” in the small upstairs room until the House votes on the budget bill.

“Texas is facing a temporary revenue shortfall but this budget will do permanent damage to our state. In the area of health care alone, hospitals will close, doctors will stop serving low-income patients and the entire infrastructure that we all depend on will falter. We are praying for our legislators who are facing heart-wrenching choices, for the millions of Texans who will suffer and in some cases die because of the choices legislators make, and for all Texans -- we are all one community, and we all will own this budget and its consequences together,” says the Reverend Timothy Tutt, a leader on the board of the statewide interfaith network Texas Impact.

Dennis Borel of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities says nursing homes and community-based services are crucial services that must be preserved. “HB1 would leave 45,000 senior citizens homeless, devastate community-based services for people with disabilities, and ultimately leave 335,000 Texans jobless. Eventually, this will lead to a reversal of our state’s economic recovery, “ said Borel.

Activists are using coffins to represent programs that are slated for particularly deep cuts that will impact individual Texans’ lives. The evening will feature readings from The Nightlight Report, a compilation of positive ideas and actions about children with disabilities (http://nightlightreport.blogspot.com).

Groups collaborating on the event include Texas Impact, Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, ADAPT, Austin Voices for Youth, Texas American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, Texas Forward, Allilance for a Clean Texas, Texas State Teachers Association, Save Texas Schools, and Community NOW!

For more information contact Bee Moorhead, 512-636-3135 or bee@texasimpact.org

Educational Justice?

Community Dashboard of 2011 Key Socioeconomic Indicators of Austin and Travis County
Source: http://www.cancommunitydashboard.org/index.php
Community Dashboard Indicators assert several current findings related to early education and childhood risk factors for vulnerable populations, notably only 52% of AISD children were reported kindergarten ready in 2010.

Kindergarten readiness was quantified through testing competence levels in social-emotional development, language and communication, and emerging literacy and mathematics. If was found that students qualifying or enrolled in free or reduced price school lunches “were less likely to be kindergarten ready” than children enrolled in pre-kindergarten curriculum. The United Way Success by 6 programs posits that many low-income children are two years behind their peers developmentally when they show up for school. The developmental disparity has been cited to lead to an increased risk of developing a host of challenges and problems in the future. Further, research shows that once a child reaches 8 years of age some delays tend to be intractable to remediation strategies. The take-home message appears to be loud and clear, enrolling children in pre-school programs helps to maximize their long-term educational gains.

The current 82nd legislative budget proposes to stop funding to the following programs:
Pre-kindergarten Early Start (PKES) grant program (net-loss $104.3 million a year)
-Currently serves 102,000 preschoolers
Early Childhood School Readiness Models (TEEM) (net-loss of $11.7 in federal funding)
-Texas A&M found that for every $1.00 invested in the TEEM there is a $3.50 yield
Texas Higher Education and Early Childhood Development Project (net-loss $1 million)
-Program which helps day-care centers to employ a highly qualified staff

Click below for a related video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qONMpYRE00

Yet, in the Texas 82nd proposed legislative budget severe cuts have been made to the very programs research cites as imperative for educational success of Texas children. Within the budget released through the House of Representatives a total loss of $249 million was cut from proven pre-K reform efforts.

In this following video President Obama alludes to strengths derived from early childhood education:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMRazyRAXhE&feature=related

De-Investing in the Young

The Bill and Melinda Foundation work daily to ensure that all people - especially vulnerable populations with the fewest resources "have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life."

Provided is a short TED film which depicts Bill Gate's view on the Educational Funding Inequities running rampant within the United States!
http://blog.ted.com/2011/03/04/how-state-budgets-are-breaking-us-schools-bill-gates-on-ted-com/

Early Learning Begets Later Learning

"A rigorous body of research demonstrates that very intensive early childhood programs can produce lasting improvements in the life chances of poor children."

~Duncan, Ludwig, and Magnuson

Duncan, Ludwig, and Magnuson (2006) explain that through the provision of "high-quality care to disadvantaged preschool children" the reduction of future poverty may be realized.

The researchers propose "high-quality educationally based preschool programs" will result in short and long term benefits. Short term benefits consisting of increased school retention rates and fewer special education classifications, and long-term benefits of less crime and greater economic prosperity. Additionally, it is estimated that long-term gains derived from such early interventions may result in a total reduction of 5-15% in participants rates of future poverty.

"Neuroscience research has documented how complex cognitive capacities are built on earlier foundational skills and that many cognitive skills are sensitive to early life experiences."

It is contended that disparate learning environments between both race and class lines serve as a precursor to future educational and vocational successes. An example cited within the article alludes to contextual differences between families in the bottom quintile to those in the top quintile in relation to socioeconomic distribution. Kindergartners from families in the top fifth quintile, "are four times as likely to have a computer at home, have three times as many books, are read to more often, watch far less television, and are more likely to visit museum or libraries." Another example presented in the article cites that three-year olds in families of lower socioeconomic standing present "half the vocabulary of their more affluent peers."

"Researchers have learned that rudimentary reading and especially, mathematics skills at kindergarten entry are highly predictive of later school achievement..." Additionally, the article posits that most social policies are aimed at playing catch up rather than minimizing early developmental disparities, citing that the funding for grades K-12 is 7X the total amount what is allotted to Pre-K education.... As neuroscience documents the process by which increasingly sophisticated skills are wired into the brain, evaluations of high quality early education programs show that early skill building can generate a host of long-term benefits both for children in these programs and as a society as a whole."

It seems we are truly doing a disservice to children which through no fault of their own find themselves in lower socioeconomic classes. These children have been shown to lag behind wealthier children in regard to overall educational achievement. Educational Justice should seek to ameliorate these early educational inequities and capitalize on this critical period of neurological brain development.

click here to be directed to the full article
Duncan, G. J., Ludwig, J., & Magnuson, K. A. (2007). Reducing poverty through preschool interventions. The Future of Children, 17(2), 143-160. doi:10.1353/foc.2007.0015

Provided is a visual representation of the exponential rate of brain development which takes place during early childhood.

The PEW: Pre-K First Step to Education Reform

sources:

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=58769

http://www.pre-know.org/

http://nieer.org/

"The immediate future of pre-K seems much more perilous than past trends might suggest."

W. Steven Barnett, Co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University

"If we want to improve our schools, Congress should add funds and incentives into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to build on state investments and strengthen pre-K's proven ability to prepare children for success in school and in life."

Marci Young, project director with Pre-K Now, and Julia B. Isaacs, The Child and Family Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution

"As pure economic stimulus it is hard to beat pre-K programs," Barnett said. "Pre-K is a high-return investment in our children's future that will help pay for the deficits we run now. In the meantime it generates jobs in local communities, with virtually none of the money spent on imported goods or services...it is bad policy, doing little to improve child development or the quality of our future workforce."

The Case for Pre-K

• Pre-k benefits all children academically, socially and emotionally.
• High-quality pre-k for all nets a high return on investment in children and the community.
• The most important brain development occurs by age six.
  
• Pre-k is the first step to education reform.

The PEW Center on the States views investment in Pre-K programs as a beneficial tool which yields a high return for state investment but perhaps more importantly for children within the community. Numerous PEW funded studies assessing the efficacy of early educational programs cite beneficial gains achieved for children enrolled in early education programs notably: increased academic and social preparedness to enter elementary school, an overall decrease in the need for special education services, and an increased positive attitude towards learning and education. Additionally, longitudinal studies have cited that children enrolled in early Pre-K programs tend to be more successful at reaching high school completion and contributing to their community as adults.

Save Texas Schools

check out my sign @ 6:55!

On March, 11, an estimated 12,000 Texans conglomerated on the state Capitol grounds to Save the Public Education System in Texas. In response to impending school closures, threatened lay-off of 100,000 educational positions (almost 1/3 of the teachers in Texas), and the clinching possibility of a $10 billion spending cut in public education.

In days preceding the rally, I found myself wondering how many people are actually going to show up to The Save Texas Schools rally? 500 people... 1,000 people... With all of the hoopla and publicity in preparation for the rally would people really take this seriously? Or would we run into an ‘all sizzle and no steak phenomenon.’ At the end of the day, would constituents actually wake up early on a Saturday, drive to the capital and do anything about the funding crisis. The answer I found was YES!

I marched proudly to the capital with a home-made sign that read in bright green and blue letters, “Without Education Texas is doomed.” The sign I made actually could be seen on the local news, a small sense of accomplishment for a budding social work neophyte.

As the march began, the swelling crowd seemed to roar with frustration, anger, and an overall sense of impending doom if the current political climate failed to change its course. I took note of the diversity in a crowd composed of a variety of ages and ethnic backgrounds. I began taking pictures and talking to people in the crowd. “My Kindergartners listen better than my Governor” shouted one kindergarten teacher who was recently laid off in Irving ISD. “Will Teach For Food,” read another sign firmly held high by a 4^th grade teacher from Round Rock ISD.

Several signs were held in opposition to SB 443 which would increase class sizes and allow tier-2 “recognized” campuses the same privileges afforded to tier-1 “exemplary” schools. Texas currently allows schools with an “exemplary” rating to forgo several state regulations. A second grade teacher I talked with regarding this bill felt the change in regulations would be detrimental to schools which need more structure. I also discussed this bill with a Kindergarten teacher from Houston ISD, who felt that increasing classroom size is not only short-sighted, but also irresponsible. The kindergarten teacher attested “as it is I’m not able to provide the individual time I’d like with each child, especially when I have classes with children who require more attention, such as special need children.”

As the saying goes, “don’t mourn, organize!” This is exactly what occurred on March 11^th, parents, students, and teachers came together to let their voices be heard. The take-home message of the rally appeared two-fold; (a) to use Rainy Day Funds to assuage the state's 27 billion budget deficit, NOT the already scare education funds, and (b) that current flaw in Texas’s school finance reform can be attributed to decisions made in the special 2006 legislative session.

Don't Cut Kids Out

A unified and powerful message delivered by students, teachers, and parents in San Antonio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah4dg5bNLac