Texas Insider

Tincy Miller defeat could put funding in further peril

By Jim Cardle

When voters headed to the polls for yesterday’s March 2nd Primary, most were focused on the choice immediately in front of them: which candidate to vote for on the ballot. 

However, the 82nd Texas Legislative Session begins in January 2011, and convening lawmakers will be faced with budget shortfalls mandating difficult choices.  

Legislators will make tough decisions about where to cut spending in the state’s budget and choose who will lose out on critical funding because of these shortfalls in a rough economy. 

Unfortunately, Texas schoolchildren are especially vulnerable to the consequences of these budget cuts. 

Funding for Proclamation 2011 – the $495 million that has been set aside to purchase instructional materials for the state’s five million public school students – one can safely assume, played little or no role in how yesterday’s voting decisions were made.

Proclamation 2011 calls for the development and purchase of instructional materials for Spelling & English in grades K-8, along withupdated materials for pre-kindergarten, and English as a Second Language Students (ESL students).  Each year’s proclamation identifies the specific subject areas scheduled for review, such as math and English, and contains content requirements for the materials to ensure they are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards.

An election is a contest resulting in decisive winners and losers.  Distracted by the fanfare surrounding elections, voters can forget that lawmaking – the ‘business’ that happens after voting day – requires tough decisions where real winners and losers are chosen. 

Time and again, Texas lawmakers have dramatically cut the money the state appropriates for instructional materials, leaving many students at risk for not receiving the educational materials they need for the subject matter they’re being taught in the classroom.

In the midst of the state’s budget crisis, technology is dramatically changing the format of instructional materials, and educational content can now be delivered digitally to some Texas students.  This transition to technology is a positive step forward for classrooms, but it does not lessen the state’s commitment to funding educational content.

The state will still need to spend every penny of Proclamation 2011 to insure that all our children receive quality instructional content that equips them to compete in a global economy.

The Texas Constitution requires that the State of Texas provide free textbooks (print or digital) to every student attending Texas public schools.  Each legislative session, Texas lawmakers decide how much funding — the actual dollar amount — the State Board of Education must set aside to purchase these textbooks and other instructional materials. 

And the SBOE has taken its responsibility to provide all Texas students with instructional materials very seriously. It has zealously guarded the textbook fund against numerous attempts to raid it for one purpose or another.

But the March 2 Republican Primary election saw the unexpected loss of longtime SBOE member Geraldine “Tincy” Miller, who in her 26 years of service was one of the state’s strongest advocates – and an effective force in the Legislature – for fully funding instructional materials. 

Her defeat could put Proclamation 2011’s funding in further peril. 

This proclamation will be adopted in November 2010 – following another round of elections – for the 2011-2012 school year and is currently budgeted at $495 million, which is less than the SBOE originally allocated.

Funding for Proclamation 2011 has already been reduced by 15 percent, even though the 82nd Legislature, when this funding will be appropriated, has yet to convene.  Further funding level reductions would have disastrous consequences for Texas students, especially those students enrolled in the English as a Second Language Program. 

This fall, as voters begin weighing their choices for the November elections, they may want to consider asking those candidates where they stand on funding for public education – ask if they are committed to maintaining the Texas tradition of providing free instructional materials to all students.

Once the choices of the November 2010 elections are made, Texans must be sure to keep a watchful eye on the decisions legislators begin to make in January. 

Texas schoolchildren should not find themselves on the losing end of budget cuts, and protecting the funding for Proclamation 2011 is one step towards this goal.

James B. Cardle is President & CEO of the Texas Citizen Action Network, a dynamic community of Texas leaders who develop ideas, brainstorm solutions & acquire the skills necessary to impact the public policy decision making process in Texas.