Let's
have some holiday cheer about what is good
and right in Texas. Governor Perry has charged
a team of state leaders to invent, revise,
reform, create, or just come up with a better
plan for financing education in Texas. (This
is good.) The Texas news media is leaving
the impression there is no substantial solution
and no one is seriously working on replacing
Robin Hood. (Not good.)
Some
would celebrate a failure of state leaders
to find a solution to replace Robin Hood.
However, a high-powered effort is going
into the quest for a new public education
reform and finance plan. We know there is
no quick-fix or painless tax plan in the
world for a $26 billion dollar industry.
Wow, now you know why so many special interest
groups are anxious and worried.
You
might be worried if your company had just
a 2/3 success rate.
The
Manhattan Institute reported in September
that Texas' overall graduation rate was
37th in the nation at 67%, while according
to the Texas Education Agency only 1% of
high school students drop out each year.
The study also finds that the graduation
rates for black and Hispanic students in
Texas were 62% and 57%, respectively.
National
Dropout Rates
*Here
is the background: The
Public School Finance Assignment
“The
Joint Committee's charges included reviewing
our tax system and assessing different options
for public school funding. The committee
and its highly skilled research team will
be studying the entire public school enterprise,
including appropriate funding levels for
high academic performance; adjustments for
legitimate student and school district cost
differences; the role of the state in providing
school facilities; and incentives for improved
student performance and cost-effective operation.
In addition, the committee and its researchers
will investigate school and district practices
that contribute to high academic performance
and cost-effective operation.”
*Here
is the Joint Select Committee:
*What
is taking so long?
The
charges for the House Select Committee are
as follows:
- Devise
a school finance system that promotes
success for all Texas children.
- Use
the constitutional requirements outlined
by the Texas Supreme Court as a framework
for developing a suitable and efficient
school finance system; Texas cannot
afford to retreat on equity.
- Include
rational cost adjustments for uncontrollable
variations in the costs of education
due to geography, scale, and the needs
of students.
- Create
incentives for improved student performance
and cost-effective operation.
- Recommend
fairer methods of finance that will
sustain Texas public education for the
long term and that will substantially
increase the state's share of funding
for public education.
These
objectives will guide the design of the
technical analyses that will support the
committee's work. The committee will present
its recommendations to the Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, and Speaker in 2004. These recommendations
will describe the advantages and disadvantages
of several alternative approaches to a new
school finance system, all linked to the
results Texas schools are expected to achieve.
*The
three Senate working groups are:
These
are no snap assignments! I personally do
not want a restructuring overnight without
some research from the brain crunchers.
*Here
is an impressive list of official
researchers brought
in from A & M, UT, Rice and even other
states (proper diversity!):
Project
Management Team
Dr.
Harrison Keller, Senior Policy
Analyst for Education for Speaker Tom Craddick
and a visiting faculty member at the LBJ
School of Public Affairs at UT Austin, serves
as Project Director
Dr.
Lori L. Taylor, Senior Economist
and Policy Advisor for the Federal Reserve
Bank of Dallas and Assistant Professor of
Economics at the George Bush School of Government
and Public Service at Texas A&M University,
serves as Principal Researcher for the technical
analyses.
Others
include:
Dr.
Bruce D. Baker is an Associate
Professor in the Department of Teaching
and Leadership at the University of Kansas
where he teaches courses in school finance
policy and district business management.
Dr.
Shama Gamkhar is an associate
professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School
of Public Affairs, University of Texas at
Austin. She currently serves on a committee
for the study of the long-term viability
of the fuel tax for transportation finance
conducted by the Transportation Research
Board of the National Academies.
Dr.
Timothy J. Gronberg is a Professor
of Economics at Texas A&M University,
where he teaches and specializes in research
in microeconomic theory and public finance.
Dr.
Dennis W. Jansen is Professor
of Economics at Texas A&M University,
where he teaches and conducts research,
with special interests in both theoretical
and empirical monetary and financial economics.
Dr.
Jerry Olson is owner and chief
economist of Olson Research, an economic
and demographic consulting firm that has
been in providing services to business and
government since 1986.
Dr.
Arnold Vedlitz is holder of the
Bob Bullock Chair in Government and Public
Policy and Director of the Institute for
Science, Technology and Public Policy at
the George Bush School of Government and
Public Service.
Dr.
George R. Zodrow is Professor
of Economics and Rice Fellow, Baker Institute
for Public Policy, at Rice University, and
served as Economics Department Chair from
1995-2000.
External
Reviewers
Dr.
Timothy J. Bartik is senior economist
for the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment
Research, a nonprofit research organization
in Kalamazoo , Michigan. His research focuses
on regional economic development and local
labor markets.
Dr.
Jay G. Chambers is a Senior Research
Fellow and is Director of the Economic
Indicators and Education Finance Business
Development Group, at AIR in Palo
Alto, CA. Dr. Chambers served as President
of the American Education Finance Association
in 2002/2003.
Dr.
Randall W. Eberts received his
Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University
in 1978. Prior to assuming the role of Executive
Director of the W. E. Upjohn Institute in
1993, he served as Assistant Vice President
and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank
of Cleveland.
Dr.
Margaret E. Goertz is a Professor
of Education Policy and Co-director of the
Consortium for Policy Research in Education
in the Graduate School of Education at the
University of Pennsylvania.
Dr.
Janet S. Hansen is Vice President
and Director of Education Studies at the
Committee for Economic Development and a
Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Education
Commission of the States.
Dr.
Eric A. Hanushek is the Paul and
Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
of Stanford University. He is also chairman
of the Executive Committee for the Texas
Schools Project at the University of Texas
at Dallas and a Research Associate of the
National Bureau of Economic Research www.hanushek.net
Dr.
David H. Monk is professor of
educational administration and dean of the
College of Education at The Pennsylvania
State
University.
*When
can we expect some answers?
Here
is the timeline:
January
2004 Near final research findings
complete
March
2004 Target date for preliminary
Recommendations
April
2004 Preliminary findings from
"best practices" study released
*What
ideas
are being tossed around?
Texas
Public Policy Foundation has put together
a handbook with a dozen proposals. “Putting
the Sides Together”. You can study and
let your legislator know which your thoughts.
Yes,
that pesky (no chance) state income tax
has been whispered about. Other ideas include
the
Tobacco Tax ($1 a pack) , a Flat
BAT (business activity tax) and a realistic
combination of these and others. Pros and
cons? Yes, plenty. You can find other presentations
here.
*One
thing is certain: You cannot have
a free ride when it comes to education.
We will still be taxed. How painful will
it be? Will it be fair? Will we get
better results for our investment?
Are we willing to step out and boldly assess
the last government monopoly? A monopoly
yielding a 33% failure rate? It is
good for Texans to demand a fairer tax system,
it is right to demand more bang for our
buck!
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