When the Texas Legislature failed to agree on a school funding bill after one regular session and four special sessions, the impact on our classrooms was immediate and devastating.

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Last November, the education establishment and the education unions in Austin convinced 21 legislators to kill HB1 becuase it would have authorized 1/2 of 1% of the 5,400,000 Texas school kids to attend private schools. The education establishment and the unions' success killed the public school funding for the rest of the 99.5% of Texas school kids and Texas public school teachers. Texas school districts and Rockwall ISD, by refusing the additonal state funding, have and are operating on deficit budgets, withdrawing from their savings accounts and/or asking local home owners to pay higher school property taxes - I find this unacceptable. With the loss of COVID-19 emergency federal funds, and turning down state funding in a time where incredible demands are placed on our teachers and campus leaders, we need a board member who will fight for our students, teachers and our taxpayers.

 

Through the brilliant misguided success of the education establishment killing Education Savings Accounts/vouchers, districts across the state are now forced to shutter campuses, cut critical teaching positions, and slash vital programming and resources that our students and teachers desperately need.  

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By the way, ESA/vouchers would not be available for any family who makes more than 4 times the poverty line or for a family of three that would mean if your family made more than $100,000 your child would not qualify for vouchers. So two first year teachers would make so much mony that they are "rich" since vouchers are for the "rich". Instead, the establishments' defeat of HB1 means those two teachers would not get the public school funding they deserved:
 

1. a $4,000 one time salary payment directly to the teachers (for Rockwall ISD about $4,800,000 in additional salary payment for our teachers),

2. for students an increase of $540 in Basic Allottment (for Rockwall ISD about $10,000,000 additonal funding per year)

3. for a teacher who retires next year the loss of that $4,000 bonus means their retired pay is $400 less (22 years service) or $540 less (30 years service) for the rest of those teachers' lives.

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For many ISD's the solution to their deficit budget problems will be to burden their communities by raising Maintenance and Operations taxes, which already typically makes up 50% of the average Texan's total property taxes. Visit http://www.TxSchools.gov

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Why did this happen? Because it was more important to career educators to defeat the 1/2 of 1% of the kids who may qualify for vouchers than to support getting more money into the 99.5% public school classrooms and public school teachers. The teachers are the ones developing the future leaders of Texas but they are the ones suffering the consequences.

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The role of any school board member should be to advocate for the students, teachers and taxpayers of their district with the state and federal elected officials. The information above is not just to "litigate last November" but rather it is about having someone of our Rockwall ISD board that will start advocating for our students immediately after sworn into the position. As your Rockwall School Board Member, I will stand on my knowledge and experience as a leader in public service and public education to be a strong fighter to ensure our students, our teachers and our taxpayers of Rockwall receive the funding we need and deserve.