Education is more than lacking in Texas. With the recent approved budget cuts, I saw changes in this past year during my final year in high school. I witnessed the changes being implemented for the next year; the letting go of teachers, a new block scheduling system, and the cutting of art classes. This would mean an increase in class size as well as much longer classes. Just hearing teachers talk of the upcoming year, I got the feeling of resentment. Resentment for the loss of the planning period they once had and resentment for the drastic changes that are being thrown at them so close to the new year.
The conservative influence in Texas is the reason why there have only been cuts, no increase in taxes. In order to provide more funding for schools, we can’t just cut spending; we need to make more money for the education system, also. I don’t understand how we are supposed to save money when we just keep cutting costs. What happens when there is nothing left to cut? Are we going to be running schools with no electricity? Maybe we will sell the computers and DVD players used for teaching kids. I understand that we do need to cut frivolous spending; that is an obvious semi-solution, but that cannot make the budget crisis disappear.
As I watch the Presidential Address to the Nation, I hear President Obama talking about cutting spending AND raising taxes (for the wealthier citizens of America). Texas Legislature must realize that budget cuts are a short-term fix. I know that raising taxes is going against what Conservatives are for, but in order to better our Texas economy, we need to get more money somehow! Can’t the Legislature put aside their die-hard beliefs and think for a second? Is this for the bettering of the government, or is it just a statement saying that we are never going to change our thinking?
The way to help our economy, get out of debts, close the budget gap, is going to be to change. Clearly, what we have been doing is not working. We need to try something new. And that may mean to drift from the conservative ways we are currently using. If the Legislature would stop being so stubborn and try less conservative ways, maybe we could provide a more stable, successful education system for the future voters and leaders of Texas.
In Jennifer Klinger’s editorial, “Our government needs to learn some things so school kids can, too,” brought up very good points on how the education program in Texas has some serious problems. With all the cuts going on across Texas, it is not surprising you saw the effects happening this past school year and not just the next.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that teachers, librarians, and certain classes are getting cut out of the budget. The worst is for the teachers, I think, because they are letting go the experienced ones who have taught for many years and replacing them with brand new ones, so they don’t have to pay as high a salary since it is their first year. Changing the style of teaching on how teachers have been taught in college to teach is very hard on them when they only have a summer to make whole new teaching plans and techniques. If you think about changing to block scheduling, yes it might not be good for the teachers but maybe for the students. Block scheduling is more like how college classes would be and will maybe help the students transition a little better into college. I say this because going from high school to college the big change for me was going from having the same 8 classes a day to going to only like 2 to 3 classes every other day.
Klinger also talked about the conservatives having big influence in the Texas budget cuts for education. I do agree because Republicans do have control over the Legislature and they are mostly all conservatives but the only way we can change this is to elect more Democratic officials into the Legislature to balance it. Raising taxes is against what conservatives believe in but they won’t raise them because that is what they believe. That is what their party platform is and they aren’t going to go against it because it may jeopardize if they get re-elected or not.
There does need to be big changes very soon in Texas government because we are going more into debt, making huge budget cuts where they really shouldn’t be but this isn’t going to change over night. The Legislature isn’t going to change their ways until the people of Texas change the Legislature by electing different people who stand for the right thing, which is the Texas citizen.