Public schools and the education they provide to children are vital to our country’s economic well-being. 

Public schools and the education that they provide to children in the US are vitally important to our country’s economic well-being. The current climate and rhetoric around public schools and public school teachers needs to change. Currently, many states are underfunding and undermining schools with poor policy decisions. I can’t speak to all states, but Texas in particular has tried to pass school voucher programs that would take public funds and funnel them into private and charter schools.

Our schools are largely funded by property tax dollars in the state of Texas and this causes huge disparity of funding from district to district, not only in academics but programs that help strengthen a young person’s character, creativity, and emotional health like music, theater, arts, and sports. One exception to property tax funding is for special education programs that are designed for students with learning disabilities and some of that funding comes from federal programs. Some federal funding is also provided by the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) for Title 1 schools. To be a Title 1 school, a minimum of 40% of students must qualify for free or reduced school lunch, meaning that they are from a low-income family.

Many times, it is hard to attract and retain teachers in these districts. I believe that we should be able to create incentive programs to attract and retain quality teachers. Part of this is going to need to come in the form of affordable college degrees for teachers. Many young people are graduating with cumbersome student loans that are difficult to repay on a teacher salary. Since teachers are excluded from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, they are not paid for all of the time that is necessary to write lesson plans, grade papers, attend meetings, and gather data.

Almost every teacher I know spends between 10 and 30 hours a week above and beyond contract hours to be able to maintain a quality education for their students.

The average teacher also spends upwards of $500 a year on classroom supplies out of their own pockets. Quality retirement/pension plans would also need to be a part of this. Texas just approved the first teacher cost of living raise since 2013 and that only applied to those who retired before August of 2004. At least in Texas, teachers, even those who have had previous careers and paid into Social Security, are not eligible to receive full Social Security benefits because of the WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision). This makes it difficult for teachers and especially second career teachers to be able to retire and afford day-to-day living.

Using property taxes as the main source of education funding creates a reinforcing cycle of generational poverty.

Federal funds are already used for special education funding and we can expand such grants to include other educational needs. The school districts in the 27th Congressional district and many other communities with limited property tax revenue do not need to be in this alone. Investing in education is investing in a community’s future. We need to make sure our voice is heard in DC and is fighting to bring investments in our future to our communities.

We have too many politicians demanding that schools teach lies or create rules that bully our most vulnerable students.

Curriculum and school policies must be preparing students for the real world. Facts matter. Creating a welcoming and safe learning environment that addresses tough truths head on is foundational to building a learning environment. Young people recognize when things don’t add up and will lose trust in institutions that they think are not being honest with them. The issues of factually accurate curriculum and treating LGBTQ people like any other human go well beyond the immediate issues of someone’s vision of what facts a student can handle or how some adults want to scapegoat LGBTQ people to win elections.

It goes to whether we are creating a learning environment that challenges students to confront and discuss tough truths and think for themselves, so they can be the leaders of tomorrow.