Teacher Says Texas Schools Don't Need More Money
by Jim Brown
September 21, 2004
(AgapePress) - Now that a judge has declared the Texas School Finance Law unconstitutional and ordered the state to spend more money on public education, a long-time teacher is expressing concerns about the ruling.Judge John Dietz struck down the state's education funding system after hearing six weeks of testimony in a lawsuit filed by 340 Texas school districts challenging the state's "Robin Hood" policy, which has wealthy school districts pay for poor ones. Dietz said the system violates the Constitution of the State of Texas by failing to guarantee an adequate education and by not allowing local control over the setting of property taxes.
In his decision, the judge argued that this "share the wealth" system does not provide enough money to narrow the educational achievement gap between affluent and poor school districts. However, one Texas school teacher feels the ruling reflects a wrongheaded but widespread approach to education funding.
According to Donna Garner, who taught in Texas classrooms for 27 years, Judge Dietz mistakenly believes, along with many other people, that money equals academic achievement. She asserts, "The premise of the whole lawsuit -- and Robin Hood, and what the judge said, and most of these schools who were a part of this lawsuit and filed against the state -- is wrong. They're saying that you give more money to schools and you'll automatically have higher academic achievement. That is not so."
Besides, Garner notes, throughout the six-week trial, she did not hear one mention of the fact that Texas schools will receive $3.1 billion from the federal government next year. She feels it should be obvious that more money is not what Texas public schools need the most.
What the long-time teacher believes the state's schools do need, she says, is more discipline and a more thoughtfully designed curriculum. "If schools don't have discipline management systems in place that are effectively and consistently enforced, then nobody can learn," she contends. And she continues, "Number two, you have to have curriculum that is solid and grade-level specific."
According to Garner, those basics are lacking in the Texas public education system. "For instance, in English language arts reading, we have the same standards repeated over and over again," she says. The educator feels the state would do the schools more good by focusing on specific ways to improve curriculum and classroom management rather than by continuing to throw money at the achievement gap problem.
Judge Dietz has ordered the state legislature to develop a new education finance plan within a year. Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is appealing the judge's ruling to the state's Supreme Court.
