The State of Education in Texas, Part 1: Grading the Legislature [Opinion]

This is the first article in an occasional series that examines the quality of education in Texas heading into the 2012 elections.

When State Senator Florence Shapiro announced her retirement in September, the news that the powerful chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee would vacate the seat she has held since 2003 shook the political and educational establishment. There's no question at the Capitol but that her replacement as chair following her departure will be from the same political party--with a current 19-12 majority and a new redistricting map that favors Republican politicians, it's unlikely the Democratic party will take back the Texas Senate anytime soon.

Republicans have controlled the Texas Senate since 1997, and the Senate Committee on Education has reflected that one party's vision of education in our state through budgeting and mandates for at least twelve years. With the end of the fall semester upon us and all our students receiving grades for their work in the classrooms, it seems appropriate to grade the Texas Legislature's performance, and by association the Texas Republican Party's performance, on education over the past twelve years based on hard data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and the State Comptroller's office. Whenever possible, we use the most recent numbers available. Some data is only available through 2009.

In 2006, then comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn released a report detailing Texas' rankings (for 2005) in education compared to other states. For purposes of comparing apples to apples, we'll use some of those metrics to compare Texas' education rankings between 1999 and 2010 and grade them based on their relative change over time.

Spending per student
In 1999, Texas spent an average of $5,971 per student, which placed us 25th nationally. By 2010, the average spent per student increased to $9,227 but failed to keep pace with national increases, dropping us to 37th in the nation. To be fair, Texas also saw a significant increase in the total number of students over that time, adding nearly a million new students when state budgets were squeezed heavily by the financial crisis. But all states had financial troubles during that time and still found ways to outpace Texas in their investments in education. This failure to invest in our future is also the primary contributor to many of the other elements of success, so it should be our first priority.

By 2010, Texas had fallen 19 spots to 44th nationally in spending per student, but improved this past year to 37th. We'll give them a few credit points for the recent improvement, but we are still far behind where we were twelve years ago.
Rankings:
1999 - 25th
2010 - 37th
Grade: D

Percentage of High School Graduates
There is perhaps no better metric of the state's education success than the percentage of its students receiving high school diplomas. High school graduates earn an average of $7,000 per year more than those with only some high school experience. That's a significant difference in terms of the quality of workers our educational system produces as well as the size of the overall tax base that supports our state in all other areas including education. It also affects the decisions of companies looking to relocate to the state if we can't provide enough qualified workers. The more high school graduates we produce, the better our state's economic outlook.

While Texas has improved slightly in the percentage of high school graduates over the past decade, from 75.7% to 79.9%, we have fallen further behind other states to dead last overall. That's just not going to cut it if Texas hopes to be a leader of the American economy.
Rankings
2000 - 44th
2009 - 50th
Grade: F

Teacher Salary
Legislators in Washington often argue that without high salaries, there would be no incentive for the best and brightest to run for office. But when it comes to Teacher salaries, those arguments seem to fall on deaf ears. There is no greater investment in our future than the one we make in the education of our people, and the valuation of that investment based on what teachers contribute to the overall economy argues for higher teacher wages to draw the best and brightest to the calling. The best teachers in the nation are going to go where their opportunities for pay, benefits, and security are the strongest, and unfortunately that means very few of them will choose Texas. In 1999, the average Teacher salary in the state was $35,041, about $5,000 less than the average nationwide. By 2010, the average salary had risen to $47,200, but slipped to $7,100 behind the national average.

The rankings by state have stayed about the same over that time, but still in the bottom half for all states.
Rankings:
1999 - 33rd
2009 - 32nd
Grade: C

Student per Teacher ratio
Every teacher will tell you, and every researcher and expert supports the fact that students perform better and learn more when the student to teacher ratio is low. As more students are added to classrooms, the quality of the learning decreases consistently overall regardless of the quality of the teacher. It's simple math. The more time an individual teacher has to spend with each student, the more the students learn. As the number of students increase, the available time per student mathematically decreases. This is compounded by the increased time each teacher must spend grading papers and preparing for classes, further limiting teacher effectiveness in the classroom. Texas increased the total number of teachers in our classrooms significantly from 259,739 in 1999 to 327,700 in 2009. This is a good sign since the number of students in Texas schools increased from 3.9 million to 4.85 million over that time. However, budget cuts in the recent legislature has led to teacher layoffs across the state. We'll know exactly how many when the Texas Education Agency releases its numbers in March.

In 1999, there were 15.2 teachers per student. In 2009, there were 14.8 teachers per student, a good improvement. We'll grade this based on the numbers we have, but reserve the right to alter it based on the numbers we get in March.
Rankings:
1999 - 26th
2009 - 22nd
Grade: B

SAT Scores
One of the few ways we have to measure the quality of Texas students against those across the nation is the rankings on national standardized tests like the SAT. This is not to argue that it is the best way to measure the quality of students since the SAT is notoriously culturally biased, nevertheless as universities assess student candidates and companies consider which states offer the best economic opportunities, these scores are metrics they use.

So how does our 50th ranked state in the number of student graduates perform on this metric? Not very well. In 1999, the state mean for SAT scores for combined math and verbal was 993 (out of a possible 1600), placing Texas 47th on the list among all other states. That score hasn't changed in the past twelve years, with Texas students scoring a mean of 981 on math and verbal tests in 2011. We haven't fallen into last place, but we're still embarrassingly far behind the best states in the nation.
Rankings:
1999 - 47th
2011 - 47th
Grade: D

Based on this report card, the Texas legislature is failing the students of Texas. Compared to other states in the nation, we rank near the bottom of many standards of measurement and the control of the process by Republicans in the legislature over the past twelve years has failed to improve our outlook for the future. There is no guarantee, of course, that returning the legislature to control by the Democrats or any other party will improve these outcomes. What is apparent is that all of these measurements are heavily impacted by the level of investment (or lack thereof) we choose to make in the quality of our educational system. Increasing funding for Texas schools and pay for Texas teachers will have an immediate and profound impact on the future economic prospects for the state. But with a political culture focused on budget cuts and lower taxes for the richest companies and citizens of the state, that is unlikely in the near future.

Over the next several weeks, these articles will examine multiple areas of our education system in Texas and report on the many challenges faced by the legislature, the school districts, our teachers, and our students, and we will analyze the current test-based curriculum that dominates the modern process. We'll look at the quality of our higher education system and discuss problems and solutions we face in helping our students earn college degrees. We'll also discuss potential solutions and examine ways we can improve our state's education outcomes even with the limited funding available. Texans have never shied from a challenge, and the one facing our economic future is intricately tied to the quality of the work force we educate in our state. We have big challenges ahead if we hope to compete with other states in our nation for economic opportunities, but they are challenges we can overcome if we work together for the future of our children and our great state of Texas.