News

Trying to define public education

Print this story | Email this story

OPINION BY PAM WAGGONER

Education will likely be a hot topic again at the legislature and it seems everybody wants to improve public education, but nobody knows exactly how. All entities involved continue to ask for more money. In fact, TASB members received promises just last week from legislators of another $2,000,000,000. Not sure for what, but it was promised, and I can assure you it will not be evenly distributed across Texas school districts. It seems we are throwing money at a system that we have not defined.

Public education continues to grow in scope. At one time, public education was defined as kindergarten through 12th grade. Not any longer! Tax dollars now support early education, parent education, after high school placement counselors, etc. These are all worthy causes, but is this what we should be spending the public education dollar on? Money is limited, but causes and goodwill are not. As with any worthy cause, you can either define the cause and fund it well, or you can create a monster that keeps on growing, without boundaries, and there is not enough money to do any part of it well.

Since I brought up early education which is sure to upset a majority of the educational community, I would like to explain my position. There are studies showing early education is beneficial to society, both in the short term and the long term. It can provide quality child care for the working family who cannot afford care, and in the long term, it may increase earning potential, cause less reliance on social services and create more equality as children enter kindergarten. So if this is the argument for early education, let's call it what it is - community and social services. It does not belong in the discussion of education when we are talking about dispersing educational dollars. Our taxes need to go to the children in our public education system and strengthen our pay for teachers, technology and academics. There are also studies showing these programs are very expensive and the early benefits do not hold up over time.

All experiences a child has from birth to school age affect the child, but the tax payer cannot be responsible for all of it. Parents must take back the responsibility for training their children in social manners and preparing them for school. The tax payer just cannot afford to continue to feed this expanding system. Let's have a real discussion on what the American public should be funding. Just like children, the government must have boundaries.

Reader Comments