The Republican nominees Stan Stanart (my opponent) and Mike Riddle (Debbie Kerner's opponent) have indicated that they may favor the elimination of the agency. Is The HCDE an unnecessary duplicate government agency that wastes tax payer money? The election will revolve around this question. As a 20 year veteran teacher & debate coach, I do not want to see one educational dollar wasted. Administrative costs must be kept to a mimimum and the greatest per cent of each dollar visible in the classroom. So, in the coming weeks, I will continue to explore the mission and the budget of The HCDE and present my finding to you through this website. There is however one thing of which I am already certain. There has been a concerted state wide campaign opposing public education in Texas in the past few years. I am a strong supporter of public schools because 90% of Texas children are enrolled in them! I do not support the status quo in public education which currently sees between 4 & 5 of every 10 students in Texas major cities fail to graduate from high school. I would like to hear your opinions, questions and suggestions about this campaign in particular and public education in general. You are most welcome to join this conversation!
Anti-tax Republican challengers defeat veteran Republican Trustees of Harris County Dept.of Education in March Primary
May 26th, 2008 | posted by globalclas
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Education is the key to ANY successful society
I have indeed come to believe that there is a purposeful effort to defund public education in the state of Texas at all levels.
Since the Republican led Texas Congress voted to deregulate tuition, the tuition for public universities in Texas has skyrocketed with a 60% increase in THREE years (for most public institutions). The average amount spent now is approximately $20k per YEAR (that includes living expenses, tuition alone ranges from 13k - 18k depending on the program). These young people are going to get out of school owing 80K+ in loans - if we think the mortgage crisis is critical, wait until these young people with middle class upbringings default on these loans in mass.
During the past legislative session, the Texas legislators have apparently determined it is taking too long for kids to graduate. So... to combat that and "encourage" kids to get out sooner, they have implemented the infamous 6-W rule. This is a good one, are you ready? During a student's ENTIRE undergraduate career, they may now only withdraw 6 times, after which they take the big "F". This obviously impacts their GPA and more specifically, their ability to obtain financial aid.
Obviously, there are some withdrawals that are legitimate and should not count towards this limit - problem is.. that the TX legislature in all their infinite wisdom did not define what those "legitimate" reasons are.
Most schools have formed emergency task forces to define them and / or some are taking the stance that this is so ridiculous, that the legislature will reverse their ruling.
As if that weren't bad enough, the Texas legislators have now implemented legislation that is charging students out of state tuition if they don't graduate "fast enough".
There is also in place now something that identifies a student's major and how many hours of instruction is required to obtain a degree. If the student ends up with (I believe) 20+ additional hours over and above what it takes for them to obtain their degree, they are now charging them out of state Texas tuition as a "penalty" for not getting in / out.
I could go on and on - it's outrageous, most people aren't remotely aware of what's going on.
We need advocates such as yourself to stand for what it right.
Society as a whole benefits from education and will be utterly unsuccessful without it.
the importance of Jim's candidacy
Jim believes in education for ALL. We have to be very vigilant to make sure that the conservative Republicans are not allowed to short-change our students. An educated society is a strong society at its roots. Without our consent, this base will be destroyed if people such as Jim aren't part of the governing body. Make no mistake - the conservative opposition is against real education except for special interest groups. Follow the news articles, and you will see that conservative Republicans are set on destroying the educational system as we know it. They wish to privatize education. Privatization will lead to an elitist form of education, and will disenfranchise those who are not wealthy.