Oh Texas, Texas, Texas

[Moonlight J]

Way to move into the 21st century!

Efforts to bring Texas students into the 21st century with new technology in classrooms have suffered a huge setback this school year — at the very time the Legislature tried to make it easier for schools to upgrade. School districts have sharply scaled back their spending on technology in large part because of big funding cuts imposed by the Legislature, financial reports from the Texas Education Agency show.

Expenditures on laptops, desktops, portable computers and related hardware have been reduced to about a tenth of what was spent last year, and school districts have used only 4 percent of their state aid for instructional materials on technology this year. That’s in spite of a 2011 law that allows them to spend textbook money on technology as well as books.

“It’s a pretty bleak picture for technology in our schools this year,” said Jennifer Bergland of the Texas Computer Education Association, a group representing technology officials in school districts. She noted that districts such as Dallas and Houston eliminated their instructional technology departments last year to save money.

[Moonlight J]

Last year, districts spent about $135 million on technology from a state fund. That was before the 2011 Legislature cut regular funding for public schools by $4 billion over two years and trimmed $1.4 billion more in grant money for education.

So over 1/3rd of the state budget cuts came out of education's budget in the state in a state that is already below the national average (31st overall) in math and science rankings



Woof

[johnnya24]

Minnesota standing out like a sore thumb there. You betcha I'd be interested in seeing their education stats and spending.

Does that chart represent performance or spending?

http://www.mn2020.org/issues-that-matter/education/k-12-spending-in-minnesota-again-below-the-u.s.-average

From 2010: Minnesota is once again below the national average in terms of its K-12 public education investment. The U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent edition of “Public Education Finances” reveals this distressing trend.

Website claims to be non-partisan, but it has a party political feel to it.

[Moonlight J]

I do a ton of of work in Minnesota -- they're a terrific place to work with. They do a lot of local bonds and such to raise tech funds on top of what the state does. The parental interest in schools up there is amazing compared to what I deal with down here in the south.

[In the Corn]

Minnesota standing out like a sore thumb there. You betcha I'd be interested in seeing their education stats and spending.

Does that chart represent performance or spending?

http://www.mn2020.org/issues-that-matter/education/k-12-spending-in-minnesota-again-below-the-u.s.-average

Website claims to be non-partisan, but it has aparty political feel to it.

MN2020 is definitely not non-partisan. The founder is an uber-liberal.

Yes, our citizen do take education very seriously and often increase taxes on ourselves for education. I don't know that we are seeing much ROI for the overtaxing, but we believe schools and education are important. It will be interesting in the coming years whether the continued extra taxing through referendum will continue as people are seeing smaller paychecks and increased property taxes...not sure where the tipping point will be.

[Controller Jacobs]

Mississippi is doing so poorly, their color is off the Legend. I fault Arabic numerals.

And check out the island of West Virginia. With results summed up by the popular saying "Don't rise above your raisin'".

[Moonlight J]

MN2020 is definitely not non-partisan. The founder is an uber-liberal.

Yes, our citizen do take education very seriously and often increase taxes on ourselves for education. I don't know that we are seeing much ROI for the overtaxing, but we believe schools and education are important. It will be interesting in the coming years whether the continued extra taxing through referendum will continue as people are seeing smaller paychecks and increased property taxes...not sure where the tipping point will be.

From my perspective, MN is the easiest state to work with of all of my responsibilities

[B-Fly]

It's hard to make any sort of "causation" case one way or the other between expenditures on education and educational outcomes, for lots of reasons. But since state legislatures generally make those decisions and they are answerable to the voters, you would expect the State legislature's priorities to bear some resemblance to the priorities of the voters in that state. Obviously, the power of special interests, including but not limited to teachers' unions, can also have a major impact on expenditure levels, and sometimes those expenditures may reflect entitlement commitments made decades earlier. To assess causation, you'd also have to account for other demographic variables, etc. And as the auditor general of the largest public school district in the country, I certainly know that there are always lots of public dollars that can be squandered in one way or another. All of that said, when you cut school funding at the state level, it compels hard choices at the local level. And it's always easier politically, bureaucratically, and in many cases pedagogically, to cut out planned new expenditures/initiatives (e.g., investment in new educational technologies) than to cut recurring expenditures (namely, personnel costs, but also facilities maintenance, fuel, food, transportation, etc), or mandated expenditures (like IEP-mandated SpEd services, NCLB-mandated private tutoring or transportation for school choice, etc).

[senorsheep]

I don't know about Texas, but...

Colorado is always ranked in the lower half in educational spending, and we have one of the most educated populations in the country. I don't believe the correlation between spending and quality is as direct as a lot of people like to imagine. How educational dollars are spent is probably more important than how much is spent.

[Moonlight J]

I don't know about Texas, but...

Colorado is always ranked in the lower half in educational spending, and we have one of the most educated populations in the country. I don't believe the correlation between spending and quality is as direct as a lot of people like to imagine. How educational dollars are spent is probably more important than how much is spent.

Absolutely, but cutting back on instructional tech in this day and age is awful. I've been to a lot of schools in Texas and they need help. Also, understand that Texas hasn't adopted a SS book since the mid 90's. Not like anything has changed in the last 15 years or anything.

We've had a few districts do a 1:1 iPad initiative and adopt our Alg I, II, & Geometry apps over our printed textbooks http://www.hmheducation.com/fuse/ since the cost savings are >30% and has many more features.

[senorsheep]

Absolutely, but cutting back on instructional tech in this day and age is awful. I've been to a lot of schools in Texas and they need help. Also, understand that Texas hasn't adopted a SS book since the mid 90's. Not like anything has changed in the last 15 years or anything.

We've had a few districts do a 1:1 iPad initiative and adopt our Alg I, II, & Geometry apps over our printed textbooks http://www.hmheducation.com/fuse/ since the cost savings are >30% and has many more features.

iPads? They got football programs to support!

[GwynnInTheHall]

iPads? They got football programs to support!

Did ya expect Odessa-Permian to be pumping out MIT candidates?

[Moonlight J]

iPads? They got football programs to support!

I'll never forget my high school in Spring having astroturf on the football field. The fundraising for football is never hurting

[johnnya24]

I'll never forget my high school in Spring having astroturf on the football field. The fundraising for football is never hurting

But the turf burns will ...

[cavebird]

Mississippi is doing so poorly, their color is off the Legend. I fault Arabic numerals.

And check out the island of West Virginia. With results summed up by the popular saying "Don't rise above your raisin'".

Ah, Mississippi, making Louisiana 49th in so many ways. (Except official corruption, Chicago tries to put Illinois past us there, but they can't.). Remember, here folks, some of the spending numbers thrown out here can be very misleading because the numbers are about state funding while a lot of funding comes at the local level. Thus, some states with lower state spending and good results may actually have more funding, although it could be due to other factors as well.