T4PE Ratings Database

HISTORY From website: "Our public schools have been underfunded for decades and were left vulnerable when the pandemic hit. Even the safe reopening of schools has become politicized by Governor Abbott and the Republican leadership. Our children's physical and mental health and teachers should be the focus as we keep our schools open. We have to make sure our children don't lose any more in-person learning. The longer focus must be on stable and equitable funding for our public schools. While we work keeping schools safe and pandemic-prepared to minimize interruptions to education. The mismanagement of school funding by Texas will cost us quality teachers, which will lead to poor academic outcomes. To produce tomorrow's leaders, we need well-compensated teachers focused on creating learners, not test-takers. SURVEY RESPONSES: WHAT IS BROKEN? The funding systems and the emphasis on standardized test scores. The state must get back to its old funding standard before it started pushing the burden onto property tax rates for ISD. We cannot continue to prioritize standardized test scores over student development. PRIORITIES: Funding, Pandemic recovery for students and Teachers, Improving preparedness for secondary education . FUNDING: Increase. FINDING THE MONEY: Before putting the burden on property taxpayers in ISD the state paid a much larger share of the education budget. The state has chosen to give out tax credits to major corporations who would normally help fund the schools their workers send children to. VOUCHERS/CHARTERS: No to vouchers. EVALUATING PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Child development and their comprehension skills which can be measured with academic achievement, but not the limited scope of one a year standardized test. IGCs: I would sunset, Individual Graduation Committees make pay for diploma schools possible. A-F CAMPUS EVALUATION: TEA?s A-F score does not give a full picture of what schools and teachers are facing and what solutions are needed. ATTRACTING/RETAINING TEACHERS: Pay and benefits must increase, you pay for it the way you pay for anything, you work with your budget. It is about prioritizing not finding huge sums of new revenue. COLAs: Setting a set timeframe is not the best way to find COLA, the current situation is drastically different than prior to the pandemic. These should be multiple factors that trigger a cost-of-living adjustment. TRS CARE: We must fund healthcare in Texas and that goes beyond TRS retirees. Expanding healthcare access like Medicaid expansion would help lower the cost of insurance across Texas. TRS RETIREMENT: Keep the defined benefit, as these teachers signed up for. They were dependable and steady as teachers, we should not give them a retirement that is unstable. REPRESENTING ALL CONSTITUENTS: I will proactively go out and seek input from residents of my district, not just the ones motivated to come to meetings. RESOURCES FOR INFORMATION ON PUBLIC EDUCATION: Our educators and parents. OTHER COMMENTS: I want to help in removing politics and culture wars from school policy. Our teachers, schools, and children are being used as political pawns for GOP leaders to score media hits on conservative media sites. The irrational anger from parents at school board meetings is fueled by a cycle of political rhetoric cycled through conservative media outlets. We must bring down the temperature and focus on getting the resources our teachers, support staff, and children need to overcome the nearly two years of learning disruption caused by the pandemic.

T4PE Public Ratings

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