By james art In gangster movies, we’re all familiar with shady characters who say, “You’ve got a nice place here. It would be a shame if something happened to him.”
We accept it when we see it on screen because it advances the plot. However, when this happens in real life and our children’s education is threatened, we owe it to our children to stand back.
As a legislator, I am honored to stand up for the families who send their children to public schools and the teachers who have dedicated their lives to their education. That includes pushing for the right balance of school funding and the accountability of the administrators who sign the checks. It also includes visibility into school finances, which is why I was disappointed to learn recently of Lubbock ISD’s surprising deficit and their seemingly rushed proposal to address it.
A scan of newspaper headlines in other Texas cities shows that school boards across the state (and the nation) are talking about closing schools. Some districts started this conversation many months ago in a sober tone based on the numbers. Others appear to have timed their statements to coincide with early voting to stir up outrage that could sway elections on individual ballots.
However, I have no doubt that LISD has a budget deficit. Enrollment declines as population density changes. This matters because Texas bases its funding on children in schools, not on the buildings themselves.
As LISD shrinks, surrounding districts grow in terms of enrollment and funding. At the same time, LISD is subject to $3.6 million in Medicaid reimbursements because the federal government is taking almost as enthusiastically as it is giving. Also, LISD (like all of us) has to pay a lot more for goods and services than in years past due to rampant inflation.
In the progressive left’s spirit of not letting the crisis go to waste, many are stirring the pot with policy statements about school finance and school choice, urging parents to vote Democratic based on false fears about school finance. By choosing this path, these vocal advocates are obscuring the truth about what actually happened during the last legislative session.
Last year, as I worked with my fellow legislators to increase funding, our schools and enable school choice (without taking any money from local districts), a group of education associations (such as the Texas Association of School Boards “TASB” and The Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) and their lobbyists (paid with your tax dollars) have thrown wave after wave of opposition at us. This powerful gang is used to getting their way and has had far too much influence on Texas education policy for decades.
Tragically for Texas families, this gang has consistently prioritized the selfish interests of its adult members over our children in school.
It came to a head during the fourth of the special sessions called by Gov. Greg Abbott. During it, we discussed House Bill 1, which I supported (you can read it for yourself at Texas Legislature Online – 88(4) ).
HB1 not only provided LISD with an additional $8,571,531 for the 2024-2025 school year, but also allocated an additional $20,193,919 for the 2025-2026 school year and set that as the starting point for any future budget. Parents, students and their teachers will be happy to know that the bill also eliminates the STAAR test.
While the debate over school choice was contentious, HB1’s approach was truly sensible: It proposed education savings accounts that would empower parents of Texas’ most vulnerable students to seek the best educational environment for their child. He did this by adding new money to the system so that not a penny came from the district budget. Pretty cool, right?
HB 1 would have greatly increased funding for LISD and all school districts in the state, but the gang of education lobbyists did everything they could to kill it. Are you concerned that your tax dollars were used to lobby AGAINST this bill and the additional school funding that went with it?
Putting aside any concern for student success, the gang of associations and their lobbyists let their fear of competition and the liability that comes with it fuel their aggressive opposition to HB1. With this bill now resting in the legislative graveyard, these taxpayer-funded lobbyists aren’t spending their ill-gotten gains while the districts that hired them struggle to make ends meet (or so they say). As a proud parent of children in Lubbock ISD schools, I understand that some consolidation may be necessary due to the continued decline in student population (17% decline since 2017). However, the threat of closing thriving, high-quality schools that actually attract families to the district will only compound the problem of declining enrollment. If you care about your children and their friends at school, I hope you will share your concerns with the school board members elected to represent you. It’s up to this community to fend off this mob movie intimidation by the education lobbyist gang so we can find common sense solutions to finance and school choice next session. Our children deserve nothing less.
(State Rep. Dustin Burroughs, R-Lubbock, has represented state House District 83 since 2015. He is chairman of the House Calendars Committee.)