On Monday education advocacy groups joined a bipartisan group of Texas Legislators in the Speakers Committee Room to discuss concerns over state funding for public school textbooks and instructional materials.
A statewide survey conducted by Baselice & Associates and commissioned by the Texas Citizen Action Network & Texas Curriculum measured voter support on several education issues facing the Texas Legislature. The poll specifically asked Texans about the current $47 billion education budget which includes funding for instructional materials dependent on the stock market performance of the Permanent School Fund.
The poll reported that 73 percent of respondents said they wanted the legislature to provide full funding for reading textbooks and other instructional materials.
Texas is required by the Texas Constitution to use the Available School Funds (ASF) to provide free text books" for children. However the Legislature has proposed funding for instructional materials only as a contingency.
Without these resources students cant keep up with students from other states" said Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Houston).
Currently all new English Language Arts and Reading instructional materials are included only if the ASF receives $1.4 billion in market earnings.
New reading and language arts books have not been purchased in ten years. The expectation is for new textbooks to serve over 4.5 million Texas students for at least seven years.
We are speaking about new Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills to meet targeted needs in the Texas workforce college readiness standards for preparation for post secondary school success and integrating 21st century skills to guarantee our childrens future in our global society" said Yolanda Rey the Executive Director of the Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development The Texas legislature must continue the current state requirement of full funding of these resources and not cause any delay in the education of our Texas students."
On Wednesday March 25 the House Appropriations Committee did put textbooks into the baseline education budget. The portion of Proclamation 2010 dealing with continuing contracts was fully funded at
$347 million.
The part of Proclamation 2010 for new reading instructional materials was also put in the education budget but the Appropriations Committee approved a 25 percent reduction from the amount requested by TEA - from
$547 million down to $411 million
We are very grateful that the House Appropriations Committee has put textbooks into the education budget. We are also very pleased that the continuing contracts will be fully funded but we are concerned about the 25 percent reduction for the new English Language Arts and Reading instructional materials" said Mike White Director of Media and Outreach for TexasCurriculum.org.
There is no question that this is an expensive proposition. Were talking about providing a whole host of instructional programs that will serve 5 million students and their teachers for the better part of a decade.
On Monday education advocacy groups joined a bipartisan group of Texas Legislators in the Speakers Committee Room to discuss concerns over state funding for public school textbooks and instructional materials.
A statewide survey conducted by Baselice & Associates and commissioned by the Texas Citizen Action Network & Texas Curriculum measured voter support on several education issues facing the Texas Legislature. The poll specifically asked Texans about the current $47 billion education budget which includes funding for instructional materials dependent on the stock market performance of the Permanent School Fund.
The poll reported that 73 percent of respondents said they wanted the legislature to provide full funding for reading textbooks and other instructional materials.
Texas is required by the Texas Constitution to use the Available School Funds (ASF) to provide free text books" for children. However the Legislature has proposed funding for instructional materials only as a contingency.
Without these resources students cant keep up with students from other states" said Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Houston).
Currently all new English Language Arts and Reading instructional materials are included only if the ASF receives $1.4 billion in market earnings.
New reading and language arts books have not been purchased in ten years. The expectation is for new textbooks to serve over 4.5 million Texas students for at least seven years.
We are speaking about new Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills to meet targeted needs in the Texas workforce college readiness standards for preparation for post secondary school success and integrating 21st century skills to guarantee our childrens future in our global society" said Yolanda Rey the Executive Director of the Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development The Texas legislature must continue the current state requirement of full funding of these resources and not cause any delay in the education of our Texas students."
On Wednesday March 25 the House Appropriations Committee did put textbooks into the baseline education budget. The portion of Proclamation 2010 dealing with continuing contracts was fully funded at
$347 million.
The part of Proclamation 2010 for new reading instructional materials was also put in the education budget but the Appropriations Committee approved a 25 percent reduction from the amount requested by TEA - from
$547 million down to $411 million
We are very grateful that the House Appropriations Committee has put textbooks into the education budget. We are also very pleased that the continuing contracts will be fully funded but we are concerned about the 25 percent reduction for the new English Language Arts and Reading instructional materials" said Mike White Director of Media and Outreach for TexasCurriculum.org.
There is no question that this is an expensive proposition. Were talking about providing a whole host of instructional programs that will serve 5 million students and their teachers for the better part of a decade.
