By Brian Russell State Board of Education Candidate District 10
Governor Rick Perry is to be commended for refusing federal educational funds from the $4 billion Race to the Top (R2T) fund established by President Obama & Secretary of Education Duncan. In a down economy and facing a budget shortfall in the next legislative session the over $700 million in federal funds potentially available to Texas from the Race to the Top fund could have been a temptation to Gov. Perry.
However he wisely recognized that with federal dollars comes federal control specifically the requirement that Texas conform its academic standards to a uniform national academic standard.
In practical terms this would mean substitution of the Common Core State Standards developed under the auspices of the National Governors Association in place of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Replacing (or rewriting) the TEKS adopted by our elected State Board of Education in favor of a uniform national standard is a bad idea.
As a matter of principle education is and should be primarily a local and state issue.
Texans have no interest in ceding control of the content of our public school curricula to unelected and unaccountable standards writing teams. Further the one size fits all" philosophy of a national standard does not allow Texas the freedom to experiment with or enhance its standards based upon empirical results in Texas schools.
Gov. Perry is also right to reject the proffered federal funds because the amount of federal funds available to Texas is too little to make a difference.
K-12 public education in Texas has a biennial budget of $80 billion meaning that the maximum federal funds available to Texas would comprise less than one percent of the biennial education budget. Further the purchase of new textbooks aligned with a uniform national standard for the nearly 5 million public school students in Texas would no doubt further reduce if not completely exhaust the federal funds.
Gov. Perry has shown great wisdom and judgment in keeping control of our schools where it belongs in Texas.
Brian Russell is a Republican candidate for State Board of Education District 10 which includes all of Austin Bastrop Burleson Colorado DeWitt Fayette Gonzales Lavaca Lee Milam Waller Washington & Williamson counties as well as portions of Brazoria Fort Bend & Travis counties.
Gov. Perry is also right to reject the proffered federal funds because the amount of federal funds available to Texas is too little to make a difference.
K-12 public education in Texas has a biennial budget of $80 billion meaning that the maximum federal funds available to Texas would comprise less than one percent of the biennial education budget. Further the purchase of new textbooks aligned with a uniform national standard for the nearly 5 million public school students in Texas would no doubt further reduce if not completely exhaust the federal funds.
Gov. Perry has shown great wisdom and judgment in keeping control of our schools where it belongs in Texas.
Brian Russell is a Republican candidate for State Board of Education District 10 which includes all of Austin Bastrop Burleson Colorado DeWitt Fayette Gonzales Lavaca Lee Milam Waller Washington & Williamson counties as well as portions of Brazoria Fort Bend & Travis counties.
