Local Teachers’ Union Concerned By State Study’s Recommendations

A large part of your tax dollars go toward the borderland’s public schools. A new study released by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts gives you a glimpse of how they’re being put to use.

The Financial Allocation Study For Texas (FAST) compares school districts based on their financial savvy and academic success.

Every district gets a star rating. Five-star districts spend very little money per pupil, but mark high on student achievement. One-star districts spend a lot on their students, but have very low student achievement. Three star districts either spend low and have low achieving students or they spend high and have high achieving students.

In a media release, State Comptroller Susan Combs said the FAST study is a fair and reliable way of comparing districts in spite of the differences between them. ?The FAST system includes controls for the diverse range of students and the varying educational costs in Texas school districts ? resulting in realistic and useful comparisons,? said Combs.

But the study isn’t just rankings and ratings. It includes recommendations for state lawmakers and district officials.

Lucy Clarke, president of the El Paso Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel, told ABC-7 she is concerned by some of those recommendations.

The first suggests getting rid of the class size cut-off in elementary schools for kindergarten through 4th grade. It proposes that 22 students become an average class size, rather than a cap. According to the FAST study, that move could save the state more than $550 million because it would reduce the demand for teachers.

“At the expense of our children and at the expense of our future, is it really that cost effective?” said Clarke.

Another hot button issue is the report’s recommendation to tie teacher pay to student performance. The study states, “Instead of rewarding teachers for years of service or advanced degrees, teacher salary schedules should reward teachers based on performance.”

Clarke thinks that’s uncalled for. “If my pay raise was based on how well you did and you had been out partying the night before, how fair is that to me?”

These recommendations could come into play during the next Texas legislative session in January as lawmakers look to slash state spending.