TSTA Criticizes Teaching Commission
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) strongly opposes certain recommendations of the Educate Texas “Texas Teaching Commission” that would make it more difficult to recruit and retain quality teachers in our classrooms while ignoring the major problem plaguing our public schools.
TSTA withdrew from the teaching commission when it became evident that the group was more interested in eliminating the teacher salary schedule and using standardized tests to evaluate teachers than it was in finding the resources necessary to invest in elevating the teaching profession.
“Teachers are the heart and soul of our public education system. They demand to be treated and compensated as dedicated professionals, working in schools that have the resources their students need to succeed,” said TSTA President Rita Haecker. “Unfortunately, this report’s recommendations lack the courage to do what’s needed, and instead, it simply recycles a number of ‘remedies’ that have been tried in other states without proven results.”
“The first priority of anyone who truly cares about the future of public education in Texas should be restoration of the $5.4 billion that the governor and legislative majority slashed from our schools during the last legislative session,” Haecker added.
Educate Texas is proposing an unproven merit pay plan for teachers, which would be tied in part to Texas’ unreliable and increasingly unpopular system of high-stakes standardized tests..
Educate Texas also would eliminate the teacher salary schedule, which means that many teachers would suffer cuts in actual take home pay as their deductions for health care benefits continue to increase. Texas ranks among the bottom third of the states in average teacher pay. Following the 2011 budget cuts, average teacher pay in Texas declined by $264 a year to $48,375 for the 2011-12 school year.
“The salary schedule is one small thing that keeps experienced teachers in the classroom, and at a time when the state has cut funding and teachers are losing their jobs, it is often the only way an experienced teacher has the money needed to keep up with rising health insurance premiums and other items that shrink take home pay,” Haecker noted.
CTRMA Boondoggle
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has a 2012-13 budget of $43.2 million taken from Texas taxpayers and toll tax revenue. The agency was proposed and pushed through 10 years ago by former Rep. Mike Krusee, whom Texans did not reelect because of his questionable special interest motivated actions.
The toll agency, which currently manages two toll roads, should be dismantled. The toll roads that it plans to build and manage on MoPac Expressway are a sham and are not needed. CTRMA borrowed $130 million to add to the toll road building. The proposed toll roads will not ease traffic conditions; they are simply a source of new revenue. Furthermore, Texas does not need ongoing toll roads.
Texans need an intelligent, well-managed, and reality-based Texas Department of Transportation that works in the best interests of the entire community. There is no reason in the world that CTRMA agency head Mike Heiligenstein should be making $250,000 annually for running an agency that plans toll roads in Central Texas, except that he is appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.
Perry and Texas Legislators refuse to let the gasoline tax catch up with inflation and also continue to divert gasoline tax revenue to their other interests, which is part of the reason TxDOT hasn’t sufficient money to build and maintain our roadways.
Lastly, toll roads are an inefficient and poor cost effective method of building and maintaining roads. In addition, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority may raise toll costs at will without approval and has little oversight to ensure it is working in the best interests of the community at-large. The agency is another governmental intrusion into our daily lives, is unnecessary, and should be dismantled.
Peter Stern, Driftwood, Texas
‘Right to Work’ Agenda
As big business continues to screw American workers, there will be a drive to reinstate unions to combat low wages, poor work environments, fewer sick and personal days, no or little health care plans, fewer vacation days and poor retirement packages. Unions will return. It is cyclical.
