Texas’ curriculum program earns an “A”

Here we go - bragging again. Well, with so much going wrong with government, it's time we focus on some positive news. And the Lone Star State is tops for positive news.

Education Week released its Quality Counts annual report mid-January putting Texas on top. That's right - Texas earned an "A".

The report confirms that Texas does a superior job in crafting its own curriculum standards, which were created by the State Board of Education with input from thousands of Texans.

You might recall that Texas, along with Alaska, has refused to join the so-called "Race to the Top" effort this year to create national standards. We applaud Gov. Perry's standing firm not to fall into that black hole. If we wanted Texas kids educated like those in Washington, D.C., we'd be on that race (to the bottom).

Education Week released its annual Quality Counts report Jan 15, 2010, which this year focuses on the national standards debate and examines the quality of work states have done independently preparing their own standards.

Texas earned a grade of ‘A’ on standards, assessment and accountability, and ranked sixth in the country. The state earned a grade of 100 for both its standards and school accountability systems, and received a score of 86.7 for its student tests.

The report noted that 11 states said they had used the Texas standards when crafting their own standards.

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=7784

Full Quality Counts information is available at: http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2010/01/14/index.html .

Strings, what strings? says Arne Duncan

It has been reported that U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY SAYS RACE TO THE TOP PROJECT IS NOT ABOUT FED TAKEOVER OF PUBLIC ED (Quorum Report today).
“Arne Duncan responds to recent statements by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and says that states would not be mandated to follow national common core standards”

Well, if you believe there’s no coercion in the federal government dangling dollars in front of the states and providing “points” in an application for the number of organizations in your state that agree to federal curriculum standards….then you likely also buy the concept that C-SPAN will be in all the deliberations, dealings and vote-buying meetings on health care.

You bet it’s about control. And TX Gov Perry is right to take a pass on the Race to the Top federal dolalrs. The strings are attached to it even when Arne Duncan protests they are not…

Gov. Perry says "no thanks" to fed funds, national curriculum standards

Americans for Prosperity commends Gov. Rick Perry for drawing a line in the sand and announcing today that he would not apply for specific education stimulus dollars which could have led to an arbitrary mandate requiring Texas to adopt national curriculum standards and tests.

“Accepting stimulus dollars comes with federal strings attached. As a former official at the U.S. Department of Education, I agree with Gov. Perry that we don’t want the federal government setting standards for Texas schools,” said Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity and former White House Liaison for the Department of Education early in the Reagan Administration.

“Education should be left to the states and should not be a top-down but a bottom-up process,” said Venable. “Texas has an open, collaborative process including public hearings and input. The Lone Star State has invested considerable time and millions of dollars into curriculum development and has set some rigorous standards to which we are committed. We don’t need Washington to tell us how to run our lives here in Texas.”

The Race to the Top program is part of the stimulus plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Governor’s decision is consistent with the decision not to accept Unemployment Insurance stimulus dollars. All those bailout programs have set states up for even bigger budget deficits in the future.

“Gov. Perry has been vindicated for not taking the unemployment insurance dollars last year, and is right to take a pass on these education dollars as well,” said Venable.

Under the Race to the Top program, states will likely have to demonstrate their commitment to the new standards without having a chance to closely examine the first draft. But those states could be living with these standards for the next six to ten years.

The Texas Education Agency has estimated that the state would expend $3 billion to purchase new textbooks and align the Texas curriculum to the national standards. The anticipated Race to the Top funds would provide from $350-700 million, or as little as $75 per student.


Read Gov. Perry's comments today here: http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/14147/