It was an exciting day in the State's Capitol on March 3, 2011 - Tarrant County Day to be exact. A small contingency of Dragon supporters drove to the Capitol to conduct a rally on the south steps and meet with members of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate.
The Carroll Senior High Show Choir sang the district's theme - The Power Of One - on the steps of the Capitol. The students were directed by one of Carroll ISD's finest, Chris Hutchison. They were marvelous and set the tone for the speeches to follow. School Board Trustee Sue Armstrong helped organize the event and encouraged supporters of public education to get involved and let their voices be heard. She emphasized that our message should be one to Make Education A Priority. Sue was followed by Superintendent David Faltys who thanked members of the Southlake community for taking time to travel to Austin to support public schools. CISD parent and local businessman Frank Bliss also addressed the crowd, urging lawmakers to protect public education funding.
It was a small rally, but with a powerful message. Carroll ISD parents Nancy Vegel and Tina Wasserman were among the rally organizers and helped deliver the 2,400+ letters and postcards from Dragon students, parents, employees and business leaders. Trustees Erin Shoupp and Sherri Williams were present, too. The Dragon message called for lawmakers to protect education funding, avoid unfunded mandates and ensure local control stays in the hands of the elected Board Trustees who are responsible for the educational services provided to children in the community. Those in attendance actually spent March 2 and 3 visiting individually with key members of the House/Senate.
Last fall, Carroll ISD joined more than half of the public school districts in Texas to support Aledo ISD's campaign to Make Education A Priority. We like this message because it has a positive focus and encourages respectful dialogue among supporters of K-12 schools and the lawmakers who set the budget. We realize the difficulty they face with a $27 billion shortfall. It appears cuts to public education are inevitable, but there are those who are hoping the lawmakers will reconsider just how deep those cuts will have to be. Pressure to dip into the state's Rainy Day Fund to the tune of $4.3 billion is coming from powerful members of the House Appropriations Committee.
One of the highlights of our visit in Austin is when District 89 Representative Vicki Truitt brought friend and colleagues Jim Pitts of Waxahachie out to greet our Dragon supporters. Pitts said he believes the Appropriations Committee is ready to support such a move, but the vote on the House floor, however, will take some work. Still, it was the first sign of hope for an otherwise dismal outlook for public schools. After all, more than 60 percent of the public schools in Texas are already dipping into their Fund Balance to cover costs.
In a nutshell, districts cannot keep up with rising operating expenses with target revenue numbers from 2005-2006. In addition, the Legislature used Stimulus funds to supplant public education, knowing those funds were not going to be available past the biennium. Although districts all across the state are trimming their budgets and trying to reduce expenses, revenues are not keeping up with costs.
There are those who believe that school officials should remain silent as the lawmakers enact Legislation that will significantly affect the public education services we are able to provide. To do so, we believe, would not be responsible. We have communicated and educated our public about the situation, about the financial outlook at the state and local level and about bills that have been filed that could affect them as parents and taxpayers. While we are not necessarily lobbying for particular legislation or bills, we are doing our best to keep you informed and to make sure you understand the proposals that would affect you as taxpayers, employees and supporters of public education. We believe being advocates for children is part of our job. The expenses related to the rally, postcards, etc. have been paid for by parents or private donations.
We don't know the outcome of these statewide efforts, but we have to look in the mirror at the end of the day and know that we have done what we could to educate and communicate with you about these important issues. Your Board of Trustees has been working tirelessly to trim the local budget, make prudent financial decisions and avoid employee layoffs that will affect your children. Although we've already cut $2 million out of the daily operating budget (mostly at central office level), the Board announced recently that it will make possible schedule changes for the 2012-2013 school year. They hope to avoid layoffs before then and to accommodate positions losses through attrition (resignations, retirements and reassignments). Still unknown, however, is just how much more the state funding deficit will grow. Please continue to follow our website, MySouthlakeNews.com and the Expenditure Reduction link to stay informed as the 82nd Legislative Session continues this spring.
And thank you too all who have written letters, postcards or made phone calls on behalf of the children of Carroll ISD and the children of Texas. Please keep up these efforts to Make Education A Priority!
No comments:
Post a Comment