Only in Texas would an idea so stupid as outcome-based funding get itself some wings. Now it is trying to fly to the finish line as part of the Senate school funding package, HB3.
Back in January, we shared the really really bad idea about funding our schools that proposed using 3rd graders' STAAR scores to determine which schools get funding- more money if kids pass and less money if kids do not. Can you think of anything more inequitable and full of holes?
Only in Texas would an idea so stupid get itself some wings. Now it is trying to fly to the finish line as part of the Senate school funding package, HB3.
Can you spare a minute to write or call your State Senator and let them know that the pay-for-test-scores provision of the Senate's school finance plan (SB4) is unacceptable?
The vote has been postponed until Monday so you have all day Friday to call and the weekend to write.
You can call your senator here with a click of a button, and you can use AFT's sample script to outline your concerns. Here is a list of all state senators' contact information not just yours.
You can also take action by sending this online letter.
From Carol Burris's article in the Washington Post
"...[D]istricts would receive outcomes funding equivalent to an additional weight equating to $3,400 for every low-income student achieving third-grade reading proficiency at the Meets standard and an additional weight that would equate to $1,450 for every non-low-income student achieving proficiency at the Meets standard, producing a total outcomes funding pool of approximately $400 million funded in 2019–2020. ...
For those concerned with equity, this proposal is absurd. It rewards districts that have the greatest number of students reading at the level of proficiency. Given the effects of parental wealth as well as per pupil spending on student achievement, the wealthiest districts, not the poorest districts, in the state would be rewarded. These already advantaged districts would then have additional funds to reinvest in programs which would make their students even more successful the following year, further widening the gap between have and have-not schools."
...Outcomes-based education funding is highly controversial. It is ineffective and can make inequities worse. And this Texas version, which is especially bad, will result in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer with funding going to students who need it the least, not the most."
Say it ain't so, Joe!
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