Inside Scoop
A Primer on the Texas Miracle

Where was George Bush when Texas leaders got serious about education?

Throughout the country, George Bush has been taking credit for leading the way to Texas's improved test scores, especially for minority students. But from inside the Lone Star State's schools, the view is different.

Texas teachers say the crucial reforms that led to today's better test results happened before Bush became governor--and, in fact, he's been against some of them.

A recent report put Texas among the top states for student test scores, after allowing for family background. What did the researchers give as reasons for Texas' success?
The report, from the RAND Corpora-tion, said the two biggest reasons were smaller classes in k-4 (a maximum of 22) and wider access to public pre-school (over 20 percent in Texas, higher than in any other state).

How did smaller primary grade classes and the big push for public pre-schools come to Texas?
Both of these reforms were launched by the pivotal Texas education law of 1984, usually called HB72. This law also included other important changes, such as planning periods for all teachers, dropout reduction efforts, higher salaries, and the "no pass, no play" provision requiring athletes to maintain academic standards or lose their eligibility to play.

All of these provisions upgraded the importance of learning in Texas. They were proposed by a commission led by Ross Perot that was appointed by Governor Mark White. And White worked hard to see them enacted into law.

George Bush, according to his official biography, was working in his family oil business at the time.

Has George Bush proposed federal efforts to reduce class size or to expand public pre-school in his campaign for President?
No. But Al Gore has. He pledges to complete the job of hiring 100,000 new teachers for the early grades, and to help communities build more schools so they will have modern classrooms to teach in.

Gore also proposes a $50 billion plan to provide universal access to high-quality pre-school, starting with all four-year-olds. Parents would not be required to send their children, but tuition would no longer be a barrier.

What other factors have helped Texas teachers boost student achievement, especially for minority students?
A lawsuit brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund led to a state Supreme Court ruling in 1989 declaring that the Texas school finance system was unconstitutional.

The evidence showed the wealthiest district in Texas had over $14 million of assessed valuation per child, while the poorest district had only $20,000--a ratio of 700 to 1.

As a result, children in wealthy communities had far more money spent on their public education, even though their parents paid lower taxes than residents of poor communities. The court ordered the state to change that.

The legislature responded with a 1993 law often called "Robin Hood," under which state funds are used to compensate--partially--for local differences in property wealth. Ann Richards was the governor when this law was passed.

George Bush, that year, was working with a group of partners who had bought the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Now that he is governor, Bush says he's against Robin Hood.

What has Bush done about education as governor?
Mostly, he's not tried to turn the clock back on the reforms launched by his predecessors. He has also promoted more funding for reading programs.

On the negative side, Bush pushed for vouchers in all three of the legislative sessions during his time in office. The legislature turned him down, but he kept coming back to try again.

Where has Bush stood on state funding for education?
Last year, the state had a budget surplus of $6 billion. The legislature wanted to use most of this surplus for teacher raises, realizing that Texas salaries are far below the national average.

Governor Bush disagreed. He wanted the lion's share for tax cuts. The money left over, Bush said, should go to school boards to use as they saw fit. He didn't want it earmarked for teacher raises.

After a six-month battle with the legislature, the governor got $2 billion in tax cuts, but he had to accept $3,000 raises for all teachers. The compromise left Texas teachers better off than before. But due to Bush's opposition, their salaries are still several thousand dollars below the national average.

Low salaries make it hard to attract and keep qualified teachers. Texas has 500,000 certified teachers who have left the profession. It needs only 270,000 to staff every classroom, but districts can't fill vacancies. Last year, there were 12,000 teachers on emergency permits and 10,000 permanent subs.

That's just not good for Texas children.

--Alain Jehlen