EDLD 5342 Blog Post

Week 1 Reflection

This week we discussed the history of Texas education.  We were required to select three historical events that we felt had a significant impact in shaping Texas Education.  This is what I chose:

• Mirabeau B. Lamar had the legislature establish land in each county to support education.  I believe this is significant, because it put an emphasis on supporting education throughout the state.  It was more of an “education first” attitude.  I believe this set the tone for future legislatures to plan for education when building communities.

• The Republic of Texas established that one-tenth of the state revenue was dedicated for educational purposes.  Once I again, I believe this was to be an important step to making a commitment to provide Texans with the best possible educational system.  As we know, the educational system can be burdened or strengthened by the deeds of the legislature.

• The Gilmer-Aiken law was responsible for establishing some policies that led to making funding the Texas educational system much more sustainable.  It reduced the number of districts, formalized the school year, and changed the structure of the State Board of Education.  These changes were vital to help move along a growing educational system.  One of the things that stood out to me was the increase of teacher pay scales.  This is vital, to keep a district competitive

Another topic that was discussed was the funding formula for Texas Schools.  The part that really resonated with me was the "Robin Hood" effect.  I am in a property wealthy district, and I have heard a lot about this topic. With such tough economic times, it was hard to watch our district have to cut jobs and reduce funding for vital programs like late buses for our students, while paying out a large some of money to the state.  As an educator in a property wealthy district absolutely hated it.  On the other hand, I had to look at the whole picture.  I grew up in a community that was underfunded.   A program like this in Louisiana, could have tremendously helped out my district.  In an effort to provide equity to all students, the state had to devise a way to ensure that students had an opportunity to be successful. 

This weeks activity gave me a lot insight on finance, hopefully I will leave this class with a much more concise view of how finances work on the district level.