Texas Senate unveils Education Agenda

"The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge,
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge."
Proverbs 18:15

Texas State Capitol -- This morning, the Texas Senate laid out the first part of it's education agenda.  Focused on reforming the government school systems, it was a decidedly mixed bag.  There will be another event dedicated specifically to school choice in the coming weeks:



Highlights:

• "Reforming education is more than a single shot."

• "There is no one-size-fits-all."

• Make sure every student can read by 4th grade.

• Larry Taylor -- "Educaiton is not a partisan issue.
• Author's Note: Since when?!?
• Blah, blah, blah "innovative" school districts.
• Giving letter grades to individual campuses.
• Author's Note: Not a terrible idea.
• Common Core buzzwords: "Workforce development," "College and Career ready," "21st century education."
• Lowering the "parent trigger" threshold to allow parental takeover of a school.
• Author's Note: Easily the best idea presented today.
• Removing artificial barriers to online courses.
• "You can't spend money and expect great things without accountability."

While we weren't particularly impressed, apparently the government school bureaucrats had a conniption fit:

“None of the proposals offered by Sen. Taylor and the lieutenant governor would give teachers and students the time and resources they need to improve teaching and learning,” said Texas State Teachers Association President Noel Candelaria. “The Taylor-Patrick agenda fails to meet the needs of five million public school students whose schools have been inadequately funded by the very legislators who are eager to declare schools a failure based on standardized test scores.”