Dive Brief:
- The Texas Senate rolled out its list of top education priorities Tuesday, and it's looking like 2015 could be quite the controversial year as many of its proposals face direct opposition from various teacher advocacy groups.
- Some of the priorities include: teacher performance being tied to compensation, letter grades for all schools, an upgraded school choice program, and a statewide district for the state's failing schools, similar to the one Gov. Greg Abbott suggested on the campaign trail.
- One of the less contentious items on the agenda is a pre-kindergarten initiative. According to the Austin American-Statesman, it is Abbott's "top emergency legislative item."
Dive Insight:
The push for a statewide district should be a red flag. We've seen it done in Michigan with disastrous results.
What makes the push for a statewide district confusing, especially from Abbott, is that during his election campaign, he said, "Our public education system is too centralized, with too many one-size-fits-all solutions being pushed down from the top." At the same event, he discussed the statewide district plan.
Statewide districts are the epitome of top-down, one-size-fits-all education reform.
If Abbott does feel strongly about this, he should perhaps look instead to Connecticut or the recently proposed "Turnaround Network" in Colorado. In the latter case, the bottom-performing schools that opt into the program receive professional development and resources, but will still have autonomy when it comes to budget and curriculum.