More students, fewer teachers - Republicans attack public education

The SCUC ISD will have 19 fewer teachers available in the 2011-2012 school year while enrolling 538 more students due to state budget cuts according to Superintendent Greg Gibson. In addition the Board of Trustees made the highly controversial decision to eliminate the District Police force and has reduced the number of administrators by 6 along with other cost saving measures that became necessary when our state legislators saw fit to reduce funding by $450 or 11% per student.

Now you’ll hear from our Representative in the state legislature, John Kuempel, and even the Governor that they’ve actually added $1.6 billion to the elementary and secondary education budget but what they don’t tell you is that’s what it takes just to cover the increase in the number of Texas students with 89% of last year’s per student rate.

So our schools will serve 538 more kids which calls for 18 more teachers but instead we’ll have 19 less. That’s going to leave us 37 teachers short of the number we should have. This comes on top of higher performance requirements and even more days of state mandated testing during this budget cycle.

Apparently John Kuempel and his Republican colleagues’ conservative philosophy doesn’t include investing in the future of our children and our state. If you’re not happy with your kids and grandkids getting shortchanged on their education remember whose fault it is when you vote in November 2012.