Laredo ISD Prefers Litigation To Education
Laredo ISD and the Texas State Teacher’s Association (TSTA) have joined the National Education Association (NEA) in a suit targeting Texas children. Given Laredo’s record, it’s easy to see why the NEA chose them as “Texas Ground Zero” to launch its assault on our kids.
We wrote about Laredo ISD in December of 2004. Newly installed Superintendent Sylvia Bruni was hard at work introducing innovative learning techniques, including instruction in “water consumption” and “physical movement.” It gets better; she’s also “Re-Tooling” her teachers into “Charismatic Adults.”
Apparently, Ms. Bruni was successful in implementing her strategies; no child has forgotten how to move or drink water. Unfortunately, they are less adept at reading, writing and computing.
Obviously, Laredo ISD is not at fault. The federal government is to blame for her students not being able to compete on the Texas TAKS. Texans developed the Texas TAKS in Texas for Texas students. The same Texas TAKS that everyone else takes.
I checked the map. Laredo is still in Texas.
A concerned parent explains why Laredo children can’t pass the TAKS. According to the Texas State Teacher’s Association website, this confused person said:
Testing favors urban dwellers: They take exams that don’t relate to us because of the wording. For example, they asked a question about skyscrapers. Laredo does not have any skyscrapers. The poor kids are guessing.”
Skyscrapers aren’t the only things Laredo doesn’t have; they also don’t have glaciers, seashores or pyramids. Are Laredo Educrats going to ignore everything outside Laredo city limits? If learning about Laredo is all we’re worried about, let’s shut the schools down and buy all the kids a city bus ticket. Maybe if Laredo ISD focused on what the kids don’t know, rather than on what they arrive knowing, these children could identify some of the many wonders that exist beyond their fair city.
Unfortunately for Laredo children, that won’t happen.
Superintendent Bruni has a better idea. Along with the NEA, their Texas affiliate The Texas State Teacher’s Association and 8 other school districts across the nation they’re going to sue America for, you guessed it, more money.
Who’d have thought?
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 14,500 school districts in America. Texas has the dubious honor of being home to one of 8 failures that have joined other failing Educrats, along with their local and national unions, in an insane effort to flush God knows how much of our kids’ cash pursuing a pointless lawsuit that no parent wants.
Thank you Laredo ISD.
In Laredo, maybe if they’d spend less time “Re-Tooling” and more time teaching, their kids could pass the TAKS.
Public schools in general and Texas Public Schools in particular can’t account for much of the money they’ve got, and they’ve got a lot. Nationally, according to the Department of Education, the United States spends more than $530 billion/year on K-12 education. That’s more than Russia’s Gross Domestic Product.
Russian kids can read, write, and compute rings around us. They’re the guys that gave us Sputnik.
What do Texas Public Schools do with our kids’ money? Millions upon millions are squandered, wasted, or misappropriated.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation identified almost five million dollars of waste in Dallas ISD alone. Here are the details according to an April 20, 2005 Austin American-Statesman commentary.
Lawyers $1,600,000
Chambers of Commerce $375,000
Franklin Covey $90,000
Billie Arbuckle Adventures $14,500
Cultural Programs $2,700,000
$4,779,000
According to the commentary, while Dallas ISD was diddling away this money, they were suing the state for more of your cash. They claimed they were “forced” to dismiss several hundred high school teachers because of “inadequate” funding.
Need more? Here’s another one.
According to a June 22, 2005, Times Record-News article, the “Financial Pros” at Wichita Falls Independent School District can’t figure out how many employees they have. It’s been a mystery for eight years.
Judy Whittington, WFISD Budget Director, says:
“As a result, school budgeters have been using inaccurate numbers for probably the last eight years.”
Why doesn’t someone count the canceled checks?
Texas Public Schools are awash in cash. If they applied the same discipline and diligence required of any legitimate business, they could educate every child for half the cost. Oak Cliff is doing it right now.
According to a May 29, 2005 Dallas Morning News article, Oak Cliff’s Bishop Dunne Catholic School opened in 1961. Over the next 40+ years, little changed on campus. This year, it’s different. They’re breaking ground on a colossal $2.1 million construction project. It’s a HUGE amount. It’s almost as much as Dallas ISD wasted on “Cultural Programs” while firing classroom teachers.
How’s the school doing academically? Glad you asked.
According to the article, the school’s demographics are 40% Hispanic, 30% Black, and 30% White. 40% of students receive financial aid. Over the last six years, 100% of graduating seniors have been accepted to college. This year’s 47 seniors received $3.5 million in scholarships.
Not a bad return on the $2.1 million the school spent on renovations over 44 years. If asked, I’ll wager that all of Dunne’s college-bound graduates can identify a skyscraper.
Why do Dunne’s students excel and Laredo’s fail?
Bill Cosby has identified the reason. In a June 21, 2005, World Net Daily article, Dr. Cosby slammed words like “at-risk” and “disadvantaged,” which he said are attached to minorities solely because of the color of their skin. Parents and other community elders must erase those words.
I wish Dr. Cosby would visit Laredo.
Laredo ISD, the NEA, the TSTA and that misguided mother blame our children for their failures. Caring, committed, concerned, dedicated Educators prove them wrong every day of the year. They prove them wrong for all children, whether White, Black, Red, Yellow, or Brown. The Bishop Dunne Catholic School is only one recent example of the type of education that’s available to all Texas children if parents are provided “The Power of The Purse.”
Texas Educrats and their unions can only operate through coercion. They can maintain their monopoly only through obfuscation. Teacher’s Unions and the Educrats they serve are losing the education debate in America, and they’re losing it badly. That’s why they’ve launched this vapid lawsuit.
Parents want school choice and they want it now. Texas children should have the opportunity to attend the public, private or parochial school that can best serve their needs.
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Help us assure that all Texas children are placed with genuine Educators. Given 100% fully funded school choice, every Texas child can duplicate the success of Dunne graduates year after year after year after year.
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