What Roy Blake did Updated*

Like the good little Republican soldier he is, Roy Blake voted for HB3, which will seriously underfund Texas schools, and Texas in general to the tune of $4 billion, so says State Comptroller Carolyn Strayhorn

Here are the sins of Roy Blake, as committed against Texas public schools and his home district:

- voted to kill a bill which would've have restored the $1000 insurance supplement to both teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, basically all school personnel.

- voted against the Hochberge amendment which would have provided schools with an additional 5 billion dollars in funds as well as a $4000 pay raise to teachers.

-voted against an amendment which would have raised, over two years, teacher salaries to the current national level.

- voted to make it easier for the state to seize public schools and install private management to run them. After only two years of adequate progress, with failure to make federal adequate yearly progress standards (which gradually become more difficult until the year 2014 when they become impossible to meet) the principal is automatically fired and a private company is brought in.

- voted to allow anyone with management experience and a college degree to be qualified as a principal. It doesn't matter if their management experience is running the local burger joint and overseeing 5 employees, they can now run a school.

- voted to increase taxes for the majority of Texas and lower taxes for his rich Republican friends. The average Texas family will no pay approximately 3% more taxes while those making over $140, ooo a year will actually get a tax break.

- voted for a recapture limit on funds that will allow the property rich school districts to spend at least $1600 more per student than others. This move is especially galling in light of the fact every Nacogdoches county school district is considered property poor.

- voted for a bill that every educational organization in the state was against, a bill which the overwhelming majority of his constituents asked him to vote against.

I received this email from my supt. today regarding a conversation she had with Roy Blake:

I visited his office after the vote to ask why. I was told he voted for the children of his district. I asked which children, this bill only helped Chapter 41 (rich property districts). I was reminded that Evadale was property rich and in his district. I reminded his office that his district was comprised of other districts, what about them! This bill was devastating to the vast majority of his district and East Texas. That comment from me resulted in a silent response AND "a red face, a nod and a smile"!

Representative Blake voted the straight Republic agenda, with little regard as to how it would effect the people who voted him into office. I'm sure we can expect him to once again vote the straight rich Republican agenda again when HB3 comes up to vote.

His vote on HB2 can be found here courtesy of Joe Smith at Texas ISD.com

My state representative, Roy Blake, sold his district out

Despite a wealth of opposition from every education group in the state and despite overwheliming evidence it will be harmful to his home district, my state representative chose to be a good little Republican soldier and voted for CSHB2, whose primary purpose is the destruction of public schools. The voting record can be found here.

I will post more specifics when I have more time.

Texas Republicans are trying to destroy public education

Joining their national counterparts Texas Republicans are doing their best to ensure public educaton fails. I urge all Texas teachers to take action by calling their state representatives and voicing your opinion on the so called "new" money for Texas schools.

Visit Texas Legislature Online where you can look up phones numbers, websites and email addresses of your state reprentatives.

A teacher cannot use a book about her class in class

In the ultimate testing irony, a Florida teacher whose class was feautered in a book about the Florida Everglades cannot use that book with her class, as it does not relate to the state's mandated reading test, the FCAT. Brother Jeb is using his big brother's methods to destroy public education in Florida with a mindless test like Texas uses. The link to the story can be found here

Federal Reading Research is flawed says panel member

A member of the 1997 National Reading Panel says "The scientific research backing federal reading education guidelines has little science and even less research behind it,"

According to panel member Joanne Yatvin, "the payoff for pushing phonics programs goes to the publishers of expensive and disposable workbooks that underpin those programs"

I have been arguing this point on websites such as Joanne Jacobs for quite some time. In my humble opinion, the entire purpose of NCLB is to ensure the failure of every public school in the United States.

The article mentioned above can be found here

Utah begins the rebellion against NCLB

The Utah House of Representatives has fired the first shots in the rebellion against NCLB, voting the state's system should take precedence over the federal program. The story, via Susan Ohanian can be found
here Of course, the real rebellion will come when the feds start trying to seize million dollar schools and turn them over to their buddies in the private industry.

Texas education news

A good source for Texas Education news is TexasISD.com This page is primarily aimed at supts and principals but contains a good daily round up of education stories in Texas. Many link to the Dallas Morning News, Austin-American Statesman and San Antonio Daily.

Students against testing website

I found a great protest website from Students Against Testing. The site features lots of neat things in PDF format such as bumper stickers, flyers and famous quotes about education. My favorite quote comes from none other than Albert Einstein who said, "Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts." This site even sells "No more tests" T-shirts.

This should be mailed to every Texas state legislature who wants to expand testing in Texas and to Dubya.

Texas Computer Educator's Association Conference

I just returned from the TCEA conference and I had a great time among the vendors. I was fortunate enough to win a CPS system from EInstruction . Our 4th grade teachers have been clamoring for some and our Science/Social Studies Curriculum person has been searching for grants to purchase some for our school. I believe EInstruction has a special right now that if you buy one system you get one free and they throw in 2 of their Chalkboard tools for free. I've had a chalkboard on order from them but they are so popular they cannot keep them in stock. The software is outstanding and a new update will be out in the Spring that will make it even easier to use.

I also purchased a copy of Hash, Inc.'s Animation Master. If you've ever seen the short movie of the dancing Alien singing "I will survive", only to have a disco ball crash on her, then you have seen what this program can do. I'm hoping both my kids and I will be successful in learning how to animate.

Automobiles and automobile companies

I've learned a great deal in the last two months about dealing with auto companies. My wife's 3 year old Honda Odyssey required a new transmission (it only had 66, 000 miles). After a little persuasion on my part Honda agreed to pay for the new transmission and its installation even though the vehicle was out of warranty.

At the same time my less than one year old Nissan Frontier (a pickup truck, as required for all males by Texas law) had a torsion rod (it supports the frame and body) break due to a manufacturing defect and Nissan does not have a replacement part in stock anywhere in the country. Needless to say I had a chat with Nissan customer support and they are paying for a rental car for the next month even though its usually not covered. Luckily for me the only rental available was a 2005 Mustang so for once in my life I can say I have a cool car.

A great online tutorial for triple beam balance users

The Ohaus Company offers a great online tutorial to help kids learn to use a triple beam balance. The tutorial can be found here. Click on the triple beam balance link to get to the tutorial. I begin my lessons with the tutorial and then have students mass a variety of objects found in the classroom. You'd be surprised at just how heavy some of the shoes the kids wear are!

How the Business Roundtable views Education

From Susan Ohanian comes this cartoon showing what a Business Roundtable card shop would look like. You can see the cartoon here.

The Houston Astros offer an outstanding program for kids with Perfect Attendance. Information about this program can be found here. There is also an Honor Roll program for academic achievers. I'm told by teachers whose schools have participated in the program it is an outstanding motivational tool. Click here to download the enrollment form for you school in PDF format. According to their website:

The Perfect Attendance program is designed as a motivational tool to applaud your students and provide enjoyment with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park! Also, each school's Perfect Attendance coordinator will receive coupons good for tickets to their choice of pre-selected Astros Perfect Attendance game dates during the 2005 season as our way of expressing our gratitude for their leadership and teamwork.

The Cramtastic 2000

My daughter was watching a new Nickelodeon show called
Danny Phantom. In the show the teacher informs the class that since the state exams are coming up, and his bonus is based on their performance, he will be using the latest in subliminal education technology.

It's only a matter of time.

Direct Instruction not all its touted to be

Recent articles discussed at Joanne Jacobs touted the wonders of a phonics based reading program called Direct Instruction. Direct Instruction, or DI, is a phonics based program similar to Open Court. Teachers visiting its website will recognize many similar characteristics, mainly that it strives to remove creativity from the classroom (I wonder if some school districts have Direct Instruction police?). The company website is filled with stories about wonderful successes while not actually providing any hard data to examine. I have found a longitudinal study demonstrating DI is no better than and possible less better than traditional teaching methods. The full article can be found here.

Welcome to Education in Texas

As a Texas teacher I try to keep up with education stories, research and commentary. I will post this as I find important ones.