Jay P. Greene's Blog

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

So yesterday I received notice that the Nederland Texas High School Class of 1986 would be having a 25th year reunion. I thought that they must surely be off on the math, but a quick calculation revealed a denial problem on my part rather than a math error on theirs.

As I will argue below, I am not the only Texan with a denial issue.

Parental choice supporters in Texas have crafted a very broad parental choice program designed to help the state with a Texas-sized budget deficit. Choice supporters have announced their intention to attach Taxpayer Savings Grants as an amendment to a larger fiscal savings bill.

I am a Texas expat living abroad until such time as I can return to the glorious nation of my birth, and one who has been involved in a number of Texas choice efforts in the past. George Orwell once said something to the effect that to understand London, one must live in Paris. Strangely enough, I feel that my seven years of separation from Texas has deepened my understanding of the place.

Texas has a very cautious political culture, which overall is a highly desirable trait for a state political class. Over the years some of the national players in the parental choice movement have expressed dismay that Texas has done so little, especially given that the state is so “conservative.” What these people fail to appreciate is that the Texas political class is “conservative” in the sense that they are cautious regarding change. If you are looking for the “Wild West” don’t stop in Austin.

Overall, this serves Texas quite well. Texas has the lowest spending/taxes per capita in the country, and has been an engine of job growth. Texas will gain four new Congressional seats during the current redistricting, with no other state gaining more than two. Companies and people have been moving into the state.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that a cautious political culture can be quite the bad thing when it comes to K-12 reform. The Texas K-12 system from which I matriculated 25 years ago has changed remarkably little, while the state has changed profoundly. Anglos now only comprise 33.3% of public school students and Hispanics are nearing the 50 percent mark. Most people don’t seem much bothered by this in Texas, much to the credit of the state.

Texas has for some time had among the highest NAEP scores for Hispanic students, but that’s not good enough, and the ranking has slipped. Having Hispanic scores a bit higher than the national average simply doesn’t cut it when the national average for Hispanics is closer to Mexico’s national average than South Korea’s.  Florida’s Hispanic students now outscore the statewide average for all Texas children on the NAEP 4th grade reading exam. The reason why is clear: Florida has been bolder than Texas on K-12 reform, including but not exclusive to choice.

Those supporting the Taxpayer Savings Grant program will be grappling with both the cautious Texas political culture and the power of the education union and administrators. It’s an uphill climb. Texans have accomplished some admirable things in K-12 reform, but find themselves lagging behind on the reform-minded states such as Indiana and even Oklahoma.

You cannot imagine how much it pained me to write that last word, but it is true.

Texans are not big on accepting also-ran status. If however the biggest strength of the political class continues to be their biggest weakness on the reform front, further plateau of NAEP scores will be about the most we can hope for. The world has radically changed since 1986, but I could stroll into Nederland High School today and find things much the same. Texas will require a continuously improving system of public schools to adopt to the enormous economic and demographic changes of the next 25 years.

Saddle up Texas- it is time to rise to the occasion.