Fort Worth Star Telegram article on Schools and Senator Wendy Davis.
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Davis updates listeners on school funding
Posted Saturday, Apr. 06, 2013 0 Comments Print Reprints
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By Jessamy Brown
jessamybrown@star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON -- Parents and educators from several Tarrant County school districts heard state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, describe the state of public education at two town hall meetings Saturday and give an update on efforts to restore school funding.
Some told Davis what they think of the current state of affairs.
A like-minded Arlington resident, Mark Stephens, said he is concerned that "the intent of our Legislature and our governor is to destroy public schools and take the money to the private sector."
Davis, who opposes using state funds for school vouchers, responded by saying:
"I do think there is a very concerted effort under way to starve our public schools and move education into a privatized system. And sadly the people who really push for that are the people who stand to make money from that. They do an excellent job of making arguments that appear as though this is in the best interest of the children of Texas, and they convince some politicians to believe they are acting in the interests of Texas' future," she said.
Davis spoke in Arlington in the morning, then motored to Fort Worth for an afternoon session at Texas Wesleyan University. There she told 115 listeners that she is monitoring a "parent trigger" proposal in the Legislature that would make it easier for parents to urge local officials to close poorly performing schools or convert them into charter schools.
Davis outlined the effect of $5.4 billion in budget cuts to school funding in 2011, noting that 25,000 education jobs were lost.
The crowd applauded when Davis said she was one of two senators this session to vote against the Senate's $195.5 billion budget plan because, she said, it restored less than 28 cents for each dollar cut earlier from educational funding.
Davis said she was pleased that on Thursday, the Texas House approved a $193.8 billion state budget that gives more to schools than the Senate's version.
"It is still not where we need to be but it is dramatically better than the Senate version was," she said.
She said she introduced Senate Joint Resolution 63, proposing a constitutional amendment to allow the use of $4 billion from the state rainy-day fund to restore the school budget cuts.
The fund is projected to hit $12 billion by the end of May.
Davis served on the Senate Education Committee during two previous legislative sessions but was not assigned to it this year. Nonetheless, she told the crowd, she still attends its meetings.
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
Jessamy Brown, 817-390-7326
Twitter: @jessamybrown
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/04/06/4755216/davis-updates-listeners-on-school.html#storylink=cpy
