Myth of the Education Governor
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Teacher pay during the first Bush term fell from 36th to 38th in national rankings. Overall teachers compensation fell to 51st. All this while Texas has been awash in funds from a strong economy.
"Texas had a real chance to bring teachers' salaries to the national average," stated Louis Malfaro of the Texas Federation of Teachers, "but George Bush was the spoiler. He was more interested in looking good for the presidential race and needed the money so he could boast about a tax cut." But nobody asked for a tax cut.
Malfaro pointed out that in recent public opinion polls, Texans favor, by a greater than 10-to-1 margin, the state surplus being spent on schools and teachers, not on so-called "tax relief". Bush is clearly playing to a national audience as evidenced by a fundraising letter published in the Texas Observer on May 13th. "Bush's self-serving effort to boost his own political stature fails to take into account what the public favors - more money for education," wrote Malfaro in the Spring 1999 issue of TeacherAdvocate.
"One can't look at his legacy and say, "He's the education governor," said Association of Texas Professional Educators spokesman Larry Comer to the Austin Chronicle on May 28th. "I don't think he'll be remembered for that at all."
Texas student scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) tests have been increasing since 1993, when former Governor Ann Richards instituted a unique accountability system for schools. "In a relatively short period of time, the whole culture of education has changed in Texas," said Prof. Richard F. Elmore of the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University to the New York Times on May 28th.
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