Almost six out of 10 Texas public schoolchildren hail from low-income families, marking a troubling spike in poverty over the last decade, a new state report finds.
The increase coincides with a significant jump in the number of Hispanic students, while fewer Anglo students were enrolled last year than 10 years ago, according to the study by the Texas Education Agency. Schools also are educating many more children whose primary language is not English.
The rapidly changing makeup of the Texas public school classroom poses growing challenges for the state. Impoverished and disadvantaged children are more likely to falter academically and drop out, and educating struggling students can be costly.
“Economically disadvantaged students have needs,” said Sarah Winkler, the president of the Texas Association of School Boards and an Alief school board trustee. “The cost of education is going to go up. Every student has to meet the same standards, and some of those students have never seen a book before.”
To help at-risk students, Winkler said, school districts should focus their resources on preschool programs to try to close the learning gap early, on parent education, on extra tutoring and on smaller class sizes, among other things.
The state's school funding system is set up to pay districts more for their impoverished students, but some believe the extra dollars are not enough.
This year, the price tag is $2.8 billion, according to the TEA. Districts also get additional federal funds.
A special legislative committee is supposed to study school funding before state lawmakers reconvene in 2011, and Rep. Rob Eissler, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, said he expects discussion on the cost of educating at-risk students.
“You have more and more kids that are less prepared to do well in school,” said Eissler, R-The Woodlands. “Where the expense comes in, you need teachers that have more qualifications. Maybe we need more and better professional development for our teachers.” READ FULL STORY
Comments