On or about February 25, 2009 the Texas Senate Education Committee left SB 300 pending in committee for the time being. That means it is time for Texas teachers to remind our elected officials why there is a 22 to 1 ratio on the books.
How many of you remember when we calculated campus averages? That is exactly what Dan Patrick-R, Houston has proposed in his bill. The bill takes us backwards to a system we have already tried. Remember when the principal, asst. principal, counselor, and any other support person with a teaching certificate assigned to your campus was used to calculate the class-size average? I don't think we need to open up that can of worms again.
I thinks someone forgot to tell the Senator about the extremely generous class-size waiver program. I've never seen a waiver request denied, therefore think it is easy enough already to deal with the problems SB 300 was written to correct. Frankly, we already have enough abuse of the waiver system. We will lose all accountability if 22 to 1 is allowed to be overturned.
Teachers, get busy and contact your legislators. Here is the link to the information on the education committe. You can research the bill and, more importantly, contact the members of the committee
