We can't afford to cut education - from First Lady, Barbara Bush

“We’ve cut taxes for small business, balanced our budgets, and set aside $8 billion for a rainy day.”  That's what Rick Perry said in his commercial while running for governor of Texas on September 14, 2010.  Unfortunately, Perry was about $27 Billion off the mark.   After he was reelected, reality set in.   Perry now has to decide how to fix this deep hole in the Texas budget.  And he wants to do it without raising anyone's taxes (after all, it's Texas) and without getting into that great rainy day fund.  No, Perry and the Texas congress would rather cut everything from social services, education, health care and anything that the good people of Texas truly care about on a day to day basis.  Just as long as Texas stays "open for business".   

This article from the Houston Chronicle by former First Lady, Barbara Bush, gives a sobering perspective on education in Texas and Governor Rick Perry's purposed budget cuts.  

By BARBARA BUSH-HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Feb. 5, 2011, 4:30PM

No one envies our governor and state legislators as they set to the daunting task of trying to figure out how to close the state's biennial budget gap that some estimate is as high as $27 billion.

For the good of our state and our future, I urge them to do everything they can to protect our students.

However, not all the challenges facing our schools are about shrinking budgets. The education of our children is a partnership — a partnership among the schools, the parents, businesses, churches and the rest of the community.

Right now that partnership is failing. Our schools are in crises:

•  We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma.

•  We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores.

•  We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.

•  Despite our outstanding universities and colleges, we also lag behind in several critical higher education criteria. For example, California has nine nationally recognized research institutions, New York has seven and Pennsylvania has four. With the University of Houston's recent designation by the Carnegie Foundation as a top research institution, Texas, the second largest state, has four.

In light of these statistics, can we afford to cut the number of teachers, increase class sizes, eliminate scholarships for underprivileged students and close several community colleges?

At a time when the United Way estimates that the price tag for dropouts to Texas taxpayers is $9.6 billion every year, can we really afford to cut state funding for our students?

The answer is a resounding "no."

Yet, everyone understands that Texas must and will live within its means. Nobody is going to get all that they want. Which is why it is imperative that all of us take steps right now to help our schools address their immediate and long-term needs. We cannot afford to sit and wait for Austin to figure this out. They cannot do this alone.

Let's start with the parents.

Some parents forget they are their children's first teachers, and the home is the first school. When our kids come home from school, do they read a book, or do they sit glued to the television or the Internet? Do they see us reading? Do we eat together, or does everybody "grab a bite" and dash out the door? Do we talk and listen? Do we help with homework? Are we active in the PTA? Do we make sure we attend all parent-teacher conferences, or do we use work as an excuse to skip out occasionally? It's easier to be a lazy parent than a good parent, but with parenthood comes responsibility and accountability.

Many parents face daunting challenges - health and financial issues, single parenthood, or a poor educational background. They need our help.

There are wonderful programs such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters that try to make sure every student who needs one has a mentor. I know several business and government leaders who donate one lunch hour a week to tutor a student, and others who give time to after-school programs. But the need is always greater.

That is why business and church leaders, parents and grandparents, friends and neighbors all must become partners in the education of our children. The best place to start: The school you likely drive by every single day on your way to work or the grocery store or the golf course. My guess is the people inside could use your help.

I wish each of you - every elected official, parent, educator, businessmen and women - would see the documentary Waiting for Superman. That film explains in vivid, powerful terms what is at stake for our nation's schools, including Texas.

There is cause for hope. A reform movement under way in the country is gaining momentum. We must find the courage in Texas to not only join that reform movement, but lead it. There really is no other choice.

We Texans are no strangers to hard times, and yet there is more can-do spirit here than in any other state. We think big, live big, dream big. We wake up every day believing there is no problem that cannot be solved.

Working together, we can and must solve this one.

Bush is a former first lady of the United States.