WEEKEND NEWS LINKS:

Poorer Texas K-12 Students Are Leading to Higher Education & Business Workforce Concerns

Posted byHoumanitarian
Related: In Preparing Texas Students for College, a Struggle
(Texas Tribune)

Chris Tomlinson, Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ high child poverty rate is beginning to make demands on the state’s budget, and experts warn the state needs to spend more on education or the state’s economy could slow.

About 60 percent of Texas children live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census, and many of those children are unprepared and need extra attention when they start school. If they do eventually get into college, the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board says they are relying on a shrinking pool of financial aid.

Public schools and state universities are calling for more money as the state’s Republican leadership pledges to dramatically limit government spending. In 2011, the Legislature reduced funding for public education by $5.4 billion, cut pre-Kindergarten programs and cut funding for college scholarships.

Conservatives argue that low taxes and low government spending have helped the Texas economy grow by leaps and bounds since 2000, but the percentage of Texans living in poverty has grown also. According to 2010 Census data, 15.3 percent of Texans live in poverty and most are under 40 and Hispanic, the fastest growing segment of the Texas population. The poverty rate among Hispanics is 26.8 percent.

Hispanics account for 38 percent of the population and 48.3 percent of Texas children. This same group has the highest percentage of people aged 25 years or older without high school diplomas, at 40.4 percent. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of poor students has gone up 45.9 percent to 2.85 million children.

More than 600 school districts have sued the state for failing their constitutional duty to provide enough money to educate Texas children. Experts have testified at the trial that more children begin kindergarten without basic learning skills, putting them behind other pupils on day one and requiring special attention. The number of children who have limited English skills — among the most expensive students to teach — was 1.59 million in 2010.

Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, has made improving the Texas work force through better education a top priority, demanding greater school accountability for preparing students for work or college.

“We must ensure that our schools continue to improve to meet the demands of a workforce that is ever changing,” Hammond said. “Almost everyone who enters the workforce of the future will need to have post-secondary training of some kind, and our schools’ number one job should be preparing our students for that training.”
(Read more of the story at the Austin American Statesman)

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

STATE, NATION & WORLD: