This Texas Legislature is currently in session, and saving the future of education in Texas is one of the most pressing challenges we have in our state. After speaking with parents, educators, school board members, and community leaders, I appreciate the importance of our investment in the future of the next generation of Texans through our schools.
Specifically, we must work to address the current school finance system, the failure of our state to appropriately measure student success and the negative impact that measurement has on school ratings.
My office is in the process of filing legislation aimed at reducing the burden that the “Robin Hood” funding plan places on school districts here in West Texas. In this legislation, we should work to repeal these provisions, but at the very least, recognize that mineral abundant school districts face serious issues in dealing with these challenges.
Additionally, I will also file legislation to reduce the reliance on one-size-fits-all standardized tests and also the way those tests are used to determine an A-F grade for a school.
We know that testing does not produce better students, so why do we allow bureaucrats in Austin to judge whether a school is successful based on a test created in Princeton, New Jersey? That doesn’t make sense. Communities know whether or not schools are working and we should empower districts, through local control, to work with parents and encourage their success.
We must reaffirm our commitment by reevaluating the core function and goals of public education.
Every child in our state should have the opportunity to learn from passionate teachers in comfortable classrooms regardless of whether they live in the suburbs, the inner-cities, or especially in the West Texas oil patch.
These children should have access to materials both in paper and electronic that allow them to better understand the world around them. And lastly, but most importantly, these children should be able to turn this educational training into a lasting and fulfilling career in a field of their choice so that they can appropriately serve as contributing members of society.
Those are the measurements by which we should commit ourselves and I expect to work toward those goals to determine our success or failure in this 85th Legislative Session, which will end on Memorial Day.
To materials both in paper and electronic that allow them to better understand the world around them. And lastly, but most importantly, these children should be able to turn this educational training into a lasting and fulfilling career in a field of their choice so that they can appropriately serve as contributing members of society.
May God bless our schoolchildren, their parents, teachers, and may God bless the great state of Texas.
State Rep. Brooks Landgraf was elected in 2014 to serve House District 81, which encompasses Andrews, Ector, Ward, and Winkler Counties. Landgraf resides in his hometown of Odessa. with his wife, Shelby, and their daughter, Hollis Rose. He works as a cattle rancher and practices law at the firm of Todd, Barron, Thomason, Hudman & Baxter, P.C. in Odessa. An Eagle Scout, Landgraf is also active in several local nonprofits.
