Education in Texas

When people think of Texas and education, the first thing that comes to their mind is UT and how bad our education is. Even though Texas has been a leader among the U.S to improve the quality of public education, it is facing challenges in preparing students for success. The state’s student population has become more diverse over the last decade. In addition, The Texas Education Agency (TEA) reports that 127 languages are spoken by the state’s schoolchildren. In 1990, the Texas Legislature established the state’s first accountability system for public education based on school district and campus ratings tied to certain measurable indicators. The system currently uses TAKS test scores, alternative test scores for Special Education students, annual dropout rates and school completion rates. Using these indicators, the system rates school districts and campuses as “Exemplary,” “Recognized,” “Academically Acceptable” or “Academically Unacceptable.” According to the TAKS web page on 2011, 21 schools  were rated Academically Unacceptable.  628 were rated Exemplary; 2,317 were rated Recognized; 3,891 were rated Academically Acceptable; 232 were rated Academically Unacceptable; and 661 were listed as “Not Rated: Other.  In addition, Texas has also instituted the “Student Success Initiative,” which requires students to pass the TAKS reading assessment or an approved alternate test in third grade to advance to fourth grade. Students must also meet requirements for reading and mathematics in fifth grade and in eighth grade to be promoted to the next grade. Also to stronger graduation requirements, the state has made more college-level courses available to students in high school. Students are being offered more Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses , which provide college credit if students score high enough on exams. Despite recent progress, many education and business leaders remain concerned that Texas is not producing enough high school graduates with the skills needed to succeed in college or the workplace. To help address this concern the Texas Legislature directed the State Board of Education (SBOE) to develop college readiness standards and incorporate them into the TEKS, high school and college faculty are responsible for developing college readiness standards in English language arts, math, science and social studies.

Many students are not obtaining the advantages of recent educational improvements. The most common reason for dropping out is falling behind in school, the question here is, What can we do as students, parents or Texas residents to help improve our education?

Commentary about Austin's Environment

Austin’s environment should be more important than what it is now days. I completely agree with the article, people should take this serious and stop messing with Austin. I would prefer the stores to forget about the plastic bags and start using only the reusable bags. Stores need to start charging for plastic bags in case people forget theirs. But there is other ways to take care of the environment and “go green.” We can start at home, just by simply taking shorter showers or skipping the bottle water and buy a reusable one instead.

I don’t really think people would take advantage of the reusable bags to steal from the grocery stores, if we think about it, people does that already, so I don’t see why start using reusable bags will have any cons.

I think Austin needs more “go green” campaigns. Just like the Austin’s environment article states, “The more people are educated, the better because it can spread throughout the local community and it will eventually turn into something bigger from there.”

Minimum wage in Texas

The Texas Minimum Wage Act establishes a minimum wage for non-exempt employees. On July 24^th 2009, the minimum wage increased to $7.25 an hour. Some 550,000 Texans, or 9.5 percent of hourly paid workers, made the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or less last year. The federal poverty level for a family of three was $18,310 last year,  which means a single parent with two children and working for minimum wage would earn about $3,200 less than the poverty level.

Raising the minimum wage is often a political issue. Proponents, often labor unions and their supporters, argue that raising the wage allows employees to earn more money and lead easier lives. In addition, with more money coming in, individuals have more to spend, which boosts the economy. There are at least two House bills that would increase the minimum wage in some respect. The WAGE Act would set a base minimum wage for tipped employees such as waiters and bartenders. If enacted this bill would raise the minimum cash wage of such employees (excluding tips) over time from $2.13 to $5.50 an hour. Meanwhile, the Living American Wage Act of 2011 would tie the minimum wage level to the poverty threshold for a family of two individuals. Both bills were introduced early in the year and seem to be stalled in committee. The thing is that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing.

The minimum wage is supposed to be a living wage, however, it has lost so much value over the years due to inflation that families who are reliant on the minimum wage as their sole source of income are unable to afford health care, food, rent, and transportation. Most families are deciding on sharing a house or an apartment because they are always short of money every month and many employers do not even allow their employees to work full time because they are not required to provide benefits for their part-time workers. As I said, I think the minimum wage should be $9.00 an hour, not $7.25 which is equal to the price of a combo on a fast food restaurant.