Fort Worth Education Association Breaking News

FWiSD has made confirmed Walter Dansby as the new Superintendent. Mr.Dansby has been part of FWISD as teacher, coach, principal, and administrator. He was chosen to replace Dr. Johnson as an interim superintendent when she resigned. Prior to that he ran the CIP with all construction on time and under budget. FWEA congratulates Mr. Dansby on his appointment and wishes him complete success.

The special session of the Legislature ended with a bang, not a whimper when it allowed districts to furlough teachers and reduce their pay. TSTA fought the good fight, but there was little anyone could do to stop the Republican party attack on public education. The good news is that we were able to prevent some really evil provisions from HB 400, such a the provision that would have eliminated the 22-1 ration in grades k-4, and the provision that would have abolished the minimum teacher salary schedule. Below is a summary of what SBs 1, 2, 6, and 8 have done to public school educatores:

Both the House and Senate gave final approval to the Senate Bill 8 provisions that allow districts to furlough educators and permanently reduce educator salaries. SB 8 also changes contract laws to make it easier for districts to lay off teachers in the middle of the school year. Kudos to the 17 Republicans who joined the Democrats in trying to defeat this bill. This can only mean a decrease in the quality of public education statewide and the Legislature and its Republican Supermajority refused to follow its constitutional mandate to adequately fund public education. It is hoped that in the next election, the people of Texas will realize this failure of many Republican legislators to support public education and vote these clowns out of office.

SB 2 is the budget cleanup bill that makes technical changes to the state budget. Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) successfully amended the bill when it was first debated on the House floor to use money from the Rainy Day Fund to pay for population growth if the fund performs better than expected. Only funds exceeding expectations would have been used for this purpose. However, before appointing the House conferees on the bill, the House adopted a motion by Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) that instructs the conferees to remove the Howard amendment. The conference committee did remove the Howard amendment on using the Rainy Day Fund. The vote in the House on the conference committee report was 89-55. The Senate vote was 20-10.

SB 6 deals with establishing an instructional materials allotment and the adoption, review and purchase of instructional materials and technological equipment for public schools. The Senate voted unanimously to adopt the SB 6 conference committee report. The vote in the House was 142-1.

SB 1 is the instrument that determined how state appropriations for public education will be distributed statewide.

The result of all this for FWISD has been layoffs of several hundred employees. There will be fewer campus moniters affecting safety of our students and educators, fewer counselors affecting the social and mental well being of our students, fewer clerks and secretaries increasing the load of those who still have their jobs, and fewer assistant principals. How can this not mean a decline in the quality of public education?

FWEA now has a facebook page and a blogging page. I f you are interested in blogging for FWEA, please email Norman at president@fwea.net