April 29, 1998
"Actually, sir, that's not entirely accurate."
It's been a rather interesting campaign in the Katy ISD Board
of Trustees races this year, for a number of reasons.
There were some early indications that things were going to get
rather nasty in some quarters, something of a throwback to years past in
which KISD Board campaigns were comparable to paint-ball matches everyone
gets smeared.
Aside from a little bit of bickering, however, it's been a relatively
clean campaign, as Texas campaigns go. There's a little bit of spittle
flying over campaign advertising, campaign backing and personalities, but
all in all, it hasn't been too bad.
Also interesting was the contrast in the questions asked of candidates
during the two candidates' forums and as the result of the questionnaire
we sent them to build profiles. The questions asked by the Katy Educators
Association, for example, looked at things from a teacher's point of view.
Those asked at the Pattison forum, meanwhile, centered a lot on facilities
and financing. Ours included a lot of questions on statewide and national
issues with local impact which we've raised in various stories over the
past couple of years.
I must admit, I learned a lot not only about the candidates,
but about the concerns of different segments of the voting public, during
each of the forums. (I wasn't aware, for example, of the potential teacher
shortage which is looming in the near future; expect a story on that in
the coming weeks). And I expect to learn more during Thursday's forum at
West Memorial Junior High.
One thing I learned, however, is that both the candidates and
a lot of the public still haven't connected the dots on some of the issues
we've tried to bring to their attention. It's both puzzling and frustrating.
Our questionnaire, for example, included one query about the
candidates' outlook on national education agenda items like Goals:2000,
School-to-Work and school-based health care. The response from candidates
was virtually unanimous that "Katy ISD doesn't participate in those programs,
and won't as long as I'm on the Board."
Like Mr. Nimzicki's first hint to the President that Area 51
exists, that's not entirely accurate. See, Katy ISD already DOES participate
in Goals:2000 and School-to-Work. They just don't get the federal funds
for those programs, is all.
"Katy Independent School District has established a School-to-Work
initiative using the registered apprenticeship format," writes KISD's Gay
Young on the School-to-Work Toolbox web site (http://192.234.8.26/contracts/toolbox/katy.html).
"Students involved in the program have linked Total Quality Management
principles to their assignments."
In and of itself, that's not bad. Katy's STW program remains
one where folks have a choice in the matter, which is my major malfunction
with the state and national STW system they don't allow choice. But one
good directive from the state via a Texas Association of School Boards
policy update, and presto! we've changed the whole thing without ever
voting on it.
Bilingual education, a subject mentioned during the KEA forum
at McRoberts Elementary, is another such area. U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay has
introduced legislation to eliminate federal funding for bilingual education,
which generally harms, not helps, students attempting to integrate into
American society.
On the other hand, we've got a bilingual education program in
Katy ISD which DOES seem to work so should we pull the plug if federal
funds dry up, or keep it locally-funded? Tough call there. In general,
I'd support DeLay's bill simply to eliminate the federal paperwork and
oversight, while keeping the program alive at the local level.
Like many other school districts across the state, KISD doesn't
get federal funds for Goals:2000 but is still in compliance with it,
thanks to our friends at the Texas Education Agency and their Texas Essential
Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Again, nobody at the local level got a vote
on the matter, which rather belies the notion of "expanded local control."
The Texas Healthy Kids Corporation is designed to ensure that
all kids in the state have access to affordable health insurance. The money's
coming from the same private foundations who under-wrote Goals:2000 and
School-to-Work "research," with the end goal specifically being to put
health and mental-health clinics in the schools, to make schools "the center
of the community."
The Texas Legislature actually did vote on that one (which lends
credence to the theory that most of our legislators are stupid). You won't,
however, get a vote at the local level: compliance will be mandated by
the state, as soon as they've created a "crisis." Watch TV or the Houston
paper for upcoming series establishing a "children's health crisis," featuring
the most extreme and tear-jerking cases they can find.
Taken individually, most of the Katy ISD programs which bear
the same names and underlying ideals as national-agenda items are actually
working pretty well which is a credit to those in charge of those programs.
Stepping back and connecting the dots, however, the picture emerges of
a district which has just about all the elements in place for a system
which has proven to be a disaster everywhere it's ever been tried.
"Give it one tweak to the left," former KISD Trustee Ken Burton
once said, "and we've got burger-flippers."