Most Texans have gone through the Texas public school system. Whether you liked your high school experience or not, everyone can agree that our schools aren’t perfect.
You might’ve done well in school — maybe you were valedictorian of your class — but you must admit the school you graduated from isn’t the greatest in the world. Wouldn’t it be nice for us Texans to be able to say, “We have the greatest school located in our state?”
Unfortunately, we’ll never be able to say that. With the current state of our public school system, that’s not a possibility. Texas is ranked 41st in education level in the United States, and I honestly don’t see that position improving anytime soon.
Why?
State budget cuts to public schools
Proposition 4 — an amendment passed in 2023 — proposed property tax cuts for property owners. But to make up the financial gap, it cut funding for public schools, further contributing to Texas’ low ranking in nationwide public school funding.
STAAR tests
Having a curriculum that teaches solely towards a singular exam isn’t an effective way of learning.
It puts too much pressure on students and teachers and moves the priority from actually learning to just doing well on the exam. It’s also not as effective as people think it is, and it unfairly evaluates students, teachers and districts in exchange for corporate interest.
While there’s been bipartisan talk about eliminating it, Gov. Greg Abbott said he would only do it in exchange for a school voucher system, which harms marginalized students.
Book banning
Censoring books doesn’t promote learning; it only hinders it. School districts have been banning books more than giving them to students. Critical thinking comes from discussions about varying topics, and that can’t happen when ideas are censored.
So, how do we fix our public school system? Stop politicizing our education.
Every single reason I’ve listed has been brought forth, pushed by or been leveraged for another policy by a Texas Republican politician. Coincidence? I think not.
Texas Republicans love to stick their noses into places they don’t belong. Their ability to take a situation that doesn’t involve them and make it all about themselves is truly comical.
Let’s take Uvalde for example.
After a mass shooting that killed more than 20 people in an elementary school, instead of trying to stop more mass shootings through gun reform — as any person with common sense would do — they dismiss the possibility completely. But they send their “thoughts and prayers,” of course.
When something needs to be done, they don’t do it, but when nothing needs to be done, they somehow do something that only makes the situation worse.
This convenience that idles Republican politicians from making change disallows them from having empathy for the common people. Fleeing to Cancun during a winter storm while people were freezing or taking a trip to Asia while many Texans were going through a hurricane is pretty convenient, something that 99% of Texans aren’t able to do.
So, who allows these politicians to tell educators what to teach students?
Sociopaths are considered a threat to society and kept in mental asylums because they lack empathy, yet politicians who see disaster and do nothing are kept in our state’s top offices?
Our education system is in shambles, and they’re only making it worse.
And a certain political demographic complains all the time, “These damn immigrants are coming in and stealing our jobs. We need to keep them out.” They’re only coming in because they have a better education than you, which qualifies them to do the job better than you.
The politicians you keep electing are removing funding from the one thing that can make you better than those “damn immigrants.” They emphasize indoctrinating children with Christian nationalism and taking away books that are meant to teach children something, rather than prioritizing education that can help you excel in life.
You’re doing this to yourselves.
Now, I understand this is easier said than done. It might sound like I’m whining about how bad our politicians are; getting any bill or amendment passed takes work and time. But the general initiative of change is not present among Texas Republicans. Change has to be made, and it can be done by voting them out and replacing them with new politicians who care about our schools.
When people see something wrong — like our education system — the right thing to do is to try and fix it. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, which is what Texas Republicans are doing. They’re going insane; passing on $3.8 million of federal money for a summer lunch program to low-income families is literally insane.
So, Texas Republicans, stop this. You’re playing with the future of our students.
This isn’t a matter of policy differences anymore; it’s the characteristics these politicians have that show they’re unfit to be in public policy due to their negligence of Texan citizens.
President-elect Donald Trump plans to eliminate the Department of Education and wants to give the power of education back to the states. In the case of Texas, state politicians like Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are pushing for various conservative education reforms, are going to harm students’ learning and teachers’ ability to actually teach their students.
We don’t need “Big Brother” in our classrooms — and if you didn’t understand this reference, it’s probably because that book has also been banned in your school. Leave the education to the experts, and let our students learn. Stop messing with our students, and stop messing with our Texas.
Joshua Abraham is a kinesiology junior and opinion writer for The Battalion.
