SAN ANTONIO – Rep. Diego Bernal’s listening tour of all 55 schools in his District 123 has been described as one of the most unique approaches to policy-making in Texas.
As the San Antonio Democrat's second session in the Texas House approaches, the former San Antonio city councilman set out to get a real feel for what school leaders, teachers, parents and students need in and out of the classroom to produce successful students and better teachers.
“I figured if I really want to get a good snapshot of what we’re doing that’s working, what’s not working, where people need help, where they want us to get out of the way, let’s go to the folks who have to deal with the decisions that we make on a daily basis,” Bernal said.
Bernal represents San Antonio’s urban core, as well as portions of the city’s west and north sides. The school districts in his jurisdiction are Northside, North East, and San Antonio Independent School Districts. If there were inequities in the classroom, he wanted to know them. If there were success stories, he wanted to share them. If there were needs, he wanted to list them so he could take them to the House floor and debate them.
Bernal conducted his study confidentially. He categorized his findings by main themes. They include:
-Time teachers need in the classroom
-Retaining quality teachers
-The need for Pre-K
-Hunger
If they have things in common, it’s likely that those things are common in other parts of the state as well, Bernal said of the school districts.
"I’m trying to create consensus. I’m trying to create a situation where it’s not a Republican thing or Democrat thing. It’s are we trying to help educators? Are we doing what they’ve asked us to do?”
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He said thought if these themes are occurring in San Antonio, they’d also be happening in other parts of the state.
Josh Sanderson, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Teachers, noted that Bernal’s report comes down to providing resources to schools in the state.
But that’s hard to do, he said, when spending per student is less than the national average and half of what Texas spends on each state prison inmate.
“Some people say you can’t just throw money at the situation,” Sanderson said via Skype. “But Texas has never really thrown money at the problem. We don’t do well compared to (other states).”
He said resources, or a lack of resources, creates disparities in the classroom. Without professional development, it’s hard to get good teachers who stay in one school for a long period of time for continuity. That’s one of the areas Bernal saw in his report that could help schools do better.
With education at nearly 40 percent of the Texas general fund budget, it’s a large piece of the pie. But creating policies to redirect funding, placing focus on personnel and changing certain standards for things like testing could, in Bernal’s view, turn the education system completely around.
So far, Bernal has shared his report on a website, but his office is having it printed as well so that those who don’t have a computer or do not want to read it online can have access to the findings. While he emphasized his target audience is not the public, but his colleagues inside the Capitol, he will also hold two community events to share the report with citizens of his district. They will be Sept. 8 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Castle Hills City Hall, and Sept. 10 from 10 a.m.-noon at the Guadalupe Arts Cultural Center.
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Below is an in-depth look at each of the main areas Bernal looked at in his study. Click on the icon for each of the stories.
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