School funding

School funding : Governor Abbott bragged about high school graduation rates. Let’s look at some other statistics. Texas schools are ranked 27th in the nation with an overall score of 49.36 out of 100. In addition, the education quality rank is No. 33 and the school safety rank is No. 14. Massachusetts claimed the top on the list with an overall 72.79 score and No.1 rank in quality and No. 1 rank in safety. Connecticut was No. 2 in quality with an overall 66.22 score and No. 9 safety rank. New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland rounded out the top five best school systems, in order. Texas teacher salaries of $58.3k per year rank 41st in the nation. But Massachusetts ranks number one at $78.5k Texas has the 4th highest teacher turnover rate in the nation. In light of these indicators of serious deficiencies, graduation rates are irrelevant. I sincerely hope that some of that $33 billion surplus I keep hearing about is used to address teacher salaries and other inequities in our public school system.