Deadline Education: Please Support Me

To support or not to support, that is the question.

Teachers and students need support. Students need to feel wanted, important, heard and safe. So do teachers. With the current budget crisis in Texas, teachers don't feel safe. And why should they? They are basically being told that they are expendable and unworthy of protection. Parents shouldn't feel safe either. Teachers can't reach every child without help. And pretty soon, students are going to lose some amazing teachers who teach creatively, compassionately, and emotionally, both in the classroom and out. And all of the support staff that are in place to make sure every student gets all of the extra help they need to be successful, are going to be gone as well. Don't think of it as funds being cut, but support for the NEEDS of the students is being cut. Districts can't afford to keep on the extra support staff, and those support teachers- reading specialists, math specialists, gifted-and-talented teachers, campus instructional technologists and others- are being sent back into the classroom.

If Texas wants to compete in a global economy, it needs to EDUCATE students using technology, differentiated instruction and adapt to the always evolving educational needs of its students. Cutting teachers doesn't support these ideas. The ramifications of this choice are going to be devastating. These students are the future of our state, our country and our world- and our "leaders" are doing them a major disservice by refusing to give them the best education possible. Every child deserves to learn, but taking away the support that every child receives in and out of the classroom is not going to help them. Students are going to have to work harder to learn, with minimal-to-no support, and many will fall through the cracks.

Texas needs to create a workforce built on technology, creativity, and ingenuity- and that begins with knowledge. By cutting education- the only thing Texas is creating is a major rift between themselves and the rest of the WORLD. The decision to not prioritze education by refusing to dip into the RAINY DAY FUND or raise taxes, is at best, ignorant. Ignorant to the needs of teachers, students, parents and the state of Texas. With this decision, Texas has made itself a frontrunner again...in what not to do.





https://sites.google.com/site/texasedtechadvocacy/
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