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February 2010
Thus began an intimate relationship with Texas public schools, one that ranged from extreme frustration when policy makers sought to reduce his education to a test he thought was too easy to be taken seriously, to exhilaration when he took the microphone as class valedictorian. Serving the dual function of parent and newspaper pundit, I observed intensely a two-pronged slow march to destinations unknown at the time, leaving me at times cringing and at times rejoicing. The first prong was what our school district was doing. A year or so before my oldest son enrolled, it had passed its first bond issue in a generation, with the audacious objective of installing air-conditioning in a bunch of school buildings, including the wing my son would inhabit for three grades. That barely put Waco ISD schools on par with those of my childhood in Colorado, but it was a big step. The second prong was what the state was doing. Were it not for judges' interventions, the "doing" would have been way too little. While ladling on mandates, lawmakers steadily resisted the imperative to pick up the state's rightful and constitutional share of school funding. Back at the local level, I observed school board members who were absolutely resistant to anything but bare-bones accommodations and to any quest that did not fit within the template of standardization. Ultimately, however, through political action by involved parents, that changed. The school board became more forward-looking. I saw the district build new schools and a new performing arts venue. Along the way, I was extremely impressed by the educators who were lighting my sons' world. At the state level, I saw positive changes and some heroic efforts. An organization called Texas Parent PAC decided that someone needed to speak up for schools and to counter the moneyed machinations of "school choice" schemers. Right out of the chute, these activists scored stunning political victories on both sides of the political aisle. As a result, the Legislature today is more school-friendly and more reluctant to spin the wheel of dubiosity that is school vouchers. The next frontier to tame, for true friends of public schools, is the State Board of Education. Embarrassingly, it has served as a star chamber for righteous demagogues elevated to their posts because they cunningly seized a political vacuum. How a bunch of home schoolers and people who don't truly buy into the institution of public schools could rise to govern them is one of those unfathomable turns that undermine a state's claim to greatness. All told, when my second son graduated from Waco High School in 2006, I had to pronounce the voyage, with all of its roiling waters and stretches of uncertainty, well worth the taking. Very good people at the local level and classroom level had managed to do their jobs exceedingly well. Other parents will experience sleepless nights as they ponder the future of their children in public schools. The task of all citizens who care about the institution that has served so many so well is to keep an eye on the horizon and not let JOHN YOUNG is a columnist for Cox Newspapers. You can see more of his work at www.johnyoungcolumn.com or send an email to jyoungcolumn@gmail.com. |
The longest night of my life was 22 years ago this August. Our oldest son was to begin kindergarten that morning. Until that dreaded morn, he had been ours to ourselves. A few hours after daybreak, however, he would enter a doorway and someone we didn't know would be helping illuminate his world.