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September 23, 2022
Title: Should Texas Modernize its K-12 Student Transfer Law?
Topic: Public Education
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Should Texas be doing more to provide families with educational opportunities across district lines?
Emily Sass the Policy Director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Innovation in Education. Today, Emily discusses how a handful of common-sense reforms would remove key barriers for parents seeking alternative education opportunities for their children.
Click
here to read more on this topic from Emily Sass.
Questions/Issues Discussed:
Do school district boundaries restrict educational opportunities for Texas students?
Are too many school districts in Texas poor and/or low-performing? Emily reveals that nearly 500,000 Texas children currently attend a public school that is labeled “failing”.
How many Texas students attend a public school outside of their district?
How many Texas grade-school students are not performing on grade level in reading and math? Emily reveals that approximately 40% fall under this category.
Would many parents take advantage of moving their child to a higher performing school district if given the chance?
Could the Texas Legislature increase education opportunities with simple reforms to modernize the student-transfer law? Emily discusses three simple ways the Texas Legislature can help students receive the best possible education.
She also reveals the outlandish costs some school districts require parents to pay to send their kids to a different district - even though the school district already receives funding from the state.
Do school districts fight to keep the money when it’s transferred to another district?
Should school districts post their open-enrollment policies online?
Other states have already modernized their school district transfer policies. Are the students improving?
SHORT ANSWER: Yes!
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February 12, 2020
Title: Property Taxes Impact Everyone
Topic: Property Taxes
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Part 1 of 3
You may think that property taxes do not impact you because you rent a home or apartment, but you’d be wrong! Property taxes are, in many ways, a part of every person’s life every day.
Emily Sass is the Policy Director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Innovation in Education. Today, Emily will be explaining how property taxes affect everyone’s life in ways you could never imagine.
Click
here to view the report by Emily Sass, Austin Griesinger, and Parker Stathatos with the
TPPF.
Questions/Issues Discussed:
How do property taxes impact everyone in Texas?
Home Owners: Have your property taxes increased dramatically? What have you done about it? Anything? Well, you should be doing something!
Listen as Emily Sass explains what the Texas Constitution of 1876 states concerning state education and its funding and how the Texas Supreme Court has interpreted it over the past century.
What is “Robin Hood” as it pertains to this issue?
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Title: Part 2 of 3 - Property Taxes Impact Everyone
Topic: Property Taxes
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Click
here to view the report by Emily Sass, Austin Griesinger, and Parker Stathatos with the
TPPF.
Questions/Issues Discussed:
In Texas, is education funding treated as a shared responsibility between state
and local governments?
What are some of the defects and inequalities that are currently present in the
Texas education system?
Listen as Emily Sass explains the M&O (maintenance and operations) within the
budgets of all Independent School Districts in Texas. What is included in this?
What is “interest and sinking” (I&S)?
Does more money equal better education and better results?
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Title: Part 3 of 3 - Property Taxes Impact Everyone
Topic: Property Taxes
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Click
here to view the report by Emily Sass, Austin Griesinger, and Parker Stathatos with the
TPPF.
Questions/Issues Discussed:
Do we need to overhaul how public education is funded in Texas?
What other options are available to help the Texas public education system?
What plans are in place for the report (link above) that Emily wrote with fellow TPPF analysts?
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November 12, 2018
Title: Superintendents: The Big Payout
Topic: School Board Trustees Send Too Much
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Some Texas public school districts pay their departing superintendents so much
severance that they lose state funding. Emily Sass, with the Texas Public Policy
Foundation, has the details and some suggestions…
Questions/Issues Discussed:
Do the elected School Board Trustees have an obligation to hold the dollars
assigned for their students and to spend them with the utmost care?
Are too many School Boards giving too many Superintendents golden parachutes
when they move on?
Giving so much money to exiting Superintendents has greatly affected the amount
of money allowed for training a new person for the position. Listen as Emily
Sass discusses this important issue.
Should the Texas Legislature restrict the amount of severance Superintends may
receive in order to give more to teachers?
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September 19, 2018
Title: Save Students: Child Centered Education Funding
Topic: Child Centered Education Funding
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Part 1 of 3
The Texas Legislature has been debating the possibility of
Education Savings Accounts for years. However, the issue has just recently picked up steam and is being talked about in many circles – both on the right and the left.
Emily Sass is a Policy Analyst with the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Education Innovation.
Before coming to the Foundation, Emily was on Senator Ted Cruz’s state staff as Deputy Regional Director for North Texas. While in college, she also served on the leadership team for the Patriot Academy.
Questions/Issues Discussed:
What is the purpose of a State School Board Trustee?
Arizona has implemented Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. Have they experienced positive or negative results?
How can special funding help children who are bullied?
How can special funding help children with special needs?
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Title: Part 2 of 3 - Save Students: Child Centered Education Funding
Topic: Child Centered Education Funding
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Questions/Issues Discussed:
Is there any evidence that indicate students still in public schools are harmed
due to ESA’s?
Is there any evidence that indicate students still in public schools benefit
from ESA’s?
How do Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (referred to in Texas as
Education Savings Accounts) work? How decides where and how a child is
educated?
Why should Texas provide ESA’s or Child Centered Funding?
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Title: Part 3 of 3 - Save Students: Child Centered Education Funding
Topic: Child Centered Education Funding
Discussed by Emily Sass
with Texas Public Policy Foundation (www.TexasPolicy.com)
Questions/Issues Discussed:
Why are some people still against ESA’s or Child Centered Funding?
Is the money districts receive for each child enrolled in a public school for
the school or for the student?
For more information on this and other education issues, click
here.
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