1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,040
I think that I'll tell us managers.

2
00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:02,400
I'm gonna try to get this quick because I have

3
00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:04,640
too much material to go over as usual.

4
00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:06,800
But today I'm gonna talk about school funding
and the

5
00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:08,400
blue bonnet program.

6
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:10,960
I'm gonna go over a couple of uh some myths

7
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:11,440
that are out there.

8
00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,280
I'm gonna go ahead and debunk them, and then
I'm

9
00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,840
gonna tell you why uh the blue bonnet
curriculum that's

10
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,880
being pushed by SBOE, the State Board of
Education is

11
00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:20,000
not the answer.

12
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,400
Before I continue, I do want to I do want

13
00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:24,160
to thank Frisco ISD.

14
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:26,800
They invited me to a very awkward closed-door
meeting with

15
00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,800
Jared Patterson and uh two other State House
Republican State

16
00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,760
House representatives, um Frederick Frazier
and uh and one other,

17
00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:36,960
Matt Shaheen.

18
00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:38,800
And I was the only Democrat in the room.

19
00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,320
The whole purpose was to make sure that the
representatives

20
00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,360
and the candidates understood how finance
works when it comes

21
00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:46,480
to our ISDs.

22
00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:48,640
And so they gave us this nice little
slideshow.

23
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,160
I'm gonna go over a couple of them.

24
00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:53,120
Some of this might be a little bit of
information

25
00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:54,240
you may already know.

26
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:55,600
I'm gonna talk about the WADA.

27
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,320
The Wada stands for the weighted average daily
attendance.

28
00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,640
This is a formula that is determined by our
state

29
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:01,440
legislature.

30
00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:03,840
It determines how much money that goes to each
of

31
00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,360
our independent school districts.

32
00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:07,920
Generally speaking, it goes like this: there's
a number that

33
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,160
floats above every kid's head.

34
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:15,200
That number is around $6,000, uh, specifically
on here $6,160.

35
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,120
And these numbers, that basic allotment
number, that $6,000 number

36
00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,920
gets multiplied based upon two variables.

37
00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:24,880
One, the kids' attendance at school, and two,
their needs.

38
00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:26,880
For example, in this slide here, we can see
how

39
00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,080
if someone attends 95% of the time, that can
drag

40
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:31,680
that number down a little bit.

41
00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,160
But if if uh say, for example, this kid's
special

42
00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,240
needs, that can be multiplied by 1.2.

43
00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,800
There are different weights that are applied
to this basic

44
00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:39,600
allotment number.

45
00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:41,920
Again, that number is around $6,000.

46
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,560
But what's most important to know is that this
number,

47
00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,920
the $6,000 number, has not been adjusted since
the year

48
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:48,800
2019.

49
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,280
And we've had considerable inflation since
then.

50
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,520
So given the fact that the static number does
not

51
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,040
auto-adjust to inflation, and it's still still
out of date,

52
00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,000
it means that our public education system as a
whole.

53
00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:02,280
is being defunded due to inflation

54
00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,560
More specifically, if we wanted to keep the
basic allotment

55
00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,520
up to inflation, we would have to increase the
basic

56
00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,440
allotment by $1,400.

57
00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,400
Something that both Frisco ISD has asked for
and Dedent

58
00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:14,920
ISDs asked for as well.

59
00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:16,360
I'll go over that in a little bit.

60
00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,440
But essentially, they really want to drive
this home to

61
00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,280
myself and the other State House
representatives.

62
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,280
They basically have this chart here showing
that, hey, look,

63
00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,000
in Frisco ISD, we're getting more money
through our gold

64
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,480
pennies, our silver pennies, essentially our
property taxes.

65
00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,760
But when you adjust it to inflation here, it's
still

66
00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:32,840
not the same amount of dollar value coming
into our

67
00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:34,360
independent school districts.

68
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:36,280
This is something they basically asked for in
the last

69
00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:37,000
very last slide.

70
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,360
They were begging basically the statehouse
reps to please increase

71
00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,240
the basic allotment by $1,400.

72
00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,400
And then there was secondly, they really
wanted the basic

73
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,240
allotment to auto-adjust with inflation as
inflation continues to basically

74
00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,080
take care of our future.

75
00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,560
So that was uh something that they were really
asking

76
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,880
for, and they're really trying to drill home
that we

77
00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:57,720
have a massive surplus in Texas.

78
00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:58,760
We got money in the bank.

79
00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:00,520
We've all been paying a lot of money through
our

80
00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:01,400
property taxes, right?

81
00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:03,080
I know they all feel that I do.

82
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:04,840
And we got money in the bank.

83
00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:06,920
We can pay for our independent school
districts and our

84
00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:09,080
broken roads and utilities and so many other
things, if

85
00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,720
only we would use our surplus.

86
00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:13,480
I don't know how if I can share the audio,

87
00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,440
how well the audio is can't do the audio.

88
00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,440
I'm gonna have to just go ahead and wing this.

89
00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:20,920
As I said, increase the basic allotment.

90
00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,560
Increase it by at least 1,400, it will bring
us

91
00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,360
back to the 2019 levels, and also ever since
HP3

92
00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:29,560
2019, any increase to the basic allotment is a
guaranteed

93
00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:31,480
increase to our teachers's salaries.

94
00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:33,240
So I think someone down there said I want a

95
00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,800
$1,400 increase to the basic allotment.

96
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,200
Do you guys understand how much that costs?

97
00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,280
$800 bilonli for a $100 increase to the basic
allotment.

98
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,120
That's $11.2 billion.

99
00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,000
Do the math for those of you business people
in

100
00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:46,480
here.

101
00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:51,520
$20 million surplus, $11.2 million, $112
billion going

102
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,080
pub head when we know that a third of every

103
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,920
dollar gets into the classroom with the
teacher.

104
00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000
I'm going to go into this just real quick
because

105
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,640
I was really, really agitated that Mitch
Little did this

106
00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,880
because there's a slide of hand here that I
saw

107
00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:06,320
happening on the spot.

108
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,440
He's trying to basically say that we have a
$20

109
00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:10,800
billion surplus.

110
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,040
First, that's kind of true, but not quite
right.

111
00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:14,880
I want to bring up this slide right here.

112
00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:16,720
We have, I'm going to chairs, there we go.

113
00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:21,840
Our actual surplus right now in Texas is $23.7
billion.

114
00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:24,560
Last session we had a $33 billion surplus.

115
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:26,880
We had $10 more billion dollars in our
surplus.

116
00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,360
We lost that because of Operation Lumstar,
because our governors

117
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:31,280
are hemorrhaging that money away.

118
00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:34,720
Secondly, he's trying to say that I'm
demanding for $11.2

119
00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,360
billion to spend in our public education
system.

120
00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:39,200
Actually, I would love it if we did, but we

121
00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:40,160
don't really need to.

122
00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,680
If we increase the basic allotment by $1,000,
that would

123
00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,520
only cost us $5.5 billion.

124
00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,840
I know that $5.5 billion sounds like a big
number,

125
00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:50,800
but again, you have to understand we currently
have $23.7

126
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,320
billion in surplus right now.

127
00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,480
And previously we have $33 billion.

128
00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,520
This money belongs to our public education
systems.

129
00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,520
I'm going to jump ahead real quick too,
because I'm

130
00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:00,400
running out of time.

131
00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:02,080
Because I want to talk about Blue Bonnet.

132
00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,960
Blue Bonnet is a scam being offered by our
state

133
00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:05,920
board of education.

134
00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,400
What they're trying to say is that, hey, look,
if

135
00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,600
you really want to increase the amount of
funding coming

136
00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:16,080
to our school board districts, then adopt this
optional curriculum

137
00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:17,200
called Blue Bonnet.

138
00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,320
What Blue Bonnet actually is is a curriculum
that infuses

139
00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,640
a church and Christian education into our
public schools.

140
00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:26,960
It will basically slap the Bible into the laps
of

141
00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,600
kindergartners and teach Bible studies from
great kindergarten. through grade

142
00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:31,000
five

143
00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,560
And what they're doing, and the reason I went
over

144
00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,920
the budgeting stuff, is because they're trying
to say, hey,

145
00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,320
look, if you adopt this blue blonde
curriculum, we're going

146
00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,480
to give you $30 for every student that you
have

147
00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:42,360
in your school.

148
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,200
Now, I want you to hear that.

149
00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:45,000
$30.

150
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,160
Not $300, $30.

151
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,000
They're offering $30 per kid.

152
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,880
All the meanwhile, $70I, we've been advocating
for over a

153
00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:54,120
thousand dollars increase to the basic
lotment, right?

154
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:55,880
But they only want to give us 30.

155
00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:57,800
That barely covers the material.

156
00:05:57,800 --> 00:05:59,320
Because you've got to pay for the Bible, you
gotta

157
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,880
print out all the learning material that
they're gonna push.

158
00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:04,600
Not to mention which denomination of
Christianity is going to

159
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:05,160
be taught.

160
00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:06,840
This is one of the things we always run into

161
00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:09,880
whenever we try to talk about Bible fused in
curriculums.

162
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:11,720
But I'm a bit out of time, but I want

163
00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,200
to touch on many can of worms that this opens

164
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:15,640
up, and also I really want to go over the

165
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,520
budgeting because they're trying to dangle
this thread in front

166
00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,520
of our ISD saying, hey, look, if you really
want

167
00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:21,880
this money, accept this curriculum.

168
00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,280
But the reality is it's snapjack squat to what
our

169
00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:25,880
ISDs really truly deserve.

170
00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:26,360
Thank you.