“Texas Student Funding Among Lowest 10% as SAISD Enrollment Dips to 44,000 across 90 Schools”
Hello SAISD Parents and San Antonio Community,
The SAISD school district has hosted some meetings in the past few weeks to get your input about the “rightsizing” issue. So, this week I wanted to explain why our community must take these actions. First, as all of you know, we were down to about 44,000 students, and that is not enough to play for 90 campuses to stay open and function daily as a school. I have had some parents asking ‘will their child be in a classroom with others that aren’t in the same grade?’. This all makes sense, but at the same time, what will happen to our children in this district? We must ask many questions if we close some schools and send children to another.
Parents, I understand that our district will not see too many new students this year, but as we close one school then, what will the new school offer our children? I truly understand that this is causing our families more stress because we are entering the unknown for our children. Throughout the years, our schools have offered our students many extracurricular activities, sports, band, and choir, so what happens when a district is done with “rightsizing”? Will our children still have opportunity to participate in extracurriculars and be able to take one of these classes? Then what happens to all our teachers, staff, and principals- will they still have a job? If you have time, I encourage you to attend a meeting, and you can also go to the SAISD website and fill out a form to ask questions or give your opinion at www.SAISD.net. You can also read all the information about what the district is trying to do and there’s a list of meetings that you can attend as well on the site as well as shown here.
As our state goes into a third special session, the House Select Committee on Educational Opportunity and Enrichment has released a report similar to what we have been going over this past legislation. There are a few different ideas which explain that we need to invest in our teachers, students, and public schools. So, let me give them a few suggestions, first take politics out of our classrooms and let teachers teach. Then I would like to see more funding per student because Texas student funding is in the bottom 10%, and help the new teachers more because 41% are walking out after five years. It makes me wonder if our politicians and Governor and Lt. Governor know what a checkbook looks like because, at this point, so many reports suggest the same basic ideas:
– More funding per student
– Take politics out of our classrooms and let teachers teach
– Give our teachers a raise
– Give raises to school support staff
If they don’t provide these things then we will lose more teachers and that means that our students could be left without a good teacher. Parents, remember you have a voice so speak up and ask questions.
Lastly, I will keep you updated if anything changes.
If you have any questions or concerns please email me at lena.lopez@saobserver.com
Have a Blessed Week, Lena Lopez
