According to the TEA's own 2005 Accountability Manual:
Schools must have passing rates of:
50% percent in Reading Tests
50% in Writing Tests
50% in Social Studies
35% percent in Math tests
25% percent in Science tests

The aspects of learning that involved critical thinking and questioning what is being taught are dieing on the vine so that we reflect an acceptable passing rating as defined by the TAKS test standards for Texas.

I find it horrifying that such low standards are required of students to pass the TAKS test in order to get an academically acceptable rating for the entire school.

No single student would be allowed to pass a single test with a 60%, 40% or 35% grade. The Government is telling us Schools are getting better and more schools are meeting the acceptable rating than they were two years ago. The only reason that is true is because they have lowered the standard and created loop holes that specifically allow for test scores of minorities to be excluded in the reporting.

Our schools are being forced onto a path of intentional failure by placing the appearance of demands and accountability without funding. The current administration in Washington and our representatives across the United States all talk about how important education is but their actions of undermining those initiatives by cutting the money out of education only speak to their real agenda of forcing public education to fail so that they can privatize education.

This agenda is being achieved at the sacrifice of this generation of children that are in school today. The damage that is being done will take decades to repair. Our economy will suffer and the quality of life for your children might actually be less than yours for the first time in American history.

As a nation we need to stop wasting time with foolish projects like School Vouchers and we need to stop spending money and resources on trying to get intelligent design into science classes. These distractions only drain valuable resources and time from the educational system while exasperating the problems at the expense of the education of our children. We need to fix the problems – not create new ones.

We need:
To hold elected officials accountable for sacrificing education.
Better pay for teachers.
More Teachers.
Better resources for education.
Properly fund “No child Left behind”
Modify “No Child Left Behind” to promote critical thinking.
Abandon the method of Rote Learning.
Increase funding for “Head Start”.
More involvement of higher learning institutions through the entire educational life of a child.
To spend more money on students per year than we do on prison inmates. ($13,000 per prisoner vs. $6,000 per student)
Stimulate more research in higher education.
Open up Stem Cell research and other programs to lure the leading minds.
Restore incentives to bring the brightest and most talented researchers to America.
To be number 1 in education world wide.
For Texas to lead the United States in education as well.

I can think of no greater investment for our future than our children and their education.