Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of The Tribe,
Speaker 1: cast live from the Austin Central Library. We're so excited
Speaker 1: to be taking this show on the road. I'm Eleanor Klibanoff,
Speaker 1: law and politics reporter at the Texas Tribune, joined as
Speaker 1: always by my co host, editor in chief Matthew Watkins.
Speaker 2: Hello, Eleanor, Hello.
Speaker 3: This is quite weird to be out in the real world.
Speaker 2: Now we will actually be able to see people not
Speaker 2: laughing at our jokes live.
Speaker 1: Not gonna be good for our egos, I'll tell you that.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: You know, we're very excited for this conversation because education
Speaker 1: has been at the center of the political conversation for
Speaker 1: the last few months, with state leaders making a lot
Speaker 1: of political hay out of what they think teachers and
Speaker 1: students need. But most of these lawmakers have not been
Speaker 1: inside a classroom since probably their high school graduation, or
Speaker 1: perhaps a little earlier than that for some of them,
Speaker 1: so to understand the view from inside the classroom. We're
Speaker 1: joined by the Texas tribunes K through twelve report Texas
Speaker 1: tribunes K twelve reporter Jaden Edison. Jaden, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 4: Thank you your fans, appreciate you for having me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And Chris Mahailsik, who teaches advanced placement environmental science
Speaker 1: at Westwood High School in round Rock and most importantly
Speaker 1: is the twenty twenty five TX t O t Y
Speaker 1: or the Texas Teacher of the Year. Chris, thanks for.
Speaker 3: Joining us, Thank you for having me. So excited to
Speaker 3: be here.
Speaker 4: He's been saying that all day, by the way, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: It's part of being the Teacher of the Year being
Speaker 2: able to handle unruly crowds. Can we rely on.
Speaker 5: You if yeah, I can make sure everybody stays calm
Speaker 5: use your teacher voice, yes.
Speaker 6: A crowdsurfer things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Christine, really, thank you for joining us and
Speaker 1: congratulations on this honor.
Speaker 3: I mean to start and you know, tell.
Speaker 1: Us a little bit about what it means to even
Speaker 1: be the Teacher of the Year and sort of what
Speaker 1: what that means to you.
Speaker 5: So being a Teacher of the Year for a state
Speaker 5: is really about being of service to the educators of
Speaker 5: your state.
Speaker 3: We call it our year of service.
Speaker 5: So I've been talking to people, I've been This is
Speaker 5: my first real big podcast though, So I'm excited to
Speaker 5: be here and really just amplifying teacher voice and student
Speaker 5: voice across Texas.
Speaker 1: Great, well, thank you so much for that. And as
Speaker 1: I understand it, you also get to now compete at
Speaker 1: the National Teacher of the Year competition.
Speaker 5: I was in the running, you were in the runn
Speaker 5: but Ashley cross in one. She's the Pennsylvania Texas Teacher
Speaker 5: of the Year.
Speaker 3: She's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: Damn it, actually Crossing, we are coming for you.
Speaker 3: Oh she's pretty nice. No, I'm sure she's amazing.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, we want to get into the details
Speaker 1: of what this big legislative session for education will mean
Speaker 1: for teachers. You know, eight point five billion dollars flowing
Speaker 1: into public schools, and Chris maybe even sort of start
Speaker 1: us off actually and give us sort of the state
Speaker 1: of affairs. You know, how you've seen you know, what
Speaker 1: we've heard over the last couple of months has been
Speaker 1: you know, decades of underfunding of public schools. How have
Speaker 1: you seen that impact you, teachers like you and students statewide.
Speaker 5: I think the biggest thing that we've noticed, especially the
Speaker 5: last two years after funding was not past the last
Speaker 5: legislative session, is a huge increase in class sizes. So
Speaker 5: two years ago, our science classes used to be capped
Speaker 5: at twenty eight students, and we'd cap our freshman biology
Speaker 5: at twenty four because they're kind of rowdy they need
Speaker 5: more help. And then last not this last school year,
Speaker 5: but the year before were our cap was at thirty.
Speaker 5: And then this last school year, the twenty four to
Speaker 5: twenty five, our cap was at thirty four. So in
Speaker 5: the last two years alone, we've had, you know, six
Speaker 5: more students per classroom, and that means lots of extra grading.
Speaker 5: You know, you have to be very mindful to keep
Speaker 5: things safe in a science lab, you know, really lots
Speaker 5: of impact on teacher workload.
Speaker 2: So you had thirty four people in a class teaching biology.
Speaker 5: Yeah, our biology, we tried to cap our freshman biology
Speaker 5: class is a little smaller. They were at thirty. But yeah,
Speaker 5: my fourth block class, who I loved. They are amazing humans,
Speaker 5: but there are a lot of large athlete senior boys
Speaker 5: in there, and it was crowded. My classroom is not
Speaker 5: built for thirty four, you know, large humans right all
Speaker 5: experiencing the high school live. That's a lot, yeah, a lot.
Speaker 5: You know, you gotta be mindful with the science safety
Speaker 5: with that many.
Speaker 6: Folks, difficultiesers that pose.
Speaker 4: I'm curious, like in terms of you know, when you
Speaker 4: have smaller us bigger, I imagine maybe more difficult to
Speaker 4: have individualized kind of attention, oh.
Speaker 5: One hundred percent, the ability to really give deep individual
Speaker 5: feedback to thirty four students times. You know, my five
Speaker 5: classes of AP environmental science versus twenty eight kids. You know,
Speaker 5: that's a whole extra section of kids that we're trying to,
Speaker 5: you know, still give the very best possible education we can.
Speaker 5: To an English teacher at my school put it really well.
Speaker 3: He's like, you know, I used to teach when I
Speaker 3: give essays.
Speaker 5: It used to take me seven hours to grade my
Speaker 5: AP English essays, and now with the larger classizes, it
Speaker 5: takes me nine and a half.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, jayden As I understand it. At least according to our legislators,
Speaker 1: this is all going to be fixed. Now everything's resolved.
Speaker 1: Eight point five billion dollars. Tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about you know what where that money is going to,
Speaker 1: and you know how far is that going to take
Speaker 1: us to restore what some of this underfunding has done.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I've been talking to superintendents and teachers all week,
Speaker 4: and I can tell you based off those conversations there's
Speaker 4: still a lot of work to be done. You know,
Speaker 4: it is eight and a half billion dollars and you know,
Speaker 4: really targeted investments, right. I think what makes this bill
Speaker 4: different from years past is the difference between flexibility and
Speaker 4: you know, restrictions on how districts can use the funding
Speaker 4: and so particularly you know, you see a huge chunk
Speaker 4: of the bill specifically focused on teacher pay, right. I know,
Speaker 4: Governor Greg Abbott and other uh you know leaders in
Speaker 4: the legislature have made that a top priority, right in
Speaker 4: terms of recognizing that obviously you know, who's in the
Speaker 4: classroom greatly has an outsized impact on student success as
Speaker 4: it relates specifically, you know to the classroom. I mean,
Speaker 4: we're going to see you know, a huge overhaul in
Speaker 4: the way that Texas fund special education, which is going
Speaker 4: to be huge. Those will going to effect the next
Speaker 4: school year, which the Commissioner, Mike Marath will have you know, uh,
Speaker 4: you know time you know between the bill going into
Speaker 4: effect September one this year and and the following year
Speaker 4: to kind of craft what that system is going to
Speaker 4: look like. A lot of investment in educator preparation because
Speaker 4: of the rise and uncertified teachers. Actually, you know, we'll
Speaker 4: see that teachers without formal classroom training will actually be
Speaker 4: phased out of foundational you know classes, so social studies, science,
Speaker 4: you know, math, reading by the year of twenty thirty.
Speaker 4: You know, there's investment in school safety. So it's a
Speaker 4: pretty comprehensibile I mean, it's two hundred and thirty one pages.
Speaker 4: Someone fact check me if I'm pretty sure I'm right.
Speaker 4: Two hundred and thirty one page of legislation here, yeah, right.
Speaker 6: But going back to.
Speaker 4: It, I think the biggest thing though, is, you know,
Speaker 4: I think I think districts are generally grateful for the money,
Speaker 4: though I do think that they also went into it
Speaker 4: hoping for more flexibility than what they ultimately ended up with.
Speaker 2: I'm quoting from the razier hand Texas briefing that came
Speaker 2: after that eight point five billion dollars is not even
Speaker 2: half of the nineteen point five billion dollars that would
Speaker 2: have been needed simply to maintain schools purchasing power since
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, and so I think it is simultaneously true
Speaker 2: that this is the biggest individual kind of cash infusion
Speaker 2: growth in school funding in the state, while also possibly
Speaker 2: true that a lot of people in the education community
Speaker 2: are saying there still needs to be more that needs
Speaker 2: to be done here, and I think also talking about
Speaker 2: how a lot of that money is prescriptive. Right, It's
Speaker 2: been an interesting political shift over the time that I've
Speaker 2: been involved in covering Texas politics and the way that
Speaker 2: a lot of our state leaders have talked about education
Speaker 2: and educators as well. You know, there was a lot
Speaker 2: of kind of ranker and concerns being raised by superintendents
Speaker 2: and other people in the education community about the lack
Speaker 2: of funding or the need for funding, and you saw lawmakers,
Speaker 2: you know, in some cases, kind of turn the blame
Speaker 2: back at the superintendents and saying, you know, this isn't
Speaker 2: the result of us not funding you enough. This is
Speaker 2: the result of you not being responsible with money that
Speaker 2: was coming in, including money that was designated for COVID
Speaker 2: and things like that. And then you know, you also
Speaker 2: just see I think a much more of a willingness
Speaker 2: of lawmakers to sort of question the effectiveness or whether
Speaker 2: even you should send your kids to public schools.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 2: We'll get to vouchers here in a little bit, but
Speaker 2: I think you could maybe see that reflected a little
Speaker 2: bit and how this wasn't just here's an eight point
Speaker 2: five billion dollar blank check to the school districts, just
Speaker 2: spend as you see fit. But here's how you're gonna
Speaker 2: spend this money. You're gonna spend it on teacher pay.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you probably are okay with that idea, but
Speaker 2: crazy and various other things as opposed to just increasing
Speaker 2: you know, as the popular term, the basic allotment, right,
Speaker 2: which would have allowed people to spend that money the
Speaker 2: way they way they chose.
Speaker 4: And I think the big thing to note with the
Speaker 4: flexibility component, as much as it has to do specifically
Speaker 4: obviously with you know, classroom instruction and you know raises,
Speaker 4: a big thing is operational costs, which we know, you know,
Speaker 4: since twenty nineteen, the last comprehensive education funding bill, we've
Speaker 4: seen inflation go through the roof. And so you know,
Speaker 4: the basic allotment, this kind of flexible funding mechanism that
Speaker 4: districts call them for is just as much to try
Speaker 4: to keep up and pay for bus fuel, right to
Speaker 4: make sure you know, they have you know, money to
Speaker 4: address the NEEDE specific to their campuses, and kind of
Speaker 4: what their argument is is that you know, when you're
Speaker 4: giving US specific funding. You're assuming that we all have
Speaker 4: the same issues, right as opposed to you know, this
Speaker 4: district in West Texas has significant differences from what's happening
Speaker 4: in Houston is ISD, right, and so it's been a
Speaker 4: really interesting thing to kind of observe kind of the
Speaker 4: you know, the kind of back and forth over the
Speaker 4: course of the session.
Speaker 2: Can we talk a little bit about teacher recruitment, retention
Speaker 2: and pay here. I mean, that's a big part of
Speaker 2: HB two, the funding bill. There is there's two different
Speaker 2: factors here. There is the teacher pay raises, but there's
Speaker 2: also this effort to address what has been a concern
Speaker 2: in the education community about teachers coming in who did
Speaker 2: not have the sort of traditional training to become teachers
Speaker 2: and everything like that. I'm curious in your experience whether
Speaker 2: that was something you noticed as a teacher, that more
Speaker 2: uncertified teachers were coming in, and if so, was it
Speaker 2: a problem. How did you experience or witness that as
Speaker 2: as an educator out there in the field.
Speaker 5: So I'm also the Science department chare in our school,
Speaker 5: and our school is very big on teacher leadership. So
Speaker 5: I've been in a lot of interviews in the last
Speaker 5: four years of folks coming in wanting to be a teacher,
Speaker 5: and we have been forced to hire somebody that's not
Speaker 5: been certified. We had somebody leave two years ago two
Speaker 5: weeks before school started to be an assistant principle, and
Speaker 5: we had to fill that position. And it is very
Speaker 5: hard to hire anybody at all two weeks before school starts,
Speaker 5: so we had a long term sub for six weeks
Speaker 5: and we hired somebody that was uncertified. She had a
Speaker 5: PhD in biology, and you know, she was fabulous with
Speaker 5: the content, but not having any classroom experience, classroom management planning,
Speaker 5: she did not She did not serve our teenagers, she
Speaker 5: did not engage with our students, she did not.
Speaker 3: Serve our teenagers.
Speaker 5: So she did not make it through the years. Hire
Speaker 5: someone else. We had the same thing happened last year.
Speaker 5: We had somebody leave to be an instructional coach. And
Speaker 5: I'm always happy when people can move up in education,
Speaker 5: but it's tough to find people. In July and we
Speaker 5: had somebody that was not uncertified, had not been in
Speaker 5: a classroom before. It didn't last very long. So there
Speaker 5: is huge value in having those folks come in that
Speaker 5: are certified that have gone through a program where they've
Speaker 5: interacted with teenagers before they get to us, and then
Speaker 5: it puts a huge burden on the teachers that have
Speaker 5: to work and mentor them and train them. Our mentor
Speaker 5: teachers were often spending two of their five off blocks
Speaker 5: a week directly working with teachers trying to get them
Speaker 5: up to speed and mentorship is amazing, but that was
Speaker 5: extensive mentorship because they just didn't have any experience with teenagers.
Speaker 5: So from my perspective, I want a good certified teacher
Speaker 5: in every classroom in Texas, and passing this and hopefully
Speaker 5: strengthening our pipeline will really help, I think well.
Speaker 1: And I want to talk about the other side of that,
Speaker 1: which is like retaining qualified teachers. You've been in the
Speaker 1: field twenty three years. I'm sure you've probably would not
Speaker 1: have been Texas Teacher of the Year your first year,
Speaker 1: like oh no, oh no, Like what is the benefit
Speaker 1: of having teachers who have been in this for a
Speaker 1: long time? I mean, for in your specific classroom, but
Speaker 1: also you're talking about being becoming a mentor teacher.
Speaker 5: Oh the things that you learn along the way, you know,
Speaker 5: even I started teaching ap environmental science eight years I
Speaker 5: think into my career and even my first year I
Speaker 5: was kind of horrible then too. Even though I knew
Speaker 5: how to manage students and work with them, I forgot
Speaker 5: two of the six major air pollutants.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when I was teaching them.
Speaker 6: So my, oh my god.
Speaker 1: Now Pennsylvania they went back and checked and checked the
Speaker 1: record and.
Speaker 3: Pennsylvania managed all six of them.
Speaker 5: But no, there's there's so much value in getting better
Speaker 5: in your job and becoming a master teacher. You learn
Speaker 5: where the students misconceptions are. You learn how to help
Speaker 5: other people in your field grow. Uh, those are the
Speaker 5: ones that are running our major clubs, right, like our
Speaker 5: National Honor Society, that type of thing. So retention, I
Speaker 5: think there's been a lot of focus on like let's
Speaker 5: just get any human into the classroom, and I think
Speaker 5: really the focus needs to be how do we retain
Speaker 5: our good teachers?
Speaker 3: How do we keep them the race helps? What else
Speaker 3: do we need to do?
Speaker 4: Which is what ultimately created where we're at right now,
Speaker 4: right is that you know, you had so many teachers
Speaker 4: that left the profession, and so you know, I think
Speaker 4: you know what we found is that you know, through
Speaker 4: kind of particular legislation passed, you know, intending for one thing,
Speaker 4: ended up becoming a lifeline for many districts, you know,
Speaker 4: in terms of now you know, I'm able to bring
Speaker 4: in teachers because you know, qualified teachers are leaving the classroom.
Speaker 4: So it's a really it's an interesting It's interesting that
Speaker 4: this is a focus for lawmakers because in a lot
Speaker 4: of ways, you know, it was a problem created that
Speaker 4: they created, but almost it was unintended, you know, given
Speaker 4: the law that passed that allowed kind of the exemptions
Speaker 4: you know, for certification.
Speaker 1: So well, and one of the things I found we
Speaker 1: did an entire episode of the trip cast about uncertified
Speaker 1: teachers and that sort of issue, and one of the
Speaker 1: things I found so interesting from that is like teachers
Speaker 1: who maybe would have otherwise gotten certified, who are now saying, well,
Speaker 1: if I get paid the same and I don't have
Speaker 1: to do all this training, like I'll just go in
Speaker 1: the classroom and figure it out as I go. So
Speaker 1: it's a disincentive even to teachers who might want to
Speaker 1: get certified if that's not required. So it briefly walks
Speaker 1: through like what the provision is, like they'll have to phase.
Speaker 4: This out right, they'll phase it out, So that'll be
Speaker 4: by by twenty thirty that'll be I think, I forget
Speaker 4: the specificate, but it'll be twenty thirty when the commissioner
Speaker 4: when he can no longer allow exceptions to so it'll
Speaker 4: be a gradual kind of phase out. But the other
Speaker 4: important thing to notice that now you know, teachers will
Speaker 4: be able to be compensated or excuse me, teacher candidates
Speaker 4: will be able to be compensated for going through high
Speaker 4: quality preparation programs, right, whether that be you know, this
Speaker 4: this new kind of apprenticeship model that has come around
Speaker 4: and gained a lot of tracks in recent years, which
Speaker 4: basically I've actually visited one of these in huddle. They're
Speaker 4: kind of really cool when you go up and see them.
Speaker 4: It's basically, you know, you have these these teacher candidates
Speaker 4: who spend you know, considered amount of time in the
Speaker 4: class room working with a veteran teacher kind of learning
Speaker 4: under their wing. And so what they're trying to do
Speaker 4: again is to gradually kind of phase out these teachers
Speaker 4: specifically again to clarify in core kind of these core
Speaker 4: foundational subjects reading, mad science, social studies, while also incentivizing
Speaker 4: teachers to go through quality training programs and get them
Speaker 4: on a pathway to certification.
Speaker 2: And then the other thing is to keep them, as
Speaker 2: you already mentioned, right, and a big part of that
Speaker 2: is teacher raises.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 2: And so I'm reading this from a story that Jaden wrote,
Speaker 2: so you know, properly attributing here.
Speaker 3: Public.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so districts in uh within school teachers with teachers
Speaker 2: in school districts with more than five thousand students with
Speaker 2: three to four years experience get a twenty five hundred
Speaker 2: dollars raise. Five thousand dollar rais for five or more
Speaker 2: years experience that's in increases to four thousand and eight
Speaker 2: thousand if you're in a smaller district, more likely a
Speaker 2: rural district where attracting teachers is more challenging. So my
Speaker 2: question to you is, I mean, I know this probably
Speaker 2: happened after school is out, and you know, but what
Speaker 2: is the feeling among the teachers you talk to? What
Speaker 2: is your feeling about this? Is this enough? Is this
Speaker 2: going to change things in terms of keeping teachers around
Speaker 2: or incentivizing people to join the profession.
Speaker 5: I think it feels a little bit like just some respect,
Speaker 5: some respect for the profession, like, we realize you are
Speaker 5: not being paid.
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of teachers have side hustle jobs.
Speaker 5: We great essays in the summer, We mentor a lot
Speaker 5: of teachers in math, especially tutor So it feels respectful,
Speaker 5: like we're acknowledging that we haven't had a teacher raise
Speaker 5: in a while.
Speaker 3: Our district gives teacher.
Speaker 5: Raises, but this is probably the biggest raise I've ever
Speaker 5: gotten as an educator in my twenty three years.
Speaker 3: And once, yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Was talking to it, actually a teacher today in a district.
Speaker 4: They're about eight hundred and thirty students total in their district,
Speaker 4: so very rural community. And it was interesting because she's
Speaker 4: been teaching for like twenty four years as well, so
Speaker 4: you know, we were talking and she's like, you know,
Speaker 4: this all sounds great, but I'll believe it whenever my
Speaker 4: paycheck actually increases. So yeah, it's really interesting. But to me,
Speaker 4: it was funny. I laughed, but it highlighted kind of
Speaker 4: somewhat of this kind of distrust. I mean, you've gone,
Speaker 4: you know, so long with the kind of back and
Speaker 4: forth between the ISDS and lawmakers about you know, adequate funding,
Speaker 4: and that I think some people, teachers and maybe you
Speaker 4: could speak to this, are kind of just fatigued and
Speaker 4: are just like, Hey, if it's going to happen, it'll happen.
Speaker 4: When when my superintendent or principal tells me I'm getting
Speaker 4: the raise, I'll believe it. But for right now, I'm
Speaker 4: just gonna sit back and keep doing.
Speaker 6: What I'm doing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think certainly.
Speaker 1: I think, Like I remember, I mean two years ago
Speaker 1: when the funding sort of fell apart, that there was
Speaker 1: a lot of sort of teachers who were like I
Speaker 1: was sort of banking on that. I kind of thought
Speaker 1: that was happening. I would imagine this time around owned
Speaker 1: a lot more skepticism and a lot more wait wait
Speaker 1: till I see it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, I think with the way the bill
Speaker 4: is structured, you know, it'll be quite some time before
Speaker 4: I think the story's actually written on house build too,
Speaker 4: because there are these kind of new funding mechanisms. One,
Speaker 4: I think districts have to actually get the money in
Speaker 4: their hands and kind of realize, you know, understand, kind
Speaker 4: of you know what's allow here? How can I use
Speaker 4: this money there?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 4: Because of the different restrictions and whatnot. So I think
Speaker 4: people are generally grateful right now, but again there's there's
Speaker 4: a lot of time I think until again the verdict
Speaker 4: will be out on whether the money did what it
Speaker 4: was intended to do and what lawmakers ultimately hope it
Speaker 4: will accomplish.
Speaker 2: How would you compare you said you've been in teaching
Speaker 2: for twenty three years, how would you compare teacher morale
Speaker 2: right now compared to earlier in your career.
Speaker 5: Well, I think my first couple years I was pretty clueless.
Speaker 5: I was just trying to kind of make it happen.
Speaker 5: But I think the last two years, teacher morale is
Speaker 5: lower than I've ever seen in probably the increase in
Speaker 5: class size, the feeling that like there was plenty of
Speaker 5: money in the Rainy defund last legislative session and nothing
Speaker 5: was done because vouchers didn't get passed. I think teachers
Speaker 5: are struggling a little bit right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think COVID, you know, hit everyone
Speaker 1: pretty hard obviously in many sectors, but I think teachers
Speaker 1: really are dealing with the long tail of that.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 1: I do want to talk about what you alluded to
Speaker 1: and sort of what has gotten in the way of
Speaker 1: these sort of deals in previous sessions and what really,
Speaker 1: if we're being honest about the political process, got this
Speaker 1: money over the finish line this time, which is that
Speaker 1: it was tied to passing. You know, Texas's very significant
Speaker 1: voucher program. Texas now has the largest day one voucher
Speaker 1: program in the country, a billion dollars to allow families
Speaker 1: to receive about ten thousand dollars per child to send
Speaker 1: them to private schools. Talk about a bill where the
Speaker 1: story is yet to be written a little bit, but
Speaker 1: Jane tells a little bit about you know, do we
Speaker 1: have any sense of what the impact will be on
Speaker 1: public schools from this long term?
Speaker 6: Yeah? You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 4: There's always a lot of focus on kind of you know,
Speaker 4: enrollment in particular. Well, we see in other states, you
Speaker 4: haven't seen kind of this mass exodus that that people anticipate.
Speaker 6: We'll always draw attention to.
Speaker 4: I think though, it's going to be funding right in particular,
Speaker 4: and so what I mean by that is, you know,
Speaker 4: the state won't always be operating at a what's the
Speaker 4: surplus now twenty five billion somewhere somewhere along those lines,
Speaker 4: and so you know, you have a billion dollars right now.
Speaker 4: You know, towards this particular program, which we know will
Speaker 4: grow in size as the program kind of grows in
Speaker 4: future years. Is law makers allocate more funding toward it.
Speaker 4: When you get in a situation where you know, you
Speaker 4: are in a budget crunch, where do you cut from?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 4: You know, is it public education right, which you know
Speaker 4: really is the hardened foundation of you know, Texas communities,
Speaker 4: you know, really all across the state, right, we all
Speaker 4: know Friday night lights and particularly in our rural communities
Speaker 4: where you know, these are major employers for families and whatnot,
Speaker 4: you know, or do you cut from you know, the
Speaker 4: valuer program, so that that's what is more interesting than
Speaker 4: me per se, not as much enrollment because again I
Speaker 4: don't think you're gonna see this mass exodus. And that's
Speaker 4: just looking at evidence in other states that have implemented
Speaker 4: you know, the these large universe what they call universal programs.
Speaker 4: But certainly, you know, when it comes to budgetary decisions
Speaker 4: in the future again, I mean right now, I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, there was eight and a half billion dollars
Speaker 4: in HB two. There are people probably in this room
Speaker 4: lawmakers who say that, you know, it should have been
Speaker 4: nine and a half. You pulled the money from from
Speaker 4: the voucher program, right, So that's where I think the
Speaker 4: conversation gets really interesting.
Speaker 2: I think the thing that I particularly will be watching
Speaker 2: will be demand for these right because if you do
Speaker 2: the math right, the number of private school students right now,
Speaker 2: if you multiply that by around ten thousand, which is
Speaker 2: around how much a voucher will be worth, that number
Speaker 2: is more than a billion dollars, right, And so are
Speaker 2: we going to see a situation where demand for these
Speaker 2: vouchers is immediately more than what the supply is available?
Speaker 2: And if so, what are lawmaker is going to do
Speaker 2: about it? You know, there was a thing, I think
Speaker 2: it was the Legislative Budget Board put out an estimate
Speaker 2: that you know, this could quickly escalate to four point
Speaker 2: eight billion dollars by twenty thirty. There was a lot
Speaker 2: of pushback among the lawmakers on that and saying like
Speaker 2: they're making this, They're not basing this prediction on anything,
Speaker 2: like we make the decision as to whether we increase it.
Speaker 2: And I think if demand does significantly outstrip supply outpaced supply,
Speaker 2: how much pressure will there be to expand the program
Speaker 2: and will they want to do that? And If so,
Speaker 2: that's where you might see it start to be more expensive.
Speaker 2: If not, you know, I think eight point five billion dollars.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of school district would would take
Speaker 2: eight point five billion dollars with a one billion dollar
Speaker 2: voucher program. They'll they'll look back at this and see
Speaker 2: its successful. Though you know, we just don't know how
Speaker 2: that's gonna play out yet. You can guess, but we'll
Speaker 2: have to just see.
Speaker 4: One quick thing that's interesting to noteut you know, I've
Speaker 4: been watching following closely at Tennessee because this year they
Speaker 4: actually you know, passed their voucher program and the implement
Speaker 4: implementation is kind of now in play, and so they've
Speaker 4: already seen you know, at the onset, you know, more
Speaker 4: applications than spots available, and so you have to imagine
Speaker 4: I mean, the state, the size of Texas. Right, you're
Speaker 4: gonna again think about it. I mean, if you're even
Speaker 4: if you're you know, if you're a family that has
Speaker 4: children that road in private schools already, right, this is
Speaker 4: this makes all the sense in the world for you
Speaker 4: to apply, right, and you are I'm sure you know
Speaker 4: that the schools will be advertising it, right. So the
Speaker 4: one thing that makes Texas unique is that there is
Speaker 4: this kind of gap year to kind of really build
Speaker 4: the program out and to get kind of awareness out there,
Speaker 4: because you know, usually you know, you might see, like
Speaker 4: in Tennessee, for example, you passed the program, it's going
Speaker 4: to be implemented, you know, the next school year around
Speaker 4: this time around you this is we have until twenty six,
Speaker 4: twenty seven school year. The comptroller who oversees the state's
Speaker 4: finances will be kind of ironing things out, you know,
Speaker 4: between September and May of next year. So a lot,
Speaker 4: there is a lot to your point, that has to
Speaker 4: kind of get figured out. But it'd be really interesting
Speaker 4: to see given the size of Texas and where we are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Chris, I mean, how are public school teachers feeling
Speaker 1: about this? I mean, what is the you talked about
Speaker 1: the rays feeling like respect from lawmakers? How is this
Speaker 1: voucher program sort of being received?
Speaker 5: Obviously, most public school teachers would prefer the money go
Speaker 5: to public school kids. I think the big issue that
Speaker 5: sticks in a lot of teachers, Craw is that the
Speaker 5: rules aren't the same. Now that that you know, private
Speaker 5: schools are getting public tax payer dollars, they should have
Speaker 5: to play by the same rules we do, right, Like
Speaker 5: they should have to hire certified teachers and they don't.
Speaker 5: They should have to get their attendance a lot meant
Speaker 5: day by day like we do. We have average daily
Speaker 5: attendance and we get based on how many kids are
Speaker 5: in our class every day. And there just seems to
Speaker 5: be getting the ten thousand dollars. You know, it just
Speaker 5: doesn't feel like we're playing by the same rules. There's
Speaker 5: no real accountability system that they have to We have
Speaker 5: to give the star and then we get rated A
Speaker 5: through F. Is there going to be an A through
Speaker 5: F for the private school? Is there going to be
Speaker 5: star accountability? I mean it sounds like no. So it
Speaker 5: doesn't feel fair now that public funds are going to
Speaker 5: private schools that they don't have the same level of
Speaker 5: accountability we do.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of this sort of and
Speaker 1: Matthew sort of alluded to this is in this larger
Speaker 1: thing of like lawmakers seemingly at odds with public schools
Speaker 1: or wanting more oversight, wanting more it's sort of just
Speaker 1: a little bit of like what seems like a fundamental
Speaker 1: like distrust of the schools and of what's being taught
Speaker 1: in the schools and the amount of sort of control
Speaker 1: they have over all of that. I do want to
Speaker 1: talk about sort of did you do something on vouchers before.
Speaker 2: We Well, no, I mean I was just going to say, like,
Speaker 2: there's there's there's two arguments that were pushed for this.
Speaker 2: One is that, right, like you saw Governor Rabbit go
Speaker 2: around the state and talk about, you know, a concern
Speaker 2: that a lot of parents have about what you know,
Speaker 2: values are being taught to their students, right, and this,
Speaker 2: he says, gives them a choice to go seek a
Speaker 2: school that more aligns with their values. The other one
Speaker 2: would be, I mean the case that they make, whether
Speaker 2: you agree with it or not, is that if that
Speaker 2: the accountable accountability system for school vouchers is the sort
Speaker 2: of free market system. Right, if you don't think this
Speaker 2: school is doing well for at teaching your kid, you
Speaker 2: can go and send your kid to another school, whether
Speaker 2: that's leaving a public school to a private school, or
Speaker 2: a private school to a charter school, or all those
Speaker 2: different types of things, and you know, we will see
Speaker 2: what happens and whether whether those outcomes improved. It's I mean,
Speaker 2: it's there's there's we're now at the moment where it's
Speaker 2: just kind of like it's happening and let's see how
Speaker 2: it goes.
Speaker 1: It's like two core tenants of the current you know,
Speaker 1: governing party in Texas, which is free market and you know,
Speaker 1: stamp out liberal you know, indoctrination. I mean, these are
Speaker 1: two if anything, you know, the latter is sort of
Speaker 1: times rising and influence and over the former. I do
Speaker 1: want to talk about some of those bills that did
Speaker 1: sort of purport to stamp out at liberal indoctrination or
Speaker 1: give parents more oversight over that. A big one, you know,
Speaker 1: is about libraries themselves, school libraries you know, going forward,
Speaker 1: parents through the school board. But really, you know the
Speaker 1: premise of this bill is that parents will have more
Speaker 1: say over the books that are on school library shells
Speaker 1: going forward, rather than librarians themselves. This builds on legislation
Speaker 1: from last session that you know, aim to do something
Speaker 1: sort of similar. Jaden, We saw a lot of pushback
Speaker 1: to this bill from Democratic lawmakers. I watched some of
Speaker 1: these hearings. You know a lot of librarians showed out
Speaker 1: in full force. Honestly, a terrifying group to piss off,
Speaker 1: is what I learned from that. You know, talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about what the impact of that bill is
Speaker 1: and sort of how that fits into this larger narrative
Speaker 1: around you know, giving parents more say in the classroom.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really interesting what it reminds me of. You know,
Speaker 4: I've you know, been back here in Texas. It'll be
Speaker 4: a year actually coming up here in a couple of weeks,
Speaker 4: and it just reminds me. I was watching somewhat I'm
Speaker 4: related but very much connected state Board of Education meeting
Speaker 4: maybe this was around this time last year, and there
Speaker 4: was you know, a parent who who was basically an activist, right,
Speaker 4: and she showed up. She's like one of the only
Speaker 4: people who's testifying during like the public speaking portion, and
Speaker 4: she's just like harping at the uh the state Board
Speaker 4: of Education members for you know, the lack of remedy,
Speaker 4: what she feels when it comes to you know, books,
Speaker 4: and she's reading off the most explicit, like vulgar things,
Speaker 4: you know, excerpts from books. What's interesting is same person
Speaker 4: is testifying, you know, during public hearings here this year
Speaker 4: during the session. And so while I bring that up,
Speaker 4: I mean, what I'm trying to get at is that
Speaker 4: you know, Ultimately, what you're seeing is you know, people
Speaker 4: who you know, as part of this larger movement that
Speaker 4: we've seen really start brewing, you know, really at the
Speaker 4: brunt of the pandemic where you know, it's part of
Speaker 4: this larger kind of you know, I guess backlash to
Speaker 4: the way schools go about you know, teaching. You know
Speaker 4: America's you know history of racism, you know how it
Speaker 4: accommodates you know, uh, you know, trans students.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 4: I think what we've seen this session, particularly with the
Speaker 4: library bill, you know, takes that a step further right,
Speaker 4: and ultimately, what the legislature is saying, and what they've
Speaker 4: been very clear about is that they believe that parents
Speaker 4: need to be in the driver's seat. Now, obviously, a
Speaker 4: lot of the pushback, you know, the question becomes, you know,
Speaker 4: which parents are we talking about? Right, because you know,
Speaker 4: there are a lot of parents who show up and
Speaker 4: testify at the Capitol and other places whose voices, you know,
Speaker 4: who they feel like their voices aren't heard. And so
Speaker 4: it's been it's been interesting. But I bring that up
Speaker 4: is that it's been bruined. Is that you have these
Speaker 4: people who are you know, really you know kind of
Speaker 4: locked in on you know, what's going on in different places,
Speaker 4: and you know they're part of these kind of different
Speaker 4: movements or organizations and connected with different people who really
Speaker 4: across the country have made this, you know a thing
Speaker 4: over the course of the last uh, you know, half
Speaker 4: decade or so.
Speaker 1: Right, I mean we're seeing I mean some of those
Speaker 1: people get elected. I mean Representative Hillary Hickland. That was
Speaker 1: sort of her origin story was you know, she was
Speaker 1: got involved at school boards and in like you know,
Speaker 1: what she would say is like trying to get obscene
Speaker 1: materials out of libraries. And now she's in the state
Speaker 1: House carrying that legislature that so it's certainly seems to
Speaker 1: be taking hold. You know, this has like been a
Speaker 1: sort of conservative what's sort of like like the field
Speaker 1: team to sort of you know, get up to the
Speaker 1: to the major leagues.
Speaker 4: Just one thing about quick like watching lawmakers listen to
Speaker 4: the excerpt from those books. It has been really interesting
Speaker 4: because you see almost how it's happening in real time.
Speaker 4: Because no, I think I don't think anybody would deny
Speaker 4: that the things that we're hearing at those meetings are
Speaker 4: like whoa like you know, like WHOA Right, So It's interesting,
Speaker 4: right the question become obviously now we can talk about,
Speaker 4: you know, whether certain things are out of context or
Speaker 4: you know, there are different there's kind of nuance to it.
Speaker 4: But just in terms of the kind of lawmaking process,
Speaker 4: it's been really fascinating to kind of watch that up close.
Speaker 4: I mean, I've seen you know, you know Chairman, you know,
Speaker 4: Brad Buckley, you know who's the House of the Public
Speaker 4: Education Committee, who they're sitting up listening to you know,
Speaker 4: the excerpts, and in real time you're kind of seeing
Speaker 4: things developed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just just to your point about the politics of this,
Speaker 2: it's been interesting to watch. It's really been swinging back
Speaker 2: and forth, right because you saw that big wave of
Speaker 2: lawmaker of school boards, you know, in South Lake and
Speaker 2: then beyond where where this became really a winning issue
Speaker 2: in school boards this past May when they're you know,
Speaker 2: when the legislature was doing all these things. Another thing
Speaker 2: that happen then was a bunch of school board elections
Speaker 2: in which almost all of the school boards supported by
Speaker 2: this kind of you know, these packs and these these
Speaker 2: other forces, their candidates were voted out or lost, you know,
Speaker 2: and so the pendulum kind of keeps swinging back and forth,
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm interested to see what impact this
Speaker 2: actually has. You know, are there really that many books
Speaker 2: in school libraries that have this kind of material in there?
Speaker 2: Is this going to have a material impact?
Speaker 6: Also?
Speaker 2: Are kids still checking out these books? You know? A lot?
Speaker 1: Well? And like, I think a lot of it comes
Speaker 1: down to, like do you trust librarians to kind of
Speaker 1: run their library right and to be responsible of that? Chris,
Speaker 1: I'm curious, like how you've have you spelt sort of
Speaker 1: this rising tide of parental involvement or of scrutiny of
Speaker 1: the work you're doing. Have you felt that in your district?
Speaker 3: Not a whole lot. I think.
Speaker 5: I think our librarians are amazing, and I think they've
Speaker 5: been able to kind of run their library as they
Speaker 5: so choose. The thing that I find so interesting about
Speaker 5: this whole like we're going to ban these explicit books,
Speaker 5: Like kids can get all kinds of things on their phone.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, you know, so it's sort of like, why
Speaker 5: are you know, what are your kids doing on their phone?
Speaker 5: Because it's probably worse than the book they're not checking
Speaker 5: out from the library.
Speaker 2: Well they can't, you know, they can't take their friends
Speaker 2: school anymore either, right, isn't that they'll be developed?
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: The one thing I was going to add though, is
Speaker 4: that this bill, in my opinion, again I'm not a lawyer,
Speaker 4: but it has legal challenge written all over. And the
Speaker 4: reason I say that is because there's a particular provision
Speaker 4: in the bill that you know, if a book gets challenged,
Speaker 4: it's pulled off the shelves, right, And so you get
Speaker 4: into this territory. We're'll be curious to see. Again, I
Speaker 4: don't I can't predict the future, but it'll be interesting
Speaker 4: to see kind of what the you know, how kind
Speaker 4: of legal groups will response to this. We know they've
Speaker 4: been very vocal about other legislation kind of in the
Speaker 4: same vicinity, and so it'll be I don't think you know,
Speaker 4: the discussion is over on you know, obviously, you know
Speaker 4: it goes into effect. You know, we'll see kind of
Speaker 4: you know, what happens after the fact. But I think
Speaker 4: folks will have something to say about it, because again,
Speaker 4: what it does is it puts it. I mean, really,
Speaker 4: what they're saying is that you know, these parents, they
Speaker 4: are ultimately they altoately have the power to determine what
Speaker 4: the community's values are right, and that's a big part
Speaker 4: of how the legislation. I mean that's actually like specific
Speaker 4: like language and the bills it talks about like community values,
Speaker 4: and so again, it's really interesting. I'll be curious to
Speaker 4: see how this also fits into like the national landscape
Speaker 4: as well. Given again texasercise, it's always has outside influence.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think there's a lot still to be
Speaker 4: kind of written on this particular topic.
Speaker 1: And certainly we've seen bills like or laws like this
Speaker 1: get challenged in court and in some cases get basically
Speaker 1: knocked down. So yeah, I think that's a pretty solid
Speaker 1: prediction librarians not taking this laying down.
Speaker 4: I talked to a librarian earlier, and you know, one
Speaker 4: thing that really struck me was just like how much
Speaker 4: I don't think people actually realize like like librarians. And
Speaker 4: I think she was telling me earlier, like you know,
Speaker 4: we're required to have master's degrees, right, like we are,
Speaker 4: Like this is a very like rigorous process, so we're
Speaker 4: not just people who just show up and just you know,
Speaker 4: scan a book you know here, and they're like it's
Speaker 4: a pretty like hard job and like takes a lot
Speaker 4: of skill in telling that. So I think that's why
Speaker 4: you probably saw a lot of the backlash, and it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, we want you to understand exactly what we do, right,
Speaker 4: and we need to be at the table if you're
Speaker 4: making decisions having to do with our.
Speaker 1: Profession, right, yeah, trust us to do our job sort
Speaker 1: of to just I want to briefly talk about an
Speaker 1: issue that a couple of the kids in the room
Speaker 1: might care about, which is the not dead yet Star Test.
Speaker 1: The attempt to get rid of this large annual assessment
Speaker 1: and now they lawmakers were unable to strike a deal,
Speaker 1: so the Star Test lives. Chris, can you talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about like the Star Test, how do teachers
Speaker 1: feel about it?
Speaker 3: The students and generally just.
Speaker 1: Like this test, teach to the test mentality. I think
Speaker 1: lawmakers were worried about well. Testing causes a lot of
Speaker 1: anxiety for our students, especially I think in the younger grades.
Speaker 1: By the time they get to high school, they're a
Speaker 1: little bit more jaded about it, but it still takes
Speaker 1: up quite a bit of our time, you know, making
Speaker 1: sure those kids. For example, of the English skills for
Speaker 1: the English Test or the O in our worldest is
Speaker 1: the Biology test. I think teachers were not thrilled about
Speaker 1: the idea of three tests a year, So I think.
Speaker 3: Maybe that's good that that's gone.
Speaker 5: But yeah, testing is a challenging one and I really
Speaker 5: wish there was more teacher representation with the people making
Speaker 5: these decisions that really have been in the classroom that
Speaker 5: understand Like, I could never make a decision about how
Speaker 5: elementary school testing could go, you know why as a
Speaker 5: legislator that has never been in the classroom before making
Speaker 5: those decisions for us, I'd love to see more teacher
Speaker 5: input on testing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just seems like it's a very it's a
Speaker 2: good applause line if you're a politician to be like,
Speaker 2: we're getting rid of the Star test because people don't
Speaker 2: like it and people don't like standardized tests. Right, But
Speaker 2: then you kind of get into the nee gridy of like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we there needs to be some way to measure how
Speaker 2: successful schools are, right, there needs to be some way
Speaker 2: to hold them accountable. And then it starts to sort
Speaker 2: of break down from there and it gets a lot harder. Right,
Speaker 2: you just talked about like they were talking about three
Speaker 2: separate tests which would have been maybe designed to you know,
Speaker 2: in their minds be a bit more effective of measuring.
Speaker 2: But then now you have three high pressure tests throughout
Speaker 2: the school year that that is also stressful for people.
Speaker 2: And uh, it's it's I think it's less complaicated on
Speaker 2: the campaign trail and more complicated when you actually get
Speaker 2: into how are we going to do this and how
Speaker 2: are you actually going to make sure that our students
Speaker 2: are getting what they need in order to you know, succeed.
Speaker 4: I think one thing that we I think, you know,
Speaker 4: we also have to mention a big part of that
Speaker 4: bill would at least, you know, in the Senate version,
Speaker 4: would have given the Commissioner of Education a considerable amount
Speaker 4: of authority when it relates to basically what they were
Speaker 4: trying to do is lay the hammer down toward districts
Speaker 4: who sue, you know, whenever they disagree about you know,
Speaker 4: the accountability system, and so you know, it would have
Speaker 4: honestly put them you know, you know, uh, they could
Speaker 4: have been you know, liable to have a conservator you
Speaker 4: know appointed, you know, you know in their district if
Speaker 4: they were to sue you know against you know, changes made,
Speaker 4: and so obviously it was a big part of it
Speaker 4: was the test itself, right, and I think it's actually interesting.
Speaker 4: Like that was the one thing that seemed to have
Speaker 4: like somewhat kind of universal agreement was that like we
Speaker 4: need to get rid of the star. But ultimately, once again,
Speaker 4: you know, it didn't happen. I'll be curious to see
Speaker 4: kind of it. Perhaps it sounds like they feel like
Speaker 4: they made some progress and momentum this session, just judging
Speaker 4: on I was in Salado last week at the House
Speaker 4: Built Too bill signing, so I'd be curious to see,
Speaker 4: like if this, if this is actually like if this
Speaker 4: was meaningful in the long term, where when they come
Speaker 4: back in what twenty seven, you know, they're picking up
Speaker 4: you know, at a you know, at a better place
Speaker 4: maybe than where they have in previous years.
Speaker 6: But but to your point, we'll see kind of what happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely well, we're gonna have to leave it there.
Speaker 1: But before we do, Chris Jaden, I'm hoping you guys
Speaker 1: each I mean, it was a huge legislative session for education.
Speaker 1: A lot of promises made, a lot of stuff changed.
Speaker 1: If you had to give the Texas legislature a grade
Speaker 1: on a scale of an A to F in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, Chris, I want from you you know
Speaker 1: on you know, promises upheld to teachers. Jaden, just generally,
Speaker 1: you know, how are we feeling about how education got
Speaker 1: made it through the session?
Speaker 3: Matthew thoughts on this before.
Speaker 2: They do this, great, just be careful Jaden.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just on and you know how how well did
Speaker 1: they uphold their promises from the beginning of session?
Speaker 3: Okay? I have two grades B plus on teacher pay.
Speaker 2: Great, do schools get B pluses? I think the eight
Speaker 2: through F doesn't do a plus or minus?
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, she can do it, get B this is
Speaker 1: the classroom.
Speaker 5: And then I think for funding of schools d I
Speaker 5: really would have liked to see some more of an
Speaker 5: increase in basic allotment to help fund basic operations for schools.
Speaker 1: Jade lest out if you're ever going to hear back
Speaker 1: from Chairman Buckley.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I don't know if I have a you know,
Speaker 4: particular grade, I mean the one. The one thing I
Speaker 4: will say is that I think, you know, what didn't
Speaker 4: happen in twenty twenty three may I think makes the perception.
Speaker 6: Of house built too.
Speaker 4: Uh. It's a little it's a little bit difficult to
Speaker 4: celebrate for some people out in the public. Head community
Speaker 4: just because again you know, since you know, the comprehensive
Speaker 4: funding bill did not pass in twenty twenty three. I
Speaker 4: mean we're seeing you know, school districts the size of
Speaker 4: Houston ISD that are considering you know, closures. You know,
Speaker 4: we're seeing budget deficits, you know, in droves. Obviously we
Speaker 4: talk about our special education funding gap, which I know
Speaker 4: lawmakers you know, made some significant changes this year that
Speaker 4: will kind of chip away at that, but there are
Speaker 4: just some really significant needs. And so you know, as
Speaker 4: a reporter, as I look at the as I look
Speaker 4: at the situation, you know, I think, you know, it's
Speaker 4: my job right to ask those questions of yes, this
Speaker 4: is a moment that obviously you're celebrating, but there was
Speaker 4: a lot also left on the table, you know, two
Speaker 4: years ago that are going to have lingering impacts, and
Speaker 4: then not even just two years ago. Prior to that,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, schools is base funding, you know,
Speaker 4: which gives them the flexibility to address operational costs, and
Speaker 4: you know, the things that are unique to their campuses
Speaker 4: hadn't been raised since twenty nineteen, and so there's a
Speaker 4: lot of work the legislature has to do. I think
Speaker 4: they they I'm sure they understand that. And while you
Speaker 4: know this is you know, they see this is kind
Speaker 4: of a historic, huge moment. I think, you know, as
Speaker 4: I've been out, you know, talking to districts and teachers,
Speaker 4: I think people are grateful for the money, grateful for
Speaker 4: the investments. But make no mistake, I don't think anybody's
Speaker 4: saying that the job is done and that you know,
Speaker 4: you know, this is it. I think, you know, Matthew
Speaker 4: pointed out earlier, I think the gap between you know,
Speaker 4: the money now and the twenty nineteen funding levels is
Speaker 4: somewhat roughly ten billion or something like that.
Speaker 6: So a lot of work to be done.
Speaker 3: This is why they hate journalists.
Speaker 1: We're like, good work, more to do though, yeah, always yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Uh, first to Jaden for joining us.
Speaker 1: Also to Chris Mahil Sick. And that is this week's
Speaker 1: episode of the Trim Cast.
Speaker 2: H