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Good morning, 

Yesterday, we asked readers if the amount of money spent on public education was justified by the academic results. Down below, you'll find the results of the survey and a selection of responses.

This is the Texas Minute for Christmas Eve—Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

NOTE: The Texas Minute will be taking the next two days off. We'll resume on Friday, Dec. 27.

Paxton Accuses NCAA of Misleading Consumers

• Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association for allowing biological males to compete against women. Emily Medeiros reports the lawsuit is being brought under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
      
• Paxton accuses the NCAA of “engaging in false, deceptive, and misleading practices by marketing sporting events as women’s competitions only to then provide consumers with mixed sex competitions where biological males compete against biological females.”
      
• The attorney general is seeking a permanent injunction that will prohibit the NCAA from allowing biological males to compete in women’s sporting events held in Texas or that involve Texas teams.
      
• “The NCAA is intentionally and knowingly jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women by deceptively changing women’s competitions into co-ed competitions,” said Paxton. “When people watch a women’s volleyball game, for example, they expect to see women playing against other women—not biological males pretending to be something they are not. Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports.” 

Abbott Unveils Billboard Campaign to Deter Illegal Immigration

• A billboard campaign is being launched by Gov. Greg Abbott, meant to dissuade illegal aliens from crossing into Texas. Valerie Muñoz reports they are being placed across Central America, Mexico, and parts of the Texas-Mexico border.
     
• The messages on billboards in Central America highlight the dangers women and children may face if sent across the border, including rape and kidnappings perpetrated by smugglers.
      
• Billboards in Mexico are in Spanish and display short warning messages such as, “Danger Ahead. If you cross into Texas illegally, you will regret it forever.”
       
• “[The billboards] give potential illegal immigrants thinking of leaving their home country – and those already on the way – a realistic picture of what will happen to them on their journey or if they illegally cross into Texas,” said Abbott.

RELATED NEWS

• One is the CBP One app, and the other is a special parole program for individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The CHNV parole program has allowed 30,000 nationals per month from the four target countries to fly to the U.S. and remain in the country for up to two years “for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

Statewide Ban Proposed on Government DEI Offices

• Government entities in Texas would be prohibited from having offices focused on the leftwing agenda known as "diversity, equity, and inclusion." Luca Cacciatore has the details.
      
• Identical legislation filed in both the House and Senate would prohibit official DEI offices and restrict the ability to contract such services out to a third party. A DEI office is defined as "an office, division, or other unit of a governmental entity" established to influence workforce composition with respect to race, sex, color, or ethnicity.
      
• The ban would apply to state government, as well as cities, counties, school districts, and open-enrollment charter schools.
      
• The 89th Session of the Texas Legislature begins at noon on January 14.

Parents Win: Canyon ISD Puts Bibles Back in School Libraries

• Bibles are back on library shelves in Canyon Independent School District after parents publicly challenged administrators’ decision to remove the Good Book and demanded it be returned. Erin Anderson has the story.
     
• Superintendent Darryl Flusche had told concerned parents that a Texas law passed last year (House Bill 900) designed to protect students from sexually explicit content required the district to take the Bible out of school libraries. Parents pushed back against Flusche’s fallacious claim.
       
• Late last week, Canyon ISD issued a statement announcing that the decision had been “reevaluated.”
     
• The district's reversal came on the heels of criticism from state lawmakers. State Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco), who authored the legislation, said that removing the Bible was “either rooted in ignorance of state law or an open hostility to the will of the people.”
       
• “The Bible is not educationally unsuitable, sexually explicit, or pervasively vulgar, making its removal legally and morally indefensible. At a time when students seek guidance, the Bible provides a vital moral framework.” – State Sen. Kevin Sparks (R-Midland)

Superintendent Latest Out Due to Allegations of Misconduct

• Mysterious misconduct allegations and mid-year moves are spurring a flurry of superintendent shake-ups within Texas school districts. The latest is in Lake Travis ISD, west of Austin, where the top administrator has been placed on paid administrative leave.
     
• During a special meeting last week, trustees voted unanimously to put Superintendent Paul Norton on leave effective immediately. Norton has held the superintendent position since 2020. Some residents have accused him and other administrators of financial misconduct and said they provided documentation in a grievance submitted to the district nearly a year ago.
       
• More than half a dozen school districts are dealing with mid-year shakeups and administrative controversies, including Fort Worth ISD and Grand Prairie ISD.
      
• In Waxahachie ISD, Associate Superintendent David Averett was named the interim leader of the district. Yet Averrett caused a stir on social media by describing local Republican Party members as “a group of bobble-headed knuckle draggers.”

Reminder

The Texas Minute will resume on Friday, Dec. 27, 2024.

Quote-Unquote

"The most urgent necessity is, not that the State should teach, but that it should allow education. All monopolies are detestable, but the worst of all is the monopoly of education."

– Frédéric Bastiat​

Y'All Answered

A recent review of public education spending has found that since 2011, funding per student has increased by 42 percent, while student proficiency in 8th-grade math has declined by 40 percent. One economist has calculated that Texans spend more than $50,000 per government school student, including bonded debt.

We asked readers if taxpayers are receiving a good return on the dollars spent for government-run education. Only 1.17 percent of readers described public education spending as a "good return" for taxpayers, while 98.83 percent said it was not.

Here's a sampling of responses people sent after participating in the survey...

• “As a retired Texas classroom teacher, I can attest to the fact that the biggest consumers of taxpayer money in most school districts are the very top heavy administrative positions, followed closely by the Athletic Department. It is beyond shameful that non-teaching positions—and there are a gracious plenty—get the biggest piece of the pie!” – Judy Henson
      

• “As a retired public education teacher, I am appalled at how public education has deviated from educating our children in the fundamentals to producing social ‘warriors.’ Additionally, respect, courtesy, and manners are lacking in the halls of our public schools.” – Hamila Hobson
      

• “Brick and mortar and indoctrination specialists are very expensive and never satisfied with the funding.” – Pat Wiggins 
      

• “The money received is not spent on education. It is spent on bloated, over-paid administration, athletic departments that outnumber faculty, and on the endless race for the biggest, fanciest football stadium. If we used all those dollars on actual education, we might get a better result.” – Markay Rister
      

• “Texans are certainly not getting the Education they are paying for.” – Chuck Clutter
      

• “The public education system in Texas is BROKEN. Texas children are in crisis, and we must make changes. It will not be easy but it is urgent! Our children are worth it!” – Bonnie Wallace
      

• “Paying Cadillac prices for clunker results—Texans deserve better than a system that burns through $50k per student yet delivers declining performance. It's not just wasteful; it's shameful!” – Sharla Miles
      

• “Today's Public Schools are ‘money pits’ without delivering any meaningful results! Across the world, US schools only rank number 34 out of 81 other school systems in foreign countries. Yeah! We are only slightly better than half!” – Mike Belsick
      

• “Having worked in school districts in both the finance side and as an Internal Auditor, I can tell you that there is definitely waste!” – Elizabeth Payne
      

• “While the average spending per student may be near $50K, I would argue that there are a few districts that skew that number significantly, specifically those who pass billion dollar bonds to build state of the art sports complexes.” – Michael Mercer
      

• “If we stopped funding these schools and perhaps had parents themselves pay a bit to educate their children, I think there'd be far more accountability.” – Cathy Blake
      

• “Considering our family has homeschooled four children for $2-$4k per year for the last 5 years, the $50k amount for public school per child is very, very atrocious. If I had 50k per child per year, I could train an Olympian or send them to an Ivy League college and graduate high school with three or four degrees. Pretty ridiculous.” – Rachel Golden
      

• “This is insanity. I encourage all parents who have their children in government schools to wage a mass exodus. Nothing will change until this happens—absolutely nothing.” – Cynthia Grubb
       

• “Texas should do away with Independent School Districts and go to a centralized education system where all schools are built, staffed, and funded equally by the state. The focus should return to teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic and moving extracurricular activities out of the school system.” – Ronny Keister
       

• “Nobody ever gets a good return on the dollars spent for government-run anything.” – David Vargha 
      

• “Though the degradation of public education spans decades, it hasn’t been by accident. I saw what was done in the 1970’s. The product of the changes made is as visible today as was predictable then.” – Jack Boteler

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