HuffPo: Texas students and teachers went back to school Monday, 10 days after the man they cite as the cause of their schools' funding-related woes announced he was running for president.
According to algebra and physics teacher Patrick Frasier, Gov. Rick Perry's (R) school budget cuts led to massive back-to-school confusion. In fact, until recently, Frasier wasn't even sure he could return to class this school year.
"All first-year teachers in my district were cut no matter what," he said. The bulk of them were hired back, but not before they polished their resumes. "We had no idea until the very end what was really going to happen," Frasier said.
Frasier said he switched from majoring in engineering to teaching at the University of Texas because he felt education was important work. He now teaches in San Antonio's Northside Independent School District.
He went back to class Monday and immediately noticed changes. Overall, he had 30 more students spread between his six classes than he had the year before.
"There's been a lot of talk about how this is the new normal," he said, referring to Perry's statements on school funding. "We're told we should get used to constant budget cuts."
Education observers worry that the massive funding cuts coming out of the most recent legislative session leave Texas schools at the top of a steep precipice. Under Perry's veto threat, the legislature chose not to pay for student enrollment growth, instead underfunding education by $5.5 billion -- despite access to the $9.4 billion in the state's reserve fund.