Comments on: Why does it take a law….

By: texased

texased — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 16:02:43 +0000

I think Pam does a good job of bringing up the issues that point out that money is an issue here. It’s a good idea but… The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that Eliot Shapleigh is creating another unfunded mandate. It will be interesting to see what the bill’s fiscal analysis shows.

By: Pam

Pam — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 15:39:19 +0000

A lot of the information in the list is already available on the website. What is not available – there or anywhere else – is a one stop source for salary information and job openings. Since each school district is an independent employer, that information doesn’t currently have to be delivered to the state.

I think it would be wonderful to have the information easily available in one spot, but remember that each district will have to have an employee assigned to collect the information, compile it in a form usable by TEA, and send it to the them. Then there will have to be a person assigned to update it as applicable. On the TEA side, there will have to be a person, and probably several people since there are nearly 1000 school district in the state who will all be sending information, to compile and post the info.

This is one of those great ideas that needs to be thought through. Is the benefit worth the money it will cost to do it? Maybe, maybe not.

By: texased

texased — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:39:04 +0000

I think it’s a good idea too. I’m just trying to figure out why it’s requiring a law to implement it. Did someone at TEA think it’s not a good idea? Or maybe they weren’t willing to divert funds from some other project to pay for it. A decent system for posting job openings information would be database driven and would require a significant amount of money to implement and maintain. However, the bill doesn’t mention anything about providing money for the program. Maybe TEA has a better use for the money. I don’t know.

So we can either assume that TEA doesn’t want to implement it because of a funding issue or that TEA doesn’t want to implement it because they don’t think it’s a good idea. If it’s the latter, there’s a problem with the quality and professionalism of the people at TEA involved (if it’s generally accepted this is a good idea.) That’s a personnel issue, not a reason to legislate. If it’s a funding issue, the bill doesn’t do anything about it and again questions the professional judgement of the people at TEA (they think other priorities are more important.)

By: through your stereo

through your stereo — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 02:54:50 +0000

sounds like a reasonable bill to me – putting all this information in one place for teachers to access with ease. what’s so wrong with that?

and why do you assume that the legislator couldn’t convince the sboe or tea to do so? do you think they’ll do it if he just calls them up on the phone?