AUSTIN, Texas -- By the year 2030, lawmakers want to see 60 percent of all Texas third-graders reading at grade level.
- Goal is 60 percent of third-graders reading at grade level
- Currently only 40 percent meet that standard
- Proposal would pay schools for good student performance
Currently, only about 40 percent of students meet that standard.
"As a fourth grade teacher, it's really difficult to close gaps when you get to the fourth grade. Those gaps should be closed and addressed," said San Antonio ISD fourth grade teacher Sarah Perez.
Perez said she's in favor of incentivizing good reading test scores. An outcomes-based proposal is being pushed by the commission created to study school finance reforms. It would essentially pay schools for good student performance. The money would come from a designated pot of $1.4 billion and it would be reserved for Kindergarten through third-grade.
"If there's $700 million for the taking, I think people are going to try and find a way to get it," said Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston.
Rep. Huberty's statement is exactly what concerns Doug Williams, the Superintendent of Sunnyvale ISD in Dallas County.
"Superintendents will put pressure on teachers who will put pressure on students," said Williams.
He worries that an outcomes-based system will put the burden of better funding schools on the kids.
"The A-F system is bad enough when it comes to making our third grade students feel like they are having to perform on a test, or somehow their school is going to suffer," said Williams.
Williams testified at a House public education committee hearing Tuesday and potentially changed the mind of Democratic lawmaker Mary González.
"I don't think I have conceptualized how tying school finance to testing or outcomes-based measures could create a second accountability system on top of the A-F system we already have, so thank you," said Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-Clint.
Williams' concern reinforced to the panel that there is more discussion to be had when it comes to young readers and the teachers that are tasked with helping them to pick up the slack.