Petition to the Texas Education Agency for School Funding

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To: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

From: Parents of Eanes Independent School District (EISD)

Subject: Give Our Money Back to Our Schools!

Why did we start this petition:

To secure school funding which may be held back by the TEA (Texas Education Agency) due to the following new rules.

“Guidelines for Attendance and Funding: When schools are open and operating normally, students are scheduled to attend school on campus each day. Students generate funding when attendance is recorded for students who are physically present at school. On-campus instruction must be offered for all students who want to attend on campus in order to be eligible to receive funding for remote instruction.”

Current problems:

School districts are forcing all teachers to teach in person in order to avoid losing their funding from the TEA. In response to the new guidelines, Eanes school district changed the previously communicated plan of gradually phasing in to 100% in-person attendance and instruction.

Guidelines from the TEA push schools to accommodate more students than what social distancing protocols would allow for and greatly increases classroom density and thus the risk of COVID-19 infections.

Meanwhile, many teachers are facing the dilemma of risking their health and stepping into a risky environment or the perspectives of losing their jobs.

Here is what we think:

We are not back to normal yet; as a matter of fact there are prevalent COVID-19 cases in our community, especially with the increased infections among students who went back to school physically. Even with limited in-person attendances, high school students are getting infected at a rate three times higher than that of the general public. During the most recent weeks, the positivity rate was 14% for students between 10 and 19 years old, according to Austin Public Health.

Education funds are taxpayers’ money and should be used for educational purposes; regardless of the mode of attendance, in person or remote.

In-person classes should only be used to accommodate students who absolutely need them. Because of the need of social distancing, in person class sizes should be reduced accordingly and significantly.

Teachers should be allowed to choose if they want to teach in person or remotely.

Give our money back to our schools so we can keep our teachers!

Who should sign this petition:

Parents who absolutely need to send their children to school: It would be better for your child to be with a minimal number of students so that they can stay in school while complying with social distancing protocols.

Parents who prefer their children to take remote classes: established and experienced teachers are necessary for effective online learning. Remote teaching can still keep students engaged in learning while freeing parents from supervising them. Recent wave of teachers resigning due to health concerns is endangering our kids’ education. Remote teaching may not be ideal, but it retains experienced teachers.

Parents who don’t have a strong preference: Whether your child goes to school virtually or in person, that school is better off with healthy teachers. Nobody wants to be part of a dysfunctional school system where many staff and students have contracted COVID-19.

With our schools divided between online and remote, it seems that the balance could shatter at any moment. Our school simply does not have the resources to provide for everyone who wants to be in person under the protocol for social distancing. We cannot afford to break this balance, so please, don’t tip the scale towards in-person learning and teaching.

Please do your part by keeping your children remotely schooled and giving the in-person class opportunities to the families that absolutely need them.

What are the consequences of using funding reduction to force all teachers back to in-person teaching?

This policy accelerates loss of valuable teachers and staff. Teachers with preexisting medical conditions or with high-risk family members have legitimate reasons and rights to protect themselves and their family members. Sacrificing their or their families’ health or life should never be a part of their jobs.

No social distancing practiced. This policy endangers the health and lives of the teachers, the students, and the whole community.

It takes teachers away from families who prefer in-person or remote learning.

Rapid increase of infected cases due to the higher density of people onsite.

Statewide requirements over such a vast state leave local districts with no flexibility. The state administration has used the variability of local situations to support various pro-reopening policy actions or inactions.

It sets a dangerous example of ignoring science. The TEA has never demonstrated how a school district could carry out this policy in a scientifically safe and sound way.

It exacerbates division and erodes unity in school communities. It pits parents against teachers, teachers against school administration, parents against parents, neighbors against neighbors, and so on.

It has long-term negative effects on teaching as a profession.

It shows profound indifference toward the health and wellbeing of teachers and staff.

What comes first for our school district?

Eanes Kids First, Eanes Teachers First, Eanes Parents First, Eanes Safety First, Eanes Future First …first for what? First to get the freedom of going back to school? First to sit in classrooms and not comply with the social distancing protocols? First to get in touch with asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2? First to get infected with this pandemic virus? First to pass the coronavirus around on campuses?

To us, students and parents, the safety of our community: our children, teachers, family, and friends comes first!

Experts say that we should expect a vaccine within a year. It only takes a bit of patience to wait for it and to operate remotely and safely in the meantime.

What’s the rush to reopen school at a full scale? Rush to get infected? Rush to spread the virus around?

What are the fundamental duties for teachers and all supporting staff on campuses?

Teachers are not babysitters. Every teacher is a precious intellectual asset to our school district and deserves to be treated as such and should feel safe on campus. A campus without qualified teachers is not much better than a daycare center.

Our teachers and supporting staff are the backbone of our education system. They are the ones who will help shape the future of our children. We should not risk our own foundation to seek temporary gains.

Eanes ISD has been one of the top school districts in the state of Texas because of our great teachers and administrators. Please put their wellbeing on the top of the priority list.

Should teachers and students not be afraid of going back to school just because the death rate from COVID-19 is less than x%?

How can you guarantee that a specific staff member or student is not among the “less than x% rate” group? x% may be a small number in statistics, but that’s not exactly reassuring for those who get infected. Although there have been reported mild or asymptomatic cases, it is well known that comorbidities, immunocompromised conditions, and age are associated with higher risk of developing moderate and severe symptoms. Many school staff and their family members have risk factors. So if severe complications or death happen to teachers or their family, it will significantly affect our whole community. We have already lost too much during this pandemic; please do not bring a preventable tragedy to the teachers, students, and parents.

Appropriate PPE, good hand hygiene, and social distancing are shown to reduce the spread of the virus, but it cannot eliminate SARS-CoV-2 infection. These are precautions, not preventions. Up to now, there hasn’t been an effective method to prevent or treat COVID-19, and medical scientists are still in the process of creating a cure for this virus. As we are still in stage 3 of the Austin Public Health COVID-19 risk-based guidelines, with medical recommendations to behave as if we were in stage 4, any gathering greater than 10 people should be avoided. Our community should continue to be vigilant and help every teacher, student and parent in staying safe.

Please, be considerate and compassionate to our children, teachers, campus support staff and parents.

Illustrations:

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Stage 0: In person mode, before pandemic.

Stage 1: Remote mode, with full staff. Schools in 100% remote teaching and learning mode.

Stage 2: Hybrid mode. Only a portion of the students and teachers will be inside the campus buildings.

Stage 3: In-person mode, as required. Every teacher and staff will be on campus, and every student who wishes for in-person teaching will be on campus.

Stage 4: Malfunctioned remote mode, with significantly fewer staff. All schools go back to remote modes with significant reduction in teaching workforce due to sickness or quarantine related to close contact with someone who has contracted COVID-19. Down to 30-40% teaching quality or less.

Stage 5: Malfunctioned normal mode, when pandemic is over. Schools will be burdened with a significantly reduced number of healthy teaching and supporting staff, and fewer healthy students.

Stage 6: Normal mode, when pandemic is over. Everybody is on site, schools running smoothly with full capacity of healthy teaching and supporting staff, and healthy students.

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Questions:

How long can stage 2 (hybrid) and stage 3 (in-person) sustain if the transition is too fast?

If we eventually end up in stage 4 (malfunctioned remote mode), what is the point of going through stage 2 (hybrid) and stage 3 (in-person) and end up with a stage much worse than stage 1 (remote)?

What can we do to avoid moving into stage 4 and stage 5 (malfunctioned normal mode)?

Shouldn’t we be very concerned about being stuck at stage 5? What if we are left with a dysfunctional school district after the terrible pandemic is over?

What does it take to safely and effectively transition into stage 6 (after pandemic normal mode)?

Proposals:

TEA:

Remove the new rule recommending “on-campus instruction must be offered for all grades served by the campus every day for every student whose parents want them to access on-campus instruction”

Grant flexibility to realistically minimize classroom ratios and provide social distancing;

Provide additional funding to supplement costs incurred by districts to provide safe and effective learning.

EISD:

Extend stage 2 - the hybrid mode, slow down the “bringing students back to in-person teaching” process. Phase in, observe and adjust.

Give teachers an option of teaching remotely from home or teaching in-person in school buildings. Teachers with pre-existing medical conditions, or with special family needs, should be granted permission to continue remote teaching.

Increase the class size for remote teaching through zoom. This may cause students’ schedule change -- not sure how much effort it will involve.

Hire babysitters to stay in classrooms watching students, while allowing teachers to teach from home. On campus classes don’t have to be in-person, they just provide places for students who can’t learn from home during day time.

Students take remote classes from campus classrooms with assigned seats in designated classrooms (6 feet apart) while teachers teach remotely. This can minimize contact.

Families: Think twice before sending kids back to school. Leave the opportunities to the families who absolutely need it.

Quote from a WHS teacher: “Remote teaching / learning is not ideal, but neither is the pandemic. I recognize that some parents have to send their kids to the building - those who have to go out to work or those with kids with special needs. But, is that really 60% of the kids? Eanes is well prepared with technology, so why this rush to risk lives?”

Each school district should have the right to determine which students absolutely need in-person instruction. The TEA should not interfere with it. The statement “on-campus instruction must be offered for all students who want to attend on campus” is an irresponsible and dangerous statement in the midst of a pandemic!

Give our money back to our schools so we can keep our teachers!

Parents Who Started This Petition

Petition to the Texas Education Agency for School Funding

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