The Teacher Retirement System Of Texas

In the state the lower class Texan is currently at right now, the state of Texas provides minimal funding to schools in low income areas. Texas currently spends an average of $8,998 per student; the national average for education is $11,674 ranking Texas 46th in educational spending among the 50 states and the District of Columbia (Stutz, 2014). However, despite the continuous debates on television and radio, the topic of funding education in Texas has been a problem since 1973 with little to no improvements as prior to the legislative session of 2013, Texas ranked 49th in educational spending among the states (Stutz, 2014). Furthermore, despite what ex-governor Rick Perry might state, Texas’ education is not a “…national leader in education reform and student achievement.” (Perry, 2011) It is a real problem the American people need to address.

In taking a brief look at the Oklahoma education system, one need not look far before issues of significant underfunding and understaffing come directly into view. Many different proposals regarding what Oklahoma needs to do to resolve this problem have been suggested in the past, but very few of these proposals outline an answer regarding how these fixes will be implemented. How Oklahoma's educational system can increase the effectiveness of its limited funding is something that can be addressed with simple cost-effective steps and strategies that have proven their effectiveness in other states. Additionally, the issue of understaffing can be looked at from a fresh perspective in order to understand what the Oklahoma education system can do to bring in new teachers and keep these teachers. Finally, in joining with national-level movements and interest groups such as the National Education Association which can help with budgetary issues and Teach for America which can help to bring in new, trained and enthusiastic teachers into areas of Oklahoma that have seen poor performance from students in the past.

The education conflict in Texas is a major factor of chaos. There is kids without college tuitions. The 2011 Texas Legislature chopped more than a billion dollars from higher education, dashing the dream of college for many Texas students. While scholarships disappeared, many campuses were forced to raise tuition costs, a deadly combination for families without the resources to make up the difference.

High quality education is a must in U.S. since it means that today's youth will be prepared with the knowledge needed to tackle our nations issues. When looking from state to state, you will notice how various states differ in how well they are able to educate students. Maryland was ranked number one in the nation by having a high grade point average amongst students and an equally high graduation rate. Texas on the other hand had the worst grade point average and graduation rate. The reason for this is the amount of funding that goes into public schools. Maryland puts a lot of funding into their public schools which helps raise grade point averages. Meanwhile Texas puts little funding into public schools and

11.13). When it comes to addressing the performance issues facing Texas schools, issues facing the poor, the reality of a water shortage, and problems relating to transportation, there is great reluctance among Texas Republicans when it comes to expanding the government’s role in improvements, as well as in raising the necessary funds through taxation. The Texas Politics Project (2017) explains that when it comes to the current state of Texas schools, supporters of a more fiscally conservative approach feel that such an approach “at least achieves average results with below-average spending” (p. 11.9). The current conservatism that defines the overall political approach in Texas may not be adequate in the long term. As we are seeing, changing demographics are substantially impacting the state of Texas and will likely lead to necessary changes throughout the state.

In order to implement this policy, responsibility will be bestowed upon the “Foundation School Program” and the Texas state Legislature (Grusendorf, 2015, pg.2). These two groups play the most vital role in changing and implementing the new “state formulas” (Grusendorf, 2015, pg.3). Both will work together in creating and agreeing to the new state formulas. We will review the formulas every year and decide if funding is truly being distributed with equity. Only if they are not then will both organizations have to re-write the formulas to improve upon them.

In the twentieth century, the Texas legislature made some of the most important decisions in education law. The most powerful changes that came to education in 20th century Texas were the issues of bilingual education and school funding. Most of these policy changes and the original policies still have lasting effects on the state’s education.

Site Based Decision Making, more commonly referred to as SBDM, was mandated by the state of Texas for implementation in 1992. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) set the definition of SBDM in 2010 as:

The Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan (OTPP) is a defined contribution plan that was created in 1917 to provide and administer a pension plan for Ontario school teachers.  Sponsored by the Ontario Government and the Ontario Teacher’s Federation, the plan currently supports 343,000 teachers, former teachers and pensioners. The recent government decision to eliminate the 30% constraint on foreign investments and the increased volatility in the currency market has prompted the OTPP Investment Committee to address the following:

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) requires all public school districts and charter schools to submit a technology plan that aligns with the district’s improvement plan and the both Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 (LRPT). Each year teachers and campuses evaluate their progress in meeting the goals of the LRPT by completing the Texas School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart. The goal is for all STaR chart objectives to be at target level.

The role legislators and courts have played in the Texas Education System is sadly poor. Citizens have been concerned about the education of our young people for many years, “failure to establish any public system of education, although possession of almost boundless resources,” Public education has gotten a myriad of policy changes, amendments, revisions, and laws altered to meet the needs of Texas students. How has the Texas education system replaced? Public education in the Texas has played a major role in shaping society. The schools and parents in low income areas have often assumed the position of social fears. This relationship of education to the views of Texas society is prevalent throughout the low income areas, thoughtful, and complex. One principle that Texas have had problems coping with, it is the concept of equality. Equality of opportunity means that no one should be denied equal access to education. Some of the most serious attempts to correct the inherit conflicts, have occurred in the schools. Judicial mandates are some of the notable efforts employed in recent years to equalize educational resources, practices, and opportunities. The part of individuals and agencies in the society are inadequate and incapable of effecting the kind of change that is so often articulated and desperately needed. A pro-active stance in defining, clarifying, and applying the concept of equality. The Constitution was very clear concerning equality. Our nation’s success as a

The Teachers Retirement System of Texas (TRS) is Texas’ general pensions fund for active and retired public teachers. Currently, the TRS-Care plan, which insures health care for state retired teachers, is facing a $768 billion dollar shortfall. For the last few years TRS-Care has been struggling to remain sound as factors such as soaring health care prices, longer life spans, and more teachers retiring have put a strain to the system. More than 233,000 public retired teachers and their dependents participate in the plans within TRS-Care. The $768 million shortfall losing the funds that help pay for lifesaving health care procedures and drugs will cause the retirees and dependents put severe hardship to the retiree and dependents. Teacher’s general gross salary is already close to the poverty line and once they retire their socioeconomic situation does not change for the better, instead they cling to the funds they paid to when they were active for their pension and healthcare.

Funding in Texas is an economic issue that has a variety of applications for the state government. There are many pros and cons about Texas state government, how it is being funded, and how it is funding other government ran programs. The influences that funding has is an economic issue that affects Texas’ society as a whole through taxes, budgeting, and in policies through state, or local government.

In the United States of America, Texas is one of many states that has been solidly of a republican and conservative ideology throughout the history and time it has been a state whether it be from Texas during reconstruction with it conservative Democrats to the switched conservative Republicans of today. With that being said, Texas compared to other states, spends far less money on governmental programs and agencies local and statewide whether that be from the Health and Human Services Commission to the Department of Housing and Community affairs. Still, the public perception is that the government has been increasingly wasting money on some of these various state and local agencies, so the Texas legislature has passed the Sunset Act

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System –from this point on will be addressed as CalSTRS– is one of Government Operations Agency programs of the State of California. It was established in 1913 with the objective to provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits for full-time and part-time teachers, administrators and their families/beneficiaries in the State of California. This means to provide a proper income intended for teachers and school administrators from pre-K to community college with benefits according to their period of services respectively and also to sustain their members’ trust