Since I moved to Midland in 1999, I have had the privilege of serving our community as a pastor, Midland mayor, and most importantly, as an engaged citizen. I have seen the ability of our communities to come together to solve tough challenges in service of making the Permian Basin the best home we can for our families and neighbors.
As we enter back to school season, it’s critical that we invest our collective energy, efforts, and resources to ensure that every child in the Permian Basin has access to a world-class education. We must ensure our young people have the skills, tools and opportunities to build a better future for themselves and our communities.
Only 42% of students in the Permian Basin are reading at grade level, and only 34% are performing math at grade level. Our largest school districts, including MISD and Ector County, have some of the largest opportunities for improvement.
There are some signs of progress. Projected accountability ratings from Midland Independent School District (MISD) show that 66% of campuses improved or maintained their ratings last year, and there was a 14% increase in students who attend A/B schools. However, despite these gains, more than 60% of schools in Midland are still underperforming with C-F ratings.
Supporting students starts by making sure we’re supporting educators, who are working every day to help our kids reach their full potential. That doesn’t just mean recruiting and retaining the best teachers, it means providing them with the training and resources they need to do their jobs. And we need to hold our school districts and school boards accountable to make sure every teacher in the Permian Basin has professional development that aligns with data-driven best practices pulled from schools across the country.
We also need to address the readiness of our youngest learners. Key literacy assessments show that the Permian Basin’s youngest students are less prepared for Kindergarten than their peers across the state, a disadvantage which can have long-lasting effects on their educational journey. At the same time, only 38% of students who are Pre-K eligible are enrolled. By investing in early childhood education and ensuring more children are enrolled in Pre-K programs, we can lay a foundation for their future success.
We need to consider every opportunity to improve outcomes for our children. Charter schools can provide specialized educational models to complement our traditional public school offerings. Cultivating these new educational options can strengthen our public education system because charter schools have the flexibility to implement early interventions, standards-based curricula, and intensive professional development for teachers. And, charter STEM and college-prep school models can prepare our youth for the future economy.
However, we cannot make these changes without leadership at the district level, an area in need of improvement. It is unacceptable that several Texas school districts recently sued the state to block school accountability data from the public. School administrators should not fight to prevent families from receiving information about the quality of their kids’ education.
It is time for us to raise the bar for Permian Basin schools. Whether you have a school-age child or not, stay informed about your school district’s academic performance. Attend school board meetings and look for opportunities to engage your elected officials about how they are working to improve schools in the Permian Basin. And, if you have kids, go to parent-teacher conferences, or just read with them--an easy and proven method to improve their educational performance.
I have never been more excited about the promise of our region—we have increasingly young and vibrant communities throughout the Permian Basin that are growing our economy and fueling our nation’s energy independence.
Together, we can create a brighter future for our young people. They deserve nothing less.