This morning, Crowley ISD teachers, students, administrators and board members met with our state senator and representatives as we gear up for the goth legislative session. I hope we made them realize the importance of fully funding public schools in Texas.

To this end, I think that it is extremely important for all Texans to fully understand how their public schools are doing. The following are ten good reasons to celebrate Texas public schools:

1. Students are taking and passing-more AP courses and exams than ever before.

According to the College Board, the number of Texas students taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes has increased 61 percent since 2001, and the number of students earning college credit for those courses also is on the rise.

2. Texas is a role model for accountability.

A recently-released survey by The Princeton Review, 'Testing the Testers in 2003: An Annual Ranking of State Accountability Systems," ranks Texas third nationally. The survey's findings are based on test quality and how the state used test results to shape and improve its policies on education.

3. Texas high schools implement rigorous graduation requirements.

Texas was one of the first two states in the nation to make a college-ready curriculum the standard high school curriculum for all students, beginning with students who were freshmen in the 2004-05 school year, according to Closing the Expectations Gap 2006, a report by Achieve, Inc.

4. Texas leads the nation in improving student performance.

Education Week selected Texas as one of two states that has substantially improved student performance over the past decade, citing our state's commitment to standards-based education as a key component to our success. Students are taking and passing more AP courses and exams than ever before.

5. Texas is a leader in pre-kindergarten education.

The National Institute for Early Education Research ranked Texas third among the states in 2005 for access that 4-year-olds have to state pre-kindergarten programs. The state ranked ninth in the nation for 3-year-olds' access.

6. Texas achieves extraordinary results at a modest cost.

According to the Annual Survey of Local Government Finances by the U.S. Census Bureau, current spending for public education in Texas in 2003-04 (the most recent data available) is $7,104 per pupil. That ranks Texas 35th among the states, spending $1,000 per pupil less than the national average.

7. Texas public school parents believe in our schools.

According to the 2006 Texas Statewide Survey on Education (conducted by Harstad Strategic Research, Inc. and the Tarrance Group), 85 percent of Texas public school parents, the people who know schools best, grade their children's school an A or B, and 88 percent of these same parents rated their childrens teachers from Good to Excellent.

8. Texas students top national average.

Texas students in grades 3-8 who took the 2005 Iowa Test of Basic Skills math exam scored above the national average. Students in grades 3-5 scored above the national average on the reading exam. "Increases in average test scores over a 10-year period are particularly evident in reading at grade 3 and in mathematics at grades 3 and 5," according to the 2006 Texas National Comparative Data Study

9. Texas Schools are 93 percent efficient.

A 2004 study by Texas A&M University-commissioned by the Joint Select Committee on Public School Finance-found, using a cost function analysis of school costs and results, that our public schools are at least 93 percent efficient with their funds (a score most businesses would envy)

10. Texas ranks first and second in NAEP math averages.

On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Texas White students ranked first in the nation in fourth-grade mathematics, and African American and Hispanic fourth-grade students ranked second. Texas students in all major ethnic groups (African American, Hispanic, and White) surpassed students in the same group across the country.