A new school year is right around the corner and teachers and administrators are already working around the clock to prepare their coursework, classrooms, and schools. For most educators, if not all, school is now a year round event with all of the seminars, workshops and continuing education courses that aim to improve their teaching skills and knowledge. We are very fortunate to have wonderful schools and teachers in Round Rock ISD today which is a direct result of the investments the school district and community has been making for years.

A good public school system is one of the most important factors for families and businesses when choosing a new place to call home. In fact, Round Rock’s schools are the top reason why I moved to Round Rock, so that my children would be well prepared for life after high school. I was impressed by the strong sense of ownership the area took in the schools. While I served on the Round Rock ISD School Board, we continued to work with the community to ensure that students from Pre-Kindergarten through graduation had the opportunities and resources necessary to succeed. We knew the importance of keeping class sizes manageable was critical for teachers to be effective in the classroom and that cutting edge tools would help our students to compete not just with other Texas students, but with students around the globe.

It is for those reasons that I joined with my colleagues on the school board to ask the citizens to pass a bond that would help create a new academy targeting the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Offering this challenging coursework is critical to Texas’ job and economic outlook because according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 2 million jobs will be created in these industries by 2014. I can think of no better place for these new, high-wage jobs to end up than Texas. I think the Texas Association of Business sums it up well on their website saying, “The ability of tomorrow’s workforce to succeed depends on the educational foundation we lay today. In Texas, we are experiencing a technology boom that is rapidly changing how we live and conduct our businesses. If young Texans enter the workforce without proper training, our position as business leaders will diminish and economic development will falter.” We cannot afford to backtrack on what we as a community have worked so hard to build. While Texas is facing a looming budget shortfall, we must not jeopardize our investment in education on the backs of our students. Instead, we need to continue to pave the way for future growth and success in our classrooms and beyond.

Our school districts are in a tough position, as many of them are also facing budget shortfalls and are having to consider dipping in to their critical fund balances to pay teacher salaries and monthly bills. This is a result of a decision by our state leaders years ago to implement the new margins tax which promised to continue funding schools while cutting property taxes for homeowners. The problem is it did neither: school funding dropped and property tax relief never came. Without the proper tools and resources in the classroom, we cannot expect our students to be prepared to contend for jobs in this global economy.

The Round Rock Independent School District did not become nationally recognized by Forbes magazine overnight, it took a lot of hard work and dedication by thousands of people and businesses throughout the community. However, if we take our eye off the ball it could all be in the past. When I moved to Round Rock, I immediately noticed the heightened parental involvement in schools, strong relationships with the business communities and overwhelming support on education bonds. I believe that is still true today and I look forward to another successful school year that helps our students’ dreams get bigger and their opportunities better.