Equity Center Radio

You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

Today, our host, the Equity Center’s Director, Wayne Pierce, interviews Omar Garcia, the Director of Statewide School Finance for the Education Service Center, Region XIII

Omar Garcia is an icon in Texas public school finance, having spent much of his adult life working in the school finance division at the Texas Education Agency, and later in the statewide school finance arena at Education Service Center, Region XIII. He graduated from Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M Kingsville) and then went on to earn his MBA from that school.

While employed at the Texas Education Agency (where he worked for over 28 years) in the Division of State Funding he became an expert on the use of technology to audit and estimate state aide and school district’s anticipated overall revenues, a necessary component to producing schools’ annual budgets. This expertise lead Omar, about 20 years ago, to develop one of the first widely used electronic templates to help public school personnel estimate state aid for use in school budgets. These early, simple templates were developed using an early version of Lotus 1─2─3 software. Over the years, as public school funding became increasingly complex, “Omar’s Template” increased in sophistication to meet the challenge.

Today, this trusted tool is used by every Texas district regardless of wealth or size. Currently, it is designed to produce a ballpark estimate of a district’s total revenue (excluding facilities) for school years 2008-09 through 2012-13. Once the data are loaded, the user can make any necessary changes to the data for any year and produce reliable, updated forecast for school district funding purposes.

In January 2002 Omar retired as the Senior Director of the Division of State Funding for TEA and became employed at Region XIII Education Service Center. He started with Region XIII in February 2002, as the Director of Statewide School Finance–where he continues to update and improve his template, and now develops numerous others too.

Today’s interview focuses on how he came to develop the template and how it is used by school districts throughout the State of Texas.

You can learn more about Region XIII and the numerous finance templates it provides for school districts by logging into their web pages at Region XIII | Introduction to Statewide School Finance The Service Center (and Omar) may be reached at Education Service Center Region XIII, 5701 Springdale Road Austin, TX 78723, 512.919.5313. Omar’s direct phone number is 512.919.5349 and his email address is Omar Garcia at ESC13 .

Omar Garcia

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To find out more about the Equity Center and the important work that it performs for the school children of Texas and its member school districts, please click on www.equitycenter.org.
 

Today’s broadcast of Equity Center Radio features Part 2, the conclusion of an interview began on February 12, 2010, with Dr. Albert Cortez, the Director of Policy for the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). You can find a link to his web pages, read a short biography and/or hear Part 1 of this two-part series by clicking here: Dr. Albert Cortez Part 1.

- Hear Part 2 of Dr. Albert Cortez –

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Our sponsor of the week is JR3 Education Assoc., WebSmart & iCap.
Call them at 254.759.1902 or go to their web pages to discover more about this gold sponsor at
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You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

Today, the Equity Center’s Associate Director, Ray Freeman, interviews Dr. Albert Cortez, the Director of Policy for the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). Dr. Cortez is one of the leading experts on minority education policy in the State of Texas and, indeed, in the nation. He has helped in the development of school finance legislation, and works with numerous organizations and schools in the areas of dropout prevention and immigrant education. He also has conducted pioneer research in assessment and English Language Learners education. He holds a master’s degree in cultural foundations of education and a doctorate in cultural foundations of education with a support area in educational administration.

IDRA was founded by another well known expert in the field of multi-cultural education, Dr. José Cárdenas. The organization sees as it purpose the defense of all children, no matter their background, and, in particular, their right to an excellent and equitable education. Children who are minority, poor, or non-English speaking often have no voice. Few organizations will take a stand for them; for 30 years IDRA has.

IDRA is a dynamic, independent organization with vision, commitment, principles, and courage. The group is dedicated to the improvement of educational opportunities for children. Because the issues IDRA has framed and the solutions that have been created, by IDRA and its partners, like the Equity Center, are all are so crucial to the future well-being of the State of Texas, both economically and socially, Dr. Cortez comments are a must hear for any caring Texan.

We wish to thank Dr. Cortez for taking his time to talk to our listeners and hope you will return to Equity Center Radio next week at the same time to hear the conclusion of his interview

Dr. Albert Cortez Podcast Part 1.

You can subscribe to our weekly show by pressing the RSS button here or hear the broadcast by pushing the button below:

Hear the February 12, 2010 Equity Center Radio Podcast by Clicking Here
To find out more about the Equity Center and the important work that it performs for the school children of Texas and its member school districts, please click on www.equitycenter.org.
 

Today’s broadcast of Equity Center Radio features Part 2, the conclusion, of remarks made on January 24, 2010 by State Senator Steven Ogden, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to the 10th Annual Equity Center School Finance and Legislative Workshop. You can find a link to his web pages, read a short biography and/or hear Part 1 of this two-part series by clicking here: Senator Steve Ogden Part 1.

Senator Steve Ogden Podcast Part 2.

You can subscribe to our weekly show by pressing the RSS button here or hear the broadcast by pushing the play button:

For Official State Business, you may contact Senator Ogden through his
Senate Office:
Texas State Capitol, Room GE.4
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, TX 78711-2068
Phone: 512.463.0105
Fax: 512.463.5713
Toll-free: 1.888.694.2609

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