State Comptroller Bob Bullock of Texas says that a preliminary estimate of the first-year cost of implementing the reforms proposed by the Texas Select Committee on Public Education was misleading because it did not take into account escalating costs over a five-year period. (See Education Week, March 28, 1984.)
Instead of costing the taxpayers $2.4 million in the first year, the plan will cost $19 billion over five years, according to John Moore, director of tax information.
The most expensive reform recommended by the committee, which was appointed last year by Gov. Mark White and chaired by the industrialist H. Ross Perot, was reducing the size of elementary-school classes. The cost of that proposal, according to Mr. Moore, would be $6 billion over five years. The cost of implementing a career-ladder plan for teachers would be $5.4 billion over five years.
