Ex-comptroller Combs turns to education

Campaign war chest has millions remaining, making possible several apps and initiatives

AUSTIN — Former Texas comptroller Susan Combs used money from her political war chest to build a tool that parents and policy makers can use to compare schools.

The Texas Smart Schools initiative uses a five-star scale to judge schools and districts based on academic progress and spending levels. The calculator guards against sporadic changes at a school by employing a three-year average to stabilize the results.

“Public education is one of the largest items in the state budget, so Texans need to know where their dollars are getting the highest return in terms of student performance,” said Combs, a selfstyled transparency advocate.

The website builds on a past initiative known as “FAST Tracker,” developed by Combs’ office while she served as state comptroller. The original tool sought to identify the state’s most efficient schools and districts, while the new project includes more nuanced measures of academic progress, eyeing student growth rather than raw performance

Texas Smart Schools is administered by Texas A&M University, offers educators a window into the schools of their top-performing peers, and suggests best practices that teachers can use in their own schools, officials with the project say.

“TXSmartSchools.org uses recognized statistical methods to create better, more apples-toapples comparison measures for spending and academic growth. We see this an essential tool for educators who are seeking to learn from the best practices of similarly situated schools,” said Lori Taylor, director of the university’s Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics and Public Policy.

The rankings take into account student demographics, including schools and districts with high numbers of students who take more resources to teach, such as English-language learners and students who are poor, move often or have special needs. The tool allows users to compare peer schools grouped by these measures along with overall student enrollment and funding.

“It’s important if you’re a parent and you’re trying to bring about change to be able to say, ‘No, actually it could be better. See over here, they are able to accomplish more than we are. We want to be

“Public education is one of the largest items in the state budget, so Texans need to know where their dollars are getting the highest return in terms of student performance.” Susan Combs, former Texas comptroller

more like them,’ ” Taylor said.

Combs, who founded Texans for Positive Economic Policy to support the program, spent $190,000 out of her leftover campaign funds to finance the project so far, she said. The balance in her Friends of Susan Combs campaign account hovers around $4.5 million.

Despite the hefty stockpile of funds, Combs said she is not interested in laying the foundation for another bid for office.

“Been there, done it. Did what I wanted to do and now I am free to roam about and speak my mind unabashedly,” she said.

The project is one of several the former comptroller has taken up since leaving state government in early 2015. She also is in the midst of creating a social network called Herdacity that seeks to create a community of women from 20 to 80 to explore and share experiences about their careers and motherhood. That venture, which she also is financing through her campaign account, will cost around $600,000, she said.

“I think it’s going to be pretty doggone neat and I’m funding that puppy,” she said.