John Folks says education is the only life he's ever known. It's a life he knows inside and out and from top to bottom. The Oklahoma native and superintendent of San Antonio's Northside ISD has taught high school and served as superintendent of schools in Oklahoma and Texas. He also has served as the Oklahoma state superintendent of public instruction and as the dean of education at a state university.
Centered in small Oklahoma towns, life in the Folks household revolved around school. His mother taught junior high english, and his dad, who eventually became a school superintendent, taught high school math. Folks had both his parents for teachers, and he says his dad was one of the reasons he majored in math.
He tells the story of how he'd get in trouble in his dad's sophomore geometry class when the girl who sat in front of him kept turning around to talk to him. At home, the young Folks tried to explain that it was the girl's fault and not his, but his dad, a strict disciplinarian, didn't buy it.
"I didn't care much for that girl who got me in trouble," he says. However, two years later, following his dad's advice, Folks asked that same girl for a date, and the rest is history. Folks and Wyvonna will celebrate their 37th wedding anniversary this summer.
After graduating from high school, the couple attended Oklahoma Christian College for a year and then transferred to Oklahoma University, where they both received teaching degrees - he in mathematics education; she in elementary education. Folks' first job was teaching math at Port Arthur's Thomas Jefferson High School.
"Thomas Jefferson High School is one of the best high schools I've ever seen," says Folks, "and I'll always have a place in my heart for that school."
When Folks and his wife decided to move back to Oklahoma, he taught math for three years and then attended graduate school at the University of Oklahoma, where he received his master's and doctorate degrees. (He bleeds Sooner Red.) For his dissertation, Folks completed a study that compared different perceptions of principals, teachers, superintendents and board members relevant to teacher testing/teacher induction programs and staff development. His dissertation has been used in other studies and reviews.
His next job was with the Oklahoma Department of Education. After several years, he became the assistant to the state superintendent, a job that required him to focus on legislative issues and law implementation. When the elected superintendent left in the middle of his term, the govemor of Oklahoma appointed Folks as the state superintendent of public instruction. At the end of that term, Folks ran for the office and won.
Although he really enjoyed being state superintendent, Folks says he decided not to run for a second term.
"I wanted to be with my kids, to see them play ball and be more involved in their school activities," he says. "And, I didn't enjoy the politics of it all."
That's when he became a school superintendent in Midwest City-Del City, Okla., where he served for six years. While there, Folks' older son, Mark, played on the state championship football team, and his younger son, Michael, played on the state championship golf team. Their dad made all the games.
After both sons had graduated from high school, Folks accepted a job as dean of education at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Okla. He'd never worked in higher education, but the challenges the university offered him were appealing.
"I helped them get ready for a successful accreditation visit from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), and I got to establish some administrator prep programs and did some revisions for teacher education programs," he says.
However, Dean Folks missed the "action" of public schools. So, when a search firm contacted him about an opening in Spring ISD in Texas, he and his wife made their way south of the Red River. Folks served five years as superintendent of Spring ISD, "a great school district," he says. That's where he had to learn the Texas system - with all its accountability, testing and nomenclature.
"I thought I'd never leave Spring," he says. That was until he was asked to interview for the superintendent position at Northside. According to Folks, people asked him why he would leave a district of 25,000 and go to a district of 66,000.
"For years, Northside had been a great district with a great reputation, in part because of the leadership of former superintendents Ed Cody, Jack Jordan and Ed Rawlinson, and good boards of trustees," he says. "When I came, I told people that what I wanted to do was to carry on with the good things and address the challenges facing the district."
Like many other districts, those challenges were in the areas of growth and finances. Serving 78,000 students, Northside ISD is the sixth largest district in Texas, having gained 4,000 students this year alone. The 355-square-mile district in northwest San Antonio is only halfway developed, Folks says. When it reaches its capacity, the district expects to serve 160,000 students. '
"We have good programs, good teachers [and] a good board that does things the right way, and I think people recognize that and come to live in this district," says Folks.
To deal with its financial challenges, the district made a bold move two years ago and cut $22 million from the budget. Folks says Northside did this by doing away with non-campus-based programs and not giving any salary increases. Last year's $16 million cut came about through the decision to go from block scheduling in high schools to the seven-period day, with teachers teaching six periods.
"I told everyone that this was a financial decision, not an instructional decision," Folks says. "Because we're growing so rapidly and with the way the formula works, we're basically almost a flat-line school district having to pay for lots of growth.
"I can't say enough about our teachers, administrators and employees who stepped up to the plate and said, `We have to do the best thing for our kids.' I'm so proud of what they've done to keep improving as we've cut back on resources," he says.
At the same time Northside's budget has been shrinking, the district's reputation for excellence has grown. The district won the H-E-B 2005 Excellence in Education Award, and the National School Boards Association named Northside one of the top three school districts in the nation for its use of technology. Folks not only praises Northside's board, administrators, teachers and staff, but he has high praise for the district's foundation, which has almost $2 million in endowments.
"Our business community has been so supportive of our foundation," he says, adding that he's also proud of the four magnet high schools in the district, which allow kids to focus on careers in health, business, communication technology, and math, science and engineering.
Not only does Folks devote himself to the success of Northside ISD, he also serves as president of the Texas School Alliance (TSA), a consortium of 30 larger Texas districts.
"We look at how legislative issues -- [such as] testing, accountability and curriculum -- affect our large districts, and we want to have a voice in legislative issues at the state and national levels," Folks says. "We're a well-respected organization, and even though we're composed of larger schools, we look at what's good for all schools."
As president of TSA, Folks serves as spokesperson for the group. He also works with the group's consultants, HillCo Partners LLC and Moak Casey & Associates LLP, two Austin firms that advise TSA on legislative issues and white papers.
Folks says he believes that the Coalition to Invest in Public Schools, comprised of schools of varying sizes, brings important issues to the table as well, and he commends the members of the coalition for their work.
The Northside superintendent also serves on the boards of the National Council of Impacted Schools and the Texas Association of Suburban/Mid Urban Schools; on the executive and legislative committees of the Texas Association of School Administrators, and on the Legislative Council of the University Interscholastic League. An active member of the San Antonio community, Folks serves on the boards of directors of the Texas Academic Decathlon, the Northwest YMCA and Communities in Schools-San Antonio. He is also active in the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
When asked what message he wants to send to the Legislature, Folks' response is twofold.
"During the special session, I'd like for them to address the court opinion - to lower the property tax and to pass a tax that would replace the money that schools have lost," he says. "This tax should be one that can generate more revenue for our schools as our economy grows."
He also wants the Legislature to address the question of meaningful discretion by allowing local boards of education to access a certain amount of revenue through a tax rate. Folks says that during the 80th Legislative session in 2007, lawmakers should improve teacher salaries, provide additional revenue to schools to pay for inflationary costs and provide funding for adequacy.
"The Legislature cannot ignore growth costs and the program costs of additional accountability," he says.
Folks also addresses the big picture, saying, "Education is a state function by virtue of the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. What is the priority of education in terms of the decisions our state will be making? We must decide where public education will go, and we've got to be willing to put the resources in it to make public education the kind of system we want.
"We're at a crossroads. Some people want to give up on schools. We can't do that," he says.
Looking at the future of public education in Texas, Folks says he believes that through technology there will be more opportunities for kids to access courses and do things that won't require as much classroom time.
"If a student can access an online course at 2 in the morning and can be successful at it, why wouldn't we want that?" he says.
Folks predicts that the biggest challenges and changes will take place at the high school level and that elementary schools will be much the way they are now.
"Kids need to be in school to learn the basic skills; there will always be a schoolhouse where kids will be helped by teachers," he says.
Folks also says he believes that state agencies across the nation will have to amend rules and regulations to change the way states finance education and count students to determine the amount of funding.
"I want the public to be proud of our schools and to be confident when they send their kids to us. Our schools should be places where kids not only learn the basics, but places where they learn to be good citizens and people of character," he says. "Texas has a great system. I don't always agree with all the testing and accountability things we do with kids, but I would brag to anyone about what a good job Texas schools do."
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