| The bloated and stinking elephant in the room.
There is not enough lipstick on the planet with which to paint Governor Perry's ugly elephant of debit and public school failure.
In his article in the Houston Chronicle today, political reporter Rick Casey asked
Just who is taking down Texas?
To summarize, Mr. Casey has written a series of exposes about the Texas Education Agency for its voodoo math and junk science statistics. Representative Scott Hochberg held a hearing last week in Austin in which he asked the TEA leadership to explain the agency's processes for evaluating schools and students. The TEA Commissioner, John Scott, did not show up.
By the end of the hearing Mr. Hochberg had completely unmasked the TEA for its fraudulent statistics. Its measurement devices had falsely tripled the number of "exemplary" schools and cut the number of "unacceptable" schools in half. Students that had failed the TAKS test somehow passed. According to the TEA, passing suggests the likelihood that a child would eventually pass in 2-3 years.
Most of us know that the GOP is the anti-intellectual and anti-science Party but Perry and Scott's voodoo math has added another level to how deeply anti-intellectual and anti-education the GOP has become. In other words, dumb the kids down as much as possible but make parents and society think that Jane and John are brilliant.
Governor Rick Perry sits at the top of the Texas Education Agency and Mr. Casey's articles must have struck a nerve because the Governor is fully engaged in attack politics against any and all of his critics.
Republican scorched earth politics.
Please forgive me. I need one more rant.
The more I think about the statistical chicanery that nearly tripled the number of "exemplary" Texas school districts while cutting the number of "unacceptable" districts by half, the more outraged I get.
Friday evening, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott sent out an e-mail to the state's school administrators complaining that real, across-the-board improvements in student scores on the TAKS test were "being overshadowed by criticism of the TPM (Texas Projection Measure) for state accountability purposes."
That is more than a faint echo of Gov. Rick Perry's suggestion, beginning in the primaries and continuing now, that opponents who criticize his record are "tearing down Texas."
Dear Mr. Casey.
With all due respect your articles about the TEA are hardly a rant. You did your job as a professional journalist by exposing, in pure daylight, the reprehensible and appalling failure and blatant house of cards methodology used by Governor Rick Perry and the TEA to measure the performance of K-12 schools and its students.
This information is of critical importance to school children, their parents, federal funding agencies and to the people of Texas.
For, under Rick Perry's leadership it is glaringly apparent that K-12 students are on a fast track dive straight into minimum wage paying jobs.
Are we also fast tracked to third world country status?
What other Rick Perry houses of card failures and nightmares lurk in the future?
Now that we know about the Governor's long standing rampage to dumb down Texas school children it should come as no surprise that the Economist has revealed the failed and very painful outcome of Rick Perry's economic policies.
This month's issue of The Economist addresses the issue of the state's $18 billion budget shortfall in an article entitled.
A hole in the heart of Texas
A hole in the heart indeed. Everyone in the state will have to do some serious and rather painful belt tightening. Everyone, of course, except for Rick Perry.
In recent months the size and splendour of the rented house have become another flash point. Bill White, the Democratic candidate for governor, is attacking Mr Perry for extravagance on the taxpayer's dime. The governor enjoys seven bathrooms, and the household subscribes to Food & Wine magazine. Quite yuppie under the best of circumstances; and, under current circumstances, it looks worse. The state will face an $18 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, and everyone has to tighten their belts.
Seven bathrooms? What makes Governor Perry's needs so different from that of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee? Mr. Huckabee and his family lived in a triple wide makeshift trailer while the Governor's mansion underwent repairs.
Cut taxes to the bone.
Who cares about incoming revenues?
Perry had cut local property taxes while hoping to raise revenue for schools from a tax on business profits.
The plan obviously did not work. Perry's assumptions failed big time. Or maybe Mr. Perry had also given a wink and a nod to business to hide its profits.
The state, in an attempt to reduce local property taxes, planned to raise more money for schools through a tax on business profits. That tax has not raised as much money as expected, leaving the state short of several billion dollars every year.
The projected size of the two-year shortfall has been creeping up, from $11 billion to $15 billion; $18 billion is last month's estimate from the state's Legislative Budget Board. Democrats worry it could be even larger, perhaps $20 billion. The $18 billion figure is already around 10% of the state's budget for the next two years.
What the Governor will cut.
This being Texas, the cuts have already started, and they will be harsh, particularly in higher education, health care and prisons. In February Mr Perry, along with the lieutenant-governor and the speaker of the Texas House, all Republicans, directed state agencies to find ways to cut their budgets by 5%. A few months later they demanded another 10%.
As Texas already runs a tight ship, in keeping with its low-tax, low-spend philosophy, this means cutting to the bone rather than trimming fat.
Cutting to the bone instead of trimming the fat.
Does cutting down to the bone mean Rick Perry will move out of his $10K monthly rental mansion and cancel his subscription to Food and Wine Magazine? Will the Governor of the not so great state of Texas anymore move into a triple wide makeshift trailer on the grounds of the Governor's mansion?
Or is it more likely that education and the health care needs of children, schools, the jobless and the elderly will be cut down to the bone instead?
I think we know the answer to that question.
Texas, we have a huge problem but we have a viable and exciting choice for an alternative to a self-serving Governor that has no use for the people of Texas.
Former Houston mayor Bill White would live in a triple wide makeshift trailer if it would Texas a few mega bucks. And Bill White actually cares about the plight of everyday people. He proved his willingness to serve the people and his empathy for those undergoing challenging hardships during and after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike.
And unlike Governor Perry, Mr. White is neither a demagogue nor self-serving narcissist. Bill White can and will clean up after Rick Perry and the Texas GOP. It won't be easy. It will be, make no bones about it, a very tough, long and painful slog. But Bill White and Texas Democrats are up to the task whereas Rick Perry and Texas Republicans have proven, just like G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the Republican Party is corrupted to its core, it is incompetent and it is woefully incapable of governing.
Please show some love for Bill White. This is a very tough race but folks, with enough money and GOTV efforts, we just might be able to pull off a victory right here in the bleeding heart of Republican Texas. |
