It's a kind of switcheroo in which state Senate budget-writers cleaned out the state's main public school fund, and one for school technology, sprinkled the dollars elsewhere in the budget, and then replenished the state school funds with about $2 billion in federal stimulus money.
This goes beyond the pale of the most unconscionable of political schemes. The GOP is robbing Texas children of a shot at higher quality education.
The federal money is NOT intended to replace existing state funds. The purpose of stimulus money is to stimulate the economy, i.e., create jobs, and other economic opportunities. It is certainly not intended to maintain an already abysmal status quo.
In elementary math, that would be one, minus one, plus one equals one. In terms of state schools funding, Texas schoolchildren gain zero.
The Senate, led by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Senate Finance Chair Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, approved the budget. It's expected to be considered by the full House Friday.
Shame on Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and Steve Ogden. Shame on any lawmaker, including any Democrat who goes along with this shameful public school funding heist.
Some argue the maneuver is a fiscally conservative, forward-thinking method of protecting the state's rainy day fund this session so we'll have about $9 billion of it next session to deal with whatever budget calamities arise.
This is pure BS. I don't know who is advising these delusional lawmakers. Is it the devil himself or Homer Simpson? We are in the midst of the worst recession in over 30 years. It IS a rainy day. What other kinds of rainy days do they have in mind? I mean, after all, Texas public K-12 schools rank second to the bottom of the pile in the U.S. Our schools ARE in a crisis and have been for some time, thank you.
But others say it's highway robbery of Texas schoolchildren.
Highway robbery it is indeed.
"If someone's going to steal a bunch of money from children, then I think it ought to be done with the lights on," said Houston school board trustee Harvin Moore at an April 2 workshop.
With all due respect Mr. Moore, the Republicans should not be able to steal from children at all.
Last week, HISD schools chief Abelardo Saavedra wrote a letter, co-signed by 10 superintendents across the state, asking U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to clarify how Texas lawmakers can spend about $3.2 billion of the stimulus funding meant for education.
The language in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act says states should use the money to restore education funding if they had to cut any, and then send the rest to districts.
But Texas isn't as bad off as many other states.
Budget-writers here never warned of dire education cuts. So, as the superintendents and Democratic congressmen like Gene Green argue, since Texas had no cuts to restore, the money should have gone straight to local districts.
In his letter, Saavedra implores Duncan to direct state lawmakers, "in the strongest language possible," not to use the money to "supplant" funding Texas intended to spend anyway. But rather, he writes, it should be used to increase support for schools.
Absolutely. School superintendents should not waste their time writing a letter. They should go straight to Washington and demand an appointment with the Secretary of Education and the American Reinvestment and Recovery Oversight Board.
The contemptible thieves in Austin need to send the high jacked money straight to the school districts in a New York minute. In Houston our schools are jammed packed, some are falling apart, classes are overcrowded, children are deprived of critical educational resources, the needs of autistic and other special needs children are not being adequately addressed. Excellent teachers are seriously underpaid. Inner-city schools in large urban areas require funded extended day programs so that children do not have to go home to unsupervised and potentially dangerous environments.
Do Republican lawmakers care? Obviously not.
Folks should contact the American Reinvestment and Recovery Oversight Board before this actual looting takes place. The "Contact Us" button is at the top right.
Any lawmaker who supports robbing children of improved educational opportunities should be sent straightaway to a boot camp run by heroes such as U.S. Airways Capt. Sullenberger and Maersk Line Captain Phillips. These brave men are willing and able to put the needs of others in front of their own.
Imagine that.
Too bad such a boot camp does not exist because one is sorely needed. |
