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Tue Aug 14, 2012 at 11:00 AM CDT
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|  San Antonio, one of Texas' fastest growing cities and the hometown of House Speaker Joe Straus, may approve a tax increase for Pre-K that could signal to Austin that more cuts to education will not be tolerated. In June, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro announced he would propose a 1/8 cent sales tax to pay for full-day Pre-K for low income students. The idea received Republican criticism but last week passed City Council unanimously sending it to the ballot for voter approval in November. A major referendum on the ballot and the keynote speech at Obama's nomination add up to a big year for the young mayor being groomed as a future statewide candidate. He said of his plan, "I'm not going to wait for Washington or Austin to make the right investments for our young people…And in the meantime, we lose our economy.” He did admit, "nobody likes a tax [increase]", but could there be a better way to challenge state leaders than to fulfill the job they've abdicated while touting a pro-economic message?
The tax will raise an estimated $29 million dollars at about $7.81 per household annually and serve roughly 4,500 4 year olds. At least two San Antonio Republicans State Rep. Lyle Larson and Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolfe disagree with the Mayor's proposal. Rep. Larson argued, “The city has no business creating a ‘department of education.'" That's a revealing statement from someone who's Party platform includes demolishing the federal Department of Education and who's record includes voting to cut $5 billion in state funds for public education - $200 million of which funded Texas' full-day Pre-K program. For his part Commissioner Wolfe believes it's, "parental failure to take advantage of existing programs" and ultimately, "It is a parent's responsibility.” It may be a parent's job to provide for their children but the state is constitutionally required to provide an "efficient" public school system where, as the state Supreme Court ruled, efficient does not equate to "cheap". |
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Eager to embrace their role in the "Texas miracle" of low taxes, Republican's tend to throw their hands up when it comes to our dismal record on child welfare issues including the nation's most uninsured children. In 2011 the Legislative Study Group found that while Texas had the highest public school enrollment we had the lowest % of population with a high school diploma, the 4th highest % living below the poverty level and the 2nd highest % facing food insecurity. An increase in access to Pre-K could begin to reverse that course. A 2011 study of Early Childhood Education published in Science magazine found, Relative to the comparison group receiving the usual services, program participation was independently linked to higher educational attainment, income, socioeconomic status (SES), and health insurance coverage, as well as lower rates of justice-system involvement and substance abuse. Evidence of enduring effects was strongest for preschool, especially for males and children of high school dropouts. In other words supporting early childhood education programs are not only beneficial for the low income children they serve but would also lower the state's bill for Medicaid, its criminal justice system caseload, as well as welfare and unemployment rolls - all of which remain the legislature's responsibility. |
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