The House bill will return to the Senate for consideration of the changes made to SB 1 the Senate approved last week. Lawmakers also will consider legislation giving school districts flexibility to absorb the funding cuts by allowing teacher pay cuts, furlough days and larger class sizes.
Hays County's State Rep. Jason Isaac voted AYE for the bill and the cuts
Note: From the Texas Tribune – (Not including the $800 million in federal education stimulus money allocated to Texas) here are the amounts expected to be cut from Hays County school districts – more than $13 million total – under the House and Senate plans . . . In the first year of the biennium, $2 billion of the $4 billion reduction is reached through what amounts to about a 6 percent across-the-board cut to all school districts. In the second year, $1.5 billion of the remaining $2 billion comes from cutting property-wealthy districts.
Hays CISD: Expected FY 2012 $119,321,911 | New $112,239,186 | Reduction -$7,082,725 -5.94%
San Marcos CISD: Expected $54,131,694 | New $51,164,371 | Reduction -$2,967,323 -5.48%
Dripping Springs ISD: $32,815,896 | $30,696,820 | -$2,119,076 | -6.46%
Wimberley ISD: $15,825,322 | $14,859,754 | -$965,568 | -6.10%
Katherine Anne Porter School: $1,164,504 | $1,102,514 | -$61,990 | -5.32%
_______________________
By Gary Scharrer
gscharrer@express-news.net
San Antonio Express News
AUSTIN – The Texas House tentatively approved legislation early Friday morning that would allow the state to spend $4 billion less on public schools than what current law requires.
Only Republicans voted for SB 1 in the 81-62 tally.
Public school supporters plan to rally the public in next year's elections against legislators who supported the public education cuts.
Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston made a passionate appeal before the vote. “I don't know what's going on that we are not willing to invest in public education. Maybe we are looking at the schools and not liking what we see,” he said.
Texans will get the final say about school closings and consolidation and the end of some magnate schools, he said. “If people don't like what we have done, if teachers don't like it, if educators don't like it, if the business community does not like it, they must have the final say, and I hope they will speak loud and clear,” Turner said.
School cuts can't be avoided because of the state's massive budget shortfall, Republican leaders said of overall funding for the next two years that is some $15 billion less than the current budget.
“The voters told us it's a bad economy, but you have to live within your means. Texas is doing that,” House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said.
House Democrats emphasized that public education should be the state's top priority and warned cuts would hurt neighborhood schools and anger parents once they see fewer teachers and larger class sizes.
12 comments:
Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, either naively or foolishly states:
“I don't know what's going on that we are not willing to invest in public education. Maybe we are looking at the schools and not liking what we see,”
Let me made it very clear to Mr. Turner.
The Texas Republicans, like the rest of the Republican state governors and the presidential candidates, want to make sure public education fails. That way, they can come in with their real agenda to privatized education. Then, their crony elite campaign masters can take over the management of the schools, for a profit. Our children's public education is not important to these people, since their children go to private schools.
This is what they have done with prisons. And in states like Michigan, they have enabled legislation that gives private management interests the power to take over a city or school district. I'm sure Texas and most of the other right wing Governor states are looking at similar neofascist legislation.
Middle class and lower income Republican voters will see sooner rather than later that their children and grandchildren are being set up to be the servant class for the children and grandchildren of the elite right wing politicians who they currently vote for and support.
Unfortunately, the American left will be singing the same blues song unless they also quit believing the liberal corporatists who are selling out their values for special interest privatization interests.
It has gotten so bad that no one is safe from these privatization and wage trashing strategies that have increasingly dismantled the middle class.
Sadly, until conservatives see this hard truth, we all continue to fight among ourselves (which is what the lackey politicians want us to do).
You are probably right Rocky. In fact, I even heard one of our legislators refer to public education as an "entitlement."
It think you are wrong, Rocky. Why does it always have to be the fault of the Republicans that public education is failing? The waste and silly programs along with just too many chiefs and not enough Indians are the real culprits. The Republicans are trying to force the school districts to cleanup their act, get more efficient and do what they were created to do, EDUCATE.
The argument over class size is nothing more than an idea t to employ more teachers and their support staff along with more $14 million elementary schools. Most of the public schools I went to back in the day had 30-40 kids per classroom and everything went pretty well. Of course the lazy and stupid kids didn't fare that well but that was the way it was. If they disrupted the class they were paddled and sent home. If you didn't do the work or cut class you were demoted. Our schools were old and had character but we weren't there to enjoy the ambience we were there to learn and get it over with so we could get a job and earn a living for ourselves or maybe a family. The schools had very few students on the honor roll not because we were stupid, it was because the standards were very high not like the equalizing or dumbing down done today.
If we could stop the influx of illegals we would have lots of money for education. We wouldn't have to feed so many of the kids and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to teach kids that can't understand or speak English.
Get Real says:
"If we could stop the influx of illegals we would have lots of money for education. We wouldn't have to feed so many of the kids and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to teach kids that can't understand or speak English."
If the right wing politicians in Texas and in other red states really wanted to direct current education funds, they could just as easily mandate how current budgets are used to make public education more effective. But they don't.
The primary goal of the neoRepublican Party is to "starve the beast" - the beast being all public programs funded by tax dollars.
Moreover, most middle class or lower income conservatives hate taxes because it is the only thing they can control anymore. They cannot control wages, benefits, stock markets, politicians, consumer rights, citizen rights, privacy, corporate accountability, etc, etc.
And all "conservatives" think they have power because they help the rich to pay less taxes, foolishly thinking they will be taken care of with jobs, etc.?
That, Sir, is not power. That is being manipulative for someone else's economic benefit. Sadly, average conservative voters vote and argue against your own economic interests.
But worst of all, GR, your belief about children of illegals draining the public school budgets is pure right wing xenophobic nonsense. If you really believe that, you are out of touch with reality.
Sure, there may be some truth to budget shortfalls in a few school districts around Texas because of illegals, but is it not true in Wimberley at either WISD or KAPS, or most other suburban or rural school districts in Texas. Yet your right wing politician are cutting budgets everywhere.
Sadly, what is pathetic about your Mexican xenophobia is that you would penalize innocent children for something that is not their fault.
Children of illegals cannot control what their parents do or where they came from. They are innocent victims of their parent's choices and our nation's hypocrisy and ignorance.
Finally, if being a Republican means I would turn out any child from a decent edcuation to save a few tax dollars, I will aggressively fight against such insensitivity and callousness as long as I am able.
Kudos Rocky! Kudos!!!!!!
I wrote to GR the following:
"But worst of all, GR, your belief about children of illegals draining the public school budgets is pure right wing xenophobic nonsense. If you really believe that, you are out of touch with reality."
In truth, I do not know if GR is a right wing xenophobe. My comment may also be over the top, since I really don't know him or her.
However, I do feel very strongly that children of illegals get put in the middle of our debate re: illegal immigration, especially when it comes to school budgets.
At best GR is simply misinformed about his comment re: children of illegals draining our school budgets. A better way for me to challenge PR's assumptions is to ask him for facts and to prove his statement with truly objective statistics and data.
The State of Texas plans to give $25 million to the investors who will build the F1 race track in SE
Travis County. What a colossal waste of taxpayer money -- especially when that money could be used for education!
I urge you to watch the 5-minute video of Susan Moffat telling the Austin City Council why it should not help fund the Formula 1 racetrack. She is VERY well spoken and knowledgeable and she used to be a legislative aide -- she knows her stuff. To get the racetrack to the Austin area, Austin has to pledge $4 million dollars every year to the British racetrack billionaires in order for them (the billionaires) to qualify for the State of Texas to give them $25 million PER YEAR for 10 years.
At www.youtube.com, search for video "Susan Moffat - Formula One."
This is not tax abatement, but it is similar in that it uses taxpayer money to bribe a business to locate here. The kicker is that NO ONE believes that the economic benefit to the city/county will come anywhere near amounting to the millions of dollars which the city and state will outright GIVE to the investors. There aren't even enough hotel/motel rooms in the city/county to house enough visitors to make the investment pay off (that's why the investors are demanding that the State give them $25 million a year). And the investors greatly exaggerate how much money each visitor will spend in the city each day. Most of the restaurant profit will be made by the hot dog and soda vendors at the track itself (who will share profits with the track owners)-- not by city merchants. T-shirts and gimme caps will likewise be bought at the track -- not in Austin stores. It's a taxpayer rip-off all around!
NASCAR and Formula 1 races are the modern equivalent of the gladiator versus the lion matches of long ago. Those spectacles are a sop to us (now blatantly provided by our taxpayer money to the track owners) to keep us entertained and not watching the horror the governments are meanwhile perpetrating on us. ("No, look over here -- pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!")
We have too long stood for many
unbelivable atrocities, injustices,
frauds of our governments, and that is partly because we have been distracted (see above)and partly because we felt powerless to stop our legislators and government. We must wake up.
Part of Letter to Statesman (June 14) from Austin resident Becky Waak:
"Nothing is free. Welcome to the Republican concept of free enterprise. Use public money to pay for a private enterprise, then use public money again to 'refill' the original pot of public money. The whole idea that rich investors can persuade our comptroller to promise $25 million of public money for Formula One without our approval is arrogant. Then to tie the City of Austin to their Ponzi scheme by forcing the city to ante more public money is beyond arrogant."
The Formula 1 subsidy is simply more corporate welfare for the elite business leaders who do not need our tax money to fund their success.
Does this make any sense? We give money to an elite unessential entertainment cabal while we are cutting our public school budgets mercilessly?
And why Formula 1, when Texas Bubba would much rather watch NASCAR? Duh!
"American Idol" and other "reality" TV shows are further distractions like NASCAR. They nourish the vain hopes of our anesthetized lower and middle classes that they, too, can rise to fame and fortune despite formidable odds. These ridiculous shows divert us from how we are daily used as cannon fodder for capitalist wars, as voters for demagogues, as consumers of the wares of state-subsidized businesses. We are not paying attention to TRUE realities.
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