Houston Democrats

With time running out and only about 30 minutes left until my friends arrived, I gave the chaos a quick glancearound and concluded, 'This is pathetic. What jobs here can I knock out real quick to at least make it look like I'm not a total couch potato?' I quickly dived into the kitchen, finishing the dishes, and then tossed a few loose magazines into some boxes that I hastily stuffed into my hall closet, then finally flew thru the bathroom and rearranged the hygienic accoutrements into a rough order.

Despite my desire at one point in time to put on a real good show of my domestic talents (which I really do have, by the way), by the end I was just dashing about doing whatever slapdash stuff I could just to cover my butt and make it look like I was at least a passably competent homemaker.

So as you can imagine, I was pretty sympathetic toward the Texas Legislature this past week. After seven months of them farting around and finally getting called back for yet another special session, two of our servants decided it was time to quickly clean up the mess and throw together some slapdash, cover their butt education legislation that barely did what they're supposed to do--pay the teachers and buy some books.

Thus spake the Chronithustra:

AUSTIN - Offering state leaders a way out of their quagmire over school finance, two senators announced Tuesday that they will sponsor trimmed-down legislation to simply raise teacher pay and spend more money on textbooks.

The $1.8 billion proposal by Sens. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, wouldn't provide the property tax cuts and so-called "reforms" in the public schools that Gov. Rick Perry and some lawmakers have been seeking...

Ellis and Eltife said their legislation, still being drafted Tuesday, would spend $295 million over the next two years for new textbooks and another $1.5 billion for school employees, including teacher pay raises of about $1,000 per year plus restoration of a health care stipend that was cut by lawmakers two years ago.

So, after seven months of bumping heads and snarling at each other, our wonderful state Republicans have finally come to realize that the usual insanity doesn't have a working majority in the 79th Legislature. Don't get me wrong. Irresponsibility can be a lot of fun, but only if you've got someone to bale you out when things get ugly or the bills come due.

Fortunately for the Lege, the voters of Senate District 13 have been thoughtful enough to send a babysitter to Austin, Democrat Rodney Ellis, who can help them reconcile the huge gaps between their right wing anti-government posturing and meeting the actual responsibilities for which they were elected.

We don't ask much of our legislators, and we certainly have come to not expect much from them. Yet the Republican leadership has piddled around for months, unable to agree on which of their several lamebrained school "reform" concoctions to poison us with. And in the end it takes a level headed Democrat (and yes, it's Rodney's turn to babysit) to come in and say, can we at least buy some books here?

The governor seems amenable to this "half a loaf" approach, knowing that he doesn't want to face voters next year with only his full-loafing around to show for his efforts.

Perry has indicated that he is open to such a compromise, but its fate was uncertain. House and Senate leaders continued to insist that legislators want to accomplish more but still can't agree on major differences.

The quick fix is here. This bill is a simple patch in the hull of a leaky boat, but at least it keeps our underfunded school systems limping along for the next two years, something that all the House Republican "reform" chatter clearly wasn't going to accomplish. Amazingly, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst and few more ideologically anti-education House Goppers are resisting even this bare necessity legislation, as if trying to argue over what old sea chanteys to sing-along to while the boat sinks.

We're short on teachers and we're short on books and some Republicans are still denying that it's going to take money to fix this problem, still chattering incessantly about the tax cuts they want to pass. Fortunately Senator Ellis is putting together a bill that will meet the minimal needs of our public schools. It's not the full reform package that our low ranking schools need, but when you're dying of thirst you don't hold out for Perrier.

Perry's learned that lesson. Dewhurst is still waiting for the waiter to arrive.