Houston Democrats

Now it has become clear that Republicans cannot govern, because governing to them means rewarding their funders (and fundies) and cutting taxes. It turns out that if you think government is the problem, you treat it as such, striving as Grover Norquist put it so well, to make it small enough to drown in a bathtub. In Texas that means that the Repugs want to assassinate public education via the "death of a thousand unfunded mandates" coupled with endless revenue reductions and mind numbingly reductionist high stakes testing that turns schools into factoid factories.

By unfunded mandates I refer to the ever increasing list of things that local districts are mandated to do, but not given any or sufficient funds to accomplish, even as the TEKS standards are ratcheted every upward. The list here contains 65 such decrees. With a whopping $250 more per student under the new funding legislation, I kinda doubt that this problem will get any better. Somehow, I don't think that this is an accident. Such degrees help to further overburden public education, allowing the Repugs to argue the merits of charter and private schools with a straight, if hypocritical face.

As for the revenue reductions, see the inflation bullet below. Of course the Repugs then argue, even with that straight and hypocritical face that absolute dollar spending is way up, as is increases since date "X", whichever one is most skewed in favor of their point. To top it off, Texas school enrollment is set increase significantly over the next decade. All they have to do is provide increases insufficient to match a rising demographic and they can continue to be shocked, shocked at bad public education is, even when you give it more money.

High stakes testing is another phony pony that the Repugs love to trot out as part of their efforts to kill public education. Pleae read this report . As the author bluntly puts it:. As the author bluntly puts it:

"Statewide testing, envisioned under NCLB as a key part of the solution to
what ails public schools, is fast becoming part of the problem in public education."

In light of this strategic plan to kill public education is it small
comfort to hear that the most recent Educational Funding Bill is a good start. In fact it is a maze of smoke and mirrors, of half measures and time bombs all tending toward the objective of further eroding free public schools.

The center for public Policy Priorities has an excellent briefing paper on the structural problems of Texas educational system here and they have just posted analysis of the revenue shortfall that is guaranteed by the lege's"get out of town and get my ass reelected by following the I cut your taxes" mantra - here

It would take more expertise and time than I have to document all the problems with the legislation, so I will limit my analysis to a few of the more glaring ones.

First, it strives for increased adequacy. This is a dumb standard for a state which

1. * now ranks 50th for teacher salaries in comparison with salaries of all skilled and unskilled workers,



2. * spends 1,200 less than the national average per pupil,


3. * has seen per student spending over the past three years fail to even keep up with inflation

Second, the one shot $2,000 pay rise includes giving back $500 dollars of the $1000 of health care assistance taken away in 2003. Some rise, and when it is in place we will still be in the bottom half of salaries for the US. Add to this the exodus of experienced teacher after the punitive Social Security reform that denied or limited their access to both Social Security and their teacher pensions, and you see that the future of our teacher corps in Texas is bleak indeed.

Third, unless Pie In the Sky By and By is a funding mechanism, even the Republican advocates of the bill know that there will be a $10 billion devil to pay in 2 years or less.

Fourth, the benignly named "teacher incentive pay". This scheme is divisive, impossible to find fair metrics with which to decide who "earns them" and again a great devise for further destroying camaraderie and morale at public schools. See here

You will shortly began to hear the drumbeat for more charter schools, vouchers and the rest. Don't be fooled by all the smoke and mirrors it is really about killing public schools. Don't let them do it! Our future prosperity our very democracy depends on your fighting back!