Texas State Budget

Get ready, those that think the solution to a reduced Texas state budget is to raise taxes are coming out of the woodwork.

Just check Robert Rivard's Sunday (Jan. 23) editorial as it appeared in the San Antonio Express News. Robert Rivard is the editor of the San Antonio Express News.

It's time for legislators to put a new motto on Texas license plates: “First in prisons, last in schools.”
As the Texas Legislature strips funding from virtually every education initiative and institution in the state from pre-kindergarten programs to public schools to the higher education system, perhaps now people will start to connect the dots.
We've voted ourselves into a state of idiocy.
Voters have increasingly bought into the now ubiquitous “no new taxes” sound bite, an intentionally manipulative campaign strategy that has made Texas a one-party state. Now come the consequences: A state already last in the nation in investing in the education of its children is poised to fall even further behind.
Contrast that with the images of backslapping state leaders at last week's swearing-in ceremonies in Austin. What were they celebrating?
I sat Saturday morning at the TriPoint YMCA as hundreds of engaged residents gathered for the fifth and final planning session of Mayor Julián Castro's SA2020 strategic initiative. What the process ultimately yields remains to be seen, but the collective energy and commitment of the people stood in stark contrast to the self-congratulation and indifference so evident in the state Capitol.
Castro and his administration face a real challenge shaping that local energy into a tangible action plan, but his task pales now compared with what the city faces if promised state budget cuts take effect.
The state's top officeholders have convinced voters that taxes are bad, that taxes are unfair, that taxes stand in the way of economic growth and prosperity. Democracy, in truth, depends on people's willingness to pay their fair share.
Fewer nurses, public heath programs, children's services, teachers, scholarships and student loans, and anti-dropout programs — these are images never conjured by politicians who campaigned on the no-new-taxes platform.
What can't be reduced to a simple, easy-to-swallow sound bite is this: Many people do not pay their fair share of taxes because in Texas we do not tax fairly and equitably. Everyone knows it, but there is little appetite for change.
Elected officials know people prefer the certainty of the present system, with all its negative consequences, to the risk of change. They play on that fear, and it's proven to be a foolproof road to incumbency.
San Antonio will have to look within as city leaders contemplate the possibilities in the coming years. They will have to somehow build that future momentum at the same time they try to ease how hard and far we fall backward.
Speaker after speaker at the SA2020 meeting came to the microphone in the jam-packed auditorium Saturday morning to share personal vision statements amid enthusiastic whistling and applause.
High school students, neighborhood activists, teachers, artists, all spoke of a greater commitment to education, to elevating literacy, to attacking the dropout problem, to supporting the arts and to creating better jobs.
Unless people now force state leaders to reconsider their simplistic slash-and-burn approach to balancing the budget, such messages of hope are going to be difficult, if not impossible, to convert into reality. The Republican majority might say the time to speak was in November at the polls. They will say they are doing what voters elected them to do.
Is this what we really want?

Why is this important to Laredo? Expect the Laredo Morning Times to soon toot the same horn. I would say early to mid-week, the LMT will produce something similar to this.

I am having real trouble swallowing Robert's take on taxes and the intellectual capabilities of the voters in Texas. I think Robert needs to wake up to the idea that Texans as well as Americans from other states have had it with excessive spending and the failure of those in charge of government to spend our money wisely. Robert, and those on the left, will have you believe the only solution to improve government is to continually raise your taxes. Yet, the left never mentions that population and economic growth will provide necessary increases in revenues to fund the government at higher levels during normal times. Tax revenues in normal times always go up in a state with positive growth. Since we are in an economic downturn, we cannot expect revenues to meet "prior budgeted" expenses even though Texas is growing. And who says that every Texas agency needs more money every year? I know the agency leaders do. But why can't the state live on limited money for a couple of years? You have to live within your means at all times throughout your personal lifetime. The same that applies for the people must apply to government. People and businesses do not have the money for tax increases to make up for budget shortfalls. Texas, live within your means. It is that simple Robert.

Robert says that Texas is a state that is last in the nation in spending on education. Who cares? Spending per student has never equated to the quaility of a students education. If that was the case then 49 other states would be way ahead of Texas kids on test scores.

When you read the below release from the TEA, you too will say who cares if Texas is 49th in spending per student on education. (I know it is 2009 data, but that was the latest I could find.)

The Texas Education Agency just sent out the following release on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test:

African-American fourth-grade students in Texas earned the sixth highest score on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test, results released today show.

The exam, often called “the nation’s report card”, was taken by 172,533 fourth-grade students in the nation’s public schools, including 5,954 youngsters in Texas. A NAEP reading exam was also given to 155,392 eighth-grade public school students across the country, including 5,733 in Texas.

Overall, the 2009 scores were statistically identical to the 2007 scores nationally and in Texas at both grades. NAEP exams are given every two years.

Texas’ fourth-grade students earned a scale score of 219, while the national average was 220. In 2007, both the national and Texas score was 220. Texas students had the 34th highest score among 52 states and jurisdictions. However when the scores are examined by ethnic group, the ranks were significantly higher.

African-American fourth graders earned a score of 213, which is statistically significantly higher than the score of 204 posted by African-American students across the country. Only students in Department of Defense schools, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Delaware earned higher scale scores.

White fourth-graders in Texas had the 12th highest score in 2009, earning a 232 compared to the national average of 229. Hispanic Texans earned the 19th highest score with a scale score of 210, which was significantly higher than the 204 earned by Hispanics nationally.

The highest scoring ethnic group in Texas was Asian/Pacific Islanders who received an average scale score of 242, compared to a national average of 234.

Our Texas kids are learning at a higher rate than most students in other states. Statistics are good if you know how to read and question what they mean. So, my friends do not fall into the idea that you must spend more on education to get better educated kids. So, again, who cares what other states spend.

Robert goes on about other services being cut. Well, welcome to the current economy. Sorry Robert, but the people cannot afford to pay more taxes, and they HAVE spoken at the polls.

PS, Robert you really want to help Texas education? Come to Laredo and look at the lines of kids coming to Laredo schools everyday from Mexico and pay nothing in taxes for their kids education. Then tell us in Laredo about tax equity.