I agree that 1/3rd of the gas tax shouldn't be diverted to education, but that diversion was put in place more than a decade ago and even if it were removed there would still be a major funding shortfall between gas tax receipts and needed road projects. Some roads are facing a 15+ year wait for funds under the traditional system.
Yes, private companies, any can bid, it just so happens that a consortium with a Spanish firm as one of the partners (along with an American firm Zachry, out of San Antonio) had the highest bid. Cadbury Schweppes and Nestle are foreign-owned firms, should we boycott chewing gum and chocolate? What are you afraid of, that Cintra will pick up the road and move it to Spain?
Did you know that Dick Cheney used to work for Halliburton? SCANDAL!
The contract has been made public and there was nothing nefarious in it, so much for that scare tactic, except for fooling some of the people who aren't aware of the facts.
$3.4 million dollars in highway construction money has gone for a computer system in the State Comptroller’s office, according to Larson’s figures. Thirteen million has gone to the state department of Mental Health Mental Retardation.
One hundred thousand went to pave a parking lot at the San Antonio Chest Hospital.
Amazingly, $9.6 million in money that is supposed to fund highway construction has been diverted to the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
More than half of the total money diverted from road construction, $5.4 billion, went to fund the operations of the Department of Public Safety. One-hundred and fifteen million simply went into the state’s general fund.
Source: WOAI Radio
I thought that it was 1/4 being (mis)used for education thanks to a constitutional amendment passed around 60 years ago. Furthermore, I'm under the impression that about 1/4 is used for other non-transportation purposes, but I could be wrong (and hope that I am).