Texas RINOs have screwed us big time on this one. They passed an income tax in disguise and a one time decrease in the tax rate, knowing full well that at current price inflation the amount paid will be right back up in three years, and keep rising beyond that.
There isn't a republican in my district or on the statewide ticket that I plan to vote for again -- ever.
Yeah those good ole RATS are the ticket. That'll show 'em.
I am also from Texas, but 30 years ago I came here from New Jersey. At that time they were debating the same issue they are debating today. How to fund schools without using property taxes. They got the Legislature to pass an income tax by telling people their property taxes would go down. They also passed the lottery to fund education. They then passed legalized gambling for Atlantic City. Here we are in 2005 and they are looking for another way to give education more money to spend with another method of taxation. BTW property taxes haven't gone down. The income tax has gone steadily upward, and even though I live in Texas, I pay income tax on the house I inherited from my parents which my 84 year old Uncle still lives in in NJ., inaddition to property taxes.
Oh, yes, I forgot about the sales tax.
My point is this, they've tried all of the methods of taxation on the East Coast. Unless the legislature in Texas is really, really, creative, how else do you think we can fund our education system?
It seems to me that it's like pounding sand into a rat hole.
I've spent 40 years as a certified Secondary Teacher. I'm licensed to teach and have taught in both New Jersey and Texas. I taught ESL in Texas. I had no books, no room to teach in, and no curriculum. I had nothing. I bought my own materials, and created my own curriculum. This was in 1994. The school system was also paying me less than a beginning teacher was paid since I hadn't received my certification in ESL as of yet. The teaching situation at my High School was pathetic. Science teachers didn't have enough books. There wasn't enough money for the basics, yet the Administration building was a 5 story Taj Mahal complete with any number of bureaucrats all filling out paper work for unfunded Federally mandated educational programs. That's where your tax money is going. Compare the size of the bureaucracy today with what it was in 1965 when I first started teaching. I bet it's 100 times larger.
Why? Because the Federal Government got involved. I don't believe we even had a Federal department of Education in '65. The class rooms haven't changed all that much. Throw in a few computers, throw out the Pledge of Alligence and you have a class room in 2005. Kids today aren't as educated as they were in '65. We're just spending a whole lot more money on things that don't benefit the student.
Voting for democrats isn't going to help. They're the reason we're in the mess we're in. They controlled Texas and the Federal governmet for over 60 years. I sometimes think we have to wipe out the entire system and start over. All you need for a good education is a willing student and a person willing to teach with mutual respect, and everything else is secondary.