Ok, it\’s offical, Texans are stupid. ‘ http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3073413 ‘. Basically, lets cut property taxes because the second strongest housing market in the nation needs help, and add a payroll tax in a state that thrives in its lack of an income tax.
My response:
I am writing today to express my complete disgust with both House Bill 2 and House Bill 3 currently before the legislation supposedly working for me.
Why is it, in this great state, that instead of fixing the problem, more are created? The problem is, of course, education financing, but in reality the problem isnt the actual financing, but administration. Texas spends more per student than almost any state, yet our education system is comparatively pathetic. I graduated from a private high school, that spent about one third, per student, than the state does, and yet the lowest SAT score in the class was still 300 points above state average! Instead of continuing to throw more money at the issue, it is time to hold the superintendents responsible for their spending, and force reforms in the way schools earn and spend money.
Here in Keller, the school district is asking for more money via a bond because they didnt plan to for basic maintenance, but instead built extremely elaborate schools, and spent hundreds of thousands on Astroturf! In a district like Keller, where the teachers have to purchase their own copy paper in order to have hand outs, why is Astroturf even a line item?
These two bills will not fix the problem; in fact they will hurt the Texas economy by hurting small businesses. The housing industry in Texas is very strong right now, a little slower than in recent years, but still extremely strong, leading this constituent to believe there is nothing wrong with property taxes. Leave the taxes alone; do not hurt our economy by imposing a tax that may force layoffs in the small business niche of the state.
Stop applying band-aids to the problem of our educational system, and fix the problem. Hold the superintendents accountable. More money is never the solution to a hemorrhaging of funds, and if the superintendents are not held accountable for this crisis, I personally will hold you, my elected representative, responsible for this situation, and lack of action undertaken to resolve the issue.
