Posted on 12/12/2003 6:14:31 AM PST by Theodore R.
Schools may teach Perry new lesson
Dave McNeely
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Gov. Rick Perry has said he'll call a special session on school finance when legislators agree on a solution. But that might never happen — particularly if Perry continues his opposition to new taxes.
The Republican governor said in his inaugural speech Jan. 21, "(W)e will continue to invest in the greatest economic development tool in the history of this state: the education of our children — all of our children."
But five paragraphs earlier, Perry said, "When the economy is uncertain, it is precisely the wrong time to raise taxes."
Revamping school finance doesn't necessarily require more money, as the Senate showed in unanimously supporting a bill shaped by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. That proposal would have done away with the revenue sharing among districts, tagged "Robin Hood" by critics.
But the Senate plan was "revenue-neutral," legislative lingo for putting no additional dollars in the pot. Some senators voted for it only because they knew it wouldn't pass and wanted to kick sand in House Speaker Tom Craddick's face.
In June, the Texas Business and Education Coalition insisted school finance "cannot be reformed without considering some changes in the tax system and other sources of revenue" — either an income tax or increasing the sales tax — so the state can raise the 40.5 percent share it paid last school year to at least 60 percent.
Despite Perry's hustling the Legislature out of $295 million to attract new businesses to the state, the business-education group says schools "of high quality," called for by the Legislature in 1993, would attract business by producing more graduates who can "compete in the global economy."
Most rural Republican legislators know their districts have a substantial number of school districts that benefit from the share-the-wealth finance system, so they're reluctant to kill it until they know what will replace it.
Despite lip service to public education, Perry and most Republican legislators are gun-shy about new taxes, including a tobacco tax. Polls show a majority of Texans back a higher tobacco tax, as does Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. She's been nipping at Perry's heels.
George W. Bush, Perry's predecessor, had his gutsiest hour as governor in 1997, when he backed then-Speaker Pete Laney's push to boost state funding for schools and restructure Texas' tax system.
The House passed it, but Bush found his fellow Republicans in the Texas Senate had no use for raising taxes, and they killed the plan.
Perry in 2004 might learn a different version of the lesson taught Democratic Gov. Mark White in 1984, when White found he couldn't keep his earlier campaign promise to give teachers a pay raise without breaking his pledge against new taxes.
So if Perry finds that there's no consensus in the Legislature, he might call to continue the current interim study and let the matter slide until the 2005 regular legislative session. Then he'll fervently pray, perhaps loudly, that the economy improves, or perhaps silently that the courts make him and the Legislature do what they haven't shown the will to do themselves.
Dave McNeely's column appears Thursdays. Contact him at (512) 445-3644 or dmcneely@statesman.com.
Words I never want to see, dadgummit.
You could cut Texas' property taxes in half and they would still be too high.
Who did this bunch of idiots poll? I never had anyone ask me if I want to pay higher taxes. My answer would be, "Not just no, but hell no."
Another thing the Texas schools need to teach Perry's DPS driver, is not to park in handicapped parking spaces for over an hour. </ sarcasm>
And that ten that average $80k is better than three at 60k.
"For the children" has the suckers pulling muscles they get their wallets out so fast.
Odd thing is that I am crazy about my kids and I would not let them set foot in a public school if they were paying me.
But then I don't find mediocrity and infantile behavior to be something to aspire to either.
I don't have a problem funding new construction projects for schools. The biggest problem I have with the current school finance laws in Texas, is my school district has our tax per $100 at the max, while many of the poorer districts aren't much over the 50% level.
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