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Posted on 01/09/2005 9:20:39 AM PST by Dubya
1,000 + ISD and 254 counties..... Reducing the ISDs to the county level won't solve the problem but it will do away with huge amounts of duplications..... such as: Superintendents and the associated staffs.... Maintenance facilities and staff, bus systems and equipment, sports complexes, and on and on. I live in a county with some eight ISDs and the large one pays it's Superintendent more than $250,000 annually plus perks and bonuses. Consolidation will never happen in government operations as it does in the private sector but it should, imo.
So please answer one simple question - do you own a home in Texas and pay property (school) taxes? - If you do please be aware that at the current rate of property tax increase, your taxes increase 100% in a 6 to 7 year period - much faster that the actual rate of inflation - most of that goes to pay for schools.
The number of illegals attending public schools probably averages 30%+ in most Texas school districts - so how can you say Illegals are not a major part of the problem?
You are correct-only property owners directly pay property taxes based on property value. I think your idea is a good one-either that, or have renters pay a flat rate school tax each year as part of their lease-even those who live in the "projects".
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I lived in San Antonio for 10 years. I was a single parent raising two children. I needed to supply proof of income to ask for reduced price lunches.
I was over the income limit by 35.00 the first time I asked and never did qualify.
[1990-2000]
Many people turn a blind eye to the illegal situation, because many people benefit from it. I've known many illegals, and they work like dogs, particularly in construction trades. The employer, even if he pays them the same rate as a legal worker (which he usually doesn't), gets to dodge social security taxes, unemployment taxes, workers comp taxes, health insurance and liability for IOJs. The illegal alien benefits because he gets benefits through welfare and by using the hospital ER as health insurance. You end up with cheaper construction costs, but the savings are offset by higher costs from other industries, most notably, the health care system.
I'm speaking more towards the many thousands of apartment complexes (e.g. around Houston and Pasadena, etc) that due to their age and "condition" are on the tax roles valued at rates comparable to homes ($250k) - yet these same apartment complexes typically house NUMEROUS large immigrant families... thus the $$ paid in school taxes per child is much less than a typical homeowner -
Certainly there should be some form of weighted calculation in taxes that takes into account the likely number of children eing housed - Not just the perceived market value as set by the taxing authorities
Speaking as the husband of a retired Texas school teacher (35) I can say that you are more the exception if you were actually required to prove your status for free lunch program.
The apartments you're talking about are ones where the owners have little money invested in the units, so any money that comes in is positive. I've known a few people that worked apartment complexes that way, also.
There are several problems with school financing, some unique to Texas, some are nationwide.
To begin with, once you get outside of towns small enough to have a single high school, people who care about their children are leaving public schools in droves. As these people either home school, or send their children to private school, they are reluctant to spend ever larger amounts on failing systems. This accentuates the downward spiral of the government schools, as the best students (the ones with caring parents) leave.
Lawsuits make it practically impossible to remove dangerous students from the schools. I knew of several teachers in Austin who were physically scared of their students. Most of the older teachers had quit even bothering to teach in the classroom. They were just trying to hang on for a couple of more years to get their pension.
These retiring teachers are not being replaced by competent teachers, at least not in large city school districts. The last time I went to a large school district to talk to students, the teacher was about a 26 year old girl, maybe thirty pounds overweight, wearing faded blue jeans, thong sandles and a t-shirt. While I talked to the class, she read a magazine. In the small school districts, the teacher generally either listened with the class or completed her paperwork while I was working.
Unfortunately, when I've been to school board meetings in larger towns, the school board is composed of people with room temperature IQs. They're primarily concerned with getting federal dollars.
Because illegal immigration is causing problems in many school districts around the country, especially in the southwest. Yes, I agree, the problems Texas has with school finances would not be solved by "getting rid of the illegals", but it would be a step in the right direction in starting to solve Texas' school finances problems.
Also, this issue has nothing to do with xenophobia. You sound foolish by even suggesting that.
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