Thursday, December 22, 2011
Education / Presidential politics Rick Perry's Texas education miracle
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 8:52 AM
Doesn't much matter nationally. When Bro. Justin Harris thinks you're a loser — man, you ARE a loser.
But it's worth a look at the Rick Perry Texas miracle because Republicans love to tout it so much. School spending has been slashed. 12,000 teachers fired. Special ed teachers? Gone. Teachers' aides? Gone. Bus drivers and security guards? Also drastically reduced. Class sizes? Huge.
What you have in Texas is the logical conclusion of Tea Party government, still being promoted daily, if not hourly, by people like U.S. Reps. Tim Griffin, Steve Womack and Rick Crawford. The only solution for the country, they say, is to cut government. The only solution. Screw the kids. Screw the sick. Forget that cutting government also means cutting important services, jobs and the paychecks that help drive the economy. Unless we can protect rich people's tax breaks, there's nothing worth saving in America.
When your payroll taxes (that's what working people pay on earned income; rich folks pay nothing toward Social Security and Medicare, and enjoy a low tax rate, on dividends and capital gains) go up Jan. 1, thank Tim Griffin, Steve Womack and Rick Crawford. If their rump caucus continues to hold U.S. government hostage, thank them for the implosion of government services and schools. Defense will be last to go, of course. But inevitably, it will have to go, too.
PS — Yes, football survives in Texas. First things first.
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Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
Hey! Football builds character. Plus, according to the article, it's now part of the "culture" of Tejas not to mention their very IDENTITY.
"I'd spend a thousand bucks out of pocket myself to make sure it'd stay," says Ross Briton, whose son plays football. "I'd work two jobs if it took that to do it. End of story."
Briton says it's not just a sport here: It's part of the culture and a big part of the community's identity. The district should pare down the curriculum before it cuts football, he says.
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Yeah they always say I would. But when it is time to chip in. Oops, a little tight right now, next time though I swear!
Tim, Steve and Rick if you fail to pass this don’t come home to Arkansas for Christmas because YOU are the Scrooge !!!
Don’t let the House Republicans lied to you about them rejecting the Payroll-Tax deal. Their failure to act will cause:
160 million Americans to have a payroll tax hike averaging $1,000 for each taxpayer.
2.5 million jobless workers will lose unemployment benefits.
Doctors serving Medicare patients will face a 27.4 percent drop in federal reimbursements.
The House Republicans’ bill, that one year Payroll Tax deal, that failed would have:
Extended a pay freeze for all federal workers, but not Congress.
Cuts unemployment benefits over time from 99 weeks to 54 weeks.
Reverses the rule that bars states from requiring drug tests of jobless applicants
Delays pollution regulations.
I saved this quote from an AP story (link now dead) about the Texas drought. "Each day, a truck from nearby Bronte hauls 6,300 gallons of water to Robert Lee High School to irrigate the football field, at a cost of $200 per trip."
The report didn't go into the details but there was a line about poorer school districts receiving $800 per student less than affluent districts and there is a law suit filed about this. Also, they have another 8% cut planned next year beyond what hit this year. May want to go to the college model and have auditorium-sized classes in first grade. If their old state standard was 24 (which I think is the national recommendation), going to 200 should be able with the waver they are already giving. Of course, affluent schools will get a waver on this to keep the classes small.
Note that the football nut (I'll get 2 jobs, etc) also said to get rid of social study classes and based on Perry's knowledge of anything, I think his school already had a waver on that also.
Also, the state is sitting on a bundle in their "rainy day fund" but Perry won't allow that to be touched by a bunch of compliant Rethuglican legislators.
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