It is Now Time to Get it Right [06 Aug 2005|07:28pm] by Randy A. Samuelson State Chairman, Young Conservatives of Texas This special session of the State Legislature has been very interesting. A bill that almost passed the regular session was killed by a filibuster by Senator John Whitmire of Houston in the first special session and then railroaded in the House in the second special session. The Legislature is now compelled to come to an agreement and do what they were elected to do - pass legislation that provides for the basic services for the people of Texas. I believe in my heart that many Legislators want to intentionally fail in this mission and let the Texas Supreme Court decide the matter so the Legislators will not be held accountable next year during re-election bids. During this year’s regular and first called special session, the Legislature spent time arguing over how to finance increases in public education spending rather than how to make public education in Texas more efficient and better overall. Most agree that the current Robin Hood plan needs an overhaul, but the proposed solutions (House and Senate versions of HB 3) would have created new problems, while not doing enough to fix the underlying Robin Hood problems. Fortunately, House and Senate Republicans could not reach an agreement, and although the hated Robin Hood system is still in place, the public was spared of a virtual state income tax, an increased sales tax, and expanded reliance on hidden business taxes. Most Democrats opposed HB 3, because it increased the regressive sales tax and did not raise enough money to finance their insatiable appetite for public education spending. (Of course, they also wanted to see a Republican Governor, Speaker, and Lieutenant Governor fail on a major issue.) The State of Texas does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem. The amount of money that Texas takes in and spends on public education is among the highest in the nation. Texas Public Policy Foundation has done significant research regarding public schools in Texas and comparative studies nationwide. Here are just some of the results: ✫ Texans invested just over $30 billion in public education during the 2002-03 school year. ✫ 36 percent of state revenue is invested in public education – Texas ranks second among the 50 states in total education expenditures. ✫ Texas ranks 3rd in the nation for the percentage of total state expenditures devoted to public education. ✫To pay for public education, the average Texan works 90 days a year – up from 63 days in 1970. ✫ Over four million children attend Texas public schools – Texas has the 2nd largest student enrollment population in the U.S. ✫There are 1,224 school districts and charter schools in Texas, providing 571,119 full-time jobs ✫ Texas spent more than $6,700 per student in 2004, but only 50 percent of those dollars reached the classroom. ✫ Austin ISD increased instructional spending 27 percent from 1997 to 2002 but increased extracurricular activities spending 134 percent and data processing spending 344 percent. ✫ Student performance is generally not improved by increasing school funding, across-the-board pay increases for teachers, increasing the number of teachers with advanced degrees, or decreasing class size. Texas spends nearly $7,100 per student in its public schools, but only about 50% of that money makes it to the actual classroom. This efficiency is almost as bad as some fly-by-night businesses that come into Austin after hailstorms, take your money, do shoddy repair work, and run! Yet the State Legislature is looking at increasing spending even more and the taxpayers are letting them get away with it because they buy into the common yet completely fictitious assumption that increasing spending on education improves educational outcomes. When the Legislature takes another hack at school finance reform, members will discuss various proposals to shift the tax burden around. However, none of those proposals are likely to address the force that is driving the property tax and school finance crises, which is financial inefficiency in the public school system. Until that problem is addressed, we will have an oppressive tax system, regardless of how those tax dollars are levied. Instead, the Legislature will most likely go the way of least resistance - cut property taxes (which desperately needs to be done) and increase sales and business taxes to finance the property tax relief and the $3-6 billion in new education spending. The general public will pat their legislators on the back by re-electing them, oblivious that the state is now wasting even more of their hard-earned money. Even worse, this ugly problem will reemerge in ten years as out-of-control spending pushes the expanded business taxes to oppressive levels that warrant relief. Public school finance will be addressed again in ten years because we will have the same issues then as we do now: underperforming public schools, inefficiency in spending, and an inequitable tax system. Any time you hear an elected official say, “We are doing this for the children” you should immediately translate this to, “We want to increase taxes, increase spending, and throw your money away so we can get re-elected next year.” We were told this in 1990 during the last school finance debate, yet our public schools have performed worse and bureaucratic spending by school administrators has run out of control since then. Do you really think public schools in general need more money? One high school in El Paso had so much money that they built a water slide in their parking lot! As one of the leaders of this generation of young men and women, I feel it is my duty to tell the State Legislature to get it done right by stressing efficiency in government spending, open up competition in education through a voucher system, and providing teachers and classrooms, not administrators, with the bulk of the money for education. Right now, only about 50 percent of the money spent on education goes to the classrooms. Governor Perry’s plan would unilaterally move it to 65 percent into the classroom. This is still not enough money going to the classroom. We should be striving to put at least 80 percent of our tax money into the classroom. Anything less only strengthens the bureaucracy and takes money away from actual education. It will take a voucher system to make public schools more creative in their approach to actually fulfill their primary job, teaching students, and to ensure that our tax money is spent efficiently. One axiom is clear - public education spending is not about improving schools but about getting politicians elected. This is evidenced by Governor Perry and Comptroller Strayhorn holding press conferences almost simultaneously on a Saturday in June - the former to call a Special Session and the latter to declare her intent to run for Governor and blast the incumbent for vetoing the public education budget. The Legislature has another chance to get pubic education done right this time by being fiscally responsible and actually encouraging teachers to teach students. The real question is how many more opportunities the taxpayers will give the Legislators to waste our time and money haggling over peripherals and ignoring the underlying problem. post comment

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