Property Rich; Cash Poor
William McKenzie, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, characterizes Texas' school finance laws as "crazy."
"It is ludicrous for the state to have a system where students in three of Texas' largest cities come from 'wealthy' districts that are eligible for the state to take some of their money and give it to poor districts -- when, get this, the majority of the students in those big cities come from poor families themselves."Texas' school finance laws may, indeed, be "crazy," but McKenzie's example doesn't show why. The wealth of a school district is determined by its property values, not the income of families of students. Those glittering skyscrapers in downtown Dallas are sitting on very valuable property, even though the kids in DISD schools may live in deteriorating neighborhoods. Replace the property tax with an income tax and those flows of tax money from the cities outward would reverse to ensure equitable funding for all.
The DISD may be inadequately funded. If the DISD is near to be considered "property wealthy," it's a sign that rural districts are even less adequately funded. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not the solution. The state is going to have to come up with a way to provide more funding for all.
Tyranny of the Plurality
Tod Robberson, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, recommends the obvious. Irving needs to change its council system.
"In 2007, Irving had a 35.6 percent white population, whereas Hispanics made up 40.6 percent of the population. But if you look at the racial makeup of the city council, it's 100 percent white."
Clearly, there's something going on here beyond the suggestion that all the talented, civic-minded residents willing to serve just happen to be white. Robberson suggests Irving adopt the council-district system that Dallas uses. What are the objections?
Some argue that if Hispanics aren't being represented now, more of them ought to vote. But if that happened and Hispanic voting were as race-conscious as white voting appears to be, the basic problem would not be solved. Replacing a 100% white council with a 100% Hispanic council doesn't address the lack of representation for *all* Irving residents.
Some argue that a district system leads to council members championing their districts instead of the city as a whole. There's probably some truth to this. But the premise is that the current system, where one ethnic groups controls all power, leads to what's best for the city as a whole. See if the ethnic groups shut out of city hall feel that's true.
Some claim that district representation leads to inept and ineffective government. There's probably some truth to that, too. Truly representative government in a body politic that is diverse will have bickering, dickering, and occasional gridlock. Giving a monopoly of power to the faction that manages to secure a plurality in an election does make it easier to get things done -- the things that the winning plurality wants. Apply this principle to Congress, and instead of all those safe Republican districts, you'd have a Congress made up almost all Democrats, because nationally, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the 2008 elections. If that happened, I suspect Congress would be a lot more efficient. I also suspect that there would be a lot of Republicans in Texas for whom efficient government would suddenly be a lesser careabout than ensuring representation of their interests.
Come on, Irving. Do the right thing. Quit wasting taxpayer money defending lawsuits against your obviously unrepresentative system of government.
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