A Democrat's view of the Texas education conundrum

DallasBlog.com | Ed Ishmael:

“Texas has until June 1, 2006 , to fix our education funding mess. That’s the Texas Supreme Court deadline for replacing the current unconstitutional school taxing system with a constitutional one. Republican leaders, it seems, are looking for ways to starve public schools even though the vast majority of Texans want to provide their children with world class public education. And considering the numerous failed attempts by the Republican controlled legislature to fix Texas Public Education, there is considerable doubt they’ll get it right this time.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Mr Ishmael supplies excellent background information on the crisis in Texas school finance. It starts with the Texas constitution's call "for the support and maintenance of an efficient public free school." It's complicated by the constitution's prohibition against a state property tax and the legislature's setting a cap on the property tax rates that local school districts can impose. With the share of education costs being borne by the state declining, local school districts find themselves with little discretion in setting local property tax rates. Even the maximum rates allowed by law are barely sufficient to meet the growing demands of unfunded federal and state education mandates. This lack of discretion amounts to a de facto state property tax that the courts have ruled unconstitutional.

Mr Ishmael's series is worth reading to gain an appreciation for exactly where we are and how we got here. Not surprisingly, that insight also shows the way out of the crisis. It begins with electing representatives to the Texas legislature who believe that "a general diffusion of knowledge [is] essential to the preservation of the liberties and the rights of the people." That is the reason spelled out in the Texas constitution for a Texas "public free school" system in the first place. Our current legislature has proven that they don't believe in the constitution. Electing representatives who do is the first step out of our present crisis.