When legislators convene in Austin next week, reducing the tax burden on property owners will be near the top of the to-do list. But no matter what schemes that lawmakers concoct, we can be certain that fundamental reform won’t occur. Government schools in Texas are funded primarily through property taxes. State officials will be faced…
Though the 2019 legislative session will not convene until January, legislators have already filed hundreds of bills for consideration. One of those bills was filed by Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, and proposes a constitutional amendment requiring the state to fund at least 50 percent of the cost of government schools. The purported purpose of…
The Houston Chronicle reports that local politicians, educators, philanthropists, and business organizations have been discussing a plan for a new non-profit organization to take over several struggling schools in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). The effort is an attempt to stave off state sanctions over the chronic low performance at four HISD schools. According…
Close Public Libraries Permanently Nearly a year after Harvey flooded many of Houston’s public libraries, six remain closed and virtually no repairs have been performed at the others. The city is still waiting for insurance money and FEMA checks. Now would be a good time to consider closing down the entire public library system. There…
A recent report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation suggests that property taxes for education could be cut in half in as little as eleven years. The proposal calls for a combination of reducing the growth in spending and increasing other taxes (such as the state sales tax). But increasing other taxes simply shifts the…
This is an excerpt from Individual Rights and Government Wrongs. After passage of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Barack Obama’s first economic stimulus), which earmarked more than $100 billion for public education, the White House website listed President Obama’s goals for improving America’s government schools. “Providing a high-quality education for all children,” the site…
With the 2019 legislative session less than a year away, we are already hearing the opening salvos of another debate over funding government schools. Invariably, the article, blog post, or editorial calls for more money for this program or that. The funding of government schools has been a contentious political issue for decades. As has…
In the 1970s, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) developed a program to allow students to transfer to a school outside of their neighborhood. The goal was to integrate the district’s schools. A recent article in the Houston Chronicle provides an interesting lesson about school choice and the motives of the media. According to the…
Each legislative session, government school financing is one of the most controversial issues on the agenda. And each legislative session, nearly every party involved—legislators, parents, teachers, and taxpayers—walks away unhappy. The controversy and dissatisfaction will continue unabated until fundamental reform of the educational system is enacted. About 90 percent of all children in Texas attend…
This was originally posted on PoodleRose on August 30, 2013. Comments have not been migrated. Rational parents want what is best for their children. Such parents recognize that their primary responsibility is to raise their children to be independent, rational adults. A significant part of this responsibility is to provide the child with the necessary…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on November 9, 2010. Comments have not been migrated. It is commonly argued that without public education the poor would have few, if any educational opportunities. Without public education, those born into poverty would have little opportunity to escape, and the poor would remain poor generation after generation….
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on October 11, 2010. Comments have not been migrated. An OpEd in Sunday’s Chronicle tells us that we must protect kids from bullying. Citing a growing number of suicides by bullied teenagers, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, write: The…