TX repukes withheld the money for (school text) books to "add momentum"

[rainbow4321]

Um...yeah...that would Texan repuke lingo for BLACKMAIL.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080405dntextextbooks.177458b3.html

As Texas schoolchildren begin returning to the classroom next week, many will find tattered old textbooks used for years – while glossy new replacements gather dust in warehouses in the Dallas area and Lubbock.

Millions of new textbooks for foreign language, health, art and music classes cannot be delivered to school districts because the Legislature, caught in a stalemate over school finance for months, hasn't authorized their purchase.

Republican leaders hoped that by withholding the money for books, they would add momentum to school finance and tax-swap bills they've been working on all year. But those measures have stalled, with no agreement in sight.

Some lawmakers, fearing they will anger parents, now want to sever the textbook money from the two big bills and allow the Texas Education Agency to hurriedly take textbook orders and rush shipments to schools, even though it would be too late for the start of classes.

[Ilsa]

1. I live in a very conservative, very Repuke city in south Tx,

(Victoria) and people here are screaming mad at the Lege for not getting their jobs done. They have all the fucking time in the world for screwing with redistricting, but can't manage to fund the schools. I hope the public decides to turn them all out.

Here is a sample from a LTTE:

SNIP

State Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, said, "The stars are going to have to be aligned for that, and right now, they're not aligned."

What an asinine statement!

Maybe school districts should use that as an excuse for TAKS scores that are not yet "aligned" 100 percent across the board like the state is demanding.

GOP House Speaker Tom Craddick said the "legislators ... are tired."

Ask any public school teacher how many hours we put in beyond "bell time" - lots.

We have evening parent meetings, we tutor children after school who need extra help, we give up our Saturdays for UIL meets, etc.

Don't even start with "we have the summer off." Teachers attend training, work on updating curriculum, teach summer school, work in their classrooms getting them ready for the next year's students, etc.

According to Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, they worked on the governor's plan and "massaged it as much as we could." What do they think education is - a day at the spa?

He continues, "To be quite frank, we didn't get there." I'll remember to tell our principal, superintendent and school board that's why our TAKS scores are not quite what the state demands.

Please let me add that our legislators did find time to come up with an agreement to increase their retirement benefits.

SNIP

[rainbow4321]

4. Perry:"If you can get half a loaf versus a full loaf...you'll take a slice

or two"

Someone needs to tell this ass that when it comes to the KIDS, Texans want the whole loaf...and if Perry cannot help with that, then it WILL be "adios, mofo" next Nov.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/080205dntexschoolfinance.d0890e4.html

If the Legislature can't get past its logjam on fixing the school-finance system, then at least kids should get their textbooks and teachers should get a pay raise before lawmakers adjourn later this month, Gov. Rick Perry said Monday. In other words, he said, a little something would be better than a whole lot of nothing.

"If you can get half a loaf versus a full loaf, generally you'll take a slice or two if you can get that," Mr. Perry said. "Each day that passes without education reform is another day that textbooks don't arrive in classrooms on time, another day money set aside for teacher pay raises sits idle in a bank account."

In case lawmakers can't agree, the alternative could be to pass nothing at all and wait for the Texas Supreme Court to decide how to fix school funding – a decision expected in the next few weeks.

But Mr. Perry said he doubted lawmakers had the stomach to forsake the entire loaf. "Members I've talked to ... don't have a great interest in going home and saying 'We failed,' " he said.

[aquart]

2. Whatever happened to the good old days of tar and feathers.

NYC was a Democratic one-party town. One September, the schools weren't able to open. We'd become so corrupt we'd sort of forgot it was important. Since then we have Republican mayors.

Absolute power will corrupt ANYONE absolutely.

[wli]

3. they don't want kids to be able to think straight anyway

c.f. all the stuff about deliberate dumbing down of education