I detest my hometown Houston's establishment, but I have held out hope for the local newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, because of an "accidental" editorial page coup by a gentleman named James Howard Gibbons. Gibbons is a decent man, surrounded by the most depraved white Republican establishment anywhere. (To give you an idea, Enron was enlightened by Houston standards).
Today, the Chronicle lays bare Governor Rick Perry's abdication of his primary responsibility, public education. Normally, I am very strict in terms of reproducing even small excerpts of copyright material, going beyond the requirements of the "Fair Use" laws. Today, as we are focused on Katrina, I will make an exception and reproduce excerpts below the fold.
From the Chronicle:
Having failed to lead state government toward fulfillment of its first duty ≈ to provide an adequate and equitable system of public schools ≈ the governor ordered the Texas Education Agency to see to it that school districts spend 65 percent of their budget on classroom instruction. The attorney general apparently forgot to inform Perry that the executive powers of Texas governors border on the nonexistent.
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The problem with school funding is not waste. The problem is that the state pays only 40 percent of public education's cost. In Houston, the state covers a ridiculous 12 percent, yet Perry wishes to dictate how 100 percent of the money will be apportioned ≈ one of the most grotesque unfunded mandates since the term came into use.
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Low tax proponents claim that more money won't cure what's wrong with the schools. There is an ideal cost-benefit ratio, but Texas schools are nowhere near it. The money the state provides is not enough to cover yesterday's needs, much less tomorrow's.
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Gov. Perry's order serves two useful purposes. It demonstrates his indifference to the plight of public education, and it draws a bold diagram of how desperate that plight grows in Texas' leadership vacuum.