Month: <span>March 2011</span>

A different kind of disaster

Instead of helping the House Appropriations Committee clear a budget hurdle yesterday, Gov. Perry was campaigning with his rightwing base again. I think he knows the governor’s race is over, but dreams of a vice presidential nod apparently persist in the Perry camp. In a teleconference with Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (a fancy name for […]

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Tea or conscience?

There are property tax cuts, and there are disasters. The 2006 school finance law, championed by Gov. Rick Perry, was both. And since it has caused about onethird of the state’s current $27 billion budget hole, it was discussed again during a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee today. The committee was reminded that the […]

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Still spreading the “free lunch” myth

Several polls have indicated recently that many Texans believe the Legislature can and should cut spending to dig itself out of a $27 billion budget hole. But strong majorities don’t want to cut education or health care. As Frances Deviney, Texas’ KIDS COUNT director for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, pointed out at a […]

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Don’t blame us, blame you, Part II

If there were any lingering doubts that Gov. Perry and the current legislative leadership are less interested in adequately funding public education than they are in blaming local school officials for the negative results, they should be dispelled by Perry’s comments today about who should be blamed if thousands of teachers lose their jobs because […]

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