Shortfall

I was really interested in this blog written by Adam Hamza. It talks about the big budget shortfall in Texas, coming just around the corner, effecting the education in Texas and Medicaid. I agree with my classmate, we should stop focusing on, so much, on only cutting education and Medicated. And start looking, more on ways on how to raise revenue. One of the ways we can raise revenue is, and would like to see it come from higher taxes on alcohol and expanded gambling.
 

Texas Schools

          Texas schools are no longer shielded from state budget cuts. Budget cuts are coming, and they are going to hurt. In Central Texas, school enrollments continue to grow. People are still moving here, and they are bringing their children with them. Legislative leaders have not said whether they plan to cover the $2 billion school districts are projected to need for new students. No decisions have been made about how to cut the state’s public education budget. One of the ideas being talked about is to eliminate $2 billion in grant programs from outside the foundation school program, which includes the $400 million teacher incentive program and more than $200 million for prekindergarten. The protective bubble that shielded public schools from the full force of Texas’ budget crisis has evaporated. 

Accountability

            While reading my classmates’ blogs, I found and interesting blog written by Darrin Nikolaisen called, “ Who Can You Trust?” The blog discusses about how the political system is based all in false statements, that most politicians are dishonest and misleading. I agree, that we should hold politicians accountable for their false statements and dishonesty.

            For example, Gov. Rick Perry makes an eye-catching claim on his campaign earning him a “pants on fire” on politifact. Perry claiming that his border security efforts have led to a 60 percent drop in crime along Texas-Mexico border. The calculation he touts doesn’t consider crimes committed in cities and towns when most border residents live. Crime may have subsided in some rural aread of the border region, however, it’s not clear how much of any decline can be traced to the state’s investment in security.

            The bottom line: all politicians’ are locking out for number one, them self’s. 

            

   

            

Legalize Marijuana

            Government’s own studies have shown that marijuana has efficacy, the only hurdle now is the political one. The movement is gaining momentum around the country. Medical marijuana sold in California is subject to sales tax. It will be a tough sell in Texas, where the idea didn’t get far in the last legislative session.

California, New Mexico and other 12 states have legalized marijuana as a medicine with a doctor’s prescription, and a Dallas group (Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care) is pushing for Texas to be the next. The DEA spend 10 billion dollars fighting marijuana use, but the prohibition is not preventing people form growing it, selling it, or using it. Twenty-five million people a year are smoking marijuana illegally; the prohibition in 1937, is a total failure its time to take a new approach. Letting the states regulate marijuana and tax its sale, like alcohol, a move that could mean billions of dollars for the cash-strapped state. Medical-Grade marijuana can sell for $3,000 per pound, and is the largest cash crop in the country. Pot is, after all, responsible for $14 billion a year in sales in California. And is a safe and effective treatment for the symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions. 

Why not? The state is in desperate need for money. It will help the Texas budget; our budget is now as bad as California’s the one state where balance budgeting goes to die.

Texas Democrats

           As a lifelong Texan and UT graduate "Phillp Martin", writes this blog out of the Burnt Orange Report. Targeting the Texas Democrats to play a role in electing Bill White, which he believes is exactly who we need right now and not Rick Perry. Of course, Bill White will not solve all the problems in four years, but he can put us on a different path that the one George W. Bush and Rick Perry have had us on for the last sixteen years.

Phillp Martin is claiming that Bill White will be a better governor than Rick Perry, that the stakes are too high for Bill White to not get elected.  In evidence the Democrats’ got their first endorsement for governor in at least a quarter century, Dallas Morning News, which wrote that Bill White represents “the best Texas tradition of the businessman governor”. The Texas Democratic Party true strength of Bill White grassroots campaign rests in his massive field program, and irrefutable online advantage to the $21.3 million he has raised from 25,000 contributors across Texas. The field program is a great attempt to overcome the challenge of defeating our 10-year incumbent Governor who many think to be unstoppable. There are Democrats wishing Bill White talked more about issues, wanting him to get more negative against Rick Perry, and concern that Bill White has not done enough to connect with the Hispanic community. His campaigns strategy is not the right one to win that is why Bill White will not be governor.

With just two weeks to go, each of us needs to do everything within our power to play a role. Maybe, it is time for a change, for short-term or the long-term success in Texas. “GAME ON!” 

            

Hypocrisy in Texas

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Where does he get this $22 million to restore the Governor’s Mansion? How did it escape the budget cuts that state-funded agencies are facing?  John Kelso, a commentary out of the Austin American-Statesman, writes this article. I agree with Kelso, of putting Gov. Rick Perry in the lobby of the American Hypocrisy Museum. In May, the State Board of Education delayed new textbooks cause of a $347 million price tag. Perry, who is anti-Washington, rejected away hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money for education but accepting Washington’s help on the mansion project. Shuffling money around from the Department of Public Safety to the State Preservation Board, which helped pay half of the $22 million needed for the mansion redo. Since it classified as federal money, the project was able to escape the drastic budget cuts that state-funded agencies are facing. Using Hurricane Ike upfront emergency expense money, which the feds provided to reimburse Texas. Fed money is not only being used to fix up the mansion, it may also be covering the expenses on Perry's house in West Austin, which is $9,000-a-month. Kelso, who called the governor’s office to see if any of the federal funds were being used to pay for Perry's rent, but was quickly directed to the State Preservation Board, then shooed around to the Comptroller’s Office and Preservation Board. Talking to Julie Fields "State Preservation Board" and R. J. DeSilva "Comptroller's Office" none gave direct evidence if it was federal money, but easily deflecting attention away from the issue. 

Texas Budget for New Exams

http://www.statesman.com/

By Kate Alexander-Texas budget might test if students need materials to study for new exams

            They expect the students to take there final exams when they don’t have the updated classroom materials, and this exams count toward there graduation. How is this fair to the students?

            In May, the State Board of Education delayed new science textbooks cause of a $347 million price tag.  Next year’s ninth-graders will be the first to experience the end-of-course exams in English, math, science, and social studies. And these courses aren’t getting easier new standards contain a lot more content, and are more intense.  I think this article should be read, because they should consecrate more on teaching then testing and explains why Texas education is weak.