Nbadan
05-04-2006, 05:08 PM
Steal from the poor TO give to my base
http://www.washblade.com/blog/images/perry%20demonstator.jpg
Texas's Do-nothing Governor
Tax plan threatens Texas schools
Perry proposal falls billions short of being balanced swap
By STATE REP. GARNET F. COLEMAN
IT'S halftime in the special session, and it's time for truth in advertising. Most Texans believe the Legislature is working on a real school finance solution. But Gov. Rick Perry's tax plan, as passed by Texas House, is not the "long-term school finance solution" that has been advertised for months. In fact, editorial writers labeled the House-passed plan an "irresponsible design" and a "loony idea" that would "doom the schools to a starvation diet and failure."
There are three ingredients in that starvation diet. First, the proposed new taxes wouldn't generate enough money to pay for its property tax cuts. Second, not a single penny of the new Perry tax revenue could be used to improve our children's schools this year, next year or forever. Third, the leadership took $1.8 billion that was set aside last year for public education to pay for their tax plan. As simple as one, two, three, our children and their schools were taken out of school finance and our future was placed in jeopardy.
House Bill 2, which was approved by a partisan House vote, requires all state funds from the new "broad-based business tax" to be dedicated to property tax cuts that primarily benefit wealthy property owners and the same big businesses that are promoting the Perry tax plan. Unless the Senate removes this dedicated funding provision to allow these funds to flow to our schools, education proposals touted by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will amount to nothing more than another Band-Aid for political cover that leaves students thirsting for knowledge in inadequately funded schools.
Compounding that problem is the fact that the tax plan itself is out of balance. The House plan took $2.3 billion from a short-term state surplus to pay for property tax cuts this year, and official estimates indicate the plan could drill a $10 billion to $11 billion hole in the state budget over the next five years. Ironically, the same leaders who support this plan have warned there really is no surplus given unmet state budget needs that don't even include restoring $3 billion cut in 2003 from teacher health insurance and proven educational improvement programs.
The Texas school population grows by 70,000 kids a year. Texas teacher pay is $6,000 below the national average and a new study warns that almost half of Texas teachers are considering leaving the profession when we already have a severe teacher shortage. The price of gas is crippling school transportation budgets. This year, the Houston Independent School District will pay $7.5 million more for electricity, $5 million more for health insurance and $2.5 million more for property insurance coverage — the same list of expenses we all face.
We all want a tax system that closes loopholes to make everyone pay their fair share, but those tax dollars could be used both to benefit our schools and provide property tax relief. Instead, by cooking up a witch's brew that falls billions short of a being balanced tax swap, the leadership's budget policies could endanger both education funding and other critical state needs like health care, higher education and public safety.
It didn't have to be this way. Rep. Scott Hochberg and House Democrats tried to propose a plan that matched every dollar for tax cuts with a dollar for our children's schools and teacher salaries. Last year, a bipartisan majority supported that approach. But this week, Speaker Tom Craddick passed a rule to prevent the House from even considering a plan that reflects the priorities of most Texans.
Unfortunately, the false advertising may get louder soon. The governor will promote any plan that passes as his "solution," using millions in campaign ads to claim "success." Now is the time to demand truth in advertising and a better plan for our future than the one posted on the scoreboard at halftime in the special session. For our children and their schools this is not a game.
Coleman represents Texas House District 147 in Houston and is the chair of the Legislative Study Group.
CRON.COM (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3828129.html)
http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/rae_freidman_bb.jpg
http://www.washblade.com/blog/images/perry%20demonstator.jpg
Texas's Do-nothing Governor
Tax plan threatens Texas schools
Perry proposal falls billions short of being balanced swap
By STATE REP. GARNET F. COLEMAN
IT'S halftime in the special session, and it's time for truth in advertising. Most Texans believe the Legislature is working on a real school finance solution. But Gov. Rick Perry's tax plan, as passed by Texas House, is not the "long-term school finance solution" that has been advertised for months. In fact, editorial writers labeled the House-passed plan an "irresponsible design" and a "loony idea" that would "doom the schools to a starvation diet and failure."
There are three ingredients in that starvation diet. First, the proposed new taxes wouldn't generate enough money to pay for its property tax cuts. Second, not a single penny of the new Perry tax revenue could be used to improve our children's schools this year, next year or forever. Third, the leadership took $1.8 billion that was set aside last year for public education to pay for their tax plan. As simple as one, two, three, our children and their schools were taken out of school finance and our future was placed in jeopardy.
House Bill 2, which was approved by a partisan House vote, requires all state funds from the new "broad-based business tax" to be dedicated to property tax cuts that primarily benefit wealthy property owners and the same big businesses that are promoting the Perry tax plan. Unless the Senate removes this dedicated funding provision to allow these funds to flow to our schools, education proposals touted by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will amount to nothing more than another Band-Aid for political cover that leaves students thirsting for knowledge in inadequately funded schools.
Compounding that problem is the fact that the tax plan itself is out of balance. The House plan took $2.3 billion from a short-term state surplus to pay for property tax cuts this year, and official estimates indicate the plan could drill a $10 billion to $11 billion hole in the state budget over the next five years. Ironically, the same leaders who support this plan have warned there really is no surplus given unmet state budget needs that don't even include restoring $3 billion cut in 2003 from teacher health insurance and proven educational improvement programs.
The Texas school population grows by 70,000 kids a year. Texas teacher pay is $6,000 below the national average and a new study warns that almost half of Texas teachers are considering leaving the profession when we already have a severe teacher shortage. The price of gas is crippling school transportation budgets. This year, the Houston Independent School District will pay $7.5 million more for electricity, $5 million more for health insurance and $2.5 million more for property insurance coverage — the same list of expenses we all face.
We all want a tax system that closes loopholes to make everyone pay their fair share, but those tax dollars could be used both to benefit our schools and provide property tax relief. Instead, by cooking up a witch's brew that falls billions short of a being balanced tax swap, the leadership's budget policies could endanger both education funding and other critical state needs like health care, higher education and public safety.
It didn't have to be this way. Rep. Scott Hochberg and House Democrats tried to propose a plan that matched every dollar for tax cuts with a dollar for our children's schools and teacher salaries. Last year, a bipartisan majority supported that approach. But this week, Speaker Tom Craddick passed a rule to prevent the House from even considering a plan that reflects the priorities of most Texans.
Unfortunately, the false advertising may get louder soon. The governor will promote any plan that passes as his "solution," using millions in campaign ads to claim "success." Now is the time to demand truth in advertising and a better plan for our future than the one posted on the scoreboard at halftime in the special session. For our children and their schools this is not a game.
Coleman represents Texas House District 147 in Houston and is the chair of the Legislative Study Group.
CRON.COM (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3828129.html)
http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/rae_freidman_bb.jpg