I read about it this afternoon in The Chron. The State Senate of Texas voted 30 For and 1 Against using $4 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to close the funding gap that exists between what is needed to “make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools”– a constitutional mandate – and what they are actually going to authorize.
So an $8 billion funding gap becomes a $4 billion funding gap if only the Senate can get the House to agree.
Something I highly doubt will happen. And why is that? Well the Senate, aside from Senator Dan Patrick, is devoid of Tea Party Republicans. The Senate still has that overwhelming Republican majority, but aside from Patrick, none of them ascribe to Tea Party principles.
The House doesn’t have that. In the House, Teabaggers proliferate. Teabaggers want something for nothing. Or worse, they want to privatize public education. That way they can cut their taxes even more.
Even though it is constitutionally mandated that the state provide a public education.
Well we already know that, since they are already not funding public education adequately, that part of the Texas Constitution, Article 7 Section 1, is like the English monarchy, mainly symbolic and ceremonial.
It’s like the Framers wanted to say that they are for education because “A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people” but actually paying for it, really going all the way and fully funding education, well gee, not really.
Actually, the Framers were only kidding.
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