Children still low on Texas list of prioritiesSomervell County Salon-Glen Rose, Rainbow, Nemo, Glass....Texas

Children still low on Texas list of priorities

12 January 2009 at 11:07:09 AM

pstern

I'll make this commentary "short and sweet". If kids were important to elected officials, they would have arrived at a rational and swift resolution to financing public education and generating real learning outcomes. There would NOT have been a decade-long inertia on the issue!

In addition, several years ago Gov. Rick Perry ordered cutting social services and health care for children because the state was trying to balance the budget, in which Perry's questionable leadership sent legislators an outline of a budget that included nothing but zeros in the dollars column. Meanwhile, under considerable public pressure and an election year, Perry reinstated some of the dollars previously taken away from these children's programs and then took the credit for adding dollars to those needed programs. 'Whatta guy!'

Recklessly, the state continues to focus on children passing inconsequential exams (e.g., the TAKS) as the means to gauge student knowledge. If we really care about our children here in Texas, we instead would promote the effective process of learning, to teach children how to learn for themselves, rather than to teach them to learn for one major exam that does little to enhance or improve their education and learning sustenance. In essence, we need to teach our children how to become productive members of our society. Instead, we have placed this urgent priority on some obscure back-burner.

Furthermore, during the past seven years or so it has been our misfortune to have the same types of "leaders" attempting to resolve the issues of public education and its financing. External special interests have combated that effort because elected officials have permitted it. Quite frankly, wealthy and influential individuals and groups like multi-millionaire James Leininger (who virtually cares only about a voucher program and little else), former CEO Bill Hammond and his Texas Association of Business (who promoted increasing class size to save on teachers' salaries), long-time Chair of various Committees on Public Education Rep. Kent Grusendorf (who several years ago lost his bid for reelection), Speaker Tom Craddick (who finally lost his Speaker status) who keeps appointing the same lackluster individuals on these committees, and finally, Gov. Rick Perry who could push for an immediate resolution to ANY issue if he wanted to. By now it should be clear that our state government is inundated with corruptive influences who do NOT place Texas children at the top of their priority list.

Children are a state's most important resource because they are our future. To discard their 1 educational needs and tangible learning outcomes is a vile, contemptible and irresponsible action perpetrated by special interests and those officials elected by the people of Texas to provide the education, services, programs, financing and activities that benefit the community at-large.

Highlighting this issue is that Texas currently is near the bottom of the national list of providing our children with their educational and health needs. We should all be VERY ashamed of this and we need to act on initiating positive change. The best way to get Texas back on-track and to serve our children properly is to fully pressure legislators for positive educational, social and financial change and/or to vote-out all incumbent lackluster special interest officials in the next several elections --- that includes from the governor on down-the-line!

Permalink
Views: 2576
Latest Blog Post by pstern -Who funds ISIS?

Somervell County Salon Blog is now an archive site. Commenting not enabled.