http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3332... Perry's order on spending says more about own failings than about school districts'
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
The movie critic A.H. Weiler once remarked that nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself. Few things bring that observation to mind with more alacrity than Gov. Rick Perry's order on school spending.
Having failed to lead state government toward fulfillment of its first duty — to provide an adequate and equitable system of public schools — the governor ordered the Texas Education Agency to see to it that school districts spend 65 percent of their budget on classroom instruction. The attorney general apparently forgot to inform Perry that the executive powers of Texas governors border on the nonexistent.
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Perry's order is particularly highhanded at a time when school energy costs are going through the poorly maintained schoolhouse roof. If Perry wants schools to cut back or end school bus service to meet the budget goal, let him say so.
The problem with school funding is not waste. The problem is that the state pays only 40 percent of public education's cost. In Houston, the state covers a ridiculous 12 percent, yet Perry wishes to dictate how 100 percent of the money will be apportioned — one of the most grotesque unfunded mandates since the term came into use.
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Gov. Perry's order serves two useful purposes. It demonstrates his indifference to the plight of public education, and it draws a bold diagram of how desperate that plight grows in Texas' leadership vacuum.
:applause: :loveya: