Public Education Budget Cuts

Budget cuts introduced in the recent 82nd Texas Legislature take on form and face in an article by Morgan Smith of the Texas Tribune. The issue of public school funding has been one that has plagued Governor Rick Perry throughout his time in office and will, more than likely, continue to be an issue as we move into the future. The article, which can be found at http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/tk/, states that there will be an unprecedented $4 billion dollar reduction to state funding of public schools and an additional $1.4 billion dollar cut in discretionary grants for public education. The article presents an interesting view of the legislation implemented by Rick Perry in the arena of education over the years, and his well-known distaste for federal government involvement in public education; a distaste which led to Perry’s refusal to sign on to the common core-curriculum standards being introduced throughout the country in 2009. The price for this refusal was somewhere in the range of $700 million in grants. With a ranking as low as #49 in average verbal SAT scores among the nation, #46 in average math SAT scores, and #33 in teacher salaries, according to Susan Comb, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, it seems to me that maybe it would behoove our governor to concede that the state simply cannot afford to suffer another budget cut in the area of public education.

The article also provides an interesting view on how Rick Perry’s decisions in education are likely to affect how this issue is addressed in the presidential campaigns and elections to come.