Sailing merrily along while our schools sink

[Carol Holst <kceh@airmail.net>]

Molly Ivins

Sailing merrily along while our schools sink
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
Friday, March 12, 2004

Gosh, we are having such a swell time here in Texas. For starters, once 
again the speaker of the Texas House is under investigation by a grand 
jury. We're so proud. We have nothing against this guy personally, we're 
just rooting for an indictment as a matter of Texas tradition. This 
would make five out of the last six House speakers indicted for one 
thing or another, and you must admit, that's some record.

(As a matter of strict accuracy, I should note that there was one 
speaker in there who was not indicted, but rather was shot to death by 
his wife. However, she was indicted -- although not convicted.)

Also adding to the je ne sais quoi at the old corral is our only 
governor, Cap'n Goodhair Perry. Cap'n Goodhair, who is from Haskell and 
went to school at College Station -- both decidedly landlocked -- has 
shown an unexpectedly nautical flair of late. Combining his hitherto 
unknown passion for the briny deep with the exigencies of the school 
funding crisis, Cap'n Rick decided the thorny problem could best be 
resolved at sea. He decided to hold a seminar on school finance at 
Abaco, in the Bahamas, aboard a 54-foot yacht.

This "working retreat" over President's Day weekend was paid for by the 
governor's campaign and "private donations." Abaco is also noted for 
great bonefishing. Speaker Tom Craddick, who was unable to go because of 
recent neck surgery, didn't get the word about the "working" part, and 
his spokesman said: "He didn't feel like scuba diving with a neck brace. 
There isn't anything he could have done with that neck brace." Such as, 
for instance, discuss school financing.

Scouring the nation for the finest financial minds of his generation to 
go along on the retreat, Cap'n Goodhair took two major donors, James 
Leininger and James Nau, with wives, and Grover Norquist, the anti-tax 
nut from Washington. And there they sailed on the good ship "Voucher 
Plan."

Actually, I just made up the boat's name, but it seems apt, since 
Leininger is a passionate advocate of school vouchers and has given 
literally millions to state candidates in hopes of getting them to vote 
for that very thing. Brooke Rollins, head of the extremely right-wing 
Texas Public Policy Foundation, largely funded by Leininger, was also 
along.

Norquist is just the sailor you want in the crew when contemplating the 
disaster about to engulf the public schools. He is behind the national 
anti-tax movement, and 38 Texas Republican legislators have now signed 
his pledge to never, ever raise taxes, without exceptions, including for 
catastrophic emergencies. Norquist himself is a noted contributor to the 
sweet science of state governance, saying last year: "We are trying to 
change the tones in the state capitols and turn them toward bitter 
nastiness and partisanship. . . . Bipartisanship is just another name 
for date rape."

Now, I don't want to be alarmist, but there is a new study out called 
"Voucher Veneer: the Deeper Agenda to Privatize Public Education" by 
People for the American Way. Unfortunately, all the authors had to do 
was read think-tank papers and policy proposals normally circulated only 
among the right wing to notice that vouchers are simply a stalking 
horse. Not that it takes a lot of insight to realize that a plan 
consisting of, "Let's take a lot of the tax money that goes to public 
schools and give it to private schools, instead," is not a plan designed 
to help public education.

Texas is the National Laboratory for Bad Government, and think what a 
splendid opportunity we now have to completely ruin our public schools 
by doing absolutely nothing. Our schools are funded by the Robin Hood 
plan adopted in 1993, which arrives at an approximate level of fairness 
between rich and poor districts by taking money from rich districts and 
giving them to poor ones.

Local property taxes have skyrocketed, while state lawmakers 
complacently brag they haven't raised taxes. The state's share of the 
cost of public education has dropped from 52 percent in 1980 to 38 
percent today. The state, which has an infinitely larger tax base than 
local districts, may not have raised state taxes, but they have sure as 
a by-God raised your local taxes.

This cannot continue. More than half of the school districts are already 
within 1 percent of the top tax rate allowed by state law. They can 
raise local taxes no further. They are cutting programs and firing 
teachers and administrators. More and more are applying for waivers to 
get their districts exempted from the state requirements that there be 
no more than 22 pupils per teacher in the first elementary grades, and 
that was the great triumph of years of school reform efforts. As we have 
all learned over the long struggle to improve the schools, smaller class 
size is the one improvement we know works no mater what the other 
variables are.

We need at least $10 billion in new taxes to fix this without harming 
the schools. The alternative is a $2 billion fix patch on the old system 
that will further decay the schools. So, attention all Americans, the 
case study being right here in Texas, home of so much bad public policy: 
how to destroy the public schools.

Ivins is based in Austin.

Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/friday/editorial_0415e67653840072008f.
html

Carol's Crabby Comments-
I disagree with the $10 billion statement. For one, we could dispense 
with the expensive and bogus school testing program. We could also shift 
the "accountability" monkey from the backs of kids to those who waste 
public money.
But I do agree that vouchers are not only a stalking horse for public 
schools but a trojan horse for those choosing private alternatives. Does 
anybody really believe that there will be no strings attached to a wad 
of cash received after completing what will probably be gobs of 
paperwork?
If you think resistance is expensive, try compliance with No Child Left 
Behind.