No Texan can be proud of the $5 billion dollar education cuts?

As a result of the 82nd Texas Legislature’s actions, the funding for public schools will decline in the upcoming biennium. To quote Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, he states “No Texan can be proud of this.” Texas has faced a $15 billion dollar shortfall and the legislatures chose to cut $5 billion of those dollars from the Texas school systems. These proposals would eliminate 9,600 state jobs over the next biennium. “`'It's a catastrophe. No financial aid for kids to go to college. No pre-kindergarten for kids to learn their numbers and their letters. Health and human services slashed,” said Rep. Pete Gallego. To read more about the $5 billion dollar cuts, go to this link .

In the ‘Texan’s Point of View’ blog, found at this Link she points out that “Education shouldn't be a burden on the economy because the children in our education system are our future.” I agree that education should not be a burden on the economy, however during the recession that Texas is faced with we are affected by what I like to refer to as the ‘Domino affect.’ If the legislature did not cut from the school systems, then they would have to cut from more state positions, which they are already doing, however daily business has to keep going in order to bring in the revenue for the education systems.

Not to confuse the reader on this subject, but schools K-12 are funded by what is known as the Permanent School Fund (PSF). This is through revenue generated from state-owned managed lands. Now if we were to cut the jobs of those people bringing in the revenue for the PSF, then either way the school systems would not be funded and would fail either way. They are also funded through grants and if you would like to read more about the facts and insights on Texas schools you can go to this Link. During this time, the state of Texas must look at our future and move forward with what we are handed and rebuild. It is a perfect opportunity for our state to take advantage of our shortfall and fix things that are broken.

Texan’s POV makes many valid arguments about the disappointment in the legislatives choices on school cuts; however the realistic approach is that Texas is facing an economic catastrophe and everything comes full circle. So let’s take advantage of what we have not lost and build off that. This could either be a band aid approach or could be to our advantage long term.