It’s up to voters to restore education funding cuts
“Elections have consequences.”
Out of all the many eloquentwords uttered by PresidentObama during his tenure, those three may be the most important. He spoke them directly to then- HouseRepublican Whip Eric Cantor shortly after being elected, but they should be heeded by all of us.
The 2010 elections had huge consequences for Texas schoolchildren. A tidalwave of newlawmakers took office, and most of them had a single agenda: cutting government. The importance and necessity of the program or department being cutwas secondary to the huge urgency to reduce expenditures. Themantrawas cut first — finding newrevenue sourceswas off the table altogether— and just let the employees of those departments pick up the pieces as best they could.
One of the hardest hit state responsibilitieswas public education, which suffered $ 5.4 billion in cuts— the first time since WorldWar II that the state failed to account for newenrollment growth in our public schools.
Since then, schools have had to scramble and skimp. Requests for classsizewaivers exploded, at a timewhen the state is also implementing higher testing standards. Our children’s teachers have been told, even more than in the past, to “do more with less.”
This is shortsighted policy that eventually is going to bite us. The future of our children and their education is the lifeblood of our economy.
Thankfully, Texans seem to realize this. A recent poll by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Texas Lyceum revealed that a whopping 74 percent of registered Texas voters said theywould be willing to pay more taxes to raise teacher pay. Given the polarization that grips our nation’s political landscape these days, that is about as close to unanimous as one could hope for. Solid majorities also said theywere willing to pay higher taxes for construction of new schools, computers for the kids and other investments.
So the question nowis: Will that sentiment translate into election results?
With amajority that large, then presumably some of that 74 percent are also the same people who sent the “cuts- only” legislators toAustin in the first place. Nowthat voters can see the damage that has been done by that sole approach, they need to make sure theirNov. 6 votes accurately represent their desires.
Remember, when you head to the polls, voters will be selecting a lot more than the president. They will be picking many down- ballot races aswell, including state senators and representatives— races that, despite being further downon the ballot, are of great importance to our children.
Ifwe really believe that our schools deserve greater investment, then voters need to put hard questions to thosewhowant to serve. Look past party affiliation — educating our children should not be a Democratic orRepublican issue— and ask those on the ballot: “Will you go into the Capitol with a cuts- onlymentality, or will you prioritize education and find the revenue sources necessary to reverse the cuts?”
If voters desire betterfunded schools but then elect officeholderswho only demand more cuts… well, elections have consequences.