Texas drops close to bottom among states in student spending
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130222-texas-drops-close-to-bottom-among-states-in-student-spending.eceAUSTIN — Texas has dropped to 49th in spending per pupil and is now more than $3,000 below the U.S. average — or about $66,000 less per elementary classroom — according to new comparisons by the National Education Association.
Texas schools are spending $8,400 per student in the current school year, well under the national average of $11,455. Only Arizona and Nevada spend less among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Preliminary figures that the labor group released Friday show per pupil spending in the state has now decreased $1,046 from the 2010-11 school year, when Texas ranked 41st with an average of $9,446.
The precipitous drop in the rankings follows the Legislature’s decision in 2011 to cut funding for public schools by $5.3 billion in the current two-year budget to offset a revenue shortfall without raising taxes.
Stupid people in Austin continue to dominate the Lege. Why?
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Student test scores on the various exams indicate that Texas is holding its own (usually in the mid 30s among the 50 states) even though education is shorted in both financial resources and respect from most of our legislators.
On a personal note of pride, my primary school in George West was recognized in September 2012 as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. It is the only school chosen twice since 2003 in Texas. The primary school is one of only 16 in Texas to achieve a 2012 Naitonal Blue Ribbon designation. 
Why are our legislators so stupid? What happened in their lives between middle school and being elected into office that made them lose perspective on the benefits offered by government? For some reason "teh stoopid" manages to worm it out of the heartless souls. I think that some legislators must have been "rejected" in some fashion and in revenge they choose to torment others. Meanwhile, some of the other legislators are elected because they rally around the idea of limited government or anarchy.
Reading the comment sections on newspapers throughout the state I see comments of people that refuse to respect any type of authority figure whether it be military forces, police forces or school teachers. Of course, these are the same people (including newspaper editors) that think that they built their own businesses and became prosperous without any outside influences despite the fact that they avail themselves to public services. For instance, do you think that anyone would subscribe to their local county newspaper if they had to pay the price that FedEx or UPS charges instead of the subsidized prices of the USPS?
I have a lot of respect for the teachers that choose to remain in the classroom to teach. I know of a lot of teachers that try to work into administrative roles such as principals and superintendents because respect is lacking from students, parents, administration and the general public. The schools primary purpose should be to educate students instead of building bloated staffs of administrative professionals that make higher salaries than the teachers.
