After the housing bubble burst in late 2008, Democrats approved a stimulus package that Obama signed that sent millions of dollars to the nation’s schools. Then-governor of Texas Rick Perry used those funds to balance his shitty budget. None of it went to schools. The school I was teaching at lost it’s theater arts program, they had to reduce staff by attrition, the district rebalanced staff levels in a Last In First Out manner, we got no cost of living pay increase or step pay increase (same exact pay as the prior year), and class sizes skyrocketed. I didn’t have a middle school math class with fewer than 31 students that year.
The following year, another stimulus package was passed for education. There was language in this bill that specifically said that it MUST be used for education purposes and that the money would be recouped from any state that doesn’t use it toward that end. Then-AG Greg Abbott went to court to fight for Rick Perry’s right to use the money however he wanted.
And finally, the Texas lottery was sold to Texans as a way to provide extra funds to schools. However, that’s not what happens. Instead of funds from the lottery supplementing education, it supplants the funds. It would be like if your dad gave you $100 every year for your birthday, but then one year your grandma gave your dad $20 to give to you, and so your dad just gave you $100 and pocketed the $20.
Texas Republicans don’t give a single solitary fuck about public education. I’d rail on their push for the voucher system, but I finally left that festering removed and can’t be arsed to give a fuck about it any more.
After the housing bubble burst in late 2008, Democrats approved a stimulus package that Obama signed that sent millions of dollars to the nation’s schools. Then-governor of Texas Rick Perry used those funds to balance his shitty budget. None of it went to schools. The school I was teaching at lost it’s theater arts program, they had to reduce staff by attrition, the district rebalanced staff levels in a Last In First Out manner, we got no cost of living pay increase or step pay increase (same exact pay as the prior year), and class sizes skyrocketed. I didn’t have a middle school math class with fewer than 31 students that year.
The following year, another stimulus package was passed for education. There was language in this bill that specifically said that it MUST be used for education purposes and that the money would be recouped from any state that doesn’t use it toward that end. Then-AG Greg Abbott went to court to fight for Rick Perry’s right to use the money however he wanted.
And finally, the Texas lottery was sold to Texans as a way to provide extra funds to schools. However, that’s not what happens. Instead of funds from the lottery supplementing education, it supplants the funds. It would be like if your dad gave you $100 every year for your birthday, but then one year your grandma gave your dad $20 to give to you, and so your dad just gave you $100 and pocketed the $20.
Texas Republicans don’t give a single solitary fuck about public education. I’d rail on their push for the voucher system, but I finally left that festering removed and can’t be arsed to give a fuck about it any more.
This kind of story is old as time. A similar thing happened in Illinois.