Month: <span>March 2011</span>

Looking bad? You bet!

One highranking Republican House member fretted during a Republican Caucus meeting this week that the Senate was making the House “look bad” by considering a budget that wouldn’t cut as deeply into state services as the House version, House Bill 1. This fretting was reported today by Jason Embry in an Austin AmericanStatesman commentary on […]

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The cart, the horse and the ditch

State leaders have made a habit of putting the education cart before the horse. Now, if House leaders have their way with House Bill 1, they are going to shove both into the ditch, while the governor applauds and some of his supporters wring their hands. Even before the current budgetary emergency, Texas scored well […]

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An inexpensive pat on the head

Nice words are, well, nice. But they don’t pay the bills. Click on the link below to read about House Resolution 828, routinely approved by the Texas House this week, declaring March 2125 as Texas Retired Teachers Week. “The Texas House of Representatives takes pride in its public educators, who provide an invaluable service to […]

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Let’s put the classroom first, maybe.

Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro and several of her Republican Senate colleagues talked a good game for teachers in their news conference this morning, but… “Protecting the classroom is our No. 1 priority,” Shapiro said, telling superintendents to cut administrators first. Her statements were echoed by others, including Sen. Dan Patrick. Now, the “but” part. […]

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