You do have a real choice

My “Top 10 reasons to vote against Rick Perry,” posted yesterday, prompted a response from an educator and former Houston resident, who questioned why voting for Democratic nominee Bill White for governor would be any better.

“That leaves us, as educators, between a rock and a hard place. Do we vote for Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum?” the reader asked.

Comparing Tweedle Dee to Tweedle Dum in the governor’s race, however, more accurately describes the choice between Perry and the Libertarian candidate, not Bill White. Perry and the Libertarian have a lot in common. They both are campaigning against government, even though Perry has been on the taxpayer payroll for 24 years, the last 10 as governor.

Perry enjoys the prestige and perks of his office – and the opportunities to reward political friends – but has a history of neglecting public services, including the public schools, just as the Libertarian would. And, Perry is planning, if reelected, to make more cuts in an already inadequate school funding system. His education commissioner already has proposed cutting $260 million for a range of important items – including updated textbooks and science labs from the next public education budget.

If Perry has his way, many educators will no longer be between a rock and a hard place. They will be under a rock – jobless.

Bill White appreciates the role of government and is running for governor because he actually wants to govern. He also recognizes and values the importance of public education and has vowed to make that a priority. He is the son of two public school teachers and the father of a teacher.

As mayor of Houston, he knocked on doors, encouraging dropouts to return to the classroom and, as governor, would continue to attack the statewide dropout problem, which Perry largely has ignored. White recognizes the importance of early childhood development in longterm dropout prevention. Perry vetoed a bipartisan prekindergarten bill.

White also believes the role of the State Board of Education should be to further the cause of education, not to spread political and religious ideology. His SBOE chairs won’t be extremists.

White will listen to educators, not go out of his way to undermine them with budget cuts and illadvised schemes to siphon tax dollars from the public schools to pay for private school vouchers.

There is a clearcut choice between White and Perry, and educators who fail to vote will be kicking themselves come January.