Fellow Texans, we have been duped. The first shots of the
War on Education have not been fired recently. They were first shot around two
years ago and the vast majority of Texans (including me) did not even realize
it.
Before the last legislative session in 2011, the economy and
the state were in pretty bad sorts because of the Great Recession. Due to
shrinking property values and poor purchasing across Texas, state revenue for the
upcoming biennium budgets were not projected to be good and drastic cuts needed
to made. Public education was top on the list for major budget cutbacks.
We all heard that no one wanted to make these cuts to
education, but there was no other choice. There were protests. Organizations
like Save Texas Schools were formed. Students, teachers, parents and concerned
citizens pleaded with legislators to tap into the Rainy Day Fund to help
education. They begged legislators to understand that education was too
important and that this kind of emergency warranted the use of the savings
account.
Outstanding legislators such as Senator Wendy Davis worked tirelessly to prevent the butchering of the education budget, but Perry and the Republican legislature did not budge. The result was $5.4 billion dollars in overall cuts to public education. Citizens swallowed this news begrudgingly, but it was tolerable because of we all knew that some sacrifices had to be made. We did not like it, but there was nothing more to be done.
Fast forward to 2012. The overall state of affairs for the
country and the state are better than they were, but we still have a long road
of recovery ahead. Revenues are up slightly and there is already talk of restoring
funds to help improve education and bring Texas out of last place in almost
every statistical education category in the nation.
Those hopes were all but destroyed during the recent StateRepublican Convention in Fort Worth. During political party conventions, certain
resolutions are passed that will more or less be the party’s platform during
the upcoming year. One of the resolutions passed during the Republican
convention reads as follows:
“Additional money does not translate into educational achievement, and higher education costs are out of control, we support reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education institutions.”
In other words, their new platform says that the $5.4
billion budget cuts dealt to public schools and higher education last year isn’t enough. There it is, in
black and white. No one can claim ignorance when voting because their
intentions are clearly stated. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor, this assault
cannot be ignored. The battle lines have been drawn. The Republican Party, if
elected, will make more cuts to a system already in crisis.
This War on Education must be stopped. With my election to the Texas House of
Representatives, I will not allow this to happen. If you believe in maintaining
kids’ constitutional right to public education, I ask for your support in
November. Please visit www.HardinforTexasHouse.com and contribute
today.
Shane Hardin
Follow me on Twitter @ShaneAlanHardin
