Shane Hardin for Texas House District 93

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:

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

One of the questions I get asked most is, “Do you have kids in public schools?”.  The answer is yes.  I have a daughter in third grade and another daughter that is getting ready to go into kindergarten this year.  The thought of placing my children in a private school never even crossed my mind.  We are blessed to live here in Keller, which has a wonderful school district.  But even as good as the schools are in Keller, they have felt the pinch of the last legislative sessions in Austin. 

Public schools were cut somewhere to the tune of $5.4 Billion.  Not only that, but the same old out-of-date school funding system was left in place.  The Texas Legislature did not do their job and shirked their responsibility to Texas youth.  These young citizens have no voice in Austin.  It is time that they did and we must represent them and do what is in their best interests for their education.

I propose we scrap the current school funding system and replace it with a more equitable system.  Texas needs a one price-per-pupil way to fund.  That means that the school in Southlake gets the same amount of money per student as the student in Laredo.  This amount needs to be near the current national average, which would mean an increase of roughly $1,400 per student.  Texas is currently 48^th in the country in cost per student.  So how are we going to pay for this increase? 

For far too long, we have been making purchases on the internet without paying sales tax.  It is time we did.  We also need to set a separate, untouchable account for this sales tax revenue to be deposited.  This account will be dedicated solely for the purpose of education.  Remember twenty years ago when we voted for the Texas Lottery? We voted for that under the promise that it would provide much-needed funding for education. We know now that the money went into the General Revenue Fund instead of a dedicated account for education and we have seen the ramifications of that during Rick Perry’s tenure as governor.     

Texas kids cannot vote but parents can.  It is time that we stepped up and to do what is right for our kid’s future. Texas Education shouldn't be an oxymoron. 

Questions or comments? I would love to hear them! I want to be YOUR representative for District 93.

Shane Hardin