While Dripping Springs is locked in a tough battle to keep from having to cut an additional $3.1 million out of our budget (on top of the $2.1 cut this year,) the truth is, with the same Legislature going back in 2013, it won't get any better. I'm angry that we've come to this- I'm really angry at Jason Isaac and the so-called "leadership" of our state. We should never have to be in the position of having to raise our taxes this much, but since they cut Dripping Springs more than most schools (only about 10 got cut a larger percentage,) despite the fact that we've had top financial ratings, (meaning we have little to no "fat" to cut,) we've got 2 choices:
1. We can vote to raise our taxes or
2. We can vote to greatly diminish our schools.
Raising taxes is really hard right now, but I know that the School Board will lower them the minute the Lege steps up to the plate and does their Constitutional duty to fund public schools.
(from the Texas Constitution)
"It shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools."
Does anyone think the Lege made "suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public schools" this last time? I know we're in a hard place, I get that, but this Legislature made NO EFFORT to fix what got us into this funding mess- the "tax swap" of 2006. When they passed that bill, they knew that, barring some pixie dust making magical things happen, there was no way the "Margins Tax" would raise enough funds to fund schools at the level they'd been promised in past legislation. Yet, they passed it anyway, kicked the can down the road, and this year, they kicked it down the road again. They didn't fix the funding problem in legislation, and the first thing they will have to deal with then they return in 2013 is to pay 2 delayed bills that were put from this biennium's budget into the next one- 1 for a school payment & 1 for a big Medicaid payment, so we start with a huge deficit in 2013, too, not to mention that the margins tax STILL won't have brought in enough funding, so there will be even less money in the budget then.
So, now we're to this: many of us are hurting, and asking us to pay more taxes won't be easy, but when I realize that it is less than $10 a week for us, I can certainly justify $10 a week for our daughter's education. Then I realize that won't just cover her, but all the over 4,000 children in DSISD and it becomes something from which I can't walk away. So, we'll cut something from our budget, and it may mean that we literally eat beans and rice one a week or so, but the question becomes- what do we value? Our kids? Our future? Our stuff?
I'm working on a devotional for our church's Advent book, and just about all the scriptures I was given are about transitoriness and/or justice. Could these verses have come at a more opportune time? I look at them in the context of this tax election and see that this sacrifice that we're being asked to make is just a short term one, but the investment we will make may well make a difference in the lives of these kids. Indeed, we may be nurturing the next Steve Jobs, or the next great artist or musician or researcher who may discover a cure for cancer, or just a lot of productive citizens. If we have to cut all classes that promote imagination and originality, if we have to pack science and math classes with more children that a teacher can ever hope to help individually, what level of disservice are we doing not only to our kids, but to our future? Psalms 90 is titled "God's Eternity" and Man's Transitoriness"- I think that about says it all.
This is a link to an editorial from Channel 2 in Houston, about what our Lege did in terms of not funding our schools and what it means. While Dripping has an election on Tuesday that means a lot, the primaries in March and election in November mean a great deal to all our children and to our future. Whether you homeschool, outside private school or public school, public schools educate the majority of our children and having good schools are important to our future. We can get into discussions about what the Lege has done to public education (or test taking training, as so much of it is now) but that is our next mission, once we get past this one- going back to letting teachers teach!)
IF you're in Dripping, the elections are Tuesday, Nov. 8, Election Day (Tuesday, November 8) - DSISD voting precinct locations are as follows:
Precinct Voting Location
440 Henly Baptist Church, 200 Henly Loop
441/449 DSISD Administrative Bldg., 510 W. Mercer St.
442/448 Driftwood Community Center, 15100 W. FM 150
443/444 Sunset Canyon Baptist Church, 4400 E. Hwy 290
Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.
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