House Appropriation Chairman Jim Pitts speaking to the Tribune early this month admitted that the 82nd legislature made the right decisions on K-12 funding.
This, despite liberal claims, echoed endlessly in the media, that the legislature made cuts that would harm children (actually, there were no “cuts” made – growth was slowed).
Pitts noted that the doom and gloom public education advocates promised us never occurred. Massive layoffs did not happen. Pitts said, “I don’t think we’ve underfunded education.”
Pitts’ Senate counterpart, Tommy Williams, had similar sentiments, and added, “We have a lot of very inefficient districts.”
Williams went on to say, “ I’ve had some superintendents from very large school districts say, ‘Thank you, I never could’ve fired these administrators unless you cut my funding,’” Williams recalled. “They won’t say it publicly but they say it privately.”
In general, spending issues like water infrastructure and education are being given priority over reform this legislative session. Conservative Texans are left with very few champions in Austin who make continued education budget growth conditional on spending reforms such as constitutional spending limits and zero-based budgeting.
The media is happily reporting that $2 billion towards undefined water projects is being fast-tracked, despite the Texas Tribune reporting that water is not on Texans’ policy radar. But, the lobby has told the legislature that it wants water and road money, so the legislature is performing – without conditions.
The education spending bonanza demanded by Democrats and educrats won’t go towards reforming a deeply flawed system. It will, sadly, slow the correction of mis-allocated spending.
And despite mythology peddled in Austin, being a responsible legislator is not electorally dangerous. A 2011 study published in The Economist showed that tough budget reformers are not electorally punished, and that even cuts that inspire protests do not attract increased amounts of electoral retribution.