Special Session Ends with Zilch

The session ended with nothing getting done.

The special session on school finance, which ended in spirit Friday, ended in fact Monday when the House and then the Senate adjourned for good two days earlier than expected - without approving a bill.

"For good," in this case, might mean lawmakers come back for summer school. Or it could mean a fall special session. Much will depend on progress made by two working groups that will be formed so lawmakers can plug away at the impasses that blocked all efforts to produce a consensus.

[...]

The special session, which would have run out its 30-day clock Wednesday, fell apart because of sharp differences on how to replace the current school funding system, which relies heavily on local property taxes and sends those tax dollars from wealthier school districts to ones with lower property wealth.

The proposals that went nowhere included efforts to change or create new business taxes, raise and broaden the sales tax, increase the levy on tobacco products and legalize slot machines at pari-mutuel tracks and on Indian property.

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From one perspective, this is good news. Any plan that includes taxing more Texans for the education of others is something I oppose. Any plan that imposes further state control over our education is something I oppose.

From another, this is bad news. Regardless of my stance towards the current educational system in Texas, it cannot be forgotten that there are millions of children stuck in these government schools and millions of adults paying taxes to keep them there. That has to end and it won't happen until either parents revolt (refuse to pay taxes, take their kids out of school, or remove the Constitutional mandate for public education) or the Legislature changes the bulk of the law to withdraw the state of Texas from educational matters and hand more and more decisions to parents and guardians.

Posted by Drizzten at May 18, 2004 12:20 PM