The Socialist Disease: More Education Money Won't Solve Problems, written by the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Michael Quinn Sullivan, doesn't quite come out and be honest about what needs to be done. It does, however, say this:
Consider this: we've tripled real-per-student spending in less than 30 years, and built monuments to fiscal mismanagement with athletic and administration complexes rivaling college facilities; we have superintendents with multi-year contracts valued in the millions of dollars.Meanwhile, scores on the SAT, ACT and other national indicators of academic achievement have shown no improvement in the quality of education for kids surviving the system. Drop-out rates, especially for minorities, are an embarrassment.
[...]
Let us set aside reason and pretend more money might actually, finally, for the first time, make a positive difference. Why not prioritize state spending? Is there nothing to cut in the state budget to provide more money for education? Nothing less important?
We have a commission to encourage government employee productivity; there are at least a dozen river authorities with billions in assets. Texas has a commission on acupuncture. There is nothing to cut? Nothing to change? No way to save money?
In the religious pantheon of the left, government agencies and programs are wrathful gods to be fiscally appeased - never questioned - on a regular basis, regardless of the economic effect.
ATTENTION: Comments are closed. You are viewing my old blog, archived for search engine purposes.
To view the new blog, please go to the homepage. To find the current version of this entry, search here.
Once again, Michael Quinn Sullivan demonstrates he is living in a dream world, clearly out of touch with reality. Texas government is controlled by hard-core, doctrinate conservatives, even radicals, and they can't manage to cut spending in the manner Sullivan suggests. The fact is that constitutents demand public spending (and, of course, tax cuts too.) It's just that the Republicans seem to see nothing wrong with lying about how government can somehow do more with less. That line works fine for a while, but eventually reality comes around and bites. The TPPF's time and influence is running out, and Sullivan soon may have to go find a real job, not just sit around writing libertarian polemics.
Posted by: Dennis on June 4, 2004 07:09 AMI know, Dennis. From my perspective, though I blame deficit-busting politicians responsibile for their largesse, they are generally responding to the demands of the people they represent. If they stop funneling state or federal tax money towards their districts, they can expect a harder re-election campaign.
I wish Republicans would live up to their lofty statements of principle (gag) and control and limit the influence of government over society, but have yet to see much progress.
Posted by: Drizz on June 4, 2004 08:32 AM