More Texans say they favor sharing the wealth

[Judi Lynn]

Sept. 10, 2005, 10:21PM

More Texans say they favor sharing the wealth
EDUCATION FUNDING
An income tax, other proposals draw responses along party lines
By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - Although a growing number of Texans believe their local property taxes are too high, most support the controversial law, dubbed "Robin Hood," that requires property wealthy school districts to share tax revenue with poorer schools.

But there are sharp differences between Republicans and Democrats over the share-the-wealth law, the Scripps Howard Texas Poll shows, underscoring one reason for the Legislature's prolonged inability to overhaul the school finance system and cut local school taxes.
(snip)

'Makes a lot of sense'
But despite the Republican attacks against Robin Hood, 57 percent of the survey's respondents agree that rich districts should share their money with poorer schools. Some 38 percent disagree, and 5 percent don't know, reflecting similar polls earlier this year.

"The vast majority of people, as they study it, say it makes a lot of sense to take the state's wealth, where it is in abundance, and move it to where the children are in abundance," said Wayne Pierce, executive director of the Texas Equity Center, which represents several hundred low- and middle-wealth school districts.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3347283
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[hadrons]

1. and yet they vote for the likes of Bush, DeLay, etc ....

complete disconnect

[Oerdin]

3. We have this in California.

And it seems to have evened things out a bit. Unfortunately standards are still set at the local instead of state or national level so many districts have watered down their teaching and testing standards to the point where kids really were graduating from high school unable to read a complete article in a magazine. Please remember that mass media articles tend to be at about an 8th grade level.

One of the few good reforms the Republicans have made is forcing high school exit exams and yearly tests on schools that didn't want them. Such an approach is far from perfect but it is better then what many kids got from their local schools. Now if we could only get them to restore the promised funding so that teachers actually have the resources to do their jobs...

[Usrename]

2. I read the words but I can't parse the meaning.

:wtf:

[klyon]

4. finally

The right was fighting this when I moved to Texas in '79
Texas schools are separate and unequal. Aren't most states the same? Local tax pays for local school so poor areas with low tax base have the worst schools.

KL

[acmejack]

5. And we have a legislator down here

named Shapiro, who was quoted saying "I can't understand where people get the idea that they are entitled to a free education"!

I live a "privileged" area where they recently built a $7 million football stadium! Can't let those poor schools get that mooney.

[ret5hd]

8. i believe you mean State Representative Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball...

here's the entire quote:

"Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell. And it's cleverly disguised as having a tender heart, it's ripping the heart out of this country."

[tsuki]

6. We have level FTE Funding in Florida. eom

[bribri16]

7. Yes. If you don't like poor people, stop making them poor. n/t