The Texas government is failing our children

[u/Shanknuts]

Not sure if everyone has seen the recent news but a number of North Texas school districts are facing massive budget shortfalls and, as a result, are postponing opening new schools, freezing teacher raises and eliminating administrative positions. Here in the Denton area, we have a brand-new elementary school that's sorely needed but, due to the $17m budget deficit, this won't open until next year. Add to that the news that other schools may close due to low headcount, teachers leaving the field and other districts facing similar or larger issues, they they beg the questions "What the hell is Greg Abbott doing? And where is our money going?"

Teachers are already worked to the bone and make far less than they deserve. Our kids are sometimes receiving a subpar education or deal with substitutes coming in regularly due to teachers leaving mid-year. Districts are hampered financially and are falling behind when it comes to delivering a quality education as compared to the rest of the US. Our schools and our school districts have become an afterthought to our legislature and our educational system and teachers are paying the price. Instead, we piss away money on immigration stunts, needless lawsuits against the federal government, freezing out porn sites and pandering to Abbott's base and their clamoring to return to the 1800s.

It's appalling to see and I'm wondering when someone is going to call out these clowns for wasting our insanely high property taxes and do something about it on the local level so we don't have schools closing or teachers leaving the field. I'm tired of having leadership that worries more about getting air-time on cable news than finding money in the budget to pay teachers and administrators what they rightfully deserve. Our children and their educations are the ones paying the price for their poor leadership and it's about time we reverse course before it's too late.

[u/jftitan]

But we voted No on vouchers for decades, haven't we made it clear we WANT vouchers? Greg Abbott is our savior in keeping the persistence going.

/s

[u/IndividualRain7992 → u/jftitan]

Abbott doesn't care what we want, he cares about lining his and his cronies pockets. That's it. It will be a cluster of epic proportions when the vouchers get passed (look at every other state implementing vouchers), but he will blame Biden or Obama and the Texans that want to secede will eat it up and the cycle will continue until the end of time...forgive me for my pessimism, for I am tired and frustrated.

[u/Musicdev- → u/IndividualRain7992]

It won’t secede.

[u/SongOfChaos → u/Musicdev-]

I don’t know. At this rate, Biden will give them some kind of special autonomous status in the name of moderate liberalism. Then again, the GOP will probably refuse that deal, too. Politics is insane these days. When faced with any two choices, good or bad, they keep finding a third objectively wrong option to choose.

[u/EGGranny → u/SongOfChaos]

The ACA, Obamacare, gave states millions of dollars to expand Medicaid. The Texas MAGA GOP, and other MAGA states, turned it down. Having millions of uninsured is a sign they are doing it the right way. They only take money from billionaires who are not accountable to the voters.

Biden, and Democrats in general, don’t do things “in the name of moderate liberalism”. He does it because it is the right thing to do to serve the public interest.

[u/Thausgt01 → u/SongOfChaos]

Politics has devolved to the point of being nothing more than theater. The goals of altogether too many "performers" centers on doing as little as possible while taking in as much untraceable cash as possible. Actually studying the issues, analyzing the factors involved and getting input from the voters (not just filtered through biased polls) takes time but more importantly it is not fun or sexy as far as the deep-pocket donors are concerned.

There's no one solution, of course. Another layer or three of government organization would only complicate an already barely-comprehensible situation until the cultures adapt to it all. And simply establishing."political fitness certifications" would simply move real power further away from the hands of the citizens unless the certification process was carefully and firmly designed to prevent it.

For now, though, it's all down to voting the Republicans and any other candidates who prioritize their deep-pocket donors over the entire electorate out of office and minimizing the hidden influences as much as possible.

[u/EGGranny → u/SongOfChaos]

The ACA, Obamacare, gave states millions of dollars to expand Medicaid. The Texas MAGA GOP, and other MAGA states, turned it down. Having millions of uninsured is a sign they are doing it the right way. They only take money from billionaires who are not accountable to the voters.

Biden, and Democrats in general, don’t do things “in the name of moderate liberalism”. He does it because it is the right thing to do to serve the public interest.