Texas School Funding Myth

Here's an article from the Statesman by Jason Stanford. The article is about Texas’ inadequate funding for public schools.  Stanford cuts through the “Bull” and gives us a clear picture of what the current state of our educational funding looks like.  His target audience is parents, grandparents, soon-to-be parents, and anyone who will vote to change the current system in place that funds our children’s educational future.

Jason Stanford is a Democratic Political consultant and opposition researcher based here in Austin. He’s served as 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell's campaign manager and chief spokesman.  He is also the head of Stanford Research.  His political background and use of stats and figures in his article make his argument seem credible. A good example of this is when Stanford is talking about the contract Texas signed with Pearson, “The legislature raised the financial and academic stakes by signing a $468 million contract with Pearson for the STAAR test and then slashed school funding by $5.4 billion…” Stanford also uses good analogies like: “Dietz’s ruling was the least surprising revelation since Jodie Foster came out of her not-so-secret closet at the Golden Globes.”  Comments like these make the article fun to read and it gives the article sarcastic tone that you would expect from someone who is frustrated with the current school-funding situation.  Stanford’s choice of words and straightforward language makes the article very easy to understand, which is essential when trying to get the majority of the public to see a certain point of view.  This article was enlightening and a pleasure to read.

Pee Please!

Here’s an older story that I found to be quite interesting. Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst are trying to pass a bill that would mandatory to drug test welfare recipients.  There’s also another bill that has not been filed yet, that would require applicants for unemployment insurance to also pee in a cup.

The article goes on to explain how the total number of people receiving welfare benefits is about 114,000 people, a whole whopping .4% of Texas’ population, most of which are children (85 percent).  Moreover, for those who need to file for unemployment insurance, i.e. workers who have been laid off, will be required to take a drug test to receive benefits for which they have already earned.

Before reading this article I thought the idea of using drug testing, as a part of the screening process for welfare recipients wasn’t such a bad idea, but reading this article change my opinion.  This article brings up several good points, and like I said, I thought it was interesting.

Link:Austin Chronicle