I am a 1 issue voter

[JALLEN]

I think we would be much better off if the public schools were closed, and parents home schooled or paid their own money for a third party to do the job.

FYP

That is a great plan, for creating a permanent underclass composed of those who cannot read or write. Then you would have a upper crust of the underclass, folks who can read/write but have no real knowledge beyond that (math, science, history). Eventually we could get back to the time when a noble class would spring up to rule us all.

If that sounds like a good plan it is only because you believe that you and your family would be part of the nobility. Good luck with that.

I believe in survival of the fittest, that those who work and exert themselves will excel, while those who don't, won't.

It need not be a permanent underclass, but if that is what happens, it isn't much different than now. As long as everyone has access to the resources, how they chose to use them will affect their future potential. Glory Be! Just like real life.

Whether it be home schooling, as some parents would chose, or parochial schools which some would chose, or a new category of facilities designed to appeal to a certain subcategory, parents would be free to assess their child, what the potential might be and chose opportunities. Competition for desirable spots would be welcome, encouraged.

The public schools are turning out legions of young people who cannot read or write adequately, along with some who do pretty well. College educators have been complaining about this for at least the 50 + years since I went through the school system.

Meanwhile we would cut out the inefficiencies of the present system, 9 months of school, part time classes, teacher unions, tenure, more administrators than teachers and so forth.

[n5wd]

And public school districts are not allowed under federal law to confirm citizenship of students? Really?

Shocking.

You're right, Skipr - we SHOULD have that irony icon!

By your professional estimation, what percentage of students currently enrolled in Texas public schools might be illegal aliens? What percentage of non-citizen students are benefiting from the school district taxes we pay?

No way to tell and I wouldn't hazard a guess. As far as non-citizens, do you want to include only the "illegals", or all of the non-resident aliens, the visa holders, etc? If there ARE statistics gathered, you might could find them at the Texas Education Agency website.

If they're paid "off the books", just like you and me if we were, we'd all avoid the income tax portion, but pay everything else.

Really?

Did you mistype or are you serious?

I have been paid before "off the books" (i.e., in cash) for services performed, and I have always reported that income as required under federal law.

Are you saying you would misreport your federal income taxes?

Nope - never had to - all of my income's either been reported on a W2, 1099's, or the self-employed sheets. Been through one audit in my life - walked out of the IRS office with instructions on how to file for a refund/correction based on a deduction I didn't realize I could take.

If you don't like the way the legislators (both the Republican majority that Texas has had for a couple of decades, and the Democrat minority) have done it, then change the legislature. I know I'm trying to do that - what about you?

Very actively, my friend. Though probably not in the direction you might prefer.

Possibly, but until you watch me vote, you're just hearing me play devil's advocate a lot. Bad habit formed from when I was on debate team so many decades ago.

Called a cop lately? How about a fire truck? Been to the county hospital?...you pay for those each day as well as you do the school taxes.

Here's the kicker: Do you even own a home and pay Texas property taxes? Because if you do, you know you receive separate and distinct invoices for your property taxes. YMMV by county.

Ah, there's the difference. Yes, we own our own home, and I get one invoice from the county for all of the taxing entities.

If a family living in a single home opts to berth four or five children and place them into public schools on the public doll, why is it my responsibility--as a semi-retired childless widower--to contribute thousands each and every year to support them?

For the same reason that all property owners pay taxes to the schools - because it has been decided by the Legiscritters that that's how we (the state of Texas and the folks therein) are going to fund the public education system that is available, without discrimination, for all of the children in the state, because it benefits all of us to have those children educated so they can do the jobs that help you enjoy your semi-retirement instead of making you cut your own roads, come up with your own medicine, figure out how to fight that range fire, etc. And for the same reason that, at least today, someone who wants to educate their children at home, or at a private or parochial school still needs to pay the school district taxes like everyone else - that school system will be there if they decide to change their mind.

[tacticool]

I have no children, yet I pay over $5,000 each year in school district taxes simply because I own a home.

Yep, you do. That's the way the legislators in our state decided that the state was going to pay for such things as schools, hospital taxes, junior college districts, municipal water districts, emergency service districts, county taxes, etc.

Correct. Which means the legislators also have the power to change that if enough taxpaying voters speak up and become 1 issue voters. It might be a different set of legislators than the ones we have now, but after years and years of legislators dragging their feet on tax reform and CHL reform, that's a change I can believe in.

[n5wd]

I have no children, yet I pay over $5,000 each year in school district taxes simply because I own a home.

Yep, you do. That's the way the legislators in our state decided that the state was going to pay for such things as schools, hospital taxes, junior college districts, municipal water districts, emergency service districts, county taxes, etc.

Correct. Which means the legislators also have the power to change that if enough taxpaying voters speak up and become 1 issue voters. It might be a different set of legislators than the ones we have now, but after years and years of legislators dragging their feet on tax reform and CHL reform, that's a change I can believe in.

I forgot to mention that there's currently in Austin, a little noticed court case that may force the legislature to change the way that schools are funded, if the various school districts and citizen groups that have filed the suit (it originally started out as several different suits, but has been combined into one aggregate suit by the court) has their way. In this way, it's similar to the court case that caused the legiscritters to come up with Robin-Hood as our current funding mechanism.

Here's one article about it: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 971505.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and an index page which tries to keep up with all of the different news articles: http://www.tasb.org/legislative/resourc ... _news.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;