Governor Rick Perry is Completely Out of Touch with the Needs of Texans

pstern

10:08 on 22 February 2012
After years of cuts to public education Governor Rick Perry has the ultimate gall to say that the state of Texas pays enough to educate our children.  In reality, Texas is at the bottom end of the 50 states in paying for and providing a quality public education for Texas children.


Perry and legislators have diverted the State's Constitutional responsibility to finance public education and have placed the burden on counties who in turn placed the burden of financing public education onto Texas homeowners, who pay one of the highest property taxes in the nation.

Spending per student
In 1999, Texas spent an average of $5,971 per student, which placed us 25th nationally. By 2010, the average spent per student increased to $9,227 but failed to keep pace with national increases, dropping us to 37th in the nation. To be fair, Texas also saw a significant increase in the total number of students over that time, adding nearly a million new students when state budgets were squeezed heavily by the financial crisis. But all states had financial troubles during that time and still found ways to outpace Texas in their investments in education. This failure to invest in our future is also the primary contributor to many of the other elements of success, so it should be our first priority.

By 2010, Texas had fallen 19 spots to 44th nationally in spending per student, but improved this past year to 37th. We'll give them a few credit points for the recent improvement, but we are still far behind where we were twelve years ago.

Rankings:
1999 - 25th
2010 - 37th
Grade: D

Due to the ongoing cuts, one school district is considering charging students $100 to ride school buses.  Perry cares nothing about hardworking and hardly working Texans and their children.


Meanwhile, Since there is no term limit in Texas law, Perry is considering running for another term as Governor in 2014.  He also is considering making a run for President in 2016, especially if President Obama wins reelection.
One out of 4 Texas voters say Perry should NOT run for Governor --- that's 40 percent.  By now, we all know that Perry does NOT listen to the public.  He is one of the highest paid Governors in the U.S., thanks to the Texas law that permitted Perry to apply for and receive active retirement, which permits him to collect his salary plus retirement income while serving as Governor.  Perry's total annual income is $240,000 and he is definitely not worth the expense.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is considering a run for Governor.  He already has $12 Million in campaign financing, most of which he collected because no one ran against him for the office of AG.  It is not certain if Abbott would run against Perry if the latter decides to run for an unprecedented 4th term.

Texans need to get a little smarter and vote in another candidate other than Rick Perry, who quite possibly has been the worst Governor Texas ever had.  Texans deserve better than Rick Perry as Governor.