LAUGHABLE PROPOSAL
TX Gov. Rick Perry brought the house down with this howler.
Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday proposed establishing a $200 million fund to reward teaching excellence, but a requirement that local districts match the bonuses was greeted with laughter by school superintendents…”We’re going to stop the unfunded mandates and focus on funded incentives. Those are very sweet words for Texas public schools,” said [Education Commissioner Shirley] Neeley.
The districts would have to come up with $2,500 before the teachers would see a dime. Neeley’s right. That’s not an unfunded mandate; it’s blackmail.
One Response to “LAUGHABLE PROPOSAL”
 Comment by Eric Holcombe January 29th, 2004 at 11:32 am |
I think it’s great political strategy on the part of the Governor. For one, the Governor knows the local districts will complain about the matching funds and probably never initiate the performance program. Second, the unionists don’t want the performance program to happen anyway. He can claim attempts at reforming education without spending any money. This quote is classic: “When you offer an incentive (MERIT) system in lieu of an equitable and adequate (SOCIALIST UNION) system, it’s a disaster,” said McCown, now executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Merit achievement is disastrous to labor unions. If everyone doesn’t get a raise, no one gets a raise. I found the “equity gap” comments humorous also. Isn’t this program putting the additional funding where it’s most needed, in the “struggling schools”? I do agree with the matching fund format. I tire of local districts that want to suck the state tit for anything they do. Reforming, rebudgeting or much change of any kind is not considered. It always has to be a “new” program with “new” state funding and “new” personnel to operate. If helping these schools is really a priority, then the local districts should pull their weight too. |