Posted 10:02 pm Sunday, July 15, 2012
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Misguided Editorial, July 15
The recent editorial “Taxpayers Shouldn't Have to Fund Lobby” was a very one-sided critique. The simple correlation of someone testifying on behalf of one's school district as some sort of global assault on taxpayers is not entirely accurate.
It would seem your recommendation to Texas school districts is to just accept what the state legislature enacts, while purposely not expounding on the multiple lobbyists that convey their wishes on those state legislatures on a daily basis. Many of our local state representatives, with ears inclined toward special interest groups, created this mess Texas education finds itself today.
Case in point, our public school history books have been revised for political reasons rather than factual through our state Board of Education members on several occasions; children are confined to a testing system rather than developing a learning system, while private academies are exempt from those mandates. And somehow our state legislatures continues to assault the public system with a “do more with less” mentality and then denounce the fact our children are becoming less productive in our society.
Trade schools such as homebuilding, automotive, medical office and welding careers in high schools were taken away due to business lobbyists. And yet you infer that a Superintendent testifying his case is onerous to Texas economy. Then you throw in NPR as some sort of foundation to this thesis. NPR fought to keep its funding.
I accept the editorial as an opinion piece meant to sway others to your particular ideology, but it doesn't mean it is absolute in its attempt.
Kevin S. Hampton
Tyler
It would seem your recommendation to Texas school districts is to just accept what the state legislature enacts, while purposely not expounding on the multiple lobbyists that convey their wishes on those state legislatures on a daily basis. Many of our local state representatives, with ears inclined toward special interest groups, created this mess Texas education finds itself today.
Case in point, our public school history books have been revised for political reasons rather than factual through our state Board of Education members on several occasions; children are confined to a testing system rather than developing a learning system, while private academies are exempt from those mandates. And somehow our state legislatures continues to assault the public system with a “do more with less” mentality and then denounce the fact our children are becoming less productive in our society.
Trade schools such as homebuilding, automotive, medical office and welding careers in high schools were taken away due to business lobbyists. And yet you infer that a Superintendent testifying his case is onerous to Texas economy. Then you throw in NPR as some sort of foundation to this thesis. NPR fought to keep its funding.
I accept the editorial as an opinion piece meant to sway others to your particular ideology, but it doesn't mean it is absolute in its attempt.
Kevin S. Hampton
Tyler
