Improve My Income

Public education funding and the 'Rainy Day Fund'

All of us in the Texas Legislature knew that we would have a budget shortfall when we came to Austin for the 82nd Regular Session in January.

Based on the overwhelming results of last November's election, we also knew we had a mandate to live within available income and to reduce the size of state government.

As a result, budget committees worked tirelessly to cut state agency budgets, going through each budget line by line, and listening to Texans whose lives would be affected by the cuts.

I voted for the budget that spends $15.2 billion less in the 2012-2013 budget than in the current budget period, which ends August 31, 2011.

I believe public education is the most important thing state government does. So, as a result of that belief, when we had the opportunity on May 25 during the regular session, to add $1.1 billion to public education funding from the Rainy Day Fund during 2012-2013, I supported that appropriation in House Bill 4. That effort failed, however, on a vote of 14 in favor and 17 opposed.

During this special session, however, bills that made the budget work had to be considered again, because they died at the end of the regular session on May 30.

Again, on June 3, I supported a floor amendment to Senate Bill 2, which contained the school finance appropriation. The amendment would have allocated $1.1 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to public education funding for 2012-2013.

In my judgment, reducing public education by $4 billion from what was expected by school districts under existing education funding formulas is a disservice to Texas students and classroom teachers, especially when we expect to have at least $6.3 billion in the Rainy Day Fund, and maybe as much as $8.9 billion, for use during a funding crisis.

The majority of legislators chose to overrule existing education funding formulas. Instead, state funding for all Texas school districts will be cut six percent across the board for 2012. This six percent cut will not allow districts to keep up with anticipated enrollment growth.

Some have called this "the new normal."

I will not accept education cuts of this depth to be Texas' "new normal." North East Independent School District (NEISD) in Bexar County, for example, plans on receiving $28.4 million less in state funds next year than it would have received under current law.

Because staffing makes up the largest portion of school budgets, schools will have to consider staff reductions. NEISD is considering eliminating 91 teaching positions in addition to cutting clerical, administrative and assistant positions.

Sporting Lessons Improve My Income « richie lloyd

I am going to use golf as my analogy today. I figured my transatlantic readers might not understand my Football (soccer) stories and I have no real idea about basketball or Ice Hockey or American Football.

I like playing golf, when the sun is shining. I am not particularly good at it but it gives me some quiet time and some thinking time. I am also able to take the lessons I learn on the golf course and translate them into improving my income.

When I set the ball on the tee there is a marker to show me what direction I need to go to find the hole. I also have a scorecard in my pocket that notes the distance from tee to green and the hazards and obstacles that I will encounter on the way. It also shows me if the hole is around a corner, left or right of any given obstacles.

This information and the knowledge of my own game and skills, (or lack of), enable me to choose the right club for the shot. As I progress towards the hole there are distance markers along the fairway that show me how much further I have to go.

Once I can actually see the flag I know exactly where I need to go and my scorecard lets me know about any water hazards or bunkers.

On the green I can study any dips or gradient between my ball and the hole and I can see exactly where I need to put my ball. As you can see, it really is a simple game!

Now imagine a very strange golf course. A golf course that when I put my ball on the tee I have no scorecard. Imagine that the tee does not show me which direction to hit the ball. All I can see are trees and ponds and bunkers in every direction. I might be able to see a flag on a green but I have no idea if that is the correct green. The game has just become a whole lot harder, nigh on impossible.

My only hope is to hit the ball in a direction, hope I am going the right way, and pray that I am able to avoid hazards that I cannot actually see until I am in them. When I actually see a green I have to take a huge leap of faith to assume it is the right one and should I actually manage to sink my ball in the hole……….I really need to know that I have got the right one.

Should I find that it is the wrong hole then you have to trust me when I tell you that trying to hit a golf ball that is in a hole is going to take me to a whole new level of learning!

This is not going to be a very exciting or fun game to play is it? The chances of success will depend purely on luck. No skill involved whatsoever and the percentage of failures will ensure that nobody wants to play on the course.

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