If you want to know the true meaning of sacrifice, ask a Texas teacher. Even now as schools across the state barrel into a new academic year, teachers are pouring long hours into their craft, and feverishly preparing to devote their time, energy and talents to a new crop of young minds. You probably remember a teacher really made a difference in your life… one that spent extra time with you after class to make sure you got a concept, or one that helped you to grow up by showing clear distinctions between right and wrong. It’s nearly impossible to compensate a good educator for the precious gifts of knowledge, comprehension, development and understanding that they impart.
Unfortunately in 2011, none of those gifts mattered to Texas Republicans. Set on actualizing their small-government and increasingly Tea Party-laden fetish, GOP legislators put forth one of the most draconian budgets ever seen in modern times. The only person standing in their way was a lone Democrat. Here’s the story from the Texas Tribune at the time..
A Democrat’s last stand may have just pushed the legislative session, set to end today, into overtime — which could start as soon as tomorrow.
In a make-or-break day for the state budget, with the finish line in sight, things broke down Sunday night when Sen.Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filibustered for a little more than an hour, likely killing a school finance and revenue bill, the last remaining piece of the budget puzzle.
Davis, starting at 10:45 p.m. and looking to push debate on the bill past a midnight deadline, ran out the clock by reading aloud letters from constituents and the list of funding cuts to Texas’ 1,200 school districts.
In 2011, Wendy Davis fought with everything she had to save Texas schools.
But after Governor Perry called a Special Session, the TEApublicans got their wish… decimating the state’s education budget with a $5.4 billion dollar cut. As a result of those actions,
Texas schools lost over 11,000 teachers in 2011 and 2012. So damaging were these cuts to that Texas school districts decided to sue the state over them, and Attorney General Greg Abbott has fought our schools right to their tax money every step of the way since.
After all of that, it’s almost incomprehensible to think that Abbott not only has the audacity to run for Governor, but that he’s running for Governor on his education ideas? As the Burnt Orange Report points out, it’s almost comical, especially when the GOP candidate can’t seem to remember which schools are suing him, and which are not.
But these cuts are nothing to laugh about. Texas simply could not afford to lose so many educational resources in a rapidly-growing state. All of our children have suffered at the hands of an irresponsible Republican-led legislature. Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP hurt all types of districts– wealthy and poor, Red County and Blue County, north and south– these cuts affected every community in the Lone Star State.
As Texans prepare to choose the state’s next Governor, let’s hope that they remember which candidate stands for our schools, and which one is trying to burn them down.
Texas Leftist has made a map of school districts that are currently involved in one of 4 active lawsuits against Attorney General Abbott and the state of Texas. Keep in mind that this map only shows a little over half of the communities affected, but is enough to give a visual example of just how many schools across the state are standing against the GOP’s heinous 2011 budget. Thanks to Bay Area Houston for compiling the written list, which has been alphabetized by letter for greater ease of data collection and reading.
To view the map and full list of Texas school districts, visit texasleftist.com