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16 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I'd much rather them spend the time, energy, and effort on fixing the recapture system. 

Again, I agree, but the problem is that they want to pump public tax dollars into religious privates and charters and want public schools to fail. Take a gander at what's going on with Houston ISD, or consider how much Robin Hood is draining from Austin ISD. If the end result isn't killing the state's public education system, we may well have the most incompetent state leadership in the country.

But, of course, we also know about the massive contribution that guy from Pennsylvania contributed to Abbott, so all of this could also just be chalked up to rampant corruption.

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  • Brisketexan
    Brisketexan

    I think that it’s now safe to say that we Texans now live in a failed state.  30 years of GOP rule, setting our own standard, living the “Texas Dream,” which they’ve bragged about relentlessly…and let

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    crash_davis

  • Bozo_Casanova
    Bozo_Casanova

    My daughters and I talk about this. I’ve always been puzzled about where the idea of on-campus indoctrination comes from. I don’t think humanities and liberal arts faculty are any more or less toleran

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3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

if you couldn’t afford that private school before vouchers , you won’t be able to afford it after vouchers 

3 hours ago, texasdago said:

Not sure but 95% of those using the voucher system were not using the public school system before.

Shocking...

https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/10/11/arkansas-learns-report-95-of-voucher-students-did-not-attend-public-school-last-year

I’ve been telling friend and relatives for a while who are outside of the major cities/suburbs, but still back this, that they aren’t going to get some fancy private school for their kids in Bumfuck, Texas - instead they’re going to help increase revenue for private schools in Sugar Land, and Katy, and Dallas, and Austin, and San Antonio, etc.

Some of these people are too fucking stupid to realize they are going to help subsidize schools in the more liberal areas of the state, schools that would never take their kids.

17 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I’ve been telling friend and relatives for a while who are outside of the major cities/suburbs, but still back this, that they aren’t going to get some fancy private school for their kids in Bumfuck, Texas - instead they’re going to help increase revenue for private schools in Sugar Land, and Katy, and Dallas, and Austin, and San Antonio, etc.

Some of these people are too fucking stupid to realize they are going to help subsidize schools in the more liberal areas of the state, schools that would never take their kids.


they’re going to get a tele teacher from vietnam, with a local hired to babysit

31 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Again, I agree, but the problem is that they want to pump public tax dollars into religious privates and charters and want public schools to fail.

We should pump tax dollars into whatever educational systems can demonstrate performance on outcomes and objective measures of educational attainment. And I say that as one with three kids in the public school system. 

Can imagine if Walz was governor of Texas ???

 

name one thing Abbott has improved in his 27 years in office 

Edited by tx 3 putt

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Texas should invest in its teachers, and incentivize their best performance, and then get the fuck out of their classrooms.

7 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

Texas should invest in its teachers, and incentivize their best performance, and then get the fuck out of their classrooms.

The pay difference between teachers vs Assistant Principals & Principals is ridiculous. My sister was a middle school teacher for 5 years making around $45K a year with a Masters Degree. She only taught because she wanted to become a Principal. So in her 6th year she got a job as a middle school AP and her salary jumped to around $70K and she was doing a lot less work because teaching is a lot of shit work. In her 8th year she finally got called up to the big show and became a high school principal and makes about $120K a year. If she was still a teacher in her 8th year she would be making around $65K.

1 hour ago, Willfully Horn said:

Texas should invest in its teachers, and incentivize their best performance, and then get the fuck out of their classrooms.

Ironically, George W Bush ran with this as a major part of his first gubernatorial campaign.

14 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Can imagine if Walz was governor of Texas ???

 

name one thing Abbott has improved in his 27 years in office 

The hillbilly reputation of Texas around the world.

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Seriously, you gun nuts. Fuck off. 

 

22 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Seriously, you gun nuts. Fuck off. 

 

You know if the Texas Legislature forces the issue, there'll be a shitload of open-carry idiots that scare a lot of families away and screwing with the state fair in general.

23 hours ago, Willfully Horn said:

Texas should invest in its teachers, and incentivize their best performance, and then get the fuck out of their classrooms.

Maybe we should consider creating a state lottery to help fund education...

4 minutes ago, landman said:

Maybe we should consider creating a state lottery to help fund education...


open 2 casinos outside the top 10 biggest cities and this state is rolling in money 

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Going back to DeLoss, we’ve fought the conferences, TV networks( and the Cotton Bowl/State Fair themselves to keep this thing as it’s has been for over a century. 

We and OU put up a lotta money over the years, left a lot more on the table with other offers. Got the much needed upgrades, even better train and bus service at the peak of the Fair. And all the with the understanding that the game would always be televised at 11:00 or 2:30.  So that families And fans could enjoy the environs after or before the game, and make their way out before too late.  

Sure there’s public drunkenness, foul language, and the occasional donnybrooks.  Nothing we don’t see at  most of our road games.  But open carry that day?  That’s just a bullet looking for a problem to solve.  Poor ingress/egress. Tight crowds. Hours of day drinking.  Two hateful fantasies who sometimes don’t like the outcome.  Gee, what could possibly go wrong?  Oh wait,I know.  Teenager in the Midway playing a shooting game with pistol or rifle.  Good guy with gun drops his 14 empty wax cups and is too angry about the gAme and too fucked up to read the situation.  

I wonder how many coupons a box of 50 Rounds will cost?  

2 hours ago, mdmost said:

Seriously, you gun nuts. Fuck off. 

 

 

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

You know if the Texas Legislature forces the issue, there'll be a shitload of open-carry idiots that scare a lot of families away and screwing with the state fair in general.

I guess I shouldn't have but I figured firearms were already banned at the fair seeing as you go through a metal detector and all. That's on me.

The sad part is I agree with the @atomheartbevo - the attention called to this makes me think "Great, now dipshits are going to bring guns to the fair in droves."

1 hour ago, gmr548 said:

The sad part is I agree with the @atomheartbevo - the attention called to this makes me think "Great, now dipshits are going to bring guns to the fair in droves."

Like YGiFS said, it’s not the best atmosphere to begin with (one school’s fan got him nuts chowed down on by another school’s fan after the OU game) and mixing armed Okies and Texas fans and alcohol….

6 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

All those counties need a good purge !

 

Look at all of those fat slobs. 

On 8/12/2024 at 9:26 PM, Anastasis said:

Seems reasonable that a state voucher program should track tuition increases and remove the school from eligibility if they appear to be gaming the system.  

How is following the laws of supply/demand gaming the system?

It's an inevitability of creating the shitty system.

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We should pump tax dollars into whatever educational systems can demonstrate performance on outcomes and objective measures of educational attainment. And I say that as one with three kids in the public school system. 

Or, hear me out. The objective measures strongly correlate with socioeconomics. For the most part, when the state test schools it’s measuring how where and how students live.

Here’s a spoiler: schools with high number of struggling, homeless, ESL, kids do worse on tests and they need more resources.

What if we hired someone to head the TEA who taught and lead public schools. Understand how they work and sought to help schools when they struggle? Then they could hire other people who know how schools operate. Also hire people that love public education and enjoy their work. Then have the state legislature provide funding at above average levels.

I know. Crazy talk.
26 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Would the State Fair be considered an amusement park?

No. The State Fair is a non-profit organization. They lease the buildings and grounds in Fair Park from the city of Dallas. I don't see how this is any different than the NRA banning guns from their convention at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas...which they lease from the Dallas Convention Bureau, a government run agency.  Seems the convention center is now managed by an outside group and not the city of Dallas but my point still stands. The city of Dallas built the thing with taxpayer funds. 

Edited by mdmost

38 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

Dumbest state in the Union.

He most likely doesn't really care too much. It's just another example of Paxton using his office to continue to show how he's owning the libs. 

"Load up on guns, bring your friends."

Edited by David Dennison

I guess we all have freedom to bring guns into the state capitol now since it's government property? 

Again, the party of limited government. 

On 8/12/2024 at 10:47 PM, tx 3 putt said:


they’re going to get a tele teacher from vietnam, with a local hired to babysit

If I were an amoral shitbag, I'd start an online school company, and get a big cross to hang around my neck and a couple American flag and cross lapel pins. Then I'd  hit every Baptist/Church of Christ/Evangelical strip mall church in rural Texas and tell them they can become a "Private School" for the purpose of collecting voucher money from the State of Texas. We will provide the learning platform, you provide a couple church ladies to make sure the kids are working and not sharing answers (wink, wink) and we'll split the money 60/40. The 60% is for me of course, because we're providing the "Learning platform". 

8 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

If I were an amoral shitbag, I'd start an online school company, and get a big cross to hang around my neck and a couple American flag and cross lapel pins. Then I'd  hit every Baptist/Church of Christ/Evangelical strip mall church in rural Texas and tell them they can become a "Private School" for the purpose of collecting voucher money from the State of Texas. We will provide the learning platform, you provide a couple church ladies to make sure the kids are working and not sharing answers (wink, wink) and we'll split the money 60/40. The 60% is for me of course, because we're providing the "Learning platform". 

don't be so greedy. 50/40/10 split.

  • 50 for you
  • 40 for the church
  • 10 to the pastor's brother-in-law.

 

14 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

If I were an amoral shitbag, I'd start an online school company, and get a big cross to hang around my neck and a couple American flag and cross lapel pins. Then I'd  hit every Baptist/Church of Christ/Evangelical strip mall church in rural Texas and tell them they can become a "Private School" for the purpose of collecting voucher money from the State of Texas. We will provide the learning platform, you provide a couple church ladies to make sure the kids are working and not sharing answers (wink, wink) and we'll split the money 60/40. The 60% is for me of course, because we're providing the "Learning platform". 


I’ll go recruit teachers for you in Vietnam !!!!

Robin Williams Legend GIF

17 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

If I were an amoral shitbag, I'd start an online school company, and get a big cross to hang around my neck and a couple American flag and cross lapel pins. Then I'd  hit every Baptist/Church of Christ/Evangelical strip mall church in rural Texas and tell them they can become a "Private School" for the purpose of collecting voucher money from the State of Texas. We will provide the learning platform, you provide a couple church ladies to make sure the kids are working and not sharing answers (wink, wink) and we'll split the money 60/40. The 60% is for me of course, because we're providing the "Learning platform". 

If you allow bare handed spanking of little boys, you could get a 99/1 split from those Baptist preachers.

spank steve brule GIF by Adult Swim

9 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

don't be so greedy. 50/40/10 split.

  • 50 for you
  • 40 for the church
  • 10 to the pastor's brother-in-law.

 

Fine, you drive a hard bargain. We'll go 50/50, but the Pastor has to pay his BIL out of his 50%. Call him the PE coach or something. 

40 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:


Or, hear me out. The objective measures strongly correlate with socioeconomics. For the most part, when the state test schools it’s measuring how where and how students live.

Here’s a spoiler: schools with high number of struggling, homeless, ESL, kids do worse on tests and they need more resources.

What if we hired someone to head the TEA who taught and lead public schools. Understand how they work and sought to help schools when they struggle? Then they could hire other people who know how schools operate. Also hire people that love public education and enjoy their work. Then have the state legislature provide funding at above average levels.

I know. Crazy talk.

All sounds reasonable to me. Throw in some accountability for performance and mechanisms for parents of children in failing schools to exercise options.

3 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

Dumbest state in the Union.

How you motherfuckers didn't put a stake in his heart when you had the chance, I'll never understand.

Just now, Anastasis said:

All sounds reasonable to me. Throw in some accountability for performance and mechanisms for parents of children in failing schools to exercise options.

I can only speak annecodately but Dallas ISD allows parents of children in underperforming schools, I assume based on STAAR results, to transfer to different schools in the area if there is available space. I know parents who did that to get into the schools not too far from our neighborhood that are blue ribbon. Our local school that we passed on for a DISD montessori option sent us letters saying we could transfer to other schools before our local school improved. Previously, you had to lie about your address to register for a different school so grandparents addresses became home addresses for some students. DISD also offers a lot of magnet, TAG, and choice school options now. Pretty nice way to keep people away from private schools.

I'm not sure if that same option is available in other school districts in the state. 

1 minute ago, Chewbacca said:

How you motherfuckers didn't put a stake in his heart when you had the chance, I'll never understand.

Well the ultra cunt wing of the MAGA party pulled a bait and switch on the RINOs. 

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4 hours ago, Anastasis said:

parents of children in failing schools

(I'm just quoting you for the thought, not so much to comment on your post)

 

Here's the thing: there shouldn't be any failing schools.  THE STATE OF TEXAS is responsible for public education.  If a school is subpar, it's because the State has failed. 

Just now, miguelito said:

(I'm just quoting you for the thought, not so much to comment on your post)

 

Here's the thing: there shouldn't be any failing schools.  THE STATE OF TEXAS is responsible for public education.  If a school is subpar, it's because the State has failed. 

Truth. More specifically, Texans who vote Republican have failed spectacularly.

 

4 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

How you motherfuckers didn't put a stake in his heart when you had the chance, I'll never understand.

This state is full of hateful shitheads. It’s not exactly a secret. 

lol Scott Braddock is drunk and shitposting on Twitter again

 

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11 hours ago, Anastasis said:

and mechanisms for parents of children in failing schools to exercise options.

If it was that easy, we would have solved it decades ago.  As @Eskimohorn said, schools that are failing have a lot of kids who are poor and/or whose parents are struggling.  My wife taught at one of those schools for several years in East Austin back in the early 2000s.  She had kids whose parents didn't have much of an education themselves (which hinders them helping their kids), and parents who struggled with English (which also hinders them helping their kids).  There were parents who were working multiple jobs and at the end of the day were too tired to help their kids, single parents whose lives were already stress-filled enough as it is, and too worn out to help their kids.  And it may sound ridiculous, but many of those kids in poorer schools, the school breakfast and lunches were the best meals they were getting all day, because, again, tired parents or parents stretched thin, were buying cheap/fast food at the end of the day because they didn't have time to cook a proper meal.

And every one of those parents loved their kids as much as any parent in Tarrytown or wherever, but whereas a kid in a wealthier part of town might have parents who are educated enough (and have the time)  to easily help them with homework, those kids in the poor part of town didn't.

No Child Left Behind was never going to work in the long run - you can't just take a kid doing poorly in a failing school, close the failing school, and throw them on a bus to a better school, and hope things will get better.  Now you've potentially started dragging that school down if the kid isn't able to improve their scores, the kid is going to be stuck on a bus for another 15 or 20 minutes in the morning, and another 15 or 20 minutes (or more) in the afternoon, so you've taken time away from the kid, and you've increased distance between the kid's family and the kid's school (which is a huge problem for a lot of poor people).  And penalizing an already-underfunded school with struggling students is a surefire way to ensure that the school will fail.

Not to mention that teachers end up "teaching to the test" and focusing on the lowest-performing students at the expense of the other students (which could drag their scores down if they aren't hitting their full potential).

At the end of the day, the state should allow a lot more local control and just accept that there are extenuating circumstances for a lot of kids who are struggling, that not all kids learn the same way and can be measured the same way, and that not all kids are going to go to college.

7 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

At the end of the day, the state should allow a lot more local control and just accept that there are extenuating circumstances for a lot of kids who are struggling, that not all kids learn the same way and can be measured the same way, and that not all kids are going to go to college.

Good post, all well stated. I am aligned with what you are saying here. The DISD examples provided earlier seem quite reasonable to me. Bottom line, to me at least, the most local form of control is parental control. More power to parents, teachers, and local administrators, and in that order. Less to everyone above that level. We just went through this whole COVID school thing, there were lots of discussions here in real time about the challenges and the problems. Clearly there are not always easy answers.   

10 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

lol Scott Braddock is drunk and shitposting on Twitter again

 

Would love to see the Texas Tribune ask every state senator, rep and major officeholders for the number of times and guests they've brought to Centerpoint's getaway compound. While it doesn't mean there is corruption, let's be clear on our politicians who appear tough on Centerpoint while simultaneously use them for vacations.

And better yet, ask the same officeholders to commit to not using Centerpoint's compound until certain improvements are made. 

5 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

And better yet, ask the same officeholders to commit to not using Centerpoint's compound until certain improvements are made

FIFY

17 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

FIFY

And while we're at it, bar them from Waste Management's and DR Horton's "Ranches"

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9 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

If it was that easy, we would have solved it decades ago.  As @Eskimohorn said, schools that are failing have a lot of kids who are poor and/or whose parents are struggling.  My wife taught at one of those schools for several years in East Austin back in the early 2000s.  She had kids whose parents didn't have much of an education themselves (which hinders them helping their kids), and parents who struggled with English (which also hinders them helping their kids).  There were parents who were working multiple jobs and at the end of the day were too tired to help their kids, single parents whose lives were already stress-filled enough as it is, and too worn out to help their kids.  And it may sound ridiculous, but many of those kids in poorer schools, the school breakfast and lunches were the best meals they were getting all day, because, again, tired parents or parents stretched thin, were buying cheap/fast food at the end of the day because they didn't have time to cook a proper meal.

And every one of those parents loved their kids as much as any parent in Tarrytown or wherever, but whereas a kid in a wealthier part of town might have parents who are educated enough (and have the time)  to easily help them with homework, those kids in the poor part of town didn't.

No Child Left Behind was never going to work in the long run - you can't just take a kid doing poorly in a failing school, close the failing school, and throw them on a bus to a better school, and hope things will get better.  Now you've potentially started dragging that school down if the kid isn't able to improve their scores, the kid is going to be stuck on a bus for another 15 or 20 minutes in the morning, and another 15 or 20 minutes (or more) in the afternoon, so you've taken time away from the kid, and you've increased distance between the kid's family and the kid's school (which is a huge problem for a lot of poor people).  And penalizing an already-underfunded school with struggling students is a surefire way to ensure that the school will fail.

Not to mention that teachers end up "teaching to the test" and focusing on the lowest-performing students at the expense of the other students (which could drag their scores down if they aren't hitting their full potential).

At the end of the day, the state should allow a lot more local control and just accept that there are extenuating circumstances for a lot of kids who are struggling, that not all kids learn the same way and can be measured the same way, and that not all kids are going to go to college.

And, maybe just maybe, there should be free breakfasts and lunches for all kids at all schools and before and after school programs that are free for kids to get help with school work and participate in extracurriculars.  This isn't hard...but Texas.

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16 hours ago, miguelito said:

(I'm just quoting you for the thought, not so much to comment on your post)

 

Here's the thing: there shouldn't be any failing schools.  THE STATE OF TEXAS is responsible for public education.  If a school is subpar, it's because the State has failed. 

If the Texas Democrat 'party' had any semblance of sense, they would make commercials to air in rural and suburban areas of the state, blaring about how under republican leadership, Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and crooked Ken Paxton, state leadership has stolen billions of dollars from your schools and given them to cronies and 'big city' private, charter and magnet schools, while your children go to the same broken down underfunded public schools.

26 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

If the Texas Democrat 'party' had any semblance of sense, they would make commercials to air in rural and suburban areas of the state, blaring about how under republican leadership, Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and crooked Ken Paxton, state leadership has stolen billions of dollars from your schools and given them to cronies and 'big city' private, charter and magnet schools, while your children go to the same broken down underfunded public schools.


hammer them on schools and our dumbass elected leaders not expanding Medicaid 

 

Expanding Medicaid improves everyone’s health. So why hasn’t Texas done it yet?

41 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

If the Texas Democrat 'party' had any semblance of sense, they would make commercials to air in rural and suburban areas of the state, blaring about how under republican leadership, Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and crooked Ken Paxton, state leadership has stolen billions of dollars from your schools and given them to cronies and 'big city' private, charter and magnet schools, while your children go to the same broken down underfunded public schools.

How about the Democrats running ads in rural areas thanking rural Republicans for supporting and funding vouchers to help fund private schools in the Dallas/FW, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin areas?

 

 

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