I can tell you about foolish spending. PK state park about 3 years ago spent right at 200,00 bucks on cabins that could have been built for half that. I know the trout program cost a bundle. This year they will put 6,000 below PK dam for 30 or so fisherman. They put a lot in city parks for the kids and I know we need to get kids into fishing but channel cat and perch make more sense as they can live all year. I would think those trout would cost a min. of 8.00 a piece after paying for them,trucking to our hatcheries, then trucking them all over the state.Kids would just as happy to catch a carp.

I am more concerned with the education cuts.

Not me that's just another area where tons of money is wasted.

tighten
your belt like the rest of us...

How does giving even more money to liberal teachers help?

People here are justly proud of their 94 parks, but many of these treasures are now understaffed, open fewer hours and in disrepair because the system’s budget was whacked by 21.5 percent in order to spare the wealthiest families and corporations in this enormously rich state from paying a teensy bit more in taxes.

But that was only part of the robbery. A state sales tax on sporting goods, dedicated by law to help finance the people’s parks will generate about $236 million this year and next. But the governor and his legislative henchmen raided this pile of revenue, filching two-thirds of it for the state’s general fund so they could claim that they “balanced our budget (without) raising taxes.”

To replenish some of the tax money taken by The Perry Gang, the head of parks for the Great State of Texas is now engaged in a shocking spectacle: public begging.

http://lubbockonline.com/editorial-colum...eoples-property

Bristol urged that the state's sporting goods tax be dedicated to state and local parks.

"Texans like their parks (and) are willing to pay for them," Bristol said. "Parks will pay for themselves if given any kind of meaningful support."

Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, said he is committed to again trying to get the sporting goods tax rededicated to parks and not diverted to other budget areas. Ninety-four percent is supposed to go to parks and 6 percent to the Texas Historical Commission, he said.

Of $125 million coming in, only $26 million is going toward state parks, Larson said.

"The state needs to show more discipline in using the sporting goods tax," Larson said. "I will file the bill again, and we will pursue it aggressively. It's shameful, some of the maintenance that's been deferred."

Larson challenged Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to be advocates for the parks funding effort.



http://www.reporternews.com/news/2012/jan/28/tourism-falls-off-at-texas-parks-hit-hard-by/

Hwy man do you have an actual argumrnt or you just repeating sticking points from Perry's office. If you have a child in a public school.you need to educate yourself on the situation.

Education (50th = lowest, 1st = highest)
< Percentage of Population Graduated
from High School13 46th
< High School Completion Rate14 45th
< State Aid per Pupil15 41st
< Secondary Teachers with Degrees in the Subjects
they Teach16 45th
< Average Teacher Salaries17 30th
< Percent of Adults with at Least a Bachelor’s Degree18 27th
< Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) Scores19 47th



http://shapleigh.org/system/reporting_document/file/3/focus_documents3.pdf

>>>>>>

Responding to our request for backup, Davis spokesman Anthony Spangler pointed us to "Texas on the Brink," a 2009 compilation of Texas statistics prepared by then-state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso. One entry, citing the National Education Association, ranked Texas 44th in per-student education expenditures. The Legislative Budget Board’s 2010 "Texas Fact Book" similarly quotes the analysis placing Texas 44th.

According to a December report from the association, which describes itself as the nation’s largest teachers union, in 2009-10 Texas ranked 37th among the states and the District of Columbia in state and local funds spent per student in public school, averaging $9,227.

But the state ranked 44th in 2008-09, according to the report, averaging $8,610. That year, the top-spending state, New Jersey, averaged $16,253, and the lowest-spending state, Arizona, averaged $5,932. The national average: $10,313.
>>>>>>>>>

All told, it’s clear that rankings vary by year and methodology. Yet Texas has consistently trailed most states in per-pupil education spending. According to the approach cited by the senator, Texas ranked 37th in 2009-10, improving from 44th place the year before. By other measures for recent years, Texas has placed as low as 43rd and, rolling in capital costs, as high as 36th.

http://www.politifact.com/texas/statemen...ks-44th-educat/


http://www.texastribune.org/texas-educat...chool-diplomas/

Education (50th = lowest, 1st = highest)
< Percentage of Population Graduated
from High School13 46th
< High School Completion Rate14 45th
< State Aid per Pupil15 41st
< Secondary Teachers with Degrees in the Subjects
they Teach16 45th
< Average Teacher Salaries17 30th
< Percent of Adults with at Least a Bachelor’s Degree18 27th
< Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) Scores19 47th

And I'm suppose to believe that throwing more money at it is going to magically make that improve? The only results we'll get from that is the administrative and teaching salaries will increase, student performance will still be going down and they'll be screaming for more money next year. Your barking up the wrong tree here, I'm for private schools and a voucher system, let the parents decide where their children will get the best education.

So if you cant afford to send your kids to school than they should just not get an education correct? Maybe I am reading between the lines but it sounds like your children went to public school. So you have used the system to educate your kids and now since they are graduated you shouldnt have to pay taxes anymore. The problem is the money and the lobbyist not the teachers.