rodrick_98... Thanks for the info. I mentioned the cigar and hat, etc... but in his defense that image is probably what has helped him get the support that he does have... has helped him setup the idea of him being different, etc. I just think he might have trouble getting some people to picture him as the governor. It'll be interesting. Although he isn't the candidate I support, he has come a lot longer than most would have expected. Months ago, I wouldn't have expected him to have this much support.
I think it'd be helpful if he told as many long term plans and goals as possible... considering the fact that he doesn't have much experience. If he dosn't have much experience... I'd like some plans and goals, etc to judge him by...
this is why i think he's the only real candidate in the race, other than perry, who has a chance at winning. of likely voters: you know perry will pull 30% minimum, but he doesn't get more than 40% you know bell is going to get his 20-30% strayhorn will probably get a solid 10-15% that leaves 15-30% open for kinky to take. obviously not enough to beat perry outright, but if he's done his job right and gets the apathetic voters to come out, he has a serious chance at winning it. and by looking at the several hundred thousand signatures he got to get on the ballot in the first place... i'd say he can win. i'd like to hear your reasoning for voting for perry. what would you use to convince someone why they should keep him in office for 4 more years.
rodrick.. I touched on some of the education things I like about Perry in a longer post above, but I'll try to post some more things when I get a chance. Personally, in my eyes, I like what he has done and plans to do more than anything I've heard from any of the other candidates. As for the other candidates, I'd rather have either of the other two candiates above Kinky based on what I know of him so far. Oh, another thing about Perry. I also like that property taxes are being lowered.
I'm just someone that the whole lack of experience thing bothers with Kinky. What exactly is his experience? What has he been doing for the last 20 years?
I need sleep before I make any less sense than I already do..glad that there is some good discussion going on in this thread! I should also say the border issue is important to me and I hope whoever wins pays quite a bit of attention to it. I think Perry does take it seriously and has done things like having the National Guard provide border security. I think he cares about that issue and that is another reason I support him.
Perry sent 1,500 troops without ammo to the border not too long ago. To me, that's a ploy for the election. Whats the point of having extra security if they don't have the ammo to stop anyone? Kinky does lack a lot of experience, and he may have difficulty in passing laws between the Dems and Repubs. But, he can and will put enormous pressure on these people. Obviously, as stated, he's not afraid of offending people. Personally, I would love someone who's not afraid to call people out to get what he wants. But you're right, he doesn't look like a politician. He looks like a Texan!
I think he is helping improve border security. Here are some things, including fighting for 100 mil to increase border security. http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/090806kvueperryad-gv.7d476792.html What is Kinky's border plan?
I'm watching the debate again now.. Kinky's plan is 10,000 national guard and $25,000 fine for employers correct?
He says he wants 10K troops on the border, right now. He wants illegals currently here to be able to purchase worker cards from the DMV, and if their criminal background checks out, they can work. Any employer caught hiring illegals without the card will be slapped with a 25K fine. Personally, this is one of Kink's stances that I'm against. But I'm probably in the minority - I don't have a problem with illegals in our country.
I think this is great that Kinky wants that many people protecting the border. The illegal immigration needs to stop immedietly and hopefully this plan will do it.
Rocket Fan, I think there is something you aren't getting about schools, and that is local control. If the state tells school districts that they have to spend a certain percentage of revenue on "classroom instruction," that takes away local control. If a district wants to spend that money in other ways, and there is a host of things districts have to spend money on, then they don't want their hands tied by edicts from the State Capitol that usually don't come with increased state funding to pay for it. Perry has been awful for public schools in Texas. Do you think it is a coincidence that the largest teachers unions have endorsed someone else? Another thing is charter schools. One of Perry's biggest financial backers, James Leininger, the guy who paid for the infamous junket to the Bahamas for Perry and company, is a huge advocate for school vouchers and charter schools. I suggest that you google Mr. Leininger and read about his negative influence on public schools, his influence on Rick Perry (he loaned Perry's campaign over $1,000,000 just before the election between Perry and John Sharp for Lt. Governor, a narrow defeat for Sharp. The money very likely made the difference), his influence on the elections for the Texas Legislature and it's members... heck, his pervasive influemce on Texas politics. The man is a far-right radical fundamentalist Christian millionaire, who has spent his way into an unbelievable position of influence. Read up on him, and then come back and talk about it. You will be surprised. By the way... this is from the website of the National PTA: Note: In Texas, there are no specifically allocated public funds for charter schools-funding typically is diverted from public schools which lose average daily attendance and accompanying state funding when students transfer to charter schools. There is no limit to how much tax funding could be diverted from public schools to pay for charter schools, because there are no limits on the number of schools that could be chartered for at-risk students. It is difficult for public school areas to plan for the future-including facilities and staffing-because school boards cannot forecast future drops in enrollment due to unbridled charter school expansion. In school year 2000-2001, the amount of state tax funding diverted from regular public schools to Texas charter schools is projected be more than $169,000,000. This compares with 1997-98, when state funding for charter schools was significantly less, $17,025,087. http://www.txpta.org/charters.html Perry has been responsible, with the help of the GOP Legislature (bought and paid for by Mr. Leininger, IMO), for diverting around $150 million from public schools in Texas, according to the National PTA. Also, if I wanted to cut and paste talking points from the different candidates websites, I certainly could, but it's not a particularly fun way to discuss something. Keep D&D Civil.
Deckard, I am actually a supporter of charter schools so we aren't going to agree on this issue. I think that schools like Yes Prep are good for Houston and am glad that they exist. Actually, Yes Prep is a school that I've looked into some in recent months and had a chance to talk to their founder some. I am very aware of local control. My problem is that I think districts are quick to blame the state for problems, but often times the local districts don't use money wisely. The state has to be accountable for education, but I support things that help keep the local districts accountable as well.
Some money may be spent on charter schools, but I believe the total amount spent on public schoool has gone up. Is that not correct?
As for who teacher unions support, that doesn't really change my views. Many of those unions also tend to not support performance pay, etc so I often disagree with them. My interest is what is best for education. So I will support something that I think is a good idea even if a teachers union doesn't like the idea.
Then you will find this information enlightening: Traditional public schools in Texas meet state performance standards at higher rates than do charter schools. A U.S. Department of Education study found that this fact did not change after controlling for the proportion of low-income students, the proportion of minority students, student mobility and student enrollment. – Evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program, Final Report, 2004 In recent Texas Education Agency (TEA) ratings, 11 percent of charter campuses received “Academically Unacceptable” accountability ratings, while only 1 percent of traditional public schools received this rating. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Staff Report, 11/04 In 2004, only 42 percent of Texas charter school students passed the TAKS, compared to 67 percent of students statewide and 56 percent of students classified as low-income. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Staff Report, 11/04 The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission found that children in some charter schools may be at risk of receiving an inadequate education. Without effective ways to measure student success, parents and school officials are ill-informed as to instructional quality. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Staff Report, 11/04 Charter schools have less qualified, less trained teachers. Only about 38 percent of Texas charter school teachers are certified to teach in either Texas or another state – a rate that is about 10 percent less than the national figure (48 percent). – Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: Sixth-year Evaluation, July 2003, Texas Education Agency, prepared by Texas Center for Educational Research. On average, charter teachers have about half as many years experience as teachers in traditional public schools (5 years versus 12 years). – The Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: Sixth-year Evaluation, July 2003, Texas Education Agency, prepared by Texas Center for Educational Research. Proportionally fewer charter teachers than teachers at traditional public schools have advanced degrees (14 percent compared to 18 percent statewide). – The Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: Sixth-year Evaluation, July 2003, Texas Education Agency, prepared by Texas Center for Educational Research. Charter schools have been plagued by financial mismanagement and corruption. The 2004 Texas Sunset Advisory Commission staff report on the TEA found that 20 different charter schools since 1998 had been closed because of acute financial problems. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Staff Report, 11/04 The Sunset Advisory Commission found that TEA has very little ability to hold charter schools accountable for expending state funds. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission report, 11/04 Renaissance Charter School in Irving could not provide sufficient documentation of its student attendance data. The charter school, ultimately owing the state $2.9 million in overpayments, later went bankrupt and never repaid the funds. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission report, 11/04 and Austin American-Statesman, “Charter schools owe state millions,” 11/25/02. Another charter school cited by the Sunset Commission had numerous problems, including falsified student attendance numbers, lack of business or accounting records, a poorly performing board, and an administrator employing 16 different family members who were paid a total of approximately $1.6 million in state funds. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission report, 11/04 Texas Academy of Excellence in Austin closed after TEA auditors were unable to determine whether many expenditures were for the benefit of the students or instead were used for personal purposes. A TEA audit revealed credit card charges to Neiman Marcus, Best Buy and Sears and noted ATM withdrawals from London, England; Madrid, Spain; and Johannesburg, South Africa. The school, which received a total of about $6.5 million in state funds, filed for bankruptcy three months before closing. – Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Staff Report, 11/04 and Austin American-Statesman, “Charter school hasn’t accounted for $6.5 million,” 6/25/04. Charter schools hurt rather than help traditional public schools. District officials most often report that charter schools affect their districts financially through losses in average daily attendance (ADA) funding (84 percent) and federal funding (56 percent). - Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: Sixth-year Evaluation, July 2003, Texas Education Agency, prepared by Texas Center for Educational Research. Districts are also more likely to regard charter schools as disruptive. – Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: Sixth-year Evaluation, July 2003, Texas Education Agency, prepared by Texas Center for Educational Research. Of the 60 percent of traditional public school officials who instituted innovative educational approaches and practices in their districts, only 6 percent cited charter schools as a motivating factor. – Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: Sixth-year Evaluation, July 2003, Texas Education Agency, prepared by Texas Center for Educational Research. Charter schools lack the technology resources kids need to learn. Charter school teachers generally have limited access to technology resources in the classroom. More than half of classrooms have either no computers (24 percent) or only one computer (31 percent), and only 66 percent of classrooms are connected to the Internet. - Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: Sixth-year Evaluation, July 2003, Texas Education Agency, prepared by Texas Center for Educational Research. http://www.tfn.org/publiceducation/charterschools/factsheet/index.php For your information, before you dismiss the source, or someone else does, the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission is a very influential, highly respected commission of the Texas Legislature. It's commission is made up equally of Texas Senators and House members, along with 2 public members, and besides being nationally recognized and imitated, is known for it's dispassionate reviews of state agencies and commissions, which are all up for Sunset review every 12 years, and have to justify their existence in order to continue in existence... thus the Sunset in the commission's name. Most of this information is from the Sunset Commission review of the Texas Education Agency. (the TEA) I happen to know a great deal about the Sunset Commission, btw. Keep D&D Civil.
If Perry is so great with education...why is it that state colleges have had hiring freezes over the last 4 years or so? When they lose someone, they are unable to replace them. I havent checked lately to see if the freeze has been lifted....but as of a year or so back that was the case at a local college I know people at.
