Denton ISD trustees voted 6-1 to keep two controversial titles available to K-5th grade students.
Local
Plano Councilman Calls for ‘Thorough Investigation’ Into Marxist Documents Shared by School Counselor
Place 5 Councilman Shelby Williams “deeply concerned” about Marxist propaganda shared in email by school counselor.
Amid Economic Suffering, Central Texas Officials Consider Raising Taxes
As citizens struggle to provide food and a place to live for their families, local officials want to take away more of their cash.
Disability Rights Group Calls Out Discriminatory Coronavirus School Policies
Public health orders delaying the start of in-person instruction do not permit students with disabilities to return to school until the next school year.
Central Texas Officials Give Special Tax Breaks to Tesla While Taxpayers Struggle
If only local government officials treated working-class citizens like they treat multibillion-dollar corporations.
MOST RECENT
Dubious Dallas Project Connected to State Senator’s Son
A proposed development project in Deep Ellum would put soccer fields underneath I-345.
More Arrests in South Texas Voter Fraud Scheme
Prosecutors have now implicated 22 suspects in an illegal voting operation to elect Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina.
San Antonio Sued for Banning Chick-fil-A
The lawsuit targets the city council’s decision to discriminate against the popular restaurant.
Conservative County Commissioners Break Quorum to Block Tax Increase
Two Lubbock County commissioners took bold action to defend taxpayers, using a little-known state law that allowed them to block a proposed tax increase.
Chandler Crouch: A One Man Army for Property Taxpayers
Frustrated by the heavy burdens of property taxes, Crouch is volunteering his company’s time and his personal talent to help taxpayers fight back.
Commentary: The Tale of the Tax Rate
A property taxpayer looks at the City of Allen’s approach to fiscal stewardship.
Police Chief Tom Hain Runs for Midland County Sheriff
UTPB Chief of Police Tom Hain is the latest Republican joining the race for Midland County Sheriff.
Commentary: Should Local Officials Congratulate Themselves for Lowering Tax Rates?
While local elected officials brag about lowering tax rates, they’re still increasing the amount you have to pay.
Mayor Price’s Purple Budget
Fort Worth’s proposed budget would spend over $1 million of taxpayer money on Democrat initiatives while hiking taxes.
Tom Green County Commissioners Adopt Maximum Tax Hike
County commissioners are raising county property taxes as much as legally possible while avoiding a potential rollback election where citizens could vote on the increase.
ARCHIVE
Tighten The Belt, Don’t Add Notches
Today House members voted to increase their operating budgets and raise the salary cap for legislative employees. While small businesses are tightening their belts, legislators are adding notches.
Under the new rules, legislators will get an extra $1,000 per month to run their offices. At the same time they raised the amount they can carry forward from $15,000 to $25,000.
Dinosaurs In The Capitol
Every Session bills are filed in the Texas House that range from the humorous to the inane. But of all the work lawmakers face this Session, none might be less relevant to modern life than re-desingating the official state dinosaur. Didn’t know we had one, did you?
Cleburne’s Alligator Problem
Cleburne ISD (mis)spent $367,000 of federal funds to, among other things, build a waterslide and rent an inflatable alligator. What, precisely, an inflatable alligator has to do with reading instruction is left unanswered. According to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), this little gem was uncovered (pdf page 10) by the Texas Education Agency because local school officials failed to provide “lesson plans or other documentation” regarding the expenditure. Just goes to show, an alligator always gets you in the… wallet.
Bad Fellas
Even ideas are known by the company they keep. Disgraced and indicted Illinois Gov. Rod “Show Me The Money” Blagojevich is hard at work today signing subsidies for the movie industry. While facing legal action for soliciting bribes in exchange for filling the Senate seat left open by Barack Obama, Blagovich is using taxpayer dollars to bribe moviemakers to come to Illinois. Says something about the morality of the entire scheme, doesn’t it?
ACORN For Taxpayers
Embattled North Forest ISD has taken another hit, according to the Houston Chronicle, losing its bid for a massive tax increase. The measure failed by a 4-1 margin – thanks in large part to ACORN.
Legislative Bully
State Rep. David Leibowitz wants you to do something about bullying. Specifically, the Helotes Democrat wants to use your money to pay for a bullying hotline that a “primary or secondary school student” can use to “report an incident of bullying.”
5% Solution
On a Saturday in November, less than 5 percent of the registered voters in the Humble school district foisted a massive tax hike on everyone else. The system of letting such important matters be decided on non-standard election dates – and by so few people – has got to change. This makes a mockery of democracy.
No Pizza For You
Talk about misplaced priorities… Alvin ISD is getting fined $1,800 because one kid shared some pizza. It seems the sharing of non-approved pizza is a big bureaucratic no-no, and was witnessed by a Texas Department of Agriculture monitor. Since 2004, schools have had to squash such nefarious activity or face stiff penalties from the Ag department.
Loophole Legislation
Several months ago we wrote about lawmakers hiring "ghost workers" after several news sources brought the practice to light. Rep. Jim Jackson (R-Carrollton) was paying attention and has filed legislation aimed at ending this ponzi scheme.
No Humble Solution
For growing expenditures faster than the student population and overseeing a decline in SAT scores, the Humble ISD school trustees are working to sock taxpayers with a massive tax hike to fund the district’s massive over-spending. And rather than accept responsibility for bloating their budget, the school district superintendent is blaming the Legislature… and threatening to slash student program funding as the first thing to go.