North Forest Independent School District in the Houston area is nearly bankrupt, having lied about student enrollment numbers, mismanaged the taxpayers’ cash, and cheated untold numbers of children out of an academic future. The response from the teacher union rep: worried that people might lose their jobs. That they haven’t already is part of the problem.

The Bexar County Commissioners Court voted earlier this month to present  San Antonio area voters with a $415 million venue tax increase measure on the May ballot.  While it would fund lots of nice-sounding goodies, increased hotel and rental car taxes have been proven to reduce tourism.

Used to be selling your land to the government was a break-even proposition — you got what the government valued it at, or else. But the Austin City Council is much more progressive than that since, after all, it’s not their money. In looking to build a new water treatment plant (not exactly a tourist attraction), the city found land that they valued at $28 million. The owners said it was worth $39 million. The land was on the tax rolls for $5.8 million. So, of course, taxpayers are coughing up $32 million.

Never has a better small-government campaign been mounted than the one in Kerr County for the position of treasurer. Republican Ed Hamilton says that if he’s elected, he won’t do a single thing — he won’t even take the $46,000-per-year paycheck. Hamilton says the position is duplicative and could be handled more effectively elsewhere in county government.

Hysterical pronouncements by politicians can lead to both bad policy and higher costs. You don’t get much more hysterical than Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, who told an audience that simply breathing the air in some parts of Texas places people “as at [much] risk for cancer as a smoker." Cluck-cluck, clucks Cluck.

Abilene school district officials tell the local newspaper that their "New Year’s Resolution" is to increase taxpayers’ debt this May by $85.2 million, or $5,126 per student. This would include spending $2 million on a new press box for the local football stadium.

While Texas Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson’s strong views on any number of issues earned him equal measures of love and scorn, he was an honorable man who truly sought to serve the best interests of Texans. He died earlier this week of a heart attack. As the godfather of the Trans-Texas Corridor, he took the arrows and daggers as a part of the public policy debate. But the state’s liberals demonstrate they have no sense of proportion, respect, or even decency, in gleefully proclaiming his passing.

Houston ISD managed to get 51% of the voters to impose $850 billion in debt upon themselves a month ago — for the children, of course. But a lawsuit is stopping the district from the getting the cash, under allegations that not all the children are benefit from the billion-dollar spending-spree.

The Austin American Statesman’s editorial board is breathlessly writing that “Smarter teachers leave sooner.” Texas is facing a worsening shortage of qualified teachers in science, math and other highly-specialized fields.