Over the last 20 years, state government spending has increased 300 percent – nearly twice as fast as the sum of inflation and population. Frankly, we can’t afford that level of spending any longer. And yet Speaker of the House Joe Straus isn’t willing to put the...
State Spending
Texas Budget Compact
The historic trend for the cost of state government has presented Texas taxpayers with a bill we increasingly cannot afford. For some time, we have consoled ourselves with the idea Texas is a small-government, low-tax state. And we are, when compared to the other...
Round Rock Revenue-Enhancers
Another Texas city has added revenue-enhancement, er, red-light, cameras to their budget stream, counting on residents to break the law and pay for the devices. This comes just after voters in Houston forced their city council to turn their cameras off. According to...
Seeking a Broader Solution Than ‘Spend More’
The ‘Save Texas Schools’ rally held on the south steps of the Texas Capitol today was not as innocuous as it sounds. We can all agree that work needs to be done to improve schools in Texas - but the individuals supporting today’s event have made clear that they see...
Start Now On A Conservative Budget
Raising taxes and seeking new revenue sources is off the table for Texas taxpayers and voters, so it also needs to be for lawmakers. Government efficiency, not creative financing, is what taxpayers have been, and will continue to be, demanding. Texans for Fiscal...
Spending On Stadium TVs
Apparently times aren't so tough when public schools are buying new flat-screen TVs to hang in the locker rooms and weight rooms of a newly remodeled football stadium. Just ask Glen Rose ISD (which is, of course, suing the state for more "education" money). The...
Testing Champion
Suddenly it's fashionable to be against the ridiculously expensive state-imposed public school testing regimen. Let's not forget that just a year ago the House education committee wouldn’t even take a vote on a cash-saving proposal by taxpayer champion and State Rep....
Perry’s Still Leading Texas
With Rick Perry bowing out of the presidential race this week, his detractors and the liberal pundits have predictably started writing his political obituary. That's mostly wishful thinking on their part. After all, Rick Perry has the opportunity to use the last-half...
Fix The Gimmicks
While the legislature balanced the Lone Star State’s ledger-book last year, they did so in part by taking a well-worn, if unsavory, path to get there. A top priority for the next legislature must be to correct the creative accounting and get rid of the gimmicks so...
Educrat Scoffs At College Readiness
Texas public schools have doubled per-pupil spending over the last decade, but the academic results should leave teachers, parents, taxpayers and lawmakers wondering where the money has gone. And one school administrator doesn’t think college readiness should be a...