They say that politics produces some very strange bedfellows and I can’t think of any stranger than seeing local activist Terrence Boggs joining forces with the Save Texas Schools group in support of their rally this Saturday in Austin. I mean, there is strange and then there is strange. And this one is strange.
You’ll recall that I wrote about Terrence last summer when he organized a meeting that by all accounts produced a ton of ‘fruit” for conservatives in Harris County. He really is an effective organizer and has a bundle of energy that he brings to the projects he supports, which up to now have been conservative in nature. So I was quite surprised to see him leading the charge on Facebook in support of the Save Texas Schools rally. Why was I so surprised?
You need look no further than the ‘About Us’ page on the Save Texas Schools website. The first thing you notice is that they want to use the ‘Rainy Day Fund’ in its entirety. The second thing you notice is that they want to take the $830 million that Rep. Lloyd Doggett has held hostage. Neither of those are remotely conservative in nature. But the real kicker is down the page a bit, under the listing of steering committee members:
I’m sure you recall who Mr. Lewis is, don’t you? If not, just think this: Houston Votes. Now is it coming back? Hmm? Yes, that same Fred Lewis, the guy that was behind the voter registration drive that former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Leo Vasquez squashed, along with the King Street Patriots. And yes, the same Fred Lewis that is suing King Street founder Catherine Engelbrecht.
If that isn’t enough to convince a conservative that he or she might be on the wrong side of an issue, let’s bring in another name you all know and love: Rep. Borris Miles.
Neil Aquino over at Texas Liberal likes Rep. Miles’ support for Save Texas Schools so much that he wants to know where the rest of the elected Democrats are.
Sometimes, we have to stick our necks out and do things that are unpopular. I get that because I do it a lot and have learned to brush off the criticism. And to that extent, I admire Terrence for doing what he thinks is right. But sometimes, we need to ask ourselves why we are sticking our necks out and if we are doing it for the right reason. Terrence is a teacher and that has to have influenced his decision on this one – I trust that he recognizes that and has gone forward for the right reasons. I hope that Terrence remembers this: joining forces with people that spew vulgarities and hate at you is not going to change them – they are still going to spew vulgarities and hate at you. They hate you and everything you stand for – and that isn’t going to change.
Before we start raiding the Rainy Day Fund for a future budget, which would be totally against the intent of that fund, we need to address the high costs of the way the Texas school system is laid out. Take a look at Felicia Craven’s post on the Houston Tea Party Society’s website and then scroll through the salary list of school superintendents that the Texas Tribune put together.
Do we really need a superintendent for a school district with 20 students? At a cost of $4,425 per student? Do we really need to pay a superintendent $266,494 a year to obtain a rating of ‘Unacceptable’? Must we force bilingual education on every school district? Why should I have to pay for a stadium in Cy Fair – why not raise the tax rate of the people in that district that chose to build that monstrosity?
Point is, there is a lot of waste in the current system – if you really want to ‘Save Texas Schools’, you should address that before you start protesting in the streets about the big, bad Republicans not giving you enough money.