Looking to move from Texas to a Blue State. Convince me it should be your state.

[DuaneBidoux]

You can talk about anything, but I am especially interested in how your state treats environmental and poverty and educational issues.

That doesn't mean that availability of culture, entertainment, beautiful landscape, etc. doesn't count.

By the way, I'm a special education teacher for learning disabled, and so would want to get a teacher certificate in the state.

Edit to add: I realized I may have just posted this in the wrong place. Sorry mod. I thought there might be enough political stuff (see first paragraph) to make it doable.

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. If you do consider California, know that to teach here requires a lot of extra tests to pass

CBEST, RICA, CLAD/BCLAD.

You have to pass the CBEST to get your preliminary credentialing before being able to be considered for hire. But, thanks to the NCLB, you have to have passed RICA, and CLAD or BCLAD.

I previously was credentialed in NV, and also taught SpEd (LD and MMH). Am now credentialed here in CA for general ed and SpEd Level I. I just took the RICA, am taking the CLAD, and am substitute teaching with the hope I can get a position sometime either after the first of the year, or by next spring when the jobs and transfers open up.

[izquierdista]

2. Take the BIG step

and move to a Blue country. I have lived in 9 states and am well acquainted with half a dozen others, and I don't really want to live in ANY of them. I'm now working on which foreign country I should emigrate to. I've spent some time in two so far, and have my eye on a third that I might want to settle in. In non-English speaking countries, there is always employment as an English teacher that will pay the bills, and being a native speaker bypasses a great deal of the certification process.

Texas is one of the states I have more than passing familiarity with, and I would say it is probably the worst place in the Western Hemisphere to live. Oh sure, there are some good things to be said about Austin and San Antonio, and the Hill Country, but you would have to look far and wide to find a place where trashing the environment is so celebrated and where they are meaner to the poor.

Do what I did, just pack up your things and set off and don't look back. It really doesn't matter where, anyplace you go, you will notice an improvement.

[NMDemDist2]

3. welcome to DU izquierdista

:hi:

you might find our DU glossary both entertaining and informative

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x190

[Gato Moteado]

4. move to a swing state instead....your vote is needed in places like....

...florida and ohio.

your vote is wasted in a political shit-hole like texas....move somewhere where your vote will actually count.

[cali]

5. check out Vermont

We are the greenest state in the country as well as a vibrant example of real democracy. Got a beef with the statehouse, or need some help? All of our state reps list their home phone numbers. Town meeting day really is the community coming together and hashing out issues big and small.

We rank extremely high on every list of states when it comes to education. And that includes special ed, too.

http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm

Vermont provides health insurance for nearly all of its children.

Burlington is the only real urban center in the state. Lots of cultural events from a spectacular jazz festival to opera and the visual arts.

And of course, it's beautiful.

Lastly, Vermont may well be the most liberal state in the country.

But yes, it gets freakin' cold here and the winters are long.

[ruggerson]

6. Move to New England

Easily the sanest part of the country.

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. Here's an interactive electoral and voting results for 2004 map

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm

And, if you look at the greater Las Vegas area of NV, you can see it is blue per presidential result.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/PresidentialByCounty.aspx?oi=P&rti=G&tf=l&sp=NV

I mention Las Vegas because Clark County School District is recruiting teachers, even offering bonuses and other perks, to get more teachers due to the shortage of certficated teachers there. there will work with the recruits to get their credentialing even as they are teaching for the district.

http://ccsd.net/jobs/LLPrecruitSched.htm

and

http://ccsd.net/jobs/

[SaveElmer]

8. I live in Virginia now...but grew up in Minnesota...bluest of the Blue...

The only state to vote Democratic in every Presidential election from 1976 through 2004...

Plus it is a beautiful place to live!!!

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. New York State does relatively well in those regards

It is no coincidence that some people complain about taxes in New York, we actually have state supported programs geared toward the common good that have to be funded. It isn't a socialist paradise by any means but nowhere in the U.S. is. I live in the Mid Hudson Valley/Catskills region and we get culture, entertainment, beautiful landscape etc. as a bonus thrown in with what is of concern to you.

The fact that NYC has half the votes in the State and a large population of minorities helps with economic issues and support for public education, and New Yorkers have always been environmentally progressive compared to most States in the nation.

[Nutmegger]

10. Connecticut

The education in Connecticut is top notch. Okay, that's despite the damn NCLB crap.

Teachers here are paid very generously. In a recent study, CT was second on average salary. Higher education here is great. From UCONN to Trinity College to Wesleyan, our higher institutions enjoy somewhat high graduation rates.

The nation's oldest publicly funded museum is right in Hartford, the Wadsworth Atheneum. Not too far away is The Bushnell Center for Preforming Arts. Right in Hartford is the Mark Twain House, which is always decorated for Christmas, and next door is the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.

A fall in Connecticut is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. I have meet people from all over the world who come here (and the general Northeast) to see the foliage. It's quite spectacular, and my favorite time of the year.

Ok, we have a Republican governor and LIARman but the Democrats hold a supermajority is both chambers.

Connecticut still has to work on poverty. Hartford is still rough in certain portions, but there has been a revitalization that seems to be helping. Bridgeport has been plagued with problems, being one of the poorest cities in the nation. Interesting factoid: Bridgeport has a socialist mayor for twenty-four years (1933 - 57).

[Mme. Defarge]

11. This is a no-brainer ...

Oregon is the only state in the country whose major city has the distinction of being referred to by the Bush regime as "Little Beirut". Every time a Bush comes to Portland protesters come out in force, dating back to the '80's.

[DuaneBidoux]

13. I do like Oregon. Find it just beautiful and lacking what makes my city, Houston terrible.

I'm tired of big cities (Houston has become absolutely gigantic since I moved here 19 years ago, not that it was small then).

[cali]

14. Ha!

Vermont's got you beat. Our entire state is a bull's eye. Repukes commonly refer to it as the "People's republic of Vermont".

[AtomicKitten]

12. San Francisco, California is a wonderful alternate universe.