Dallas lawmakers get an earful (Keffer, Reyna)

[jburton]

Lawmakers get an earful

Constituents vent anger over failure to overhaul school financing system

By JESSICA LEEDER / The Dallas Morning News

Lawmakers have been home from Austin for only a few days, but they've already gotten an earful from constituents angry over the Legislature's failure to overhaul school financing.

Dallas-area House members said Thursday that the flow of complaints on the telephone and in person has been steady. In one case, a representative (Bill Keffer, R-Dallas) heard from a voter at their children's morning swim team practice.

Rep. Elvira Reyna, R-Mesquite, said one constituent threatened to organize voters against her.

"He said that his whole neighborhood is disgusted with all the tax dollars spent on legislators running about," Ms. Reyna said. The man also told her that if she draws an opponent in 2006, "you are gone"

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More Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/060305dntexschoolfinance.10c8b2bc8.html

[The Doctor.]

1. Love Senfronia Thompson...

"Let's look at what this amendment does not do: It does not give one Texas citizen meaningful tax relief. It does not reform or fully fund our education system. It does not restore one child to CHIP who was cut from health insurance last session. It does not put one dime into raising Texas' Third World access to health care. It does not do one thing to care for or protect one elderly person or one child in this state. In fact, it does not even do anything to protect one marriage."

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?next=3&ColumnsName=miv

Yeah - she told them.

[TxGran]

2. My Representative - Senfronia

This is the only elected official that represents me that I like. I used to have Nick Lampson as US congressman, but he was defeated last election by Ted Poe. Ugh!

[Catma]

3. And it only took

what 4 years of no school finance reform? Robin Hood has been destroying good districts. :(

[Wright Patman]

5. Robin Hood enforces a more equitable

distribution of public school funding. No Democrat should be against that principle.

The method of funding is another issue. It can be argued an income tax (if progressively applied and it probably wouldn't be as nothing else in this state is) would be a better way to raise revenue, but that's not going to happen in Texas.

I am very relieved that Robin Hood remains in place. What Craddick wanted to replace it with was a penny increase in the most regressive tax of all, the sales tax. Also, he wanted to keep all the loopholes for what little tax he was willing to impose on business.

We are left with a bad system, but it is not as bad as it could have been, especially for Texans making less than $100K a year, which would probably include most who post on this forum.

[crispini]

6. um, did you miss the part

where Robin Hood was declared unconstitutional by the courts and now we're going to be hanging around waiting to see what the courts do rather than having a LEGISLATIVE solution to the problem? Stupid feckers can't fix it even when they HAVE to.

[Wright Patman]

7. Now why would the GOP care what activist judges say?

It was a district court in Austin which has ruled so far.

If the all-GOP Texas Supreme Court doesn't overrule this "activist" judge named Dietz in July, their hypocrisy will be on display for all to see.

The fact of the matter remains that Robin Hood in its current form is the most equitable system Texas will ever have short of Democrats returning to majority rule in Austin.

I do not foresee that occurring in my lifetime, so I celebrate the continuation of Robin Hood for as long as possible.

If the Legislature in its current political makeup ever "gets its act together" so to speak, taxes on a percentage basis will be raised on those making less than $100K and cut for those above that amount and they will call it a solution. And I guess you will cheer because "Robin Hood" has been done away with. Either you are very rich, live in an overvalued house on which you feel you are overtaxed or you enjoy watching the tax butden being shifted from rich to poor.

The "poor" districts are going to rue the day they ever joined the "rich" ones in that lawsuit you are talking about. We are only a few legislative seats away from effectively doing away with public schools altogether.

[crispini]

4. Heyyyy! Let's see, Reyna is in the 101st.

According to her website. Hm, I didn't realize that was in Mesquite. Let's see, she didn't have an opponent last time, did she? We need to make sure she does. Hm.....

Keffer I *know* will have an opponent. Mwahahahaha.

[sendero]

8. Robin Hood.....

.... was as good a finance system as we're ever going to get. Folks that are whining and moaning about it are likely to really have something to whine about when the TX lege finishes the hose job it's going to have to do to replace it.