Hughes In Touch With Education

Thursday, June 30, 2005

State Rep. Bryan Hughes is clearly out of touch. Not with his constituents, mind you, not with reality, not with what is best for East Texas and the entire state.

But he does seem to be out of touch with the leadership of the Texas House of Representatives and Gov. Rick Perry.

This is a good thing. A very good thing.

Hughes is bent on giving teachers a $2,400 raise because, of course, he sees the value of education and knows that qualified people are going to need to be compensated properly or they will simply find another job in the private sector.

The education bill narrowly passed by the House Tuesday – a number of Republicans opposed it – once again tries to do education "on the cheap" in the name of trying to reduce property taxes.

We want to pay less in property taxes, too, but not at the expense of our state's future. Furthermore, reducing property taxes does not mean that anyone will pay less in taxes. It just will be paid for differently.

The House plan would given teachers an average of $1,500 a year pay raise, but it would not restore the $1,000 stipend for health insurance, which the legislature gave one year, then ripped away from teachers during the budget crunch.

It should be noted that the bill just passed is merely a beginning. The House doesn't even know yet how the property tax cuts will be made up. It could be that the bill will be derailed there.

Then, of course, the State Senate still has to pass muster on the bill.

So there is still time for Hughes and others – the many others who are also "out of touch" – to band together to get something really positive done.

There are some in our do-nothing state government who want to accomplish great things. We wish the others would get out of the way. They are part of the problem, not the solution.