State Budget

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

----The proposed state budget (SB-1?) contains no salary increases for teachers and those other in education and does not RESTORE the health insurance allowance that was taken away in one of the past two sessions. What this means to Texas residents is that any increases to teacher's benefits will be paid by local taxes----which in turn means local districts have to raise more money -----which means higher Ad Valorem (property) taxes for us.

---My wonderful school board and other government agencies announced TAX RATE CUTS last time in my home county... which sounds good until you realize that they raised the evaluations 14% or more (mine was more) .... so I actually wound up paying even more taxes than before. [ where was that $2000 average cut that Gov. Perry bragged about last summer?? ] On some other property that I own in another county, the state is complaining to that local county tax district that tax evaluations are too low and that they should raise them...... which means even more taxes for me. Thanks again state!!!!

----Be sure you are really informed about what is going on and think about the consequences of what the state politicians claim. They are considering dropping TAMS at UNT (saves money) and means less money for UNT and don't hold your breath about the funding for the UNT Law School or you may turn blue or green in the face. It would not shock me to learn in the next session and TAMS has been refunded...... at A&M (Perry's university).

----This is not really meant to so political but just informative as to what they are trying to do. Tax cut claims and no new taxes are not always what they seem at first. Low salaries in education often mean that the best young teachers just leave and never return. [ I no longer work in public schools ]