Voice in the Wilderness

Republicans Could Exploit Teachers-Administrators Antagonisms to Resolve School Finance/Property Tax Issue

I received an interesting direct mail piece today from the Education Austin PAC, which appears to be a teachers lobby group for Austin public school teachers.

It laments the fact that the AISD School Board did not budget for a teacher pay raise in this year's budget after suggesting they would do so in proposition 6 of last September's school bond election:

"Creates funds for classroom teacher pay-raises by refinancing short-term district debt through longer term bonds just as homeowners can refinance high interest debt through their mortgage [$23, 495,000]"

If you ignore the gall of the teachers to lobby you to beg the school board to spend more of your money and the fact that the text above does not promise a pay raise but only "creates funds" for one, you'll see an opportunity for better accountability and property tax relief.

As I blogged about here, here and here, the Republicans need to change the way the issue is framed from "how can we put more money into public schools?" to "where is all the money we put into public schools going?" It is my contention that public school finances are woefully mis-managed by public school administrators. However, they get away with bullying the Republicans around because the school adminstrators are closely allied with teachers unions, a formidable lobby at the Capitol.

As long as the issue is framed "how can we put more money into public schools?", it is easier for these two blocs to ally together as they have a common interest, cajoling more money out of the public coffers. If the issue is framed "where is all the money we put into public schools going?", and the leadership steadfastly follows this path toward more sane spending, it will cause friction among these two blocs as they seek to protect their piece of the school spending pie.

That's why this mailer signals a possible opportunity for the Republicans. It highlights the fact that these rifts clearly exist and can be exploited. By asking "where is all the money we put into public schools going?", the Republicans can expose the selfish and gratuitous spending habits of school administrators that hurt teachers and students. The teachers unions will then have a reason to align themselves with the Republicans on this issue....or at least not be as nasty as they would have been other wise. The reforms that need to be passed, like financial transparency accountability, spending reductions, greater controls on future spending, and even - dare I say it? - school choice will then be more likely to make their way to the Governor's desk.

But to sieze this opportunity, the leadership needs to ask "where is all the money we put into public schools going?"

New VitW blogroll entry chronicles the persecution of Christians around the world

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the Voice of the Martyrs blog (Hat tip to the Fire Ant Gazette).

Voice of the Martyrs reports on the persecution visited upon Christians by repressive governments and extremists of other religions. A recent post describes the sad, but predictable result of "hate crimes" laws: Christian pastors are legally assailed for standing for biblical truth:

If you said something on your website about your own personal beliefs and had someone tell you to apologize for it - would you? Well, in this case that you can read about in The Age two pastors are now being told that they can appeal over "vilification claims".

What were those "vilification claims"?

TWO Christian pastors found to have vilified Muslims under Victoria's religious hatred law have been granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The "religious hatred" law referred to above is in Victoria, Australia, a Western country you would think would be more enlightened and tolerant. Another post highlights the gross human rights violations of China, a story completely ignored by the same MSM that gets worked into a lather over spurious claims of Koran abuse at Club Gitmo:

Taiwan News Online is reporting today that five American church workers have been detained.

Four Americans, including a married couple, were held after authorities broke up a Christian fellowship service on Monday in the city of Luoyang in Henan province, about 750 kilometers southwest of Beijing, the China Aid Association said.

What is interesting here is that there is NO REASON given for the authorities breaking up this Christian fellowship meeting. One could assume it is because they are followers of Christ.

Meanwhile, many of 43 Chinese Christians arrested in Hubei province earlier this month were tortured, the group said, citing those who had been released.

The torture included burning their arms with cigarettes and needle punctures to their wrists. One woman, Lian Tonggui, was striped naked and beaten until bloody with a specially designed sharp bamboo stick, it said

Again, what is the real reason for this torture? Doesn't this grieve your heart? I am constantly amazed at the hatred and evil of people who hate Christ. This is all the more reason we need to remember to pray for the persecutors as well as the victims. Please do that today.

Please pray for the persecuted church and their oppressors.