Perry going to fix school finance by cutting taxes????

How the hell does THAT work?

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/033006dntexschoolfinance.72de341c.html

If adopted, the plan would slash school property taxes by a third — $6 billion worth — for all Texas homeowners. That money would be replaced in the state's $33 billion public school budget with a new business tax, a $1-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax and $1 billion from a state budget surplus.
(this wouldn't be the lottery money that was supposed to be for education anyway?)

It's a sight glass so one can readily tell if he is quart low on shit.

OOOps!

cutting taxes fixes everything. Even Tom Delay said nothing is more important in the face of war than cutting taxes.

Silly you!

court order.

The problem is there's no income tax. Property taxes account for the school budgets, and are shared. To maintain educational standards, this means that many places have their property taxes pinned at the maximum rate allowed by state law. The problem isn't that the courts are mandating additional funding (although that may be in there); the courts are mandating *alternative* funding.

The courts have said since the local taxes are pinned at the maximum amount to satisfy state law, this amounts to a state-imposed tax rate. That's contra the (state) constitution. If that's not remedied, it means the inference that there's a state-imposed will remain. And the courts will declare the schools unfunded and therefore closed come fall. To satisfy the courts, the property taxes have to be decoupled from the state-imposed education requirements, and that means "unpinning" them from the maximum rates, and that means reducing property taxes; if the local districts want to have high taxes to exceed state demands, that's a separate issue.