School Lawsuits. Council Endorsements.

Richardson's school board and Richardson City Council members took divergent positions this week, probably without even being aware of it. The school board sued the State over school finance. Council members endorsed one of the legislators responsible for our school finance mess.

In the current state budget, the RISD received $14.2 million less for this year's operating budget due to state cutbacks in education funding. Next year, RISD's operating budget will take a further $7.5 million hit. This is despite rising enrollments. Schools are adding students but the legislature isn't supplying the resources needed to educate them.

After the jump, what the RISD is doing about it. And how the city council members are making the schools' case more difficult.

Stefani Carter's Friends are Few, But Rich

When last we looked, Stefani Carter appeared to be short of friends and money. Enough so that she decided to drop her bid for Railroad Commissioner and come back to Richardson to try to keep her District 102 House seat.

After the jump, a new look look at Carter's friend list.

Repeat Tweets: We Want More Speech

Repeat tweets from May, 2014:

• May 1 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "We don't need less speech, we want more." But Cruz doesn't want billionaires to have to put their names on their speech.
  
• May 2 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "Religious liberty is under assault like never before." You do know who is denying wall between church and state, don't you?
  
• May 2 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "We need policies that encourage job creation & growth." Then pass the Job Creation Act already. #wacko
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Stefani Carter Fiddles While Texas Burns

Texas is in financial crisis. The state faces a $27 billion budget shortfall over the next two years. Raising revenue is off the table. Huge spending cuts are on. Schools across the state may lose 100,000 teachers. The Dallas school district (DISD) alone fears having to lay off 4,000 teachers and increase class sizes from 25 to 35 students. Medicaid cutbacks are in the works, along with cuts to the children's health insurance program. You would think the budget crisis would be top priority for our legislators in Austin. You'd think saving jobs for Texans would be their own Job 1. You would be wrong.

After the jump, what first-term Dallas representative Stefani Carter (TX House District 102) is working on instead.

Repeat Tweets: Best Musical Ever

Repeat tweets from February, 2014:

• Feb 2 2014: Hairspray at BHS: '60s music and student activism, what more could you ask? Hilarious & inspiring. All voices owned the house! Best ever!
  
• Feb 3 2014: New 2014-2016 UIL District 10: Richardson, Berkner, Lake Highlands, Pearce, Highland Park, Mesquite, Mesquite Horn, North Mesquite. Wow!
  
• Feb 4 2014: MT @SenTedCruz: "If a President can choose which laws to follow, ..." Get local police to strictly enforce jaywalking while you're at it.
  
• Feb 4 2014: Our Lake Wobegon climate. Headline: "2013 Marked the Thirty-seventh Consecutive Year of Above-Average Temperature." grist.org
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

"It'll Feel Better When It Stops Hurting"

The Richardson City Council election has been consuming a lot of this blog's attention lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention to what our so-called representatives have been doing to us for us down in Austin. It's time to have a look.

State Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) gives us an eyewitness update on what our legislators are up to. That means Sen. John Carona and Rep. Angie Chen Button for me and maybe Rep. Stefani Carter, Kenneth Sheets, Will Hartnett or Van Taylor for some other Richardson area readers. Summary: The outlook is not good.

Richardson ISD trustee Kris Oliver has been following the proceedings, too, with an eye on the impact on the RISD schools. One of his comments: "Really? We are working like mad to avoid laying off teachers, and the TX House reduces taxes on chewing tobacco."

After the jump, back to Sen. Watson's update.

Republican Brand Management

No matter how often they win the Presidency or control Congress, no matter how many years they run things in Austin, Republicans show a remarkable ability to maintain their brand image as the outsider, the anti-government party. A case in point was on display Wednesday evening, at a forum at the Lake Highlands Freshman Center for Stefani Carter and Carol Kent, opposing candidates for Texas House District 102.

After the jump, how it's always the other guys' fault, even when that guy (or gal) is dead.

Twitter Tracks: World Series, Election

Twitter tracks from October, 2010:

• 2010 10 01 - Bank bailout (TARP) not only prevented another Depression but cost much less than once thought. Thank you, George Bush. http://goo.gl/GsVs
• 2010 10 01 - Irony alert: RT @imccanntx: "Happy birthday @dallas_news ! Still going strong after 125 years"
• 2010 10 02 - Had a nightmare where everything I said came out wrong. Good was bad. Up was down. Now I'm scared it was no nightmare but just life as usual
• 2010 10 02 - You Can Count On Me (2000): Single mom, sheltered son, drifter brother, stifling small town. Imperfect family with a big heart. See it.
• 2010 10 03 - No Libertarians? "We find it shameful and disheartening that the Dallas Morning News is abdicating its responsibility". http://goo.gl/wZM1
• 2010 10 03 - No respect. Northwestern (5-0) and Kansas State (4-0) are the only two unbeaten college football teams that are unranked.
• 2010 10 03 - Kudos to Berkner's Mighty Ram Band for finishing 3rd out of 31 bands in the BOA Regional competition at UT-Arlington. http://goo.gl/2C3P
• 2010 10 04 - Conservatives at Abilene Christian University feel marginalized. They really need to get out more. http://goo.gl/kb9r
• 2010 10 04 - Ouch! Wick Allison: "I have accused the Texas GOP of hypocrisy before, but I did not know ... how deep the rot goes." http://goo.gl/8cDx
• 2010 10 04 - DMN recommends Carol Kent ("poised and thoughtful", "non-ideological") over Stefani Carter ("troublingly misleading") http://goo.gl/6BgH

After the jump, more Twitter tracks.

Repeat Tweets: City Council, Bin Laden, Mavs

Repeat tweets from May, 2011:

• 2011 05 01 - In 2007, Sheryl Miller outpolled William Gordon almost 2 to 1 in a 5-way race for City Council. I didn't know that. http://goo.gl/wXsFV
• 2011 05 01 - Headline: "Houston Texans take Rice defensive end Cheta Ozougwu with NFL draft's last pick." Go Owls! http://goo.gl/VBaUK
• 2011 05 01 - Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster. Avoid N. TX like the plague - but not because of plagues. Yay, Appleton WI. http://goo.gl/zGGNC
• 2011 05 01 - MT @brucetomaso: "Trump's reaction to jokes may be clue that he's not cut out for a natl campaign." Hell, he's not cut out for, say, Alaska.
• 2011 05 01 - Thank you, Apple. Rumor is that Osama bin Laden just activated the new iPhone sent to him by the CIA.
• 2011 05 02 - Headline: "MetroPCS expanding Richardson HQ." Richardson on the move. Keep it goin'. http://goo.gl/rIzmO
• 2011 05 02 - Headline: "Benning moves HQ from Dallas to Richardson." Richardson on the move. Keep it goin'. http://goo.gl/cydnM
• 2011 05 02 - Headline: "CVS Caremark call center in Richardson lays off 250." Ouch! Two steps forward, one back. Pick up the pace. http://goo.gl/XnDTI
• 2011 05 02 - I'd like to learn how far a city council can change zoning laws before courts rule it an illegal taking without compensation. No I wouldn't.
• 2011 05 02 - Steve Mitchell has the perfect situation. A legitimate reason to step aside from a vote that might come back to haunt him years from now.
• 2011 05 02 - I want Spring Valley rezoning to go through but I'm not a property rights lawyer. I don't want city to lose a lawsuit or screw prop owners.

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Repeat Tweets: Are You Better Off?

Repeat tweets from September, 2012:

• 2012 09 01 - All aboard: "A private consortium has expressed interest in financing the entire 62-mile Cotton Belt Corridor project." http://t.co/C3sqJnFl
  
• 2012 09 01 - Headline: "Texas High School Claims Title in Football's Megascreen Wars." Thank you, RISD for not playing this game. http://t.co/nwkh8IJo
  
• 2012 09 01 - My Week with Marilyn (2011): Captures MM's loneliness but not her magnetism. Makes Laurence Olivier look like a hack. Still, touching. B-
  
• 2012 09 01 - Headline: "Cardinal Carlo Martini says Church '200 years behind'" I think he's being generous to the Church. http://t.co/LLqtFtRT
  
• 2012 09 03 - Tort reform supporter Texas Comptroller Susan Combs: "Sue, baby, sue. I want to say let’s just keep suing those guys." http://t.co/JX4aHWh3
  
• 2012 09 03 - RT Eric Cantor: "Today [Labor Day], we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success." WTF?
  
• 2012 09 03 - ...Marigold Hotel (2011): Retirees seek new start in India. All-star ensemble cast. Exotic location. Everything is all right in the end. A-
  
• 2012 09 04 - Are you better off than you were four years ago? "Absolutely. Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive." -- VP Joe Biden
  
• 2012 09 04 - Are you better off than you were four years ago? "We’re better off. Obama pursued an all-of-the-above [energy] strategy." -- Duke Energy CEO
  
• 2012 09 04 - Are you better off than you were four years ago? Yes, "government guarantees health care for virtually all its citizens." -- Timothy Noah
  
• 2012 09 04 - Are you better off than you were four years ago? Yes, we put out the fire, we're rebuilding, & we won't let the arsonists back -- Dean Baker
  
• 2012 09 05 - Are you better off than you were four years ago? "Our country was on the verge of a financial meltdown of global proportion." - Nancy Pelosi
  
• 2012 09 05 - Are you better off than you were four years ago? "Did the Mavs have a title 4 years ago? No. Do they now? Yes. Next question." -- Mark Cuban
  
• 2012 09 06 - Are you better off now than four years ago? "Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off now than he was four years ago." -- Wayne Slater
  
• 2012 09 06 - "Are we better off than when he took office, with an economy in free fall, losing 750,000 jobs a month? The answer is yes!" -- Bill Clinton
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

City Council meets to revise zoning; discuss policing research, universal basic income

Source: June MacDonald.

"Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore."
— Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

That's the feeling I had when I read that headline. Head snap. Spit take. WTF? I had the feeling I wasn't in Texas anymore. And indeed I wasn't. The story appeared in Ann Arbor's "The Michigan Daily", a student-run newspaper for the University of Michigan.

Why Aren't We Talking About Superintendents?

Dallas's new state legislator Stefani Carter weighed in on the crisis facing public education funding in Texas. In doing so, this freshman legislator demonstrated how little she can be counted on to offer practical solutions to the crisis. Her comments came in an interview with The Texas Tribune's editor Evan Smith. Unfair Park's Rob Wilonsky highlights the money quote from Carter on the subject:

"Says Carter, instead of talking about laying off teachers: 'Why aren't we talking about superintendents? Why aren't we talking about administrators?'"

After the jump, why this is wrong in multiple ways.

Sanity Check for School Finance

You have to be really old to remember when the introduction of "new math" caused such a commotion in public education. The biggest change was in how students are taught to approach computation. In the old regime, rote memorization was the order of the day. Mechanical processes ("put down the 4 and carry the 1") were drilled into students' heads. Students graduated knowing what 7x9 equaled, but lacking the ability to apply their skills to the real world.

After the jump, some examples, both fictional and real world.

Of Tornadoes and Tea Parties

A tornado is a force of nature. It is mindless, destructive and unstoppable. You can't prevent it. You can't reason with it. All you can do is pick up the pieces afterwards. Political movements are like that sometimes.

After the jump, how I'm trying to come to terms with that fact.

Playing Plano Off Against Richardson

Recently, in response to impending cutbacks in education funding by the Texas state legislature, the Plano school district (PISD) announced plans to layoff 344 employees, including 223 teachers. So far, the Richardson school district (RISD) is hopeful of avoiding needing to take similar drastic action in Richardson.

After the jump, what should we make of this difference?

Texas House Candidates Jockey for Position

The 2014 primary elections are still months away, but the candidates are already jockeying for position. The races for Texas House Districts 102 and 112, both of which include parts of Richardson, are particularly active, especially given the early date.

After the jump, a look at who's who.

Twitter Tracks: Football, the Election and the End of the World

Twitter tracks from September, 2010:

• 2010 09 01 - Big Ten division split to be announced at 6pm, but most details already leaked. Biggest question remaining? Where will LeBron land?
• 2010 09 01 - Conan debuts Nov 8, that is, *after* the election. Conan misuses his talents by failing to satirize politics.
• 2010 09 01 - Let's see... combat mission in Iraq is over, MidEast peace talks have resumed, ..., I know, let's talk home decorating tastes.
• 2010 09 02 - It's a short step from thinking that mental illness has biological causes to thinking that faith, hope and charity do, too.
• 2010 09 02 - My favorite retort to Stephen Hawking: "Hawking, if God does not exist, how did he curse you? You bitter little wanker." Unassailable logic.
• 2010 09 02 - 2012: The end-of-the-world disaster movie, not the Palin election disaster, although just as catastrophic and even more absurd, if possible.
• 2010 09 02 - Somehow, I doubt Rod Dreher is going to agree. Headline: "Stephen Hawking Settles the God Question Once and For All" http://goo.gl/Uf8q
• 2010 09 03 - Maggie May USA gives lukewarm endorsement to Bill White over Rick Perry: "The dime seems run out." http://goo.gl/6pQ2
• 2010 09 03 - Best quote from 2012, spoken by a woman as California is destroyed by earthquake: "Merrill, I told you. We have to move back to Wisconsin."
• 2010 09 03 - Final. Richardson Pearce 31, Irving Nimitz 35. #hsgt
• 2010 09 03 - Headline: "Ariz. governor says she was wrong about beheadings." I don't which is more embarrassing, when she's tongue-tied or when she talks

After the jump, more Twitter tracks.

Repeat Tweets: NPR Liberal Know-it-all

Repeat tweets from May, 2013:

• 1 May 2013: Overheard: "Mark reminds me of an NPR liberal know it all. You can argue with a know-it-idiot, but it is best not to."
  
• 1 May 2013: RT @SenTedCruz: "In my short tenure, my focus has been on fighting for conservative principles." Conservatives, he's making you look #wacko
  
• 1 May 2013: .@amiromar's latest mailer is the worst. Says @lauramaczka's "apartment policy" envisions Richardson becoming an "inner city." Disgusting.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

District 102 and 112 Candidates: Your Pick

The six candidates for the GOP nomination for Texas House Districts 102 and 112 debated January 22 at a forum at the Canyon Creek Country Club. Vying to represent HD 102 were Stefani Carter (incumbent), Linda Koop, Adryana Boyne and Sam Brown. Vying to represent HD 112 were Angie Chen Button (incumbent) and Jared Patterson.

If you are a conservative Republican (is there any other kind?) you can safely take the rest of this primary season off. All six candidates were eager to make their case as the most conservative man or woman out there. All professed to be anti-tax, pro-life, anti-gay, and pro-gun. There are far more similarities than differences between these candidates.

But let's try to draw distinctions, anyway, shall we? After the jump, some highlights.

Repeat Tweets: Mavs, CWS and a Road Trip

Repeat tweets from June, 2011:

• 2011 06 01 - Judging by my inbox, looks like Rick Perry is lending his mailing list to Newt Gingrich. Evidence that Perry is *not* running for President?
  
• 2011 06 03 - Maybe you missed it watching the Mavs celebrate at buzzer, but Dwyane Wade flopped after missing that last second shot. Down he went. Again.
  
• 2011 06 03 - Scott Coulson, band director at Mesquite Poteet HS, is retiring. Great band program. Great kids. Great director. Hats off.
  
• 2011 06 03 - Mavs fans, how's it feel knowing the whole country wants your team to win. Or the other team to lose. Except this guy. http://t.co/vZAbDyy
  
• 2011 06 03 - Toy Story 3 (2010): Looking back, I probably should have watched this with a 5-year-old. Spoiler alert: Lotso is Darth Vadar. C+
  
• 2011 06 04 - Looks like Richardson has its eye on some property between Belt Line and Spring Valley, Hyde Park and Floyd. New park? http://bit.ly/jyqcvN
  
• 2011 06 05 - Nowitzki threw the ball away on second last possession, then missed a jumper at the buzzer. But he didn't flop on either. Give me that, huh?
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.