Rick Perry Said What ?

The clown occupying the governor's mansion in Texas has long shown a large degree of incompetence. Now he wants to blame others for his own mistakes.

A few years ago the state of Texas had to redo the way it financed Texas schools. They legislature, with the blessing and support of the governor, decided to replace a state property tax with a business tax. The State Comptroller at the time warned Perry and his cohorts that the new tax would not work, and she predicted it would result in a shortfall of billions of dollars. But they didn't listen.

The Comptroller was right. Even though Texas funded its schools at a lower level (per student) than any other state, they have now found themselves facing a budget shortfall of at least $27 billion for the next biennium. Perry's solution to the shortfall is to cut education (and many other state agencies) even further. His cuts are so deep that they will result in the lay-off of nearly 100,000 teachers statewide.

Now he doesn't want to take credit for his own ineptness and incompetence. As teachers prepare to rally against this ridiculous action by Perry and his Republican legislature, Perry has come forward to say it is not the state that is laying off teachers -- it is the local school districts.

While he may be technically correct, he cannot avoid the responsibility. When school districts receive billions of dollars less in state money, they will have no alternative but to lay off teachers (they have already laid off many other staff because of the state's stinginess). Perry may not be the one sending out the pink slips, but he is definitely the reason for them.

Rick Perry is an embarrassment to all Texans.