The root of the problem

The school funding shortfall is not Governor Perry's fault, and he's not to blame for the thousands of teachers facing unemployment, nor for the degraded state of education in Texas. Yeah, right. From today's San Antonio Express-News:

The economic recession has contributed to sagging state revenue, although the problems took root in May 2006 when the Legislature cut school property taxes in response to a Texas Supreme Court order to fix an unconstitutional funding system.

Perry and other state leaders promoted a revised business tax to help pay for the school property tax cuts.

The non-partisan Legislative Budget Board and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, then the state comptroller, predicted the swap would create a revenue shortfall of at least $23 billion over five years. Perry dismissed the warnings, arguing that property tax cuts would ignite economic growth that Strayhorn and the LBB had ignored in their calculations.

This year, John Heleman, chief revenue estimator for Comptroller Susan Combs, told lawmakers a $5 billion-per-year budget shortfall would continue to repeat itself in future years unless they adjusted revenue and expenses.

A liar's one thing. But a liar that won't man up and own his own lies is lower than the slime on a channel cat's belly.

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