What will the year of the dragon hold for our state and local government? According to The Texas Tribune article What Will 2012 Hold for Texas Politics, Policy?, here is a glimpse of what 2012 will hold.
State Politics: We are starting this year with nearly one in five members of the Texas House not returning. This is due to half of the members are running for a higher office and the other half will not be seeking re-election. Having a high amount of freshmen elected, the next legislative session will not have a great amount of knowledge. Another issue within our state is when the primary election will be held. Will the revision of the representative districts be done in time?
Public Education: Due to the massive budget reduction by $5.4 billion in education, causing large amounts of lay-offs triggered more than half of Texas school districts to file four different lawsuits against the state. These lawsuits will come to court in the fall; however, in the spring we will know the number of how many and what type of employees were laid off.
Higher Education: Last year there were many questions raised about the future of colleges and universities in Texas. This year will be full of answers. For example, does the current financing model create the wrong incentives for administrators? There have been three hearings and more to come with a new joint oversight committee on higher education.
What will be the outcome? Will we end 2012 with more answers than questions? What new stories will develop and take over the headlines? It will be very interesting to come back at the end of 2012.
Click here for the full story.
No comments:
Post a Comment