Blog 7

I wrote a post about the national park in blog 5 before. The main point of the post is that the government changes the budget allocated to the park without any hesitation because the state park fund has been among the first on the budgetary chopping block historically. Moreover, the main source of the funds for managing the state park in Texas is the tax on sporting goods, but since the introduction of the state sporting goods tax in 1993, more than half the funds originally intended for Texas state parks have been budgeted elsewhere.

Recently, I checked and read some articles from some suggested source like Austin American Statesman. Meanwhile, I found one interesting article about the state park. After two decades of legislative efforts to change that, lawmakers came a step closer Tuesday to permanently allocating the revenue to park agencies. The House gave initial approval to Senate measures that would send a state constitutional amendment allocating all sporting goods tax revenue to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission. This is great news because of inconsistent funding for state parks, park agencies have had a hard time to budget and plan future projects.

As the city grows, the importance of nature is also rapidly growing. I am so glad that the fund for managing the park has been clearly confirmed because I love natures, especially Austin's natures!

Blog 6

I read a commentary from one of my classmates, Younging So. The main point of his commentary is that about one in five kids in Texas lives in poverty.
I was quite surprised when I read his article because an image of Texas in my mind is an economically well-off state, and their welfare system seems to be doing well. However, according to his commentary, 1.7 million of the children are currently living in poverty, and especially the poverty rate for Latino children in Texas is three times the rate for White children. Because of racial disparities, minority children also face educational problems, and it can become a serious problem in the future. Therefore, I think Texas State should consider how they support minority children and how well-fed or educated they are.

First of all, Texas State should think about the basic insurance program. When I regard Texas as a country, they are the 10th largest economy in the world, but Texas also has one of the highest percentages of children without health insurance in the country (11%). It means that even though they have enough money to support health and education problems for minority children, they do not have a proper system. Therefore, they should think about the basic insurance program and start to help sick children.

Second, education problems are also one of the significant problems that Texas should consider. I personally think that at least educational opportunities should be fairly distributed to all children. Recently, Texas has been tried by the Federal Government because of the reduction of special education subsidies for disabled children in 2017. As such, Texas is reluctant to give educational opportunity fairly to all children. However, it causes serious future problems because children are the main characters of the future and even the Texas economy, regardless of their race or their disability. Well-educated children will be pulling out future Texas. Therefore, money for a fair education to all children will not be wasted.

Blog 5

During a debate in the Texas Senate, Republican Senate Bob Hall expressed concern about the sustainability of the retirement program based on changing demographics in the state. He insisted that this world has changed significantly, but our overall retirement program has not changed much. Moreover, he said that we have several hundred teachers that are over 100 years old, and a baby who born today, their age expectancy is 110 thanks to medical science. However, I think now there are no teachers who are 100 years old in the classroom. Also, The retirement program has been changed enough with the times.

First of all, according to a report from the Texas Education Agency, the average age of Texas teachers during the 2016-2017 school year was 31.2, and the oldest teacher that year was 75 years.

Second, the one thing that I strongly disagree with is that life expectancy of babies born these days is 110. With the development of medical technology, life expectancy has been increased gradually. Nevertheless, the average life expectancy of a human being in 2012 is 75.2, and even it could not be higher than 85. I think his statement about life expectancy is an exaggeration to support his opinion.

Third, the retirement program also has been changed. At first, the program offered benefits to a small number of people. However, it was slowly expanded and offers benefits to all employees at public school, educational service centers, charter schools, etc.

I personally think what is more important than the retirement program is the teacher's annual salary. As of 2016, the average annual salary for a Texas teacher is $51,890, and this is $6,500 lower than the national average. One reason for a Texas teacher's lower salary is an overall public education budget cut by the Texas State Government. For this reason, the Texas State Government should more concern about the public education budget as well as the retirement program.