At the onset of the 82nd legislative session, Texans who sent us to Austin to serve their interests believed that we were capable of representing their priorities. Voters elected us to do just that.
As a whole, voters tend to be idealists -- believing that casting their ballots will make a difference, by choosing their representatives and having their voices heard and appropriately reflected. Texas voters are particularly infected with this optimism. After all, as the saying goes, "Everything is bigger in Texas."The same holds true of our ideals. We are believers that we have the power, collectively, to advance the greater good.It is perfectly understandable, then, that as we started this legislative session, our constituents back home were holding onto the dream that the greater good should win the day. Perhaps that explains why, at the end of the special session, folks back home are fighting the temptation to become disillusioned.Having exhausted the bulk of our legislative energy on a list of "emergencies" meant to springboard political campaigns for some rather than address the true priorities of Texas families, such as job creation and education, we have failed to do the greater good.The 82nd regular legislative session was classically characteristic of what makes us lose belief in elected officials. Faced with a $4 billion shortfall for public education funding, leadership in Austin turned a deaf ear to communities across the state. Instead, those in charge allowed political ambition to steer their decision-making.Opportunities to close corporate tax loopholes and to use the rainy-day fund to close the gap in public education funding were disavowed in favor of political extremists threatening to hold politically hostage those who did not tow the "cut, cut, cut" party line. And pipelines of communication to the folks we represent back home were closed in favor of an ever-expanding audience given to the voices of powerful special interests keeping political score on narrowly focused report cards.Some of those special interests were unhappy with the decision I made to filibuster the public education funding bill, forcing further discussion on real priorities. But for me, it was not rocket science to take the microphone away from those interests and hand it back to Texas families.With this new opportunity to be heard, Texans raised their voices during rallies in the Capitol and through e-mails, phone calls, letters and personal visits to our offices. For a moment, there was hope that those voices were being heard when 101 of the 150 Texas House members joined together in a bipartisan vote to support a measure by state Rep. Donna Howard that would have added an additional $2.2 billion to fund public education through future growth in the rainy-day fund.Sadly, it took less than 24 hours for powerful and politically extreme organizations to lobby against this common-sense approach, flipping many of those same 101 lawmakers against the measure.I think many Texans join me today in feeling deeply disappointed. For the first time in Texas' known history, student enrollment growth will not be funded. The approximately 170,000 new students entering the school system during the new two years will have to be absorbed with fewer resources and fewer teachers.Already ranked 44th nationally in what it spends on education per pupil, Texas' further funding decrease will have a consequence in the classroom, there is no doubt.Perhaps it will have another consequence as well. Just perhaps, in the next election, everyday Texans will let us know that their voices, those of the greater good, are more important than those extremists who currently hold sway in the halls of the Texas Capitol.Wendy Davis of Fort Worth represents District 10 in the Texas Senate. www.davis.senate.state.tx.usHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
