3 ms·

Both local property taxes and property taxes from urban areas that are redistributed to rural communities by the state of Texas. San Saba ISD is probably the b

Both local property taxes and property taxes from urban areas that are redistributed to rural communities by the state of Texas. San Saba ISD is probably the best funded entity in the whole county. Every student has a laptop and home internet. The graduation rate is 100%. It's a small school; the senior class is only 50 students. They built the new school in the middle of town, thus highlighting its position of import within the community.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
So Texas funds education at the state level via property taxes? That sounds surprisingly progressive of them. Washington state does something similar, though it’s more of a subsidy. Education is still mainly funded locally, but the state kicks in with its own funding for poorer districts, so Seattle property taxes subsidize schools across the state in Spokane.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  > So Texas funds education at the state level via property taxes? That sounds surprisingly progressive of them. It sounds like that funding decision predates the current crop of state leadership
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    Everyone forgets it used to be a Democratic state when Republicans were the reviled coastal elites.
    - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
      That was when "Southern Conservative Democrat" was still a thing. Republicans were reviled in the South because they were literally the party of Lincoln, the most unpopular politician among southern whites for a long time (suffice it to say, black southerners had no problem voting for Republicans when they were allowed to vote at all). The turning point didn't really start until Nixon's southern strategy, and took a three decades to finish. I'm still surprised that Texas would distribute property taxes equally like that for education. Even if they were run by Democrats, they were never run by the liberal kind.
  - jason-phillips 5y ago
    > It sounds like that funding decision predates the current crop of state leadership If anything, today it is the folks in Austin (who are predominantly politically liberal) who decry their property taxes being used to fund rural school districts. People who are actually from Texas know that we help each other out. That's how we roll.
- goldenkey 5y ago
  You'd be surprised at how progressive southern states are. The Texas state motto is literally "Friendship." Now, I don't know much about Texas but I did live in Arizona for a few years. It surprised me more than a bit, as someone who grew up in New York. Arizona legalized medical marijuana quite early, followed by recreational marijuana. Their medicaid program AHCCCS [1] is extremely comprehensive and even pays for Uber/Lyft to the doctor's office and back. Patients are able to see a great selection of GPs and specialists, and the copay is always $0. The accompanying drug plan is comprehensive, also with a copay of $0. AHCCCS will approve expensive modern drugs like Rozeram (supercharged melatonin analog for sleep) if the sufficient documentation of reasonable need is provided. Cactuses are protected from destruction by law, and must be transplanted when doing clearing for construction. You may find the idea of being able to own a firearm without a license to be unpalatable but the state largely remains very safe crime-wise (perhaps due to that?) I miss living in Arizona. It's a beautiful state with very caring folk. I saw almost no homeless folks in Phoenix. Folks there seem to really care about their fellow citizens. Southern hospitality is for sure a thing, take it from a daft boy from Brooklyn! [1] https://www.azahcccs.gov/ https://www.azahcccs.gov/
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    > Cactuses are protected from destruction by law, and must be transplanted when doing clearing for construction. You may find the idea of being able to own a firearm without a license to be unpalatable but the state largely remains very safe crime-wise (perhaps due to that?) My mom lived in Tucson and decided on a visit that I might want to go shooting with her and her boyfriend at the time. Suffice it to say, it didn't go well. BTW, Arizona does very poorly in crime rate (10th highest for violent crime, 3rd highest for property crime), especially Phoenix and Tucson (but is very urban, so there is that also). I'm not sure why you consider it safe crime wise when the numbers say otherwise. They also do very poorly in education (rank 48th). I was really surprised they could beat New Mexico and Louisiana (https://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/arizona-ranks-48th-in-quality-of-public-schools/article_7953b8f9-a46d-5a5d-832f-d01b3563575d.html#:~:text=Arizona%20ranks%2048th%20in%20quality,%7C%20Latest%20News%20%7C%20wmicentral.com https://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/arizona-ranks-48...). It is beautiful. I would love to live in Tucson someday, but with the bad schools, it would have to be after my kid was done with school and I retired. > I miss living in Arizona. It's a beautiful state with very caring folk. I saw almost no homeless folks in Phoenix. Folks there seem to really care about their fellow citizens. Southern hospitality is for sure a thing, take it from a daft boy from Brooklyn! When I was a kid, I took a greyhound bus from Vicksburg MS to Seattle WA via the southwest approach (I later did the northwest route, which wasn't as interesting). People would get on the bus from various prisons in Texas (the bus stopped a lot at prisons), New Mexico and Arizona...and were all going to LA. Why bother being homeless in Phoenix (when summers can kill) if LA isn't that far away? Heck, that applies to Texas as well, not just Arizona.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

So Texas funds education at the state level via property taxes? That sounds surprisingly progressive of them. Washington state does something similar, though it’s more of a subsidy. Education is still mainly funded locally, but the state kicks in with its own funding for poorer districts, so Seattle property taxes subsidize schools across the state in Spokane.

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
> So Texas funds education at the state level via property taxes? That sounds surprisingly progressive of them. It sounds like that funding decision predates the current crop of state leadership
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  Everyone forgets it used to be a Democratic state when Republicans were the reviled coastal elites.
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    That was when "Southern Conservative Democrat" was still a thing. Republicans were reviled in the South because they were literally the party of Lincoln, the most unpopular politician among southern whites for a long time (suffice it to say, black southerners had no problem voting for Republicans when they were allowed to vote at all). The turning point didn't really start until Nixon's southern strategy, and took a three decades to finish. I'm still surprised that Texas would distribute property taxes equally like that for education. Even if they were run by Democrats, they were never run by the liberal kind.
- jason-phillips 5y ago
  > It sounds like that funding decision predates the current crop of state leadership If anything, today it is the folks in Austin (who are predominantly politically liberal) who decry their property taxes being used to fund rural school districts. People who are actually from Texas know that we help each other out. That's how we roll.
goldenkey 5y ago
You'd be surprised at how progressive southern states are. The Texas state motto is literally "Friendship." Now, I don't know much about Texas but I did live in Arizona for a few years. It surprised me more than a bit, as someone who grew up in New York. Arizona legalized medical marijuana quite early, followed by recreational marijuana. Their medicaid program AHCCCS [1] is extremely comprehensive and even pays for Uber/Lyft to the doctor's office and back. Patients are able to see a great selection of GPs and specialists, and the copay is always $0. The accompanying drug plan is comprehensive, also with a copay of $0. AHCCCS will approve expensive modern drugs like Rozeram (supercharged melatonin analog for sleep) if the sufficient documentation of reasonable need is provided. Cactuses are protected from destruction by law, and must be transplanted when doing clearing for construction. You may find the idea of being able to own a firearm without a license to be unpalatable but the state largely remains very safe crime-wise (perhaps due to that?) I miss living in Arizona. It's a beautiful state with very caring folk. I saw almost no homeless folks in Phoenix. Folks there seem to really care about their fellow citizens. Southern hospitality is for sure a thing, take it from a daft boy from Brooklyn! [1] https://www.azahcccs.gov/ https://www.azahcccs.gov/
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  > Cactuses are protected from destruction by law, and must be transplanted when doing clearing for construction. You may find the idea of being able to own a firearm without a license to be unpalatable but the state largely remains very safe crime-wise (perhaps due to that?) My mom lived in Tucson and decided on a visit that I might want to go shooting with her and her boyfriend at the time. Suffice it to say, it didn't go well. BTW, Arizona does very poorly in crime rate (10th highest for violent crime, 3rd highest for property crime), especially Phoenix and Tucson (but is very urban, so there is that also). I'm not sure why you consider it safe crime wise when the numbers say otherwise. They also do very poorly in education (rank 48th). I was really surprised they could beat New Mexico and Louisiana (https://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/arizona-ranks-48th-in-quality-of-public-schools/article_7953b8f9-a46d-5a5d-832f-d01b3563575d.html#:~:text=Arizona%20ranks%2048th%20in%20quality,%7C%20Latest%20News%20%7C%20wmicentral.com https://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/arizona-ranks-48...). It is beautiful. I would love to live in Tucson someday, but with the bad schools, it would have to be after my kid was done with school and I retired. > I miss living in Arizona. It's a beautiful state with very caring folk. I saw almost no homeless folks in Phoenix. Folks there seem to really care about their fellow citizens. Southern hospitality is for sure a thing, take it from a daft boy from Brooklyn! When I was a kid, I took a greyhound bus from Vicksburg MS to Seattle WA via the southwest approach (I later did the northwest route, which wasn't as interesting). People would get on the bus from various prisons in Texas (the bus stopped a lot at prisons), New Mexico and Arizona...and were all going to LA. Why bother being homeless in Phoenix (when summers can kill) if LA isn't that far away? Heck, that applies to Texas as well, not just Arizona.