If that is too much to ask from a parent, then maybe that person should not be a parent. I grew up with children of all economic classes, and their socioeconomic background was not the major determining factor in the way they behaved or dressed in their teenage years, or later on. Here, we have young people from economically disadvantaged families who win prestigious scholarships and dress neatly, others who grew up at least well into the middle class and still produce illegitimate children, behave rudely and do not serve as models of who most people want their children to become. Any child has the potential for greatness, but they all need gentle but firm guidance in the right direction to get there. Cara Alligood is an Enterprise writer and advertising administrator.
Early voting is already underway.
Added to the exemption increase is a provision regarding portability of a tax freeze on a homestead for owners age 65 or over. Since the wording is ambiguous, the League of Women Voters of Texas Education Fund has provided the following explanation. Although school districts raise revenue by taxing property, the Texas Constitution includes a residential homestead exemption which reduces taxes for this purpose. In addition, the constitution currently provides that school property taxes on residential homesteads of persons 65 years of age or older may not increase as long as they use that dwelling as a homestead, or until they increase the value of the property signicantly by making improvements. The state legislature has proposed using the current state budget surplus of one billion dollars to offset the revenue loss to local school districts from the proposed increase in the school property tax homestead exemption.