Education is the most expensive and most important state government service, said Al Kauffman, regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund , a civil rights organization with offices in San Antonio. Kauffman has helped draft laws affecting South Texas and lobbied for poor and minority school districts. People are talking about education not just in Texas, but in Washington, said Max Sherman, a former state senator and professor at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs. Sherman went on to say that while the nation is basking in a period of low unemployment, there is greater job insecurity than at most moments in U.S. history. Global competition and corporate downsizing have caused parents, teachers and lawmakers to value workforce development, Sherman said.
Education is to state government as defense is to national government.
However, one debate that could hamper these efforts is school vouchers-providing public funds to parents to help pay private school tuition. A 1997 voucher bill died by one vote in the House, but with Perry and Gov. George W. Bush supporting the idea, it may have a better chance of passage in 1999. Critics argue that it is an attack on public education that, if successful, will transfer much needed public money from public schools to private schools as a subsidy. Small publicly funded voucher programs are in place in Milwaukee and Cleveland. Bush has said he will sign a voucher bill and Perry also endorsed a pilot voucher program.