Campaigning for the governorship of Texas, Rick Perry told the Houston Chronicle that a politician's first duty is to public education. He was right, but the Texas Legislature again has failed in that duty.

The inadequate school finance system the Legislature instituted two years ago has effectively capped school district revenues at a time of sharply rising expenses. Combined diesel fuel, electricity and insurance costs have risen 50 percent or more in recent years. How are the districts to pay these costs if rising property values accrue to the state?

Some cost increases are levied by the marketplace. Other expenses are mandated by the Legislature, which is quick to require new programs and features of local districts, but slow to pay for them. Reports, audits, employee health insurance benefits, special programs for learning-disabled students — the costs mount while local districts are forced to live on a fixed income.

If these cost factors were not enough, Texas schoolchildren are, on average, poorer, less skilled in English and less prepared to do well in school than they used to be. It costs school districts big bucks to overcome these disadvantages.

Some district officials say they will balance their budgets by hiring fewer teachers and raising the number of students per classroom. This strategy is directly opposite of the desired outcome: more time for teachers to give to each student struggling to learn how to read, write and calculate.

As soon as schools adjust to a new accountability system, legislators change it, incurring more expense for the districts. School boards can go to the voters and ask permission to raise local property taxes. However, elections and campaigns are costly, deflecting money that could be directed to the classroom.

And voter approval is by no means certain. Taxpayers are saddled with ever-rising property values that inflate their tax bills but provide no more money for the schools. Politicians in Austin promised property owners significant savings, however difficult to detect. Many homeowners are in no mood to vote themselves another increase, no matter how much they value education.

In an age of information and technology, minimum education is not enough. It's not enough to educate the state's work force or prepare its children for college or other higher education.

Most legislators know this, either instinctively or through talking to constituents. The fact that they have declined to act on this information shows an unbecoming indifference to their first duty: to provide a system of public education that ensures that every child learns to the best of his ability.