When Governor Rick Perry convened lawmakers on July 21st for the Second Special Session of the 79th Legislature, it marked the fourth legislative session devoted to school finance and tax reform. Before the stroke of midnight ended the First Special Session, the Governor’s proclamation for a second session hit our desks proclaiming the need for tax cuts, not great schools. History repeated itself this week when both the school finance bill and the Governor's tax bill failed because of failed priorities.

Under the most recent versions of the school-finance and tax-shift bills, nine in ten Texans get tax hikes and a bare 3% increase in funding to cover inflation at schools that serve 4 million Texas children, while the wealthiest 10% get tax cuts and millions of new dollars for schools that serve 400,000 children. Our school children deserve better than this.

Our debate should be about great schools. Our children will compete for jobs here in Texas and around the globe. What our children learn will determine what they earn. Our highest priority should be an educated workforce that can compete for good jobs in the 21st century with a fair and modern tax system to support it. And we have work ahead of us to reach that goal.

Recent rankings show our great state dead last in graduation rates and 48th in average SAT scores. Unless our state and her leaders make the investment to improve education, the state demographer bluntly predicts that Texas family incomes will decline $5000 per year by 2030. For the first time in Texas history, the next generation will be less prosperous than the current one. By investing in our children today, we invest in the families of tomorrow.

Based on recent polls, Texans want quality education, not tax cuts for the wealthy. In a poll by Mike Baselice -- Gov. Perry's own pollster -- 83% of Texans ranked great schools as the #1 priority for Texas lawmakers. If children are our greatest asset and education is our #1 priority, then why do our teachers receive $5,000 less per year in average salaries than the national average? Texans want accountable schools with qualified, motivated teachers teaching a rigorous curriculum in state of the art classrooms. Are we listening?

In Austin, state leaders claim devotion to education. Yet in the school finance legislation to date, most of what they are calling "new" money is money already spent for teacher health insurance and textbooks, renamed as "salaries" and "state aid." They claim devotion to equity in funding, yet the proposed plans would actually increase the gap in funding by hundreds of dollars per student between property poor districts that educate almost 4 million students and the wealthy districts that educate only 400,000 students. The many unfounded mandates in the bill have caused every education group in the state to say they would rather have 'no bill than a bad bill.'

Texans know better. In today's Texas, a fast growing state with 4.4 million schoolchildren, many of whom need intensive education to deal with language and poverty issues, these are exactly the wrong policies. If we want our pensions and future funded, we need to educate our kids.

Leading means taking risks to guarantee that tomorrow is better than today, instead of just playing to the base. Running radio ads against the lawmakers in Austin won’t get the job done. While 70% of Texans want to avoid increasing the sales taxes and close loopholes in the business tax, some state leaders want to raise sales taxes and leave the loopholes. Is it any wonder that a majority of lawmakers will not vote for these bills?

Better policies, better bills, and better priorities are what our great state and children deserve . Let's work these next 30 days to guarantee a great education to all children, and a fair tax system to support it.