Lubbock Left

Just came back from a wonderful lunch meeting of our local chapter of Texas Democratic Women that featured State House Representative Joe Heflin as the speaker. He told the group about his experiences in this past legislative session and about plans for the future.

One of the things I like best about Joe Heflin is his strong stance on public education. He is one of the key representatives responsible for keeping vouchers out of Texas. Rural residents, like Joe’s constituents, especially have no use for vouchers; they would just be taking tax dollars away from their already struggling schools. Our public schools, even the rural ones, work well when they are funded properly.

Texas Democratic Women is a great grassroots organization, and the South Plains chapter is the fastest-growing in the whole state. Check ‘em out!

Tonight I participated in the mad rush that is a liquidation sale at the 50th St. Hastings. It has been one of my favorite stores to shop at because of its late hours and wide range of products. Throughout the years several of my friends have worked there. I can honestly say I will miss it when it closes.

Rumor has it that the building owner wanted Hastings to sign another 10-year lease, which the company did not want to do because the margin of profit at the store was not high enough for that long of a commitment. I respect the choices of the businesses, even though I am sad to see the store go.

I have a hunch that we will see a new Hastings store in Southwest Lubbock soon…

The store closing got me thinking: this sort of thing is exactly why I don’t want to see our public education system privatized. Picture a low-performing school with declining attendance. The responsible, public system of education would try to find and fix the problems at the school and correct them for the good of the community. A private system of education would likely close the school and seek out better, more profitable schools — undoubtedly in Southwest Lubbock! After all, competition between schools will send the students to the best schools, right? Never mind the gaping holes in our community that business will judge “not worth the risk,” right?

It makes me sick to my stomach to think about an education system with no accountability to the community.

A battle is brewing between those who want to privatize our schools and those who believe that we need the community and accountability of government-run schools. I predict that education will be a major issue for Lubbock politics in 2008.