Straight "Off The Kuff"! Senate searching for $5 Billion!

While looking for a piece that I could write my critique on, I stumbled onto Mr. Charles Kuffner’s professional blog, Off The Kuff, which on its about page, claims to be “Texas’ longest running progressive political blog.”

In one of the editorials that Mr. Kuffner wrote today, he addresses an article published this past Monday by the Houston Chronicle giving details about the Texas Senate’s recent endeavors to try and find a way to raise $5 billion without simply raising taxes. The article discusses areas where the State could possibly cut back spending, Medic-aid and public school funding being the major ones, and a few target areas where they may try to raise prices in order to pull in a few extra dollars, such as driver’s license fees, or raises in college tuition.

Due to the nature of the topic, this topic really should only concern Texas inhabitants, but primarily addresses Texas’ taxpayers.

I was impressed with how well done Mr. Kuffner’s editorial was, and most importantly, he didn’t fail to back up anything he said.

He opens his writing up with a link to the article in discussion, and pulls a direct quote from it to help accentuate exactly what points he will be talking about and educating people on.

What impressed me is that he doesn’t seek to persuade anyone without giving the reader adequate information from a source other than his own fingertips, each reader is welcome to read the professionally published articles and make their judgments if they would prefer that over his summarized versions.

Another nice touch is that he addressed the reader to 3 previous editorials he had written in the past few weeks so the reader could learn more about the progress the Senate has been making, and thankfully, these writings contain the same respectable format.

Ultimately, the best part of his writing is in the end where he shows of his skills as an editor. In the ending of the last paragraph, he briefly states how he feels about the current situation “I’m not terribly optimistic, but I consider this one more step on the journey to the eventual realization that we can’t avoid talking about taxes forever.” Finally in his very last sentence he makes a reference to another blog, likely one that supports his opinion, but he does it with such ease, and by no means tells the reader to go there, he simply informs them that there is more on this topic on another blog.

In my response to his decision on the matter, I think it may be the only option we have. Texas doesn’t want to raise taxes, and citizens don’t want to pay higher taxes, these slight increases in different areas could pull in a few extra dollars, however I personally am not a big supporter of cutting school funding, but this plan may prove to benefit the state a bit before it is finally forced to address taxes as a whole.

Thank you for your well written piece Mr. Kuffner, it is likely I will be visiting your blog in the future for more assignments.

Possible closure of the Texas Higher Education Board

Mr. Kenneth Ashworth has written a pretty impressive editorial for the Statesman about the possible closure of the Texas Higher Education Board that monitors colleges and universities throughout Texas. From right out of the gate, he explains how he feels about this new bill, what impact the board has had on Texas' colleges since its installation, and even goes so far as to explain what will likely happen if the board is removed.

As former commission of the board, it’s unlikely anyone would have a greater knowledge of the numerous “victories” the board has had, nor its structural importance to the money flow. I entered into this article knowing nothing about this topic, and am now aware that in the past, many institutions were crooked with obtaining funds for their schools.

It is also important to note that he is NOT currently the commissioner, but a former commissioner, this helps to relieve the feeling that “he’s just trying to get people to side with him because he would keep his job”, he’s writing this because he helped to establish the board, and doesn’t want to see it fail, it’s unlikely he receives any gain from their continuation.

It’s obvious that Mr. Ashworth’s audience is anyone that is not directly connected to the Texas school system, it’s also easy to tell that he is seeking support from the taxpayers, as he addresses them in one of his paragraphs “And, of course, there is always the need for more new buildings, whether the old ones are being fully utilized or not. That is another oversight that the board conducts on behalf of taxpayers.”

After reading Mr. Ashworth’s editorial, I seek to side with him. As both a taxpayer, and a student, I don’t want my money going to useless things, and I don’t want my education to be ruined either. This Higher Education Board seems to be the “check and balance” that nearly all organizations need in order to maintain proper and just functionality.

Congratulations Mr. Ashworth on this writing. I hope you can get your message out to more people, whether or not they would agree would you, I think this would at least get people to open their eyes, and see the facts more clearly.