Should Texas go green to make green?

Reading through a fellow classmate's blog I came across a post in regards to texas marijuana policy. An interesting point was made about the taxation and sale of marijuana legally. I firmly agree with the viewpoint that legalization with careful legislation and taxation would go greatly towards improving a few key issues facing our state. Border security and the struggle against drug and human trafficking through our southern border would be lifted of the burden that marijuana control and containment place on the shoulders of our border security officers allowing them to place a more strategic focus on other dangers faced by our Big River border. Let's begin to talk about the other kind of green, cash money. An online article by The Week featured data from harvard economist Jeffery Miron who goes on to say that an estimated $45 billion in taxable sales are slipping through our fingers. Have you ever heard of anyone dying from marijuana use? of course not. so all you smart politicians who run this great state of ours, if you want to get rich, while also boosting the amount of funding our state has, plus make everyone super mellow, then I suggest you start paying attention to a few other states nearby.

K-12 reform starts from the bottom up

Wednesday, April 8th the Texas HOR passed House-bill 4 proposed by state-rep Dan Huberty R-Houston. HB-4 which is modeled after New Gov. Greg Abbott's pre-kindergarden plan, passed with a vote of 129-18. The proposed bill would help bolster school's pre-k program with a supposed sum of $130 million, which averages out to about $1,500 per student. I was enlightened to hear the news of the sudden importance of childhood education on one hand because finally our state is attempting to fix our broken state education system. Starting from the roots up we can ensure that our students are educated in a justifiable manner. The early childhood education years are some of the most important in regards to the academic development of students. If we invest in the foundation of our future, we can ensure the students will have the resources necessary to become successful members of society. At the same time, however, it is important that we do not disregard the students who are current victims of the education system and who will not be receiving the benefit of this legislation. I believe the next important step in education reform would be to seek resources available to current students that engage them in critical thinking and problem solving rather than robotic training for a state test. Although it is unfair to ignore the current cycle of students, providing a string foundation from which to build upon for a new and improved education system could yet begin with the step taken at the capitol today. Hopefully this is the first in many new legislation to come to boost funding, and restructure Texas's education system from K-12.