No More Homeless Veterans

According to the Burnt Orange Report blog "Texas Democrats Accepts Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness in 2015" by Joe Deshotel, First Lady Michelle Obama announced a "Mayor Challenge" for cities to help homeless veterans by providing them with housing and put them out of the streets. The blog states that an estimate of 50,000 veterans across the nation are homeless and which is due to a 33% decrease of homeless veterans since 2010. 11 mayors in Texas, including the mayor of Austin, Steve Adler, as well as the Senator Kirk Watson, have declared that they would provide 200 homeless veterans with free housing which will be supported by landlords, service providers, and business leaders which will be completely paid for "by reliable pay via the U.S. Government" as well as a fund managed by the Austin Community Foundation.

The author of this blog was targeting the general public which includes both Democrats and Republican to show that the mayors and senator of Texas are doing everything they can in order to help the homeless veterans and that anyone else can also help by contributing to the funds for the Austin Community Foundation. The author was no particularly arguing or disagreeing with anything. Although the title suggests that it was the Democrats who "accepted the challenge" to provide housing for homeless veterans, the names of the other 10 mayors were never given and without knowing exactly who supported this movement, any of those mayors could be a Democrat or Republican. Joe Deshotel's intentions were clear when entitling his blog because he is the currently the Communications Director for the Travis County Democratic Party and was heavily involved in politics, serving a member of the U.S. Congress as well as the Texas Legislature.

Despite the misleading title, most of what Joe Deshotel stated in his post were simple factual information that pushes towards helping veterans by providing them with free housing. I personally agree with what the mayors are trying to accomplish. From my knowledge, there's nothing wrong with helping the homeless, especially for those who are possibly in such conditions due to a consequence for defending the country.

College Readiness for Students in Texas

Education is one of the most important fundamental requirements for a successful future in a country, but it is still undeniable that in order to properly educate the students in Texas, money is necessary. Because money is such a huge contribution for education in Texas, the issue of funding for education has constantly been debated.

Bill Hammond, a former Texas House member and chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, who is now the President and Chief Executive Officer of Texas Association of Business & Chambers of Commerce (TABCC), recently stated in The Dallas Morning News that our priorities for education funding are skewed and that we need to look at the merits of increased education funding for college readiness mainly for high school students. 

Hammond states that the college- readiness rates in Texas high schools are very low. According to the latest ACT College Readiness Report for Texas, only 27% graduates met the standards in all the subjects. The College Board of the SAT exam also stated that only 31.8% of the students met the standards. Hammond believes that the main reason for this is because the policies that regulate college-readiness in high school students no longer exists. Hammond claims that in order to better educate students and prepare them for college, the Supreme Court must consider reinstating the requirements necessary so that students can graduate fully prepared for college or career, not just simply increase the education funding even if the funding is for college-readiness.

I am normally in agreement for increasing educational funding, but I also know that many Texas public high schools do a poor job of preparing students for college. If the money for educational funding goes to any high schools that do not do their jobs properly by actually helping students get ready for their future education or career, then I believe that it is just a waste of money. If we truly want to provide a better education for future generations, we need to make sure that students receive the proper guidance they need before they graduate and continue their studies before eventually becoming the leading generation for our state.