California Today, Texas Tomorrow-2

"The demographer who warned a decade ago about Texas' unhappy mix of dismal education achievement and high poverty is more concerned than ever. Actually, he's frightened. ... Some don't see much leadership from politicians or the private sector in attacking the trend line that demographer Steve Murdock says will result in three of every 10 workers not having a high school decuation by 2040. ... The state's public schools have more and more low-income kids and persistently high dropout rates--and unless that changes, the future of Texas will contain more long-term unemployment and poverty--and more folks depending on food stamps, Medicaid and CHIP, Murdock said. ... The trend line also is clear: School districts with large numbers of low-income students have higher dropout rates. Large school districts where low-income students make up at least 80 percent of the enrollment have dropout/attrition rates of 50 percent or more. ... 'Every kid deserves to be educated, and we're going to figure out what it takes and do it,' said Bill hammond, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business. ... If nothing changes, average Texas household incomes will be about $6,500 lower in 30 years than they were in 2000, according to Murdock's projections. That number is not adjusted for inflation, so it would be worse than it appears. ... He sees only two solutions: Texas must do more to prepare preschoolers anbd must boost grants to provide financial help for college. ... The exact extent of the dropout problem is unknown. ... Murdock said it's critical for Texans to understand 'that our future is tied to these kids' future'," Gary Scharrer at the Houston Chronicle, 21 June 2010, link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7063520.html.

Our future looks bleak. Disagreeing with Murdock, there is another solution.