Texas' budget crisis has recently been a favored topic of discussion for political blogs across the country. A large part of my blogging has focused on the ways public education will be affected by the budget short falls. I have been entirely concerned with primary to high school and the children that will be dealing with larger classes and the potential lack of art class. I had no idea that I was overlooking another form of state funded education; The Windham School District is the district set up to provide college education and degree programs for Texas' prison system. This district is potentially losing funding as part of the budget cuts that are stripping Texas of all that makes it glitter(okay, maybe that's a little dramatic.)
Pat Culpepper of Texan Affairs, a student political blog, has written a great commentary in favor of keeping funding for The Windham District. Culpepper states that the average year long stay for a Texas inmate costs the state $18,000. The percentage of inmates that return to prison within three years drops drastically for those that attain associates degrees during their time in prison, at a cost of $4,000 (figure based on community college tuition) per degree. The tone of the article is reasonable and firm, with well placed supporting facts and nicely organized over all. Culpepper has a fantastic and hard to argue with defense for Texas to continue to support efforts to provide college educations to inmates. I agree with all points and appreciate having my attention drawn to a subject that before today, I had no idea existed!
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