Weather
Weather is the top reason I like Texas. I grew up in a small town in South Dakota and I recall, like yesterday, the dreary winters and waking up depressed and staying that way all day long. Sunshine is a key component of good health and Texas has a lot of it. In this regard our good neighbors to the west in New Mexico, Arizona, and California have lots of sun also, but typically without the humidity that most of Texas is cursed with.
Coming to Texas was really wierd for us as it took a great deal of time to get used to the summer months being the worst months of the year. Up north everyone looks forward to June, July, and August, down here summers are just darn hot. You will get somewhat used to it after 5 or so years but those first few summers will be murder for you. I have visited a few guys working on RVs in their non-airconditioned garages when the outside air temperature is 98 degrees and the dew point is 97 degrees and I don't see how they do it. It must be 105 in the garage with a heat index around 112 or so. These guys are in there drenched with sweat pounding away. Certainly better men than I. I know that temps in Arizona regularly make it into the 100's and sometimes average above 110, but that is a dry heat - right guys.
Along these same lines, if you have young'uns the heat and humidity makes it hard on them. Growing up in the north I remember spending sun up to sun down outdoors. Down here (at least in Houston with its high humidity) summers are pretty miserable and kids don't play out as much as we did up north. They spend a lot of time at the subdivision pools but playing outside in the yard is pretty limited. So be prepared to find indoor methods to entertain your kiddos. The soft grasses of the north cannot live in the heat down here so we plant a weed called St Augustine grass. It is a very tough grass that can handle the heat, but it has a very rough texture so it isn't very nice for the kiddos to roll around on. If your kids are used to playing out on the lawn all day long they will be disappointed with the grass down here. On a lighter note, we at least have grass in the Eastern half of Texas. Far West Texas and our good friends in New Mexico and Arizona don't even try. Their lawns are comprised of white decorative rock gardens and a few cacti.
Politics are interesting in Texas and yes we are a very conservative state. But I think we are getting more liberal every day. We have a strange state legislature that can't get their heads out of you know where and make some decisions on school funding. Right now schools are predominantly funded by local property taxes and most school districts have reached the cap rate set by law. So the only way school districts have to raise additional revenues is to sell bonds or encourage people to buy more lottery tickets. This funding system results in very poor districts and very rich districts dependent upon the structure of their tax base. The rural districts in which the tax base is comprised predominantly of farms and ranch land tend to be poor where as those districts near oil refineries and affluent business areas tend to be rich districts. Hence the constant court battles over unfair funding. You would think that only the poor districts would be screaming but the rich districts are screaming just as loudly. This is partially because they came up with a plan called "Robin Hood" in which the state takes money away from the rich districts and gives it to the poorer districts. I guess districts all believe that funding should be a state level responsibility instead of a local level issue. Actually, I think they all just want someone else to blame for the problems. We all know money fixes all problems (yeah right) so if the state is responsible for funding, the districts can always point to the state as the problem. Anyway, in my opinion, we have a weeney state legislature who won't take responsibility for doing things that need to be done. Instead they engage in party bickering until the legislative session expires and then everything important ends up in the courts.
We have not so good school districts and we have some really great school districts and we have school districts that are on the rise and some on the decline just like any other state. In our district alone, we are building on average 6 new schools per year and hiring 800 additional teachers each year. It is really kind of wild. Not all districts are growing this rapidly but many are. You need to look closely at the area you are considering and thoroughly and objectively check out the districts in that area. Most people don't want to believe that they live in a mediocre school district so if asked they will probably say, "Oh my kiddo's school is great," or "Yeah the school district is pretty good." It's all a relative thing, right? It is hard to compare a district in Texas to one in Oregon. There is some objective data on some web sites such as
www.just4kids.org. There you can choose a city, district, and even a particular school and see how it compares to the top 10 schools with similar demographics and then with all schools overall. It will also show you the demographic breakdown of each school and the percentage of students on free or reduced lunch (not necessarily a bad thing as this effects funding) and the state test results in each subject area. It is a pretty good and objective site. Anecdotally, I followed my kids education in Texas and compared it to the education my nieces and nephews were getting in South Dakota. Generally, I think education in Texas is far superior to South Dakota. But then again, I think South Dakota is ranked at the bottom of the list in teacher salaries. Anyway, beware and shop around. I will warn you that Texas is a very diverse state and getting more diverse every day. When I grew up in the north we had 1 black student in my high school class. In Texas we have a large number of students from every ethnicity you can think of. I think it is great and my kids grew up with it and are very accepting of others as a result. I am being a realist when I say this but if you have issues with this sort of thing, first, get over it
, second, Texas may not be the place for you.
As far as the tongue-in-cheek comment about being able to practice your Spanish, yes it is true. Texas has a very large hispanic population and it is growing very rapidly. Realistically a number of these folks coming from Mexico are not well educated but most of them work very hard. Helping their children learn the value of education and keeping them on track is a challenge but we are making progress each day. Many young hispanics have the perception that doing yard work or cleaning homes and having lots of children equates to being successful. And I am not saying these are bad things but just that it creates challenges in trying to motivate them to achieve in school. This influx of hispanics does create challenges and some feel threatened by the changes, but I don't necessarily view these challenges as a bad thing. We all know that Americans are pathetic when it comes to speaking multiple languages. If these changes will help turn this trend around then I think it is a good thing. In the not to distant future, WASPs will become the minority in this country and (IMO) it is time we all start learning a second or third language. Our kiddos will need these language skills if they are to function in our global society. (OK I'll get off the soap box now).
So yeah, come on down. Texas is a great place to live and growing like a newborn long-horn calf (Hook em Horns -- Yeee Hawwww) We have a lot of issues and problems just like everyone else but overall the climate (both weather and social) is great and there are buttloads of opportunities here. Houston has become a great cosmopolitan city with a great zoo, ballet, orchestra, museums, and broadway theater - not to mention the world's biggest rodeo and the world's worst NFL team (sorry). Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio have similar offerings and yet each has a very unique atmosphere to it. There is always something to do in Texas and it is a great place to expose your children to a lot of different things including a very diverse population. Being a Texan just has a certain stigma (good) about it and everywhere I travel people view Texas with awe and are always curious about us cowboys and oil tycoons. Besides, what other state and city so willingly throws open its doors to help out a quarter of a million neighbors in need? I think this one act says a lot about the Houston and Texas characters.
So hitch up the covered wagon and hit the Oregon trail going South East. The great state of Texas will welcome you with open arms. "Head em up, move em out, raaaaaaaw hiiiiiiiiiiiide"
