So how does redneck Texas stack up against Wisconsin?

I like the numbers in Texas..Austin is a great place to live and raise children..Adult eduction in the form of 2 and 4 year colleges, and professional colleges are very strong in Texas..Nice Job…Texas law schools produce good students that are capable of passing most bar examinations on the first examination.

Oh, but it gets even better.

Average salary for teachers in elementary and secondary education:

Texas – $45,543/yr

Wisconsin – $49,730/yr MINUS state income tax and union dues of $1,100/yr

Teachers in the union in Wisconsin – 98.2%
Teachers who are non-union in Texas – 98.2%

Using equal sized cities, a Texas teacher with the average annual income in San Antonio would have to make $53,478/yr in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That means that Milwaukee teachers, even with the higher pay scale, have a lower quality of living than does the teacher in San Antonio.

The case of Texas vs. Wisconsin teacher salaries also proves another poing I have made so many times: while the MFM rails how salaries are lower in right-to-work states (which is true) the cost of living in EVERY right-to-work state is so much lower.

Also, the minority student population in Wisconsin is only 8% of that population. In Texas, it is 42% (30% Hispanic, 12% black) which creates a problem because many of the Hispanic students enter school in Texas not being able to speak even basic English which requires Texas to fund Spanish speaking teachers for the sole purpose of teaching English As A Second Language courses to help the students. Wisconson has no such problem.

Cost of educating students in Wisconsin compared to the cost to educate Texas kids? Anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 per year higher in Wisconsin.