Freedom For The Students

PoliTex makes an argument that Texas students are now facing a conflict with legislation and policies affecting their education.  For example, 81% of the students argue against district leaders' proposal for same-sex school segregation plan.  In addition, about 80% of the students are against policies that require students to wear uniforms.  These policies are not in the students' interests generally.   
The author provides good statistical information of the number of students who are against specific education legislation and policies.  Furthermore, the author was effective in adding a perspective of the Board of Trustees President, Mark Williams.  This insight emphasizes on how significant this issue is in Texas education.
The author, however, should've provided some more insight and background of how these controversial policies affect the students in "school, exams, and getting ready for college."  The part about preventing pregnancies educationally is not necessary to support the argument. 
I agree that majority of the students are against policies that restrict them of benefits and freedom in their education.  Therefore, the Texas government should implement changes to policies that could eliminate the same-sex segregation plan and required uniforms. The Texas government should also work harder to fix up laws concerning with sexual orientation-based discrimination (such as the gay students) in public schools and universities.  These laws affect students whose beliefs and lifestyles are different with the majority.  The changes in the law should reflect on the benefits and interests of the students.  

Improve Meningitis Vaccine Mandate for Benefit of Education

Texas is currently facing a problem tweaking a new vaccine mandate that is meant to protect college students against meningitis.  The mandate requires all college students under age 30 to get a meningitis shot.  However, it has been noticed that the mandate has directly affected many low income students with no health insurance (Statesman).  The prices for vaccine ($100-200) have proven to have a negative impact on students who rely on financial aid.  It is stated that students cannot receive financial aid if they are not enrolled.  In addition, students cannot enroll until they get meningitis shot.  Therefore, a possible trend could be observed: if more incoming students enter college and are required to get the shots, then less students wouldn't be able to enroll in school due to short supply of vaccines.
The Texas Legislature should make some specific changes in the new vaccine mandate so that the vaccine practices can generally be applied to students who need it the most.  For example, the age range of the mandate is way beyond the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Texas Tribune).  Since the meningitis risk is highest up to age 22, the Texas government should reduce the age range from 30 to 22.  As a result, it would be expected that the number of students negatively affected by the mandate will decrease by half.  Providing meningitis to all incoming students will cost around $7.8 million.  If the Texas government were to raise the revenue to provide funding and grants to invest in supplying more vaccines. 
The debate over the mandate concerns with both the public health and education, which are the top priorities for Texas.  The Texas government needs to maintain the economy for protecting public health.  Doing so will also affect education by increasing the number of students entering universities/colleges.

Need for Water Conservation in Texas

In Government: Deep in The Heart of Texas, the author claims that the Texas government needs to make stricter laws and standards in order to promote efficient water conservation in Texas.  In Texas, there are a variety of technology and methods (agriculture, manufacturing, etc.) that use water. In fact, Texans are generally dependent on water for their health and lifestyle.  As each of technology continues to consume water and the Texas population increases, water conservation will barely make any improvements.
What make the author's claim logical are the references to LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority), Texas drought history, and the list of information of the uses of water.  The LCRA is an organization that seeks to protect the people and the environment with services concerning water, electricity, and public parks.  Referring to the LCRA and their history of Texas makes a logical appeal to the authorities and emphasizes the negative effects of droughts that have occurred in Texas for the past years.  The list of technology and methods that consume water accentuate on how dependent humans are to water.  However, the author could've provided statistics and reference to how much water each technology takes in.  Furthermore, the author reveals that there is still high hopes for water conservation with new technology currently undergoing innovation, such as laser-leveling of fields. 
Based on the information and references provided, it should be suggested that the Texas government must make more innovative plans to conserve water for the future of Texas.  In StateImpact, it is stated that the droughts in Texas have negatively impacted the rice farmers in South Texas.  In response, the LCRA are working on a new water management plan.  However, rice farmers are concerning that the plan may somehow reduce the amount of water they receive.  Due to the development of community complaints and Texas droughts, the Texas government should reflect on the community's perspective of the use of water first and then invest in improving water management technology.  As a result, Texas will have a better supply of water for the future.