If you want see how tough things are getting for the children, parents, teachers and administrators who are all trying to make Texas schools work, I'd like to point you to one thing:
Last Thursday.
Or, more specifically, the schoolnews that bubbled up on Thursday. It was a harrowing day.
The bad news didn’t start last week, of course. It dates back in part to last year’s legislative session, when those in control of the state’s budget decided to slash about $4 billion – I say again, FOUR BILLION DOLLARS – from what local school districts were promised and needed to pay for increasing costs and numbers of students.
Now, $4,000,000,000 is a big number. It’s tough to get your arms around all of those zeros – particularly when legislating is all mixed up with politicking, and when ostensible leaders are running around the state and the country ignoring or denying the damage they’ve caused to our kids and Texas’ future.
The problems are huge, too. Hundreds of Texas school districts have sued the state in an effort to create a better and more fairly funded system. That in itself is extraordinary – those in control of the Capitol have so bungled their responsibilities to our kids that local school boards have been forced to bypass their representatives, senators, Governor and Lieutenant Governor and startasking judges to clean up the mess (more on this later).
Inevitably, the human costs of misplaced priorities were going to surface. A lot of them came up late last week.
Dallas: School closures
Let’s start off in Dallas, where Dallas ISD trustees voted Thursday to shutter 11 schools.
The decision was teed up by the legislature’s budget cut – Dallas ISD had already cut $76 million from the current budget, according to the Dallas Morning News, “largely by offering employees incentives to resign and increasing class sizes.”
But despite that fairly extreme action, the board still had to cut another $38 million for next year. And, as one trustee put it, either the 11 schools had to be closed, or 171 teachers would have had to be fired.
Heck of a choice for anyone who cares about helping kids learn.
You can read more about it in this article (subscription required) or get a blow-by-blow from this blog.
South Texas: No sports
Also on Thursday, the Texas Tribune brought word of the tiny Premont ISD in South Texas, a district of 570 students that was already struggling. Then those in control of the state’s purse strings yanked more than $400,000 out from under the district – which, as the article points out, was already among the most poorly funded districts in Texas.
So, again, faced with a handful of very painful options, the district went for a clearly radical approach that, it hopes, will nevertheless cause the least amount of damage – it put all sports programs on hold for a year.
In the article, some students raise the prospect of fleeing Premont for a district that continues to field teams. Others clearly worry about losing the activity that helped keep them out of trouble.
But most students and parents, it seems, are resigned to the decision. After all, given the circumstances, what else can the district do?
The Houston Chronicle followed up over the weekend with a great column looking at funding inequities among Texas school districts. It showed that districts rated "exemplary" by the state receive over $1,000 more, per student, than those rated "academically unacceptable."
If you're looking at the students thatdistricts are working the hardest to teach – and the costs of meeting those kids' needs – the numbers are even more sobering. Just 17 percent of the kids in exemplary districts qualify for free-and-reduced lunch programs (based on federal poverty guidelines), the column said. In academically unacceptable districts, that figure's around 85 percent.
Keep those numbers in mind if someone – particularly someone who's part of the power structure at the Capitol – tries to lay the blame for these problems on Premont or other victims of the state's school finance system.
Texas: A broken system
That equity issue was the focus of an editorial by James "Kal" Kallison, the president of the Eanes ISD school board, that the Austin American-Statesman published on its website Thursday.
The editorial goes into some detail about the lawsuits I mentioned earlier that school districts are pursuing against the state. You should read the whole thing, which you can find here. This, to me, is the key passage:
“School districts represented in two of the lawsuits believe that ... the finance system still does not produce complete equity among districts. Regardless of the equity issue, most districts do agree that the current amount of revenue ... afforded to all districts in the state is simply not enough to provide for an adequate education of our children, as required by the Texas Constitution and defined in statute.”
Those questions – whether the school finance system is equitable, and whether it’s adequate to educate the children of Texas – are going to be litigated over many months, and it’ll probably be more than a year before the courts finally settle the issue.
But after a day like Thursday – after seeing so many of the issues that our schools have been left to deal with – does anyone believe that the state’s doing right by our schools and our kids?
Austin: The achievement gap
Finally, in Austin, business and civic leaders sat down at a summit on Thursday to talk over the state of early childhood education, particularly pre-kindergarten programs.
Of course, Pre-K has become one of the most important factors that educators look at in gauging how successful students will be. The numbers show that kids who show up to kindergarten with basic language, problem-solving and other skills are far more likely to pass achievement tests in later years – and far less likely to drop out of high school.
So what did those in control of the Capitol do with this inside knowledge about what works in education?
They ignored it. They eliminated a critical grant program and the $200 million it would have contributed tomake Pre-K programs stronger and more accessible across the state.
It was a devastating decision – and that devastation was front-and-center atthe business and civic leader summit Thursday. There, the United Way Capital Area discussed results of a report it produced as part of its "Success by 6"initiative.
The report found that for children as young as 3 – barely older than babies – an achievement gap already can be seen between kids from low-income families and students as a whole.
As the Statesman summarized, “Fifty-two percent of Central Texas children entering kindergarten are ready for school, according to the results. But in Dove Springs, Manor and Quail Creek [three generally low-income neighborhoods that were studied for the project], the proportion considered well-prepared for school ranged from 12 to 15 percent.”
It's a giant problem. All of these stories demonstrate giant problems. And the problems will only grow as this cruel budget and broken finance system settle over the parents, teachers and administrators who are trying to cope with it all.
So the worst thing about Thursday might not even be Thursday. It might be that there'll be more days like it.
The Texas Legislative Session 2011 did support a few things that are good for the broad community. Check out TexasImpact.org's summary here: http://texasimpact.org/content...
And tonight, in Austin, there's a no cost symposium on some of these new initiatives, via the Interfaith Environmental Network. Learn more about "funding opportunities for greening up Texas faith communities" here: http://www.austinpost.org/cont...
(A great piece from Austin's Senator. - promoted by Phillip Martin)
For 140 days, Texas' budget writers leaned on the glue and duct tape of gimmickry and denial, trying to patch up the state's rickety budget and school finance system.
Those in control of the Legislature waited until the last minute to finish their project. And as some of our state's seventh-grade teachers could have warned them, they didn't get it done in time. So now they're back in a special legislative session, trying to keep schools across Texas from shutting down next fall.
But let's be clear: The proposals now before the Legislature don't adequately fund our schools. Any theoretical good was undone by a stubborn refusal to put the priorities of Texas first - or keep the state's promise to fund Texas schools and our children's future.
The legislation attempts to hide a failure that dates back to 2006, when those in control cynically promised Texans a tax cut but refused to do the harder work of cutting spending or replacing the lost revenue. It opened a multibillion-dollar hole in the state's finances - one that we'd all have fallen into two years ago without billions of dollars in federal stimulus money.
But that bailout is long gone, and the state's about $4 billion short of what schools need to cope with more students and escalating costs. It's the first time in known state history that Texas hasn't paid for enrollment growth.
Faced with that $4 billion debt to our schools, those in control have come up with a novel scheme. They refuse to reform the broken funding system. They fail to relieve the pain of cuts, some of which are necessary, by using reserve funds that are set aside for just this sort of situation. They allow tax loopholes for special interests. And they compromise the education for a generation of Texas schoolchildren.
The bills before the special legislative session make the broken system permanent by ignoring promises made to local districts. They unilaterally redefine the state's obligation for funding schools and just call it the new normal. They attempt to cover up the state's unwillingness to meet its responsibility, throwing a rug over the cracked foundation of our state's budget.
So who's on the hook for the $4 billion broken promise? You are. Your kids may be packed into bigger classes, their teachers may be laid off, or your property taxes may go up. Unlike the Legislature, districts can't just push their obligations onto others. They have to be accountable.
Most Texas districts would lose money under that plan. Austin ISD alone (not counting another recent round of federal aid), would lose more than $90 million over the next two years.
The debate is simply over how to spread the pain among our children - choosing which students and schools will suffer more than others, and deciding which communities have to lay off teachers and which ones "only" have to eliminate important educational programs.
But the problems run much deeper than the special session or certain bills. They're products of a budget system that's been tainted for years by debt, diversions and deception. The legislation simply creates another deceptive, 10-figure deficit - even as the Legislature continues to divert around $4.5 billion from its promised purposes to make the books balance, and it blatantly misrepresents things like the state's Medicaid obligations.
Sadly, it's possible the only good thing about the special session is that, unlike the frenzied final week of the regular session, Texans can take a couple of days to see what's in the bills. They can talk with school and business leaders about what the bills would mean in the short term and the long run. They can write letters, testify before committees and make it clear that legislators must not break their promises to our schools, our children and our state's future.
With the State of Texas needing to find ways to trim billions of dollars to balance its budget, shifting pharmacy services from a fee-for-service system to a Medicaid managed care system in order to save money may seem like a good idea at first blush. A closer look at the proposed Medicaid managed care "carve-in" of pharmacy services, however, reveals that any such savings predicted from the program are elusive, manufactured, and fleeting, at best.
Currently, pharmacy services for Medicaid patients are delivered by community-based pharmacies who are reimbursed by the state through a fee for service structure. This simply means that the state reimburses a pharmacy a pre-determined rate to cover the cost of the product (drug) and the cost of doing business (paying the pharmacist). The administrative cost of this approach to the State is a mere 1% of total program outlays.
The Texas legislature is proposing that Medicaid pharmacy services be shifted to a restricted managed care system where "middlemen," known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), would set the rules for administering pharmacy services to Medicaid patients. It is asserted by proponents of this change that this move would save money, but such "savings" come only in the form of a premium tax on health insurance plans, which would in turn be passed on to all consumers of private insurance products in Texas.
This premium tax "benefit" to the State is nothing more than a tax and is dwarfed by the economic damage that a the resulting restriction in access to pharmacy services would impose on the State and its citizens.
They were born in Honduras and Mexico, Guatemala and America. They overcame human trafficking and shootings, physical borders and cultural boundaries that told them at every step of the way, "you do not belong here." But last night, with tales and testimony that brought smiles and laughter to Republicans and Democrats in the House State Affairs Committee, over thirty Dream Act students -- better known as Dream Activists -- from universities across Texas refused the notion that they do not belong here.
Yesterday, the Texas House Committee on State Affairs heard and considered various pieces of legislation regarding immigration. When the committee opened its doors at 4pm, over 150 people came pouring in to testify on the various pieces of immigration legislation, including House Bill 12 by Rep. Burt Solomons, the sanctuary city bill, and House Bill 623 by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, a comprehensive immigration bill that dealt with sanctuarty cities, rolling back the Texas Dream Act passed by Democrat Rep. Rick Noriega in 2001, and making English the official language of Texas.
The Dream Activists were there in force, and in the eight years I have followed the Texas Legislature I'm not sure I've ever heard such compelling testimony. They blogged this morning about several of the highlights, but in order to really capture their energy you should scroll through and read their Twitter stream from the hearing. Some of my favorites:
Their stories inspired me in a way nothing has in years. One young woman named Jennfier spoke, and her words were so powerful that even thinking of them today I am moved. She spoke of how she knows we all fear things in life, and that she fears failure. She fears disappointing her parents, and missing the opportunity that she has before her. But one thing she has never feared is losing her right to an education, and with that right she knows she can accomplish anything and her dreams can live on. She encouraged lawmakers not to fear education, but embrace it.
In the coming weeks, I hope to be writing more about the Dream Activists here in Texas, and around the country, as we discuss the unequivocably devastating cuts to education taking place at the Capitol, as well as the numerous ways conservatives are scaling back opportunities to higher education -- through cutting funding for Texas Grants, to the elimination of community colleges in different parts of the state. For now, though, heed the words of these Dream Activists, the brave young men and women who waited for over five hours last night to stand up, one-by-one, and give witness to the power of education and the beauty of a dream.
After a year of no new shows, we're happy to announce that The DOT Show is back!
Created in 2006 to keep Texans updated on the latest in Texas Politics and highlight some great, Texas music, we are excited to present our latest episode - our first on Ustream.com; so now you can watch as well as listen.
Here is a clip regarding Rick Perry's fantasy emergencies before the Texas Legislature; announced only to bolster his national political career among conservatives.
The mainstream media is mostly ignoring Texas elections, except for an occasional reference to our governor's race. State legislative races are getting almost no attention at all, but they are a crucial part of the larger battle for control of the state legislature , which is where the real fireworks will be come January, when the state legislature convenes, and redistricting will be the main item on the agenda. At stake are U.S. Congressional districts, which could change dramatically if Republicans gain control of the Texas House. This diary focuses on one of the most competitive Texas House races, District 17, where a feisty Democratic challenger, Pati Jacobs, is turning up the heat on her freshman incumbent Republican opponent over the issue of water.
Last time redistricting came up in the Texas legislature in a controversial mid-decade redistricting in 2003 , outnumbered Democrats fled to New Mexico in a futile attempt to block Tom DeLay's plan to disenfranchise Democrats and elect Republicans. Remember the infamous "fajita strip" congressional district which stretched one county wide from Austin to the Mexican border that Lloyd Doggett was placed in? Fortunately this egregious example of Republican gerrymandering was eventually thrown out by the courts, but if Republicans are in control when redistricting happens again in 2011, we can expect to see similar shenannigans. Ever since the last round of the resdistricting battle, Democrats have been fighting to increase the odds, and the number of Democratic legislators has been growing steadily. Democrats are currently within 3 seats of a majority in the Texas House, but the election of 2010 could change all of this.
This diary will focus on a swing ditrict, Texas House District 17, a race that has been named one of the most competitive Texas House races. The Republican freshman incumbent, trial lawyer Tim Kleinschmidt, won this previously Democratic seat in a close election in 2008. This time around he faces a feisty Democratic challenger, local rancher Pati Jacobs who is running a smart, effective grass-roots campaign, and may just pull this off.
District 17 encompasses 5 counties, most of which are rural, and most of the economy here is based on agriculture- cattle ranching. The largest county is Bastrop, one of the fastest growing counties in Texas. Largely Democratic, Bastrop is one of the "donut counties" that border Democratic Travis County, and many Bastrop County residents actually work in nearby heavily Democratic Austin. District 17 has been mostly represented by Democrats until it was narrowly won by a Republican in 2008. Since then freshman Republican Tim Kleinschmidt has distinguished himself mainly by being chosen by Texas Monthly magazine as a recipient of its Furniture Award which is given to
lawmakers with a level of participation that was well below average, indicating that they were indistinguishable from their desks, chairs and inkwells
Besides the fact that he has little to show for his time in the legislature, Kleinschmidt has another problem this time around, and it involves water. Water is evolving as a key issue in Texas, and about to become big business, as water marketers try to buy up and lease water rights from areas that have abundant water to sell to thirsty cities along the I-35 corridor like San Antonio. Bastrop and Lee Counties sit right on top of the Simsboro Aquifer, which local ranchers rely on water they get from wells for their ranching operations, and local communities rely on for household water. It's no surprise that water marketers have their sights on the Simsboro. If they get their way, taxpayers will be paying to construct a water pipeline to ship water sucked from the Simsboro to sell to cities like San Marcos. Many fear the Simsboro pipeline is a forerunner of a trans-Texas water highway of pipelines. Not surprisingly, many residents here are furious.
If you add up all the numbers, the pipeline would take virtually all the water that's currently permitted - leaving everyone high and dry
Pati Jacobs is a rancher who raises grass-fed beef on the Bastrop County ranch where she grew up. Since early in the campaign she has emphasized the importance of protecting resources in order to allow for future economic development in our district, and has pledged to fight the Simsboro Pipeline. Kleinschmidt on the other hand has tried to waffle on this issue, probably because, unlike Pati Jacobs, Tim Kleinschmidt leased out his water rights to a water marketer. At a recent forum on water, Tim Kleinschmidt was booed by contituents when he avoided answering questions on how he would protect the aquifer.
The reason for Kleinschmidt's reluctance to declare his position on the water pipeline becomes clear after looking at who is supporting him. Special interests who stand to benefit from the Simsboro Pipeline have contributed generously to the Republican campaign, and Kleinschmidt is raking in cash from lobbyists. Remeber homebuilder Bob Perry who was a funder of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Bob Perry gave $30,000 to Tim Kleinschmidt's campaign. Another prominent donor, who is Trevor Reese Jones, one of Forbes 400 richest Americans last year, who might also be familiar as one of the 7 figure donors to Karl Rove's American Crossroads. Trevor Reese Jones gave $10,000 to Tim Kleinschmidt's campaign , which so far has raised 2 1/2 times what Pati Jacobs has raised- a cool $378,000 for a job that pays only $7,200 a year.
Kleinschmidt has been running a smear campaign similar to the one he waged against his previous opponent. He's even using the same talking farm animals on his flyers he used last time, falsely accusing Pati of not paying her county taxes. In fact, Pati has receipts to prove these charges are untrue, and attacks don't seem to be gaining much traction with voters. One constituent even complained in a letter to the editor in the Bastrop paper that she would never vote for Kleinschmidt because he was wasting so much money on sending out multiple flyers that he couldn't be trusted to use taxes wisely.
What Pati Jacobs' campaign has that Kleinschmidt's doesn't is grassroots support. She is running a smart, effective grassroots campaign. Yesterday I helped with phone banking at her headquarters on Bastrop's historic Main Street, right across from the Bastrop County Republican headquarters. She has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, the Texas Federation of Teachers, and Annie's List, and Independent Texans, and her campaign attracted energetic volunteers from a very active Bastrop Democratic Party who are blockwalking and doing phone banking. So far her campaign has made over 24,000 phone calls, and voters have even been surprised to get a call from Pati herself. She has been campaigning tirelessly since the primaries, her bright little yellow and green trailer with her instantly recognizable PJ brand appears all over the district.
That said, special interests are pouring in the cash to elect Kleinschmidt. if you want to help send a great candidate to the Texas Legislature to stand up for the people of Texas, and help us stop Tom DeLay style redistricting of congressional districts in 2011, you can find Pat on Act Blue or on her website at patijacobs.com
Representative Jim Dunnam sent a letter to Gov. Perry asking to prove his allegation that the Texas Legislature and Department of Public Safety required the use of a $10,000 month rental mansion.
In an interview with San Antonio's KENS5 Gov. Perry suggested the Texas Legislature and Department of Safety required the use and rental of a $10,000 a month mansion.
This is the first in a series of posts examining the future of Texas Politics that I hope to write. I intend to examine ongoing demographic and political shifts in detail, and look to the future of statewide elections, Congressional and State Legislature elections, and redistricting.
Texas is the second largest state in the Union, after California.
Texas has been, for several years, a majority minority state.
Texas has 34 electoral votes, which will increase to 37 or 38 for the 2012 Presidential Election.
On the Presidential level, Texas has been one of the primary pieces (if not the primary piece) in the Republican Electoral College puzzle for years.
On the State level, Texas has not voted for a Democratic candidate for anything Statewide since 1994.
Yet if we can extrapolate from current trends, at some point in next decade Texas will become a bona fide purple swing state. Then it will become a blue state. Then it will become a linchpin of the Democratic electoral coalition, and as Texas flips, modern Conservative Republicanism as we know it will face mortal danger.
Below please find a copy of the press release Kim Limberg issued last week in her announced bid for Texas House District 105 in Dallas County:
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Members of the Press Greetings!
I write to announce my Candidacy for State Representative for District 105 in Irving, Texas. District 105 is a key player in this election cycle. After years of serving in the Democratic Party I'm excited about finally running.
Why am I running? I want to go to the front lines where the laws are made, so I can defend our Democratic ideals.
I will work to improve and protect our environment, our public education and our transportation infrastructure. These are the keys to good health, a thriving democracy and our freedom of movement. I will work to maintain the separation between what is public and what is private. And above all I will defend our basic rights.
Job creation in the three sectors mentioned are the right direction to take. More jobs in education, public infrastructure, and sustainable living (from energy to recycling and producing ever more efficient products).
I will work to be in sync with the Obama Administration to maximize our ability to tap any resources, incentives or stimulus packages that are offered.
These are just a few of the many important issues we are facing. For more details, please check out the Issues page as I continue to build my website.
What qualifies me? Besides the passion, my years of public service has given me the opportunity to listen and respond to the needs of many from elected officials to the general public. As a professional engineer with over 21 years of service with the Texas Department of Transportation, I have the technical expertise to understand and find solutions to our transportation issues. As a parent, I am determined to give our children the best public education I can. As a wife and mother of three, I am committed to fighting for the health of our families by working toward a better environment and encouraging a sustainable lifestyle. My passion to act on these issues in a direct way, together with my real life experiences as an mother, an engineer, and an environmentalist make me a good fit for Irving.
I am a life long resident of Dallas County, who has enjoyed serving the Irving community since moving here 13 years ago. For more about me click on the Green Ribbon and check out the About Kim webpage.
To practice good environmental stewardship, I am running a Green campaign by minimizing paper use and maximizing web, email and phone use. The Green Ribbon will symbolize this effort. I challenge all other candidates to do the same.
I would be honored to have your endorsement. Please solidify your decision to support my campaign, by endorsing me for State Representative for District 105.
With your help I can get to the front lines and represent you.
Thank You, and have a great day!
Kim Limberg
Kim Limberg Campaign
Contact Info:
Address
Kim Limberg Campaign
1910 Cartwright St
Irving, Texas 75062
Phone
(214)493-9079
Email
kimlimberg@kimlimberg.com
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NOTE: Kim is running against a 24-year old from San Antonio who just recently moved to the Irving area. Kim is the only Majority-Minority candidate so far whose announced in this Majority-Minority District. A 46-year old wife and mother of 3, Kim is a Civil Engineer and long-time community activist in the Irving area (resident of Irving for 13 years, lifelong resident of Dallas County).
