Education improvements

This new essay by Nicholas Kristof is so right on, especially in view of the position of the Texas legislature!

How do we manage to get it so wrong? 

Clear evidence of democracy's failure:  the number of people who never vote!

HB 3836--time for action!

Yesterday, HB 3836, which would allow DCCCD to offer a 4 year degree in Early Childhood Education after first giving our higher ed institutional partners the opportunity to collectively work together to solve our substantial teacher gap, was heard by the House Higher Ed Committee yesterday. We are grateful for the strong leadership of our area legislators in authoring/sponsoring this bill (Reps. Giddings, Koop, Anchia, Anderson, Meyer, Alonzo, Johnson, Laubenberg, Rose, and Villalba), as well as the strong testimonies provided by numerous Commit partners including Alan Cohen at Dallas ISD, Stephanie Mace at United Way, Melanie Rubin at Dallas Early Education Alliance and Terry Ford at Lumin.

  We were especially encouraged to hear statements of appreciation and agreement from several committee members on the need for this legislation, including noting the breadth and depth of the local coalition supporting this initiative. A very short video highlighting legislative response to the testimonies and the bill can be accessed via the following link: https://vimeo.com/125843077 We need to encourage the House Higher Ed committee to vote the bill out of committee at their next meeting.

  To make this bill happen, we need all hands on deck to email the House Higher Ed committee members by Monday, April 27th to request that this bill be voted out of committee next week. The session ends in five weeks, so we are up against the clock.

 Sample email text and addresses for the committee members and their chiefs of staff are below. We have to have a hearing on the bill’s Senate companion (SB 1810), sponsored by Senator West, next week. Thank you for your continued support. Yesterday’s hearing was a great encouragement that together we are moving the needle on this critical legislation benefitting our youngest learners in Dallas County.

Sample email: Dear Representatives, I am writing in support of HB 3836, which would allow Dallas Community College to address the severe early childhood teacher shortage in our region by offering a four-year BA degree in early childhood education if local higher education institutions do not first opt to collectively address our severe workforce shortage. Please vote in support of this bill in committee on Wednesday, April 29, so that this critical legislation can be quickly heard on the House floor. We urgently need to expand access to high quality early childhood educator programs in our region.

Disgrace!

Okay, the time has come for some explaining. 

Read the following editorial from the yesterday's edition of The Dallas Morning News and explain how this could happen.  I'll be contacting my state legislators. 

As a non-profit executive, if I authorized the use of designated or restricted funds for a use not specified in the grant, award, contribution or contract to fund our work at CitySquare, I would be in big trouble with my Board, with the source of the funding and with the community.  At a minimum, I would be required to return the funds to their source. 

But for elected officials in Texas I suppose all you need to do is make up a new set of rules.  And, as usual, those who suffer the most and the most directly are the weakest, the most vulnerable, the poorest.  I'm listening for people of faith and fairness to rise up and put a stop to this sort of shameful behavior. 

As you'll read below, this is not the only program that gets cut by administrative policy and legislative slight of hand.  What makes this move so abhorent right now, beyond the obvious misdirection of funds, is the horrific heat wave that assaults the state.  Lives are at stake here, literally. 

Things need to change in this state. and in a big way.

Here's my reaction:  SHAMEFUL!

Editorial: Texans should be steamed about lawmakers' money tricks

When this month’s power bill arrives — the one pricier than your car payment — you probably won’t even notice the modest fee tacked on to help the poor and elderly keep their air conditioners on.


Six million Texas power customers pay a little each month to fund a program that provides utility-bill assistance to those who otherwise couldn’t afford to stay cool. An extra buck or so on your bill isn’t much to ask. And when it’s so hot that it feels like the sun might melt the hair off your head, who could argue with helping others survive the summer?

Texas lawmakers, apparently.

Read the entire editorial here.

For an earlier  full report on the issue you may want to click here.

Reactions encouraged.

Town Hall analysis of Texas 82nd legislative session

Groundwork 2012: Legislative Impact on Nonprofits

FREE Town Hall Session
Date: 06/24/2011

Event Contact: Joel Rothermel

This session is provided free to the public through the generous support of Citi Foundation

With the special session of the 82nd Texas Legislature now underway, it is important for nonprofits to understand what effect the impending budget cuts will have on them.

The state is experiencing an unprecedented budget shortfall, and one of the solutions to eliminate the deficit, is to cut spending significantly. In past years, government budget cuts have left the nonprofit sector picking up the slack and filling in the gaps left where government has withdrawn programs and funding. Given the uncertain economic times we already exist within, many nonprofit organizations may find themselves overburdened in navigating these additional challenges.

On Friday, June 24, 2011, the Center is convening the first in a two-part series to address these issues. Phase I will assemble a panel of experts in a Town Hall Session to disseminate information and provide for question and answers as we begin to discuss the impact of the Legislative Session.

Hold the date for Phase II, August 9, 2011 when the Center will conduct a summit aimed at providing the training required to strengthen the capacity of nonprofits to adequately prepare them for the inevitable challenges the sector will face. Topics will include: shared services, collaboration, operational efficiencies, and other cost-saving concepts.

Phase I: Town Hall Session Panel

Representing…

The Legislature - Texas Senator Royce West22

The Philanthropic Community - Brent Christopher, President, Communities Foundation of Texas

The Business Community - Debbie Taylor, SW Regional Dir & TX State Dir for Citi Community Development, Citi

The Nonprofit Perspective - Jason Sabo, Senior Vice President of Public Policy, United Ways of Texas

The People - Larry James, President & CEO, CitySquare

Moderating the panel will be Cynthia Nunn, President, Center for Nonprofit Management

BONUS: Attendees will be eligible for a door prize drawing for one free registration to the Phase II Follow Up conference August 9th.

PLEASE NOTE:

This session is being held at the Communities Foundation of Texas, 5500 Caruth Haven Lane, Dallas, TX 75225-8146, (214) 750-4222. Thank you to the Communities Foundation of Texas for their generous support in providing the space for this session.

The session is free but registration is required.

Action Alert- Call Your State Representative Today!

From Texas Appleseed and the Anti Poverty Coalition:

Today, the House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services Committee will be hearing  bills related to payday and auto title lending. HB 410, HB 656, HB 661, and HB 1323 are identical bills that close the loophole in Texas law that permits 500% interest rates (and higher) on payday and car title loans. In Texas, there are more than 3,000 of these high cost lenders operating through the loophole.

TAKE ACTION!

Now is the time to let the committee members know that you want them to support the four bills that close the CSO loophole (HB 410, HB 656, HB 661, and HB 1323 ) and that 500% interest rates hurt families and hurt communities. The only true solution to this abuse is to close the loophole, which the state legislature must do. State legislators are hearing lots from the payday and auto title industry and their army of lobbyists, so now they must hear from you.

Let them know TODAY that you think 500% interest is wrong and the state must close the loophole by passing HB 410, HB 656, HB 661, or HB 1323. 

Each phone number begins with (512) 463.  The remaining numbers are listed next to committee member's names: 

Rep Vicki Truitt 0690
Rep. Rafael Anchia 0746
Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson 0135
Rep. Brandon Creighton 0726
Rep. Ana Hernandez Luna 0614
Rep. Ken Legler 0460
Rep. Barbara Nash 0562
Rep. Rob Orr 0538
Rep. Marc Veasery 0716

To find out which State Senator represents you click here.

Archie Bunker's solution to skyjackings to visit Texas campuses

Years ago an "All in the Family" program featured Archie Bunker's solution to airline skyjackers.  It went something like this:  "Sure dare, Meathead, yous pass out the 45s as people get on da plane and yous solve your problem!" 

Apparently the Texas legislature agrees.  They seem to be adopting the same logic as Bunker in regard to the campuses of Texas colleges and universities.  I couldn't believe this report that appeared in The Dallas Morning News on Monday, February 21, 2011. 

Have we simply lost our minds? 

Read it and tell me what you think.

Legislation to allow concealed handguns on Texas campuses worries Dallas-area students

By LAUREN MICHAELS and AMBER BELL
Staff Writers
Published 21 February 2011 01:30 PM

Supporters of legislation that would allow students and faculty to carry concealed handguns at colleges and universities in Texas say their goal is to make campuses safer.

But some of the Dallas-area students they hope to protect say they’d feel less secure knowing their peers might be armed.

“If the gun was out there, I would feel uneasy,” said Russell Ansley, a junior at the University of Texas at Dallas. “It could create an atmosphere of hostility.”

Phil Montgomery, a junior at the University of North Texas, said he’d rather see more security officers than ask students to pitch in.

“I don't feel I should have to take a gun in order to be safe at school,” he said. “Having an officer or two in a building would be more beneficial than having any kid that wanted to bring their own weapons to school.”

The bill has broad support in the Legislature but faces several hurdles before becoming law. Neither the House nor Senate has considered the measure. Texas would be the second state, after Utah, to pass such a broad-based law.

The measure’s proponents say it could help prevent campus gun violence, such as the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, Northern Illinois in 2008 and UT-Austin just last year.

Click here to read entire report. 

Center for Public Policy Priorities calls for balanced approach to state budget crisis

What follows is a "call to action" from Scott McCown, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.  McCown's statement is a call to action issued to the superintendents of the public schools in Texas.  The state legislature faces a budget shortfall of approximately $27 billion as it meets in Austin. 

Consider McCown's plea and give me your responses.

A Call to Action to the Superintendents of Texas

Assembled for the Mid-Winter Conference, January 28, 2011

We have no reason for pessimism but pessimism itself.

Texas can meet the challenge of our state’s revenue crisis, which has left us at least $27 billion, or 27 percent, short of being able to provide services at their current level, but doing so requires a balanced approach that includes using all of our Rainy Day Fund and adding new revenue. In a democracy—where the most important election is always the next election—if citizens demand a balanced approach, the Legislature will take a balanced approach. All that stands between us and a pragmatic response to this crisis is the sort of pessimism that leads to doing nothing.

Texas has the second youngest population of any state, which is great for our future, but means that today we have lots of children we must educate to remain competitive in the global economy. Yet the proposed state budget funds local school districts over $9 billion less than what is required under school finance formulas.

Among other things, the state doesn’t fully fund projected annual enrollment growth of 92,000 students. The House completely and the Senate largely eliminates funding for teacher incentive pay, high school completion programs, technology allotment, and pre-kindergarten grants. Lynn Moak, one of the state’s leading school finance experts, has estimated that school districts may be forced to lay off as many as 100,000 employees, including teachers. This cuts-only approach is unacceptable. Your leadership with your school board, with your community, and ultimately with your elected representatives is essential to protecting our state’s future.

We must take a balanced approach that includes using all of our Rainy Day Fund. The state’s reserve (officially the Economic Stabilization Fund) will have $9.4 billion we can use to balance the budget. The constitutional purpose of the fund is to maintain vital state services during economic downturns. As our economy recovers, state revenue will recover; in the meantime, the fund can help cover state costs. The risk of not having the revenue in 2014-15 to replace Rainy Day Fund dollars spent now is slight. But if we don’t, we can always cut then; we have no reason to cut so deeply now. The fund itself will automatically replenish from dedicated oil and gas severance taxes. And, it is important to remember that the true reserve of Texas isn’t the Rainy Day Fund, but the backing of the people of Texas whose total annual personal income is almost $1,000 billion a year.

Unfortunately, our revenue shortfall is so large that a balanced approach also requires adding new revenue. No one is proposing a “tax-only” solution to our problem, but taxes should be part of the solution. We have options acceptable to the public. For example, we can adopt a Healthy Texas Revenue Package that 1) increases taxes on alcohol, 2) increases taxes on tobacco (raising the cigarette tax a dollar a pack generates $1.9 billion a biennium), and 3) imposes a new one-cent-per-ounce excess tax on sugar-loaded beverages (generating $2.5 billion a biennium). Or, we could eliminate unwarranted sales tax exemptions. Alternatively, we could temporarily increase our state sales tax by half a percent (with a rebate to protect low-income families) and raise about $3 billion a biennium. Money wisely spent from careful taxation strengthens, not weakens, an economy.

Relaxing certain state mandates for school districts might be part of a balanced approach, but I urge you not to settle for trading dollars in exchange for relaxing mandates. While some mandates may be vexing to you, most are part of maintaining a strong educational system, such as the 22-to-1 student-teacher ratio.

Everyone must work hard over the next several months. If the battle for a balanced approach is lost now, cuts in spending will largely be permanent. Your leadership is crucial to making the case for a balanced approach. I urge you to set aside any pessimism and step up for Texas.

F. Scott McCown, Executive Director
900 Lydia Street • Austin, Texas 78702 • T 512/320-0222 • F 512/320-0227 • www.cppp.org

How will poor fare in Austin in 2011?

Fifteen months ago, Texas governor, Rick Perry appointed Tom Suehs Executive Commissioner, Texas Health and Human Services Commission.  This may have been the governor's best appointment during his historic term.  Suehs manages to get along with both sides of the predominately Republican Texas legislature.  He speaks bluntly, pulls few punches and understands what's at stake for the poorest residents of Texas as the state faces an historic $24 billion budget gap over the next two years.  Suehs understands that facing such a budget challenge legislators will find programs for the weak, the poor and the marginalized easy targets for cuts.  But Suehs' understanding of the problems of both the state and the poor make him a key player in the work that will begin later this month in Austin. 

Here's the report that appeared in The Dallas Morning News on Saturday, January 1, 2011:

Texas' social services chief expects agonizing budget process
By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
rtgarrett@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – As lawmakers gear up to hunt for every penny they can use against an unprecedented budget gap, Texas' safety net for the poor and vulnerable figures to get a lot of scrutiny.

The Legislature's Republican leadership will confront weighty questions, such as how many children the state can afford to provide medical care for and what level of care and supervision can be provided for the elderly and disabled.

At lawmakers' elbows will be the chief of state social services, Tom Suehs. He predicts an agonizing process.

"There are not too many nice and easy decisions," he said recently. "That's why they're going to migrate to cutting some of the optional" services in Medicaid, a health program covering 3.3 million poor children, pregnant women and frail adults.

But Suehs (pronounced "seas") is quick to add that optional services – which can be taken away from adults on the program, though not from youngsters – are not frills. Cuts will be costly and painful.

"I want to do a better job of describing the balloon effects," he said. "If you squeeze the community mental health, you're going to end up possibly with more people in prison, and that'll cost money over there."

Advocates for the needy hold out hope that the former lobbyist will prove to be the man of the hour. At the very least, they predict Suehs – fully vested in the state pension system and with nothing to lose – won't gloss over the consequences of reduced funding.

"Tom's been a straight shooter," said disability rights advocate Bob Kafka of Austin, who has known Suehs for decades.

Read the entire report here.

CHIP needs your help today!!!

IMPORTANT PUBLIC HEALTH UPDATE FROM AUSTIN: Last night, the Texas House blocked consideration of a bill that would allow families with no health care options for their children to buy into the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Meanwhile, Gov. Perry said he does not support the bill, in his words because, "That is not what I consider to be a piece of legislation that has the vast support of the people of the state of Texas."

State leaders need to hear from you and as many Texans as possible immediately!

Call the Governor's office at (888) 746-9714 and tell him, "I and the majority of Texans DO support the CHIP bill to cover 80,000 additional Texas kids."

Contact your elected legislators, House Speaker Straus, and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, and say, "Pass the CHIP buy-in bill in SB 841 or HB 2962."

Here are the toll-free phone numbers you'll need:

Speaker Straus: (888) 327-2086
Lt. Gov. Dewhurst: (866) 934-2619
To contact your Senator and your representative click here.

Ask your friends and family to call their elected officials--before time runs out to get 80,000 additional uninsured children the health insurance they need to stay healthy.

Please call immediately. Time is running out!!!

Short term gain vs. long term return

Read this note on Friday, May 8, 2009, in The Dallas Morning News. I post it, not because I want to discuss birth control, family planning or related issues, but because of what the facts behind the report illustrate.

Read it and then I'll get back to you:

Under the Dome
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, May 8, 2009
The Associated Press
Birth control pill funds targeted

A powerful Republican senator is blocking an increase in state funding for birth control pills, saying Texas can't afford the expenditure in such tough economic times.

The $7 million expenditure for the pills has become a sticking point between House and Senate negotiators trying to reach agreement on the budget. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said Texas women could purchase their own birth control pills.

Family planning advocates say the money would go to a subsidy program that a patchwork of clinics, such as Planned Parenthood, uses to help low-income women get birth control bills. The reimbursement rate of $2.80 hasn't been raised since the 1970s, they say.
____________________________________

Okay. Let me see if I understand. We opt today to save a reported $7 million by not funding this health benefit for low-income women. Funds are needed because the reimbursement rate for the benefit via Medicaid has not been increased over the past 3-4 decades.

So, we choose to let these women, all mothers and potential mothers, "go it alone" when it comes to their reproductive health and welfare because we need to save money during these hard times.

You gotta be kidding me!

Does Senator Ogden know what it costs to raise a child? Does he understand the cost to the State of Texas to protect, educate and provide for the child of a low-income woman or family? I don't even need to mention the cost and dilemma's associated with "unwanted" children.

Here we have a classic example of penny wise and pound foolish. Surely, surely, saner heads will prevail here. Tell me this is a joke, please tell me.

.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED NOW!!!

Texas Senate Bill 950 put forward by Senator Royce West in this session of the Texas Legislature expands funding for affordable housing development in our state. During this time of economic crisis, this bill will help struggling Texans obtain a safe, decent, affordable place to live. It will also stimulate the economy by creating home construction jobs and encouraging other public and private investment in affordable housing.

Here's the brilliant part: The bill establishes a flat $10 "document recording fee" on real estate documents that will generate an estimated $40 million per year for housing programs that serve low-income Texas families. These funds will go into the Housing Trust Fund (currently funded at just $5 million annually) and establish a stable and reliable source of funding for the development of affordable homes.

Here's the urgent part: SB 950 will be heard in the Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee TOMORROW - Wednesday, March 18th at 9:30 am or upon final adjournment of the Senate in Room E1.028.

Here's the action part: If you are in or around the Capitol Wednesday morning or afternoon, please put a card in support of SB 950. If you or your organization is located in a committee member’s district (Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee, please call that member encourage their support of SB 950 NOW!

Committee members include: Vice Chair, Senator Robert Nichols (512-463-0103, representing (Conroe Nacogdoches, Anderson, Angelina, Cherokee, Hardin, Henderson, Jasper, Montgomery, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Smith, Tyler)

Senator Mario Gallegos, Jr. (512-463-0106, Houston--Harris County)

Senator Dan Patrick (512-463-0107, Houston, Katy, Tomball, Humble--Harris County)

Senator Jeff Wentworth (512-463-0125, San Antonio, Kyle, Dripping Springs, Austin--Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, Travis Counties)

When you call, here's what to say:

· Introduce yourself and your organization
· If true, highlight that your organization serves the Senator’s constituents or, if true, highlight the fact that you are one of the Senator's constiuents.
· State that SB 950 will be heard in Senate IGR on Wednesday the 18th
· Encourage the Senator’s support of SB 950 and urge them to vote in favor of the the bill in committee
· Thank the staffer to whom you talk for their time and for passing this message along to the Senator

Please act now!

For more details on this important legislation, contact me at ljames@CentralDallasMinistries.org or visit http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/housing-center/docs/08-SLIHP.pdf for more information.

Thank you, Senator West!