Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

City of Shoreacres residents – be forewarned

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It is time to set the annual tax rate for the city. From the agenda for tomorrow night’s City of Shoreacres City Council meeting:

8.3     Consideration, discussion, and action to propose a property tax rate that exceeds the effective tax rate. [Webber]

8.4     Consideration and action to schedule Public Hearings on the property tax rate increase. [Webber]

As I’ve mentioned several times, our city’s property tax rate is the highest in the area, by far. Here is a quick chart of the surrounding cities:

City of Shoreacres tax rate with surrounding cities

The number in red is the premium that you and I pay to live here.

The language in the two agenda items above is standard and doesn’t necessarily indicate that Mayor Webber wants to raise taxes. But miss this meeting at your pocketbook’s peril.

For a good understanding of tax rates, effective tax rates, and the rollback rate, click here to read Comptroller Susan Combs’ primer on the subject. The “Effective Tax Rate” mentioned in the agenda item above is a way for politicians to increase revenue without saying they raised taxes. In fact, they can go 7.99999{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} above that rate without hitting the “rollback rate”, which would require an election. Add that to the almost certainty that the Harris County Appraisal District will be increasing your appraisals next year and you can see the problem. Again, that agenda language is standard and you won’t know what the intent is unless you attend the meeting tomorrow night.

Also, council held a special meeting last week and passed an ordinance to hire a temporary police chief. Interesting that the City Administrator doesn’t send out notices for special meetings – you have to drive to City Hall and check the bulletin board, which I didn’t do, so I didn’t know about it. Oh well.

It looks like they were successful in removing the police chief – his name is no longer on the city website. Sucks to be on the “outside” I guess.

Raul Torres: To Be Excellent We Must Do Better

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It would have been nice if our local, county and state elected officials would for once decide to reduce the size of government so they don’t have to raise more fees or taxes to feed the government’s hunger.  But, I get this uncomfortable feeling that our many of these folks has adopted the same principles of the feral government that says, “If it moves tax it.”   We can do better.

Next, I wish to talk briefly about unemployment and the causes of it. Currently, there are over 830,000 people in Texas and approximately 12 million people in America that are unemployed. Being unemployed is a terrible feeling for anyone to have to endure. I should know because I have been unemployed.   To me, there is no greater personal tragedy than a person who is willing to work and has a much needed job skill but is unable to find a job.   We can do better in creating more jobs for Texas families and as your next State Comptroller we will.

Now, regarding the campaign that is before us. An effort will be made in this

Raul Torrescampaign to suggest that there aren’t any real differences between the other candidates and myself.  Well, I believe there are and these differences are fundamental.  One of them has to do with our approach to government.  Two of my opponents have served as legislators for a combined 40 years.  I believe this is what real folks call “a career politician.”  For most of their adult life both of them have been a part of the Austin Establishment.  Most of my adult life has been spent outside of government raising a family and running a business.  My experience in government is only two years during the time when I served as a Texas State Representative.

When I became a State Representative, My colleagues and I inherited a state budget that was had a $25 billion shortfall.    My colleagues and I balanced the budget without a tax increase and passed the most conservative pieces of legislation in the history of Texas.  Yet, I know for certain that the state budget was filled with unnecessary wasteful spending.   That is why I authored and worked diligently to pass SB 563 with the help of Senator Mike Jackson.   This bill was the first step of my plan to reduce billions of dollars of wasteful spending in state government.  This was the first piece of legislation of its kind in all the nation and other states are now following our example.  By implementing Lean Six Sigma into state government Texas can save $10-$20 billion per year! We can do better and as your next Comptroller we will.
Unfortunately, my opponents, who were informed of the results of SB 563, didn’t think that reducing wasteful state spending was worth their time or something that would benefit Texas taxpayers. Imagine that. It’s apparent that my primary opponents forgot their so called conservative principles of limited government and responsible spending two items which protect Texas taxpayers.

This past May, my opponents, who claim to be conservatives, passed a new budget that included a 26{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} increase in spending or another $22 billion in more spending than we did during the 2011 budget. Plus, my opponents failed to pass many other conservative pieces of legislation that were available during the regular session.  For example, my opponents failed to pass legislation that would have placed a constitutional limit on spending, and also failed to pass legislation that would increase or improve transparency on many different areas of government.   Finally, they also failed to address school finance, but they did manage to pass over 1500 more laws calling for and more and bigger government.

I had never in my life thought of seeking or holding public of office and I’m still not quite sure how it all happened.  In my own mind, I was a citizen who was concerned about family’s future and the past 30 years as I watched the world pass by me I concluded that government wasn’t the answer, but rather was the problem.

I believe that if government is operated like we operate our homes and our Raul Torresbusinesses then government could solve many of the problems facing us today. I am convinced that career politicians, those who have been part of the problem, are not necessarily the best qualified to solve those problems. Albert Einstein once said, “”We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”   How true this is.

 

As you can see in order for Texas to be excellent we must do better. We can do much better and as your next Comptroller we will! That’s all for now. Next week I will present another segment of my conversation with Texas. To learn more about the Raul Torres campaign visit us on the web at http://electraultorres.com or http://www.texastomorrow.org.
I just thought you should know.
For Texas and Liberty,
Raul Torres signature

Harris County Department of Education Board Meeting 8-20-13

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Harris County Department of Education logo

The Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) Board of Trustees held their regular monthly board meeting on Tuesday, August 20th, immediately following the morning workshop on Early to Rise. Click here for the agenda.

The HCDE board meetings have citizen comments immediately after the invocation and pledges. Because the morning had been focused on the Early to Rise initiative, there were many citizens signed up to talk about that issue. There were eight total, including me. Six of the seven were against the initiative, one was against the way the department distributes current tax revenue. I missed the name of one of the citizens, I apologize for that.

Open Forum

Minister Dewayne Lark
Minister Dewayne Lark

First up was Minister DeWayne Lark. Minister Lark was concerned that the board would want to associate with a private group and give them taxpayer funds to train undereducated, non-certified workers and teachers at private day care centers. He wants the funds to go to Head Start programs that have had their funding cut. He noted that the initiative provides no direct services to children.

Carol Kitson
Carol Kitson

Carol Kitson told the board about a possible conflict of interest with Supt. Dr. John Sawyer. It seems that Dr. Sawyer was on the board of the Collaborative for Children, one of the drivers behind the Early to Rise initiative. Interestingly, the current link for the Collaborative for Children Board members is blank but I did find his name on several press releases on the site. Here is one.

At this point in the meeting, Trustee Marvin Morris interrupted to make certain that we knew that the HCDE board did not come up with the idea, an outside group approached them, the HCDE board has nothing to do with the ballot proposition, and that thus far he hasn’t seen anything that would make him vote for the idea.

Colleen Vera inroduced herself as a “watchdog” and proceeded to read from two Texas Attorney General opinions about the way the HCDE must use tax revenue and one Texas Supreme Court decision about the way tax revenue collected for schools must be used. She then made a veiled threat of sorts by telling the board that her testimony was being recorded on video to prove that the board had been told about the opinions and decision. I suppose this will be used in one of the many lawsuits that will result if the HCDE board approves partnering with the Harris County School Readiness Corporation (HCSRC).

I was up next and told the board that I appreciated the transparency of the workshop they held. I had come in against the proposition and remained against it but noted several areas where progress had been made – the composition of the HCSRC board and their accepting the guidelines of the Texas Public Information Act. I also told them that a better way to do this, if they really wanted to put more money into early childhood education, was to levy the remaining $0.0033 of their current tax rate authorization and keep the program in house. I’m not for that but it is a much cleaner way to accomplish much of what is being proposed without doubling the authorized tax rate or spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Going this route would raise about $10 million a year – if it works, then they could come back to the public, make their case from data, and then have a vote.

Rep. Debbie Riddle
Rep. Debbie Riddle

Rep. Debbie Riddle was next. She said that everyone wants to do what is right for the children but that too often we use our babies to profit ourselves and do not help them. She also told the board that Dr. John Sawyer had refused to answer a question from the Chair of the Texas House Public Education committee about transparency and if he did that to the Texas Legislature, this proposition would be no different. I found the archive from that committee hearing – you can watch it here: Public Education Committee Hearing 4-16-13 – starts at the 08:52:51 time mark. I didn’t find that conversation but it is a long hearing and might well be there if you watch it all. Rep. Riddle also gave an illustration saying that this proposition was the same as someone knocking on her door, offering to find someone to mow her yard for $100, then telling her that if she wanted to mow it herself, he’d pay her $25.

Rep. Riddle talked about her testimony on KSEV Radio with Paul Bettencourt after the meeting:

 

William Wilson testified against the bill.

Don Sumners
Don Sumners

Former Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector Don Sumners testified against the bill, saying that the board was wrong for not taking ownership of the proposition and shutting it down before it goes to the voters. He passed out a handout saying that bank robbers no longer bother with banks focusing on government instead because that is where the money is.

After the Open Forum ended, the board proceeded with normal business. I’ve noticed that the board is much more active this year and asks pointed questions to HCDE staff members – this wasn’t the case last year.

Several agenda items that were interesting

Agenda Item 5 B – Presentation on Policy CH (Local) – Jesus Amezcua, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services.

Mr. Amezcua spent a lot of time discussing the policy that procuring any single item over $50,000 or any aggregated item over $50,000 requires approval by the board. He spent a lot of time on this, explaining that sometimes the board has to approve additions to funding if the cost is underestimated. He gave several examples, mostly utility bills. One was the purchase of water from the City of Houston, budgeted at one number but they spent several thousand more, so the board has to approve the additional spending.

When I searched for the actual CH policy on the HCDE website, I found a CH(LOCAL) policy dated 7-24-2007 that conflicts with Mr. Amezcua’s presentation and statements at previous board meetings about a $50,000 cutoff point. Here is the relevant text:

The Board delegates to the Superintendent or the Superintendent’s designee the authority to determine the method of purchasing, in accordance with CH(LEGAL), and to make budgeted purchases. However, any purchase that costs or aggregates to a cost of $25,000 or more shall require Board approval before a transaction is culminated.

But in the long-form board agenda on page 496-7, there is a policy dated 4-47-2011 with the $50,000 amount. Obviously the website has an out of date policy and $50,000 is the correct amount. However, these types of mistakes contribute to the public perception that the department is out of control and mismanaged.

One thing is became very clear from Mr. Amezcua’s presentation – Dr. John Sawyer clearly violated this policy when he spent over $200,000 in the aggregate on lobbyists for the 83rd Legislative Session.

Agenda Item 7 C – Possible action on the appointment of bond counsel services for HCDE

This item contained the legal services contract with Fulbright & Jaworski pertaining to the Early to Rise initiative that I mentioned in this post. HCDE Board President Angie Chesnut told me during a break that Dr. John Sawyer had told her that this had nothing to do with the Early to Rise proposal and was only for legal opinions about the election if it takes place. Indeed, Marcus Detz, the attorney for Fulbright & Jaworski told me the same thing. However, under questioning by Trustee Kay Smith, it became clear that Mr. Detz had in fact participated in the negotiations for the draft proposal with Early to Rise. The board ultimately refused to approve the agreement until the wording is changed. Mr. Detz looked like he had been thrown under the bus after that happened.

Agenda Item 7 E – Consider approval to purchase 52 standard Lenovo Laptop Thinkpad computers from 466 CDW-G (Choice Partners job no. 10/009LB) for the purpose of service documentation by ECI Therapists and direct service staff in an amount not to exceed $50,704.

This was another example of how this board is different. Trustee Howard Jefferson questioned why the department would spend $1,000 on a laptop when you can buy a HP or Dell for $400. The staff stumbled around for awhile, then CIO Jim Schul took a stab at it. Dr. John Sawyer tried to intervene. In the end, the board wouldn’t bend and told Mr. Schul and his staff to come back to them at the next board meeting with a RFP and three competitive bids.

Agenda Item 7 F – Consider approval of Professional Service Contract with Janet Wachs for HCDE and the 468 HCDE Choice Partners cooperative for the period of 09/01/2013 through 08/31/2014 in an amount not to exceed $60,120 plus pre-approved expenses in an amount not to exceed $17,500 for a total aggregate of $77,620.

Once again, the board pushed back. This time Facilities Support Services Executive Director Les Hooper was on the hot seat. The board ultimately approved the hiring of Ms. Wachs but not before some pointed questioning. Turns out that Mr. Hooper had already hired Ms. Wachs and when asked why she would start work without a contract, Mr. Hooper told the board that she was working “on good faith”.

Ms. Wachs will be training Choice Partner field reps in “relationship selling” – remember that I talked about that subject before. Trustee Kay Smith went ballistic when Mr Hooper told her that Don Elder, who is being paid $102,357 per year could receive training from Ms. Wachs. The entire board seemed confused that Ms. Wachs will only work 3-4 days per week. In the end, they approved the contract but I think Mr. Hooper won’t do that again.

Wrap up

I left when the board went into closed session to receive legal advice on the Early to Rise initiative.

It was a long day but very informative. I was a bit surprised that no supporters of the Early to Rise initiative testified before the board – if I was in charge of that campaign, I would have rounded up a few citizens, gave them some talking points, and told them to get after it.

I like this board and the direction they are taking in asking tough questions and not being a rubber stamp for the HCDE staff. That is certainly a positive step for the future. If they have a future, but that is for a different day.

Click here for the BJP Early to Rise information page!

Sen. Tommy Williams: Special prosecutor needed?

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A special prosecutor may have been named to handle Texans’ for Public Justice’s criminal complaint against Governor Perry but will that same special prosecutor handle the complaint below? Or will the complaint below be among the 54 cases to be dropped by the Travis County Public Integrity Unit?

Sen. Tommy Williams
Sen. Tommy Williams

In a complaint received by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg’s Public Integrity Office on December 11th, 2012, it is alleged Texas State Sen. Tommy Williams exerted improper influence through the use of his office to ensure the Texas Attorney General reached a decision to file criminal charges against the complainant and others. In doing so, the complaint alleges Senator Williams violated state laws prohibiting public officials from using their office to influence the outcome of a proceeding on the basis of considerations other than those authorized by law.

I received a copy of the complaint from the complainant.

The complaint outlines that State Senator Williams violated Texas Penal Code Section 36.04 which reads:

a). a person commits an offense if he privately addresses a representation, entreaty, argument, or other communication to any public servant who exercises or will exercise official discretion in an adjudicatory proceeding with an intent to influence the outcome of the proceeding on the basis of considerations other than those authorized by law

b). for purposes of this section, “adjudicatory proceeding” means any proceeding before a court or any other agency of government in which the legal rights, powers, duties, or privileges of specific parties are determined.

c). an offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor

Specifically included in the complaint was a series of emails; all obtained as official responses to a (n) open records request (s). Dated September 15, 2010 from Tommy Williams non-Senate email to or from members of The Woodlands RUD legal counsel, or their agents, representatives or related entities, one email summarizes the results of a conference call he (Williams) concluded with the (Texas) “Attorney General’s office on the voter fraud in the 23 June township election.”

In that email State Senator Tommy Williams documents the three step process two individuals should follow to submit a letter requesting assistance from then Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade challenging the result of The Woodlands RUD May 2010 general election contest. Williams directs the two individuals to:

“address your complaint to the Secretary of State, send your complaint to (name withheld) and he will walk it over and put it in the right person’s hands at the SOS office.”

State Senator Williams is so acutely aware of the email he sent from his non-Senate email address that the closing sentence of his email reads in part:

“While I am happy you brought this to my attention I would ask you to contact me through my Senate office at [email protected] on matter of official state business.”

The complaint further alleges Senator Williams violated the Texas Open Records Act in regards to an open records request made by the complainant to Patsy Spaw, Secretary of the Senate. Ms. Spaw claims to have made a search of Senator Williams email records relevant to the open records request and found that no responsive records existed. Yet when another entity made almost the exact same request, an email from Senator Williams was produced.

I have a copy of the September 15, 2010 email from Texas State Senator William’s non-Senate email address and I am not publishing it at this time.

You though, dear reader, can read a copy of the complaint filed with Rosemary Lehmberg’s office here.

For readers of The Woodlands Road Utility District series, you will immediately recognize this complaint is related to the RUD case.

Will this complaint against Williams be one of the 54 cases to be dropped by the Travis County Public Integrity Office? Will “Texans for Public Justice” support the complainant? Or is TPJ simply an organization supporting Public Justice for Only Some Texans?

 

Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club 8-22-13

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It was a fun meeting today at the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club. Rather than have the usual speaker or two, club President Sophia Mafrige honored the past presidents of the club. This from the invite for the meeting:

In our twentieth year, we look back at the men and women who have led our club to where it is today. Tireless volunteers have given their time in the past two decades to bring information and good times to the politically active people of downtown Houston.

The club started in 1994, meeting in the Lyric Center. Later that year, Republican candidates swept almost all county-wide offices, while state-wide we took back the Governor’s Mansion and nationally took control of the House for the first time in decades.

Since then, the club has met at Christ Church Cathedral, Kim Son on Market Square, Kim Son on Jefferson, the Houston Club, the Rice, and our current location at the Spaghetti Warehouse

The first president of the club was Hon. Richard Hall, an attorney. Hall was later elected judge of the 270th Judicial District Court, and later ran unsuccessfully for the Court of Appeals. He is currently in private practice.

Hall was followed by Jeff Shadwick. A native Kansan, one of his prized possession is a Bob Dole campaign banner from 1996. He later served two terms on the HISD School Board, and is currently judge of the 55th District Court.

The third president was Jeff Gilbert, who ran unsuccessfully for the 183rd District Court. Jeff had to resign mid term when his employment required him to move to Dallas. He currently practices law in Brazoria County.

The remainder of Gilbert’s term was finished by Hon. Tim Taft. He was then elected for an additional term as president. Justice Taft served three terms on the First Court of Appeals after a career in the Harris County District Attorney’s office appellate division. He is currently retired, but active in the Christian Legal Society. He and Richard Hall have traveled the state extensively seeding new Pachyderm clubs.

Suzanne Testa’s presidency probably saw some of the largest crowds in the history of the club. With membership over 100, there were over 250 people present for the DA candidate forum in 2000. Ms. Testa has worked at the grassroots level in numerous campaigns, and has also served in the District Clerk’s and the Tax Assessor’s offices.

Dennis Paul is an engineer, who currently serves as a member of the State Republican Executive Committee for District 11.

Bernard Maristany, also an engineer, ran unsuccessfully for Houston City Council District E.

Tom Zakes, an attorney in Houston, and currently secretary of the club had previously run for Houston City Council at Large. He is a precinct judge in Channelview and treasurer of the newly formed Lone Star Republicans.

Hon. Conrad Moren currently serves as the Associate Judge for the 310th District Court.

Hon. Dan Lemkuil previously served as the Associate Judge for the 310th District Court. He has also run unsuccessfully for the 309th District Court and Harris County Sheriff. He currently practices law in Houston.

Hon. Denise Pratt served for many years as a precinct judge in Baytown. She is currently judge of the 311th District Court.

Hon. Bill Henderson previously served as judge of the 311th District Court. He currently works in the office of the County Judge.

Ed Johnson is a long time precinct chair who works in the office of the County Clerk. He previously worked in the office of the Tax Assessor Collector.

Randy Kubosh is a precinct chair and bail bondsman. He previously served on the finance committee of the Harris County Republican Party.

Seven of the fourteen past presidents were in attendance today and received a pin and a certificate for their service to the club. The most memorable lines from their speeches:

  • Tom Zakes – Tom made us repeat after him “I AM” and then “SOMEBODY” and reminded us that when we say that “somebody ought to do something”, we are that “somebody”.
  • Judge Denise Pratt – When I was president, I did like a good Republican should and moved us around to different restaurants whenever someone raised their price.
  • Randy Kubosh – The best thing about the job, since I’m a bail bondsman, is that when I appear before a judge, I know them!

It was a lot of fun. Plus there were a lot of candidates in attendance, including one statewide candidate, Eric Opiela, who is running for Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. Eric was well received and worked the room like an experienced politician, even though this is his first race.

This is one of those days when the real story is in the pictures.

[scrollGallery id=”24″]

 

HCDE – Early to Rise workshop

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HCDE - Early to Rise logo

The Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) held a very informative workshop yesterday on the controversial Early to Rise initiative. The workshop lasted approximately 3 ½ hours and featured presentations from four representatives of the Harris County School Readiness Corporation (HCSRC).

  • James Calaway – Chair of the Early to Rise initiative
  • Carol Shattuck – President and CEO for Collaborative for Children
  • Nancy Correa – Director, Center for Parenting and Family Well-Being, Children at Risk
  • Jonathan Day – spokesperson for the Early to Rise initiative

The representatives of the HCSRC broke their presentations into two parts: the programs and services they are proposing, and the draft proposal itself.

Copy of the Draft Proposal

Copy of HCSRC Accountability and Conflict of Interest Policies

Early to Rise programs and services

Mr. Calaway spoke briefly about the overall project and how it came to be. He stressed that the project is the combined work of “civic leaders” and educational experts that are looking out for the future of the Houston area. He said that the program is designed to help the “teachers” in “woefully inadequate child care facilities”. He wanted the workshop broken into two segments, the first being about early childhood intervention and parenting skills, the second focused on the agreement between the HCDE and the HCSRC. He introduced several of the board members and gave backgrounds on others. He briefly discussed the rhetoric surrounding the imitative and the attacks on the HCDE, saying he now knows how it feels to be attacked for trying to do something good.

Ms. Shattuck spoke about the importance of early childhood intervention. She had given the board a handout and referred to that many times. She stated that research in the past twenty years has shown that the architecture of the brain is formed in the period between 18 months and 3 years and specifically mentioned the Hart-Risley Study on language development. She stated that studies have shown that children in low income environments can learn if they are engaged at the formative stage. She told the board that several Nobel Laureates support early childhood intervention because they say that it has a high return on investment, with much of the return going to society in general in the way of fewer dropouts, more college graduates, and less interaction with the criminal justice system.

She gave the following statistics on the current population of Harris County and how preschool children are cared for. She did not cite a source for these statistics.

  • 43% – home care with a mom or dad
  • 57% – others

The 57% is broken down:

  • 20% – informal care
  • 37% – licensed day care, Head Start, Pre-K programs

She told the group that the University of Houston had tracked children in a program in Houston, Bright Beginnings, and the results had been very positive.

There were a lot of questions from the board for Ms. Shattuck. Board President Angie Chesnut asked if parental training was a part of the program and Ms. Shattuck said yes, it was one leg of a three legged model: Early Childhood Education, Parental Training, and Access to Healthcare.

Trustee Kay Smith disputed the notion that Mr. Calaway and Ms. Shattuck had made that we as a community have not invested in early childhood education by citing a plethora of publicly funded programs. Ms. Shattuck replied that she would respond to that assertion by knowing that there are good programs and not so good programs and that the Early to Rise program was an effort to scale up the good programs that she knows work. Mr. Calaway assured Mrs. Smith that she would not allow her children to go into the places that he has gone into during the past few months. Trustee Kerner agreed with Mr. Calaway that there were places that she wouldn’t send her children to. Mr. Calaway said that we can’t stick our heads into the sand and continue to ignore young children, hoping for something that doesn’t exist, bringing up Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia’s comment that we can either invest in our children at 3 or we can invest a lot of money at 23. Mr. Calaway also blasted the state legislature for cutting the Pre-K program to half a day, saying that it was ridiculous because parents don’t work half a day.

By this time, the board was anxious to get into the agreement itself, so Ms Correa’s presentation on parenting. Her presentation was short and no questions were asked.

Listen to the first half of the segment here.

Early to Rise draft proposal

After a 10 minute break, Mr. Jonathan Day took his turn at the lectern to go over the draft agreement in detail. He stressed that it was not an unusual arrangement for governmental bodies to give taxpayer money to outside vendors. He emphasized three areas of oversight that the HCDE board will have:

  • Financial
  • Review and evaluation of programs
  • Establishment of transparency for the procurement process

The HCSRC will have a 3-5 member staff, housed at the HCDE North Post Oak Building 6005 Westview Drive Houston, TX 77055. Their function will be to develop and put forward the RFQ’s necessary to procure the services that the HCSRC will deliver. They will have no staff directly involved in training day care workers or parents – they will use outside vendors for all services delivered to capitalize on the resources of the community. The purpose of this model is so that the HCSRC does not create another bureaucracy – the HCDE staff will keep all financial records and serve as the fiscal agent for the HCSRC.

Because all records are kept by the HCDE, the HCDE board can have any report they might want at any time. HCDE will invest and manage the funds from the proposed tax. There will be an annual audit provided by the same firm that audits the HCDE, there will be annual goals and work plans that the HCDE board will approve, and the HCDE board will have full audit rights at all times. The HCDE board will have annual appropriations for the budget – if at any time the HCDE board does not like the progress of the HCSRC, the HCDE board can simply not appropriate the money and the program will cease.

The HCSRC board will have nine members, as follows:

  • Chair – selected by the eight appointed members
  • HCDE – will appoint four board members
  • HCSRC – will appoint four board members

The Chair has to be elected by a majority of both “sides” of appointed board members – at least 3 of the HCDE appointees and at least 3 of the HCSRC appointees. Mr. Day stressed that this is just a proposal in reaction to community concerns about accountability and that the HCDE board has final say on the make-up of the HCSRC board.

Trustee Kay Smith had a problem with the restrictions on the HCDE appointments. The draft agreement restricts the HCDE to appointing certain types of people.

HCDE appointees (1 each)

  • Public school experience
  • Community college experience
  • Higher education experience
  • Researcher in early childhood education

HCSRC appointees (1 each)

  • Business leader
  • Community leader with record of commitment to early childhood education
  • Faith-based leader
  • Civic leader with substantial experience leading a non-profit

Trustee Smith noted that under this agreement, the HCDE couldn’t appoint her because she comes from the business community. Mr. Day said that it was a draft agreement and they could work on the types of appointments.

Mr. Day closed by saying that there might be some board members that oppose this arrangement but that it was an example of direct democracy and urged the board to come to an agreement so that the voters will know what they are voting on in November. Mr. Day said that we cannot expect to get help from the state or federal government, noting that the state had cut funding for early childhood programs in 2011 and has not put the funding back.

There were a lot of questions and back and forth from the HCDE board and Mr. Day. I’ll highlight a few:

  • The HCDE would have a “Department Representative” that would have full authority to make binding agreements with the HCSRC. Trustee Howard Jefferson said that was a no-go and was not going to happen. Mr. Day said that they could fix that.
  • The HCDE will have to take $1.9 million out of its Reserve Fund (Rainy Day Fund) to fund the first year of the HCSRC and will be repaid from taxes collected the following year.
  • The ballot initiative increases the maximum amount that the HCDE can levy from $0.01 per hundred dollar appraised value to $0.02 per hundred dollar appraised value. There is nothing in the ballot initiative that binds the HCDE to spending the money on the HCSRC, just a social contract with the voters.
  • The ballot initiative does not bind the HCDE board to levying the full $0.01 increase. The board can levy any amount of the $0.02 authorized. Authorized but not obligated.
  • Currently, the tax levied by the HCDE board is approximately 2/3 of the current maximum of $0.01. If the proposal in November passes, the board will have an additional $0.0133 that it can levy on property owners if it chooses.
  • Mr. Day and the HCSRC expect that the board will levy the full $0.01 on the November ballot and appropriate those funds to the HCSRC. Mr. Day is hopeful that the tax will produce revenue in excess of $30 million per year.
  • By law, the maximum tax rate that the HCDE can have is set at $0.50 per hundred dollar appraised value. If the Early to Rise initiative passes, will other groups come forward to increase the rate?
  • The HCDE will give money to the HCSRC and then bid on projects to get money back.
  • Language in the agreement prohibits working with religious institutions but part of the HCSRC proposal is to work with churches and faith-based leaders.
  • The HCSRC has agreed to be subject to the Texas Public Information Act.
  • The agreement with the HCSRC is for ten years. Trustee Lee suggested shortening the length of the contract but Mr. Day thinks ten years is the right length to properly evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
  • Trustee Marvin Morris called it a “forever” tax, noting that taxes, once levied, do not go away.
  • Board President Angie Chesnut called $100,000 for a website exorbitant
  • The HCDE board can terminate the agreement at any time. There will be an exit strategy that takes about a year to complete if that happens.

You can listen to the second segment here.

Thoughts about the workshop

I’ve tried not to editorialize in the above comments. I think that the HCDE board should be commended for holding this workshop and fully airing the proposal. Some people are upset that the board is even considering this proposal but not considering it, and ignoring the 150,000 signatures on the petition, would be inconsistent with representative government, There will probably be a need to have another workshop as the draft proposal is tweaked.

All in all, it was an informative day. The HCSRC has listened to some concerns and has been more flexible than their public comments would indicate It is still troublesome that this group wants to take money from taxpayers and give it to private businesses, even if the intention is pure. It is also troubling that the leaders of the HCSRC think that growing government is the solution to social and cultural issues – throwing money at segments of society that do not accept responsibility for their own actions has never proven to work. On the other hand, our churches and civic associations haven’t proven effective at helping children that are trapped in poverty by parents that do not care about them and do not look out for their best interests.

The HCDE board held a board meeting after this workshop – I’ll have a separate post on that meeting.

Harris County Department of Education Board Meeting 8-20-13

 

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