When you have two legislative bodies dominated by conservative Texas Republicans fighting over how to finance public schools, it can be challenging to know who to believe. Fortunately, former Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and friends stepped in yesterday to provide a bit of clarity. Via Twitter:
Folks, when Wendy Davis starts cheerleading for one Republican side over the other, it’s time to high tail it to the other.
And when the Texas affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers starts shilling for one Republican side over the other, you know you made the right choice to run to the other.
House Emphatically Rejects Senate Voucher “Poison Pill”
The Senate’s attempt to force acceptance of a private-school voucher scheme by inserting it in a House school-finance bill suffered a major setback today. The House voted 134 to 15 against concurrence in the Senate changes to HB 21, the good school-finance bill by Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Houston). Not only that, the House for good measure supported a motion to instruct House negotiators to reject the inclusion of any voucher provision whatsoever if and when a House-Senate conference committee comes to a final agreement on HB 21. The margin on that anti-voucher instruction was 101 for and 45 against. The pro-voucher faction on the House floor tried to reverse that result with an instruction to “consider all methods of educational choice for special-education students,” but their gambit failed on a vote of 47 for, 89 against.
Allowing parent’s of special needs children to make the best choice they can for their child is a “poison pill” in the eyes of ‘a union of professionals’. Amazing.
The fact that my own House representative, Rep. Dennis Paul (R-129) voted with Huberty and Wendy Davis doesn’t make me particularly happy. He explained via text message that he needed to vote for it to try to get it to conference or it would die in the House. Only 15 Republican reps didn’t see it that way and voted against Huberty and Wendy: Biedermann; Cain; Isaac; Keough; Klick; Krause; Lang; Rinaldi; Schaefer; Schofield; Shaheen; Stickland; Swanson; Tinderholt; Zedler. Kudos to you guys for trying.
It is interesting to look at the Fiscal Notes for each version of the bill.
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB21, As Engrossed: a positive impact of $33,973,419 through the biennium ending August 31, 2019.
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB21, Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($1,853,351,923) through the biennium ending August 31, 2019.
Wow. Huberty’s version would ADD money to the state General Fund. Taylor’s version would SUBTRACT money from the state General Fund to the tune of $1.8 billion. Huberty must be a magician.
Nah, not a magician. Just using another one of the tricks in his bag of political tricks. Further down in the analysis of Huberty’s version, we find this:
The bill would result in estimated state savings for the Foundation School Program of $34.2 million for the 2018-2019 biennium. Increased state cost for FSP entitlement, including hardship grant awards, is estimated to be $931.7 million in fiscal year 2018 and $909.1 million in fiscal year 2019. This biennial cost of $1,840.8 million would be offset in fiscal year 2019 by one-time savings of $1,875.0 million due to changing the final FSF payment of the biennium from August 2019 to September 2019.
Ah, a little sleight of hand accounting trick. Delay payment by a month, moving it to the next fiscal biennium and call it one-time savings. In Pasadena, we’d call it kicking the can down the road but hey, we ain’t all that sharp, ya know.
Here is what Lt. Dan had to say:
AUSTIN – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued the following statement today following the Texas House rejection of House Bill 21 — the $530 million school funding plan:
“I am appalled that the Texas House turned down an additional half-billion dollars for public schools simply because it included a program that might allow some disabled child somewhere in Texas to attend a private school that his parents believe would be better for him or her. The House members who voted against HB 21 ignored the needs of disabled children to take a stand against school choice, which is supported by a strong majority of Texans in every demographic group and both political parties. Instead of supporting those Texans, those House members buckled under the demands of education bureaucrats.
“Although Texas House leaders have been obstinate and closed-minded on this issue throughout this session, I was hopeful when we put this package together last week that we had found an opening that would break the logjam. I simply did not believe they would vote against both disabled children and a substantial funding increase for public schools.
“I was wrong. House Bill 21 is now dead.”
House Bill 21 contained the following components:
- $200 million for ASATR
- $200 million new money for the Foundation School Program
- $100 million for fast growth schools and charter schools for facility funding.
- The bill included Education Savings Accounts for children with disabilities.
- Upon passage by the House, the official start date for A through F would be pushed back until 2019, making the 2018 scores another sample year.
Once again, Wendy Davis’ friends try to come to Huberty’s rescue. This time in the form of Clay Robison, once a biased liberal reporter for the Houston Chronicle, now the paid shill for the Texas State Teachers Association. Mr. Robison had this to say:
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick waxed sanctimonious after the final defeat of the House’s effort to improve school funding but don’t be misled by his demagoguery. The blame for the school finance failure rests squarely with Patrick.
Speaker Joe Straus and the House majority tried to enact legislation to improve state funding for public schools and take an important first step toward real school finance reform. But Patrick was all about snooping in school bathrooms and trying to force the House into wasting tax dollars on private school vouchers, even after it was clear that a bipartisan House majority was adamantly opposed to vouchers. At the eleventh hour, Patrick had the Senate majority remove funding from the House’s version of HB21, the school finance bill, and attach a special education voucher instead. Then he blamed the House for killing school finance when House members called his bluff.
“I simply did not believe they (the House) would vote against both disabled children and a substantial funding increase for public schools,” he said. Hogwash.
Patrick’s “funding increase” claim was actually a billion dollar cut from the $1.6 billion the House had proposed. And his special education voucher amendment would have been useless for most special education kids because private schools don’t have to provide special education services and those that do are exempt from federal standards designed to make sure the services provided are appropriate.
The House actually had tried to improve funding for disabled kids and all other students by approving additional funding for public schools, but Patrick and the Senate majority killed that effort. That means public schools, including special education classrooms, will remain under-funded, and the burden on local school property taxpayers will continue to increase.
Whenever Dan Patrick opens his mouth about public education and property tax “relief,” he has absolutely no credibility. And the school children of Texas – all the school children of Texas – will be better off if their parents quit believing him.
Someone is waxing sanctimoniously, Mr. Robison, but it ain’t who you say it is. You might want to look in the mirror. I’m reminded of Mr. Robison’s words in his farewell in the Houston Chronicle:
I offer an observation to bloggers, whose presence in the political arena is expanding as the ranks of traditional news reporters thin. There is a difference between reporting and spinning. I have done both for a long time, and reporting is a lot harder.
Looks like Mr. Robison got tired of the hard work and decided to get paid to do the easy stuff. Hey, it happens.
So, I’ll repeat what I said earlier: Folks, when Wendy Davis starts cheerleading for one Republican side over the other, it’s time to high tail it to the other. To get the complete picture, throw in the teacher’s unions and virtually all paid Texas media as well.
I’d suggest that Republican voters high tail it as fast as they can to the other side and support Sen. Larry Taylor (my senator by the way). If you live in my district, HD129, you might want to let Rep. Dennis Paul know what you think.
We don’t have two legislative bodies dominated by conservative Texas Republicans. One side chose Joe Strausss to provide them cover. It’s our fault.
Couple of quick things:
1. Regardless of accounting “tricks”, the Senate bill reduces funding for public education by approximately $1 Billion less than the House version of the bill.
2. When “School Choice” is defined as the transfer of public funds to private and/or religious entities, it is not supported by “a strong majority of Texans in every demographic group and both political parties”. The House is voicing such strong opposition to vouchers because they are representing the desires of their constituents and communities.
3. The education and care of disabled students is highly regulated by the state and federal government, which is many would argue is necessary considering many states historically barred them from public schools. These regulations mandating standards of care also increase the costs of public education for disabled students.
4. The Senate plan takes money from public education and sends it to private and/or religious entities that would not have to comply with the necessary standards and regulations of educating and caring for disabled students.
5. “Teacher’s Unions” is a misnomer, as it is illegal in Texas for educators to collectively bargain. The various teachers associations in Texas are really more of a group purchasing program for insurance benefits.
5.5. Whether you are Republican or Democrat, every parent in Texas wants their child to receive the best available education, tailored as much as possible to their individual needs. Public Education is, and should always be, a bi-partisan issue.
couple of quicker things…
1. the accounting ‘trick’ is fully explained, read the article you are commenting on
2 democrats want to keep the status quo because it is a very good way to keep those sweet sweet union dues pouring into their coffers
3 okay, so they are highly regulated by state and feds and these regs add to the cost. You ain’t exactly breaking any new ground with this one nor offering any criticism…wash
4 so parents with disabled children who want to provide better services than public facilities offer must pay both school taxes and the cost of the care and education they want to provide. Got it. Protect those unions!
5 and legal protection. They need this legal protection because they can’t lift a finger while being abused by students because of those state and federal regulations you mention in #3
5.5 your ‘tailored as much as possible to their individual needs’ comment is crushed by the concept of one size fits all public education with a wet blanket of state and federal regulations as referenced in #3 and #5
My old high school is now called an ‘International School’ with native non-hispanics excluded. The elementary school in my neighborhood is a 12 hour day care facility serving three meals a day and even remains open during the summer for same.
My old junior high is a hilarious story of having another new building built on the grounds in order to allow all of the ‘immigrant’ children that populate the many apartment complexes in the area to use the old building in order to allow teaching to them in their native language and the local non immigrants to go to the new one. Wut!! No way! Not sure if it been resolved but the new one sat empty while they addressed the protests of LULAC and other partisans.
My niece teaches in Montgomery County. She relates her district provides 5 different campuses for grades k-12 I mentioned in a previous post. They have built two new high schools to accommodate 5-A student populations. Now they can’t afford to hire the teachers they need to lead the classes.
In 2016 teacher’s unions contributed $33.2 million according to federal campaign data. Of that almost $31 million went to democrats. Following the money is always a good tell of what’s going on.
When School Choice is defined as moving guaranteed money from school districts to allow parents to decide what is best for their own children, it is strongly supported.
Go listen to the strange hearing in Senate Ed after the voucher amendment was added. The tables seemed turned, with the committee testifying to the witnesses, trying to get us to stop objecting, saying more than us. Only the least expensive students may leave and be accepted and served by private schools; the more expensive students who need the heavy dollars for building modifications, aides, therapists, pull-outs, and special placements will be left in public schools but with weakened financing. The Senate was clearly using our kids to gain a foothold for further vouchers for all kids. Shame on the Senate.