Dallas County Democrats
The Kids George W. Bush Left Behind

Friday, July 28, 2000
By State Representative Glen Maxey

"Leave No Child Behind?" When I was a child, my mama taught me that you don't try to lie your way out of a bad situation. You only make it worse. Governor Bush, let's tell the truth about kids in Texas.

The Republican Party has selected as the theme of their first day of their national convention a very compassionate sounding slogan. I just wish they weren't fibbing and making up tall tales to cover what they and their nominee have done for children in Texas. But before I'm caught in telling my own fib let me correct that. I should have said: "what they and their nominee have FAILED to do for children in Texas."

I know a little about George W. Bush's record in Texas. You see, I am a member of the Texas Legislature with about 120,000 very caring, compassionate constituents. One of those "compassionate" constituents is Governor George W. Bush. I also happen to serve on the Human Services Committee and the Public Health Committee in the House and have watched the Governor and his administration's policies about children.

Leave no child behind? Let's talk about the kids George W. Bush fought to leave behind.

We can start with a very public debate over insuring some of the 1.4 million uninsured kids in Texas. Congress created a Children's Health Insurance Program for the children of working Texans with low incomes. The tobacco settlement assured that Texas had adequate non-tax generated dollars to pay our state's share. It was a no-brainer to create a program to cover the maximum number of children: almost a half million who live in families below 200% of poverty.

Although Bush could have started planning the program a year or so earlier and just waited for the Legislature to appropriate the funds for it in the 1999 legislative session, his administration sat idly by until the Legislature mandated the program. We're just now enrolling kids. thousands of children were left behind for over a year when the program could have been up and running last September.

But most amazingly, Bush took a position and steadfastly fought to limit coverage for kids up to only 150% of poverty. That position would have left behind about a quarter of million Texas children.

He even said to me upon unanimous passage of the program covering the maximum number of children: "Glen, congratulations on the Children's Health Insurance Program. You crammed it down our throats." He surely left me with the impression that he didn't care that he was going to leave those families uninsured.

What about the hundreds of thousands of Texas children who have no health coverage because they have not been informed that they qualify for Medicaid?

What about the thousands of children in Texas with asthma because of our poor air quality? More than 1,000 polluters have been "grandfathered" without permits for almost 30 years in Texas. When I tried to bring them into compliance with clean air standards, Governor Bush led the fight to let them "voluntarily" clean up. The Governor's staff even let the lawyer for the Texas Chemical Council draft his version of the bill. Those kids are left behind under a cloud of smog and health threatening situations.

What about his insistence on a property tax reduction for homeowners when the Legislature wanted to guarantee funding for kindergarten and pre-school programs? (Texas still doesn't fund kindergarten for all our children.) Where was he when legislators pushed for a $6,000 pay raise for teachers? Well, he was arguing for only $1500.

What about his loud, long and vociferous support for vouchers for public education dollars to flow to private schools? It was clear to the majority of the Legislature that we'd see billions of dollars siphoned away from public education, leaving many children to remain in underfunded public schools. It was pretty clear that the poorest kids would be left behind.

What about his veto of a bill that I sponsored setting up parental involvement programs in the public schools of Texas? Governor Bush said it wasn't necessary in his veto message.

What about his veto of a bill to coordinate hunger programs in Texas? When the press inquired about hunger in Texas, Bush asked, "Where?"

George Bush should be ashamed of himself for letting the Republican National Convention distort the true record in Texas. Don't be fooled by cute kids surrounding him in campaign photo ops. The real picture tells a different story.

Governor, I like you as a person and as a human being. But your record does not live up to your rhetoric - and I do not like the idea of it being distorted.

Hopefully you will still be Governor of this state in January 2001 so we can work together to take care of the problems facing all the children who ARE being left behind during your race for the White House.

(Glen Maxey of Austin, Texas is a Democratic state representative who represented the district of George W. Bush in the Texas Legislature.)

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