Americans experience an internal conflict between suspicion of government as an abuser of power on the one hand and a positive perception of the government as a helper on the other hand.
--all-consuming question today is not along the lines of Kennedy’s speech (“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”) Rather, it is “what can government do for me, not against me?” (Does this attitude among the citizens remove the power of government to govern, for isn’t governing really a right to exercise coercive power to achieve a minimal conformity for the sake of social order and preservation?)
--increased demand for public services, namely schools, roads, healthcare, welfare, etc.
--as population and urbanization increase, so do the political and economic problems rise
--the State budget reflects the state’s primary concerns, which problems it will address
--Education is the largest chunk of the pie; Healthcare is second largest; Transportation/Highways are the third largest; then comes Public Safety/Criminal Justice; etc.
Education in
Post-Civil War Era => public schools in the South (the North already had numerous public schools in early 19th c.)
--1876 Texas Constitution stipulates public land grants are to be used to finance public schools, with local administration and optional attendance
--1915,
--1918,
--1949,
--1984,
--1990s, Texas legislature has increased local control (but has increased the number of unfounded mandates handed down from the state to the districts), through some textbook selection options, authorizing charter schools, and authorizing home-rule districts and charter schools
--Education today is a state-local partnership
Public
School Administration: Legislature enacts some standards, the rest are made by
TEA and the
--State Board of Education (SBOE)—Sets general rules/guidelines for the TEA; implements legislatively established funding formulas; sets ISD operational standards; recommends candidates for Commissioner of Education
--Commissioner of Education executes regulations and policy set by the legislature and the SBOE.
--Locally, there are 1041 ISDs, each with a school board of either 7 or 9 members, elected either at large or from single-member districts within the ISD for either 3 or 4 year terms
--set the district tax rate
--set the school policies within the district within TEA guidelines
--approve district budgets
--contract for instructional supplies and construction
--hire/fire personnel, especially administrative personnel/superintendent
--ISDs can be very political, attracting a number of public voices at any given controversial school board meeting over things such as personnel, textbook selection, institutional practices, etc.
What Should Education Be?: This is a perennial question, never easily answered
--is it for instilling the general traditional and cultural values of society?
--is it to instill an attitude of good citizenship and virtue, defined by the dominant culture or the majority?
--is it to instill a love of learning and to encourage free thinking, independent of the dominant culture?
--The state has to answer this question every time it enters into any educational policy debate, over textbooks or personnel or curriculum content, etc.
TEA establishes curriculum, most of which is designed to reinforce the existing community values of the state. Much of the recent curriculum has been directed toward college preparatory classes, to encourage a higher rate of higher educational achievement. BUT, this leaves a number of non-college-bound students struggling to find a suitable niche, because they have not been taught useful job skills. Will there be a switch back to a balance between traditional academics and vocational/agricultural/home economics curriculum?
Textbook Selection: always a hot topic in the SBOE.
--SBOE approves a list of textbooks and sends the list to the ISDs for them to make their selections
--political battles erupt every time textbooks are up for adoption, with conservatives usually winning (most commonly when the subjects are English, biology, health, and social studies).
--
--approved textbooks usually defend the status quo/the dominant political values (some [accurate?] assertions that the SBOE is dominated by religious conservatives)
Faculties: State standards are set by the state board for educator certification
--hiring and firing are local matters
--no statewide tenure system or policies are in place
--high expectations and low pay/low morale => teacher shortages
Students: Increases in enrollment are expected for at least the next decade, usually around 2% per year, with more ethnic diversity coloring the state schools each year
--TAKS test designed to show student achievement improvement, limit social promotion, and encourage academic success prior to participation in extracurricular activities.
Public School Financing:
Federal grants: mostly for child nutrition and special-needs, military, and low-income students
State funding: Permanent School Fund—money from the investments, sales and rentals and mineral rights royalties from the state’s public lands
Available School Fund—earnings from the PSF and from ¼ of motor fuel taxes, some used for textbooks and the rest distributed on basis of average daily attendance
Local funding—ad valorem property taxes and general-obligation bonds
--minimum property tax rate of $0.86/$100, maximum of $1.50/$100, state will supplement the funds to insure each additional cent of local tax yields at least $27.14 in revenue per student
ROBIN HOOD—taxable property per student must be capped at $305,000; money is usually sent from the wealthier districts to the state for redistribution to poorer districts
--federal lawsuit in 1970s filed arguing that the Texas system of school finance denied equal protection under the laws as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution—this failed at the US Supreme Court, as the Court did not discover a fundamental constitutional right to equally funded public education
--state district court lawsuit in 1987 found the system to be unconstitutional under the state constitution’s guarantee of a suitable and efficient public school system—this was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in 1989. => Robin Hood plan in 1993, which was upheld in the courts
--Question: does spending guarantee educational equality? How does throwing money at a problem help or hinder the state’s goals?
VOUCHERS—designed to encourage competition between public and private schools. Most voucher programs throughout the country have been struck down by the courts because they are viewed as unconstitutional establishments of religion, benefiting primarily parochial/religious schools, not secular private schools, and the fact that most voucher programs’ money goes to the schools directly rather than to the states. Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) upheld a Cleveland, OH voucher plan, because it distributes money to the individuals who then make a choice as to where to spend them, at secular or parochial private schools, and thus does not favor religious over non-religious education.
School Districts
in
HIGHER EDUCATION: approximately 12% of state budget spent on higher ed. (as compared to about 30% on elementary and secondary education).
18-member Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (with 6-year terms, appointed by governor, consent of senate), appoints Commissioner of Higher Education
--Regents/Trustees of the university and college systems set institutional policies within state law’s limits and the THECB’s guidelines
--community colleges established by school districts’ voters, governed by an independently elected board or by the school board of that district.
--1997 law mandating periodic reevaluation of tenure of all tenured faculty => fear of academic repression, loss of academic freedom
--small budgets and big needs for most colleges and universities…difficult for some to maintain a competitive faculty and student ratio, quality faculty scholars, and buildings, technology, etc.
--increases in tuition and cutback on programs and services provided to students
--unequal distribution of public resources to the state’s universities. E.g. the Permanent University Fund (PUF) is directed toward only the UT (2/3) and a&m (1/3) systems. Most of that money goes to the flagship campuses of UT-Austin and a&m-college station.
--top ten percent law enacted in 1997 to offset the loss of minority enrollment after affirmative action programs were held to be unconstitutional by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES:
34% of state budget goes to HHS (approx. 60% of this comes from federal grants)
Income Support:
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)—approx. 2/3 of recipients are children; designed for children whose parents are incapable of providing for children’s basic needs. Adult recipients are referred to employment counseling, job training, etc.
--declining benefits over the years (approx. $67/recipient/month for a family of three in 2005)
**Healthcare is second-most expensive state service provided (approx 13% of state budget = Mostly Medicaid [with about 60% of funds coming from federal grants])
--Medicaid: basic indigent health insurance coverage; most recipients are elderly, disabled, or children
--Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPs)—parents with incomes of 150% of the federal poverty level or less are eligible to purchase insurance for their children; state regulations were changed to lower the number of recipients after budget shortfalls made changes necessary
--Department of Health Services—operates the state mental facilities (approx. 25% of Austin State Hospital patients are from McLennan County) and a couple of state-run general hospitals, licenses all hospitals within the state, offers personal programs for special populations, e.g., WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program offering nutrition and health programs for pregnant women and/or newborns and breast-feeders.
--increasing costs of healthcare are rising at a rate faster than inflation => increasing insurance premiums and decreasing coverage. Approx. ¼ of all state residents do not have any health insurance coverage; many treated by county hospitals)
Unemployment Programs—mostly financed by state taxes on employers
--administered by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC)
--rate of taxation is based upon the claims made by the former employees (gives employers incentives to contest the claims made by their former employees)
Welfare Programs—those that are “respectable” (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, survivors/old-age/disability insurance) are regarded as “social insurance” simply run by the government rather than by a private company—eligibility determined by the taxes one has paid
--programs that are not “respectable”, those that are based on means test, are derided as welfare, government handouts, etc.
--reality is, however, that very few of the eligible population is actually receiving welfare benefits; most welfare programs benefit only people with children or the disabled.
--most government benefits (e.g., food stamps) furnish less than bare essentials
--amount of money granted on a per-child basis is so small (approx. $67/month) that it cannot be proven that welfare mothers are having kids because they want to get more money. Likely that they are having more kids because they are less precautious when having sex, tend to be more promiscuous, and are unable to afford suitable birth control.
--most people desire not to identify with the poor, single mothers, and ethnic minorities (even the poorest wage earner will regard the welfare recipient with disdain)
--problems remain, because welfare does not cure the disease of poverty, but acts only as a palliative, relieving some symptoms. Disease itself is caused by lack of education, initiative, responsibility, hope, emotional security, etc.
--most federally assisted programs require today that limits of 2 consecutive years, 5 years total lifetime, be placed on welfare receipts in attempt to limit the number of people on welfare rolls and to encourage productivity.
TRANSPORTATION:
Counties primarily responsible early in the state’s history for road maintenance and construction. Still maintain rural roads today in many areas.
State highway system was created in 1916 after the Federal Aid Road Act was enacted to encourage states to take on primary responsibility of road construction and maintenance. => establishment of Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation, TxDoT)
--most road construction and maintenance today is a state-federal joint effort, with most money for interstate highways coming from federal government, and a good portion of funding for state and federal highways also coming from federal grants
--56% of funds for TxDoT come from state sources, supported primarily by state taxes on motor fuels, lubricants, and motor vehicle registration.