“Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell.” — State Representative Debbie Riddle (R-Houston)

I thought the idea of free, universal education started with the Puritans, who wanted everyone to be able to read his Bible. I have been unable to find any historical source materials that give a role in the development of public schools for either the Communists or the Devil. Whatever the origin of public schools may have been, your lobbyists are having the Devil’s own time defending them in this legislative session.

Legislators who promised better schools with no new taxes while on the hustings may feel as if they won a term in purgatory this year. With a $10 billion deficit facing the state, the state’s budget writers have toyed with some fiendishly wicked measures to cut costs. To show what a no-new-taxes budget looks like the Appropriations Committee in the Texas House produced a hellacious list of cost-saving measures.

• CUT NEARLY IN HALF THE $1,000 PER YEAR BENEFIT PROVIDED TO TEACHERS.

• SLASH THE $1,000 BENEFIT BY $700 OR $800 FOR SCHOOL EMPLOYEES OTHER THAN TEACHERS.

• RAISE RETIRED TEACHERS’ HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS BY 33%.

• EXTERMINATE REMEDIAL PROGRAMS FOR NINTH-GRADERS.

• ELIMINATE FUNDS FOR NEW SCHOOL FACILITIES.

• POSTPONE TEXTBOOK PURCHASES.

• SCALE BACK REMEDIAL MATH AND READING PROGRAMS BY $16 MILLION.

• CUT MILLIONS FROM ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PLACEMENT CENTERS.

• WHACK $15 MILLION FROM KINDERGARTEN AND PRE-KINDERGARTEN.

• GET RID OF SCHOOLS IN THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS.

• AXE $17 MILLION FOR PROGRAMS FOR TEENAGE PARENTS.

• SUBTRACT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.

• REDUCE THE STATE’S SHARE OF SCHOOL FUNDING, SHIFTING COSTS ONTO LOCAL DISTRICTS.

If you think there would be hell to pay after such cuts in education programs, you should ask your legislator to oppose these machiavellian measures. Don’t know who represents you in the Texas legislature? Log on to TFT’s web page www.tft.org and you can easily find out. You also can easily send a message to that representative using our interactive web page.

While budget-cutters wielded their axes in the public school funding part of the budget, State Representative Harold Dutton (D-Houston) introduced a series of bills designed to allow more charter schools (HB 933), reduce financial accountability for charter schools (HB 1146) and make it harder for the state to recover overpayments made to charter schools because of erroneous enrollment reports (HB 1202). Go figure.

Money may be the root of all evil to some, but some legislators view your contract and due process rights as the devil’s handiwork. Here are some examples.

• HB 1132 by Rep. Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington) would empower a principal to non-renew a teacher’s contract with no appeal beyond the local school board.

• HB 1112 by Rep. Myra Crownover (R-Lake Dallas) lets a district return a teacher to probationary status based on the principal’s appraisal of the teacher.

• HB 973 by Grusendorf exempts schools rated “exemplary” from laws giving teachers a duty-free lunch and a planning period, as well as from many other regulations.

• HB 1626 by Rep. Todd Smith (R-Bedford) would let school boards dictate the purposes for which personal leave could be used. Legislators pushing these bills sometimes offer school districts a trade: Support our budget cuts and we will get rid of laws that hamper your ability to get rid of experienced teachers. Most of the school districts reject this devil’s bargain, but some fall prey to temptation.

In Washington your lobbyists continue to fight against the infernal machinations of the Social Security Administration. On March 5 Congressman Clay Shaw (R-Florida) pitched out a wicked bill (HR 743) that would have ended the exemption allowing some school employees to collect their earned Social Security benefits. Shaw’s proposal was defeated soundly, and 26 Texas Congressmen and Congresswomen voted on the side of the angels. Only 6 Texans stood with the forces of darkness on that day: Joe Barton (R-Ennis), Kevin Brady (R-The Woodlands), Tom DeLay (R-Sugar Land), Sam Johnson (R-Plano), Pete Sessions (R-Dallas), and Lamar Smith (R-San Antonio).

If you are represented in Congress by one of the sinful six listed above, call and ask him to change his ways using the toll-free number AFT has set up for you (1-800-839-5276) or log on to TFT’s web page www.tft.org and go to the section labeled Social Security, where you will find an e-mail you can send with just a click.

Now here’s the good news. We have 173 U.S. House members and 15 U.S. Senators signed up in support of total repeal of the evil Social Security Offset and Windfall provisions. Neither of Texas’ senators (Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn) has signed on, but 22 of the 32 Texans in the U.S. House are now cosponsors of HR 594, the Social Security Fairness Act. The 22 Texas cosponsors (who deserve your thanks) are:

Chris Bell (D-Houston)
Henry Bonilla (R-San Antonio)
John Carter (R-Round Rock)
Larry Combest (R-Lubbock)
Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin)
Chet Edwards (D-Waco)
Martin Frost (D-Dallas)
Gene Green (D-Houston)
Ralph Hall (D-Rockwall)
Charles Gonzalez (D-San Antonio)
Ruben Hinojosa (D-Mercedes)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Dallas)
Nick Lampson (D-Beaumont)
Solomon Ortiz (D-Corpus Christi)
Ron Paul (R-Clute)
Silvestre Reyes (D-El Paso)
Ciro Rodriguez (D-San Antonio)
Max Sandlin (D-Marshall)
Pete Sessions (R-Dallas)
Charles Stenholm (D-Avoca)
Jim Turner (D-Crockett)

Sincerely,

John Cole, President
Texas Federation of Teachers