Dear Friend,

"With this budget, we mark the passage in Texas from compassionate conservatism to just plain old mean-spiritedness," -State Senator Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso).

A piece of Mexican folk wisdom says, "Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda." (A monkey may be dressed in silk, but it is still a monkey.) Following that maxim, I will not try to paint a pretty picture of the 78th Texas Legislature's school funding legislation. We can point to a few pretty ruffles here and there, but school employees and schoolchildren will still see a pretty ugly scene.

State leaders boast that they dealt with a huge state deficit without raising taxes. Actually, they solved the deficit in large part by taxing school employees and schoolchildren.

The payroll tax on school employees to support retiree health care (TRS-Care) will double, cutting about $100 per year from the average Texas teacher. School districts will have to pay a new tax to support TRS-Care equal to four-tenths of a percent of payroll, a special tax levy that cuts into money that otherwise would be available for employee pay and benefits. Retired school employees get hit hardest with a whopping 33% increase in their out-of-pocket medical costs.

Every school employee in Texas will contribute at least $500 toward state deficit reduction because the state cut the $1,000 health insurance stipend in half for most school employees. Part-time employees chip in $750 per year to fill the budget?s revenue hole, and some other school employees (including all administrators) will donate $1,000 to Texas so that incumbents can run for re-election claiming to have held the line on taxes.

Adding injury to injury, the legislature took from you the right to choose how you receive your $1,000. Previously you could take it as straight salary, put it in an IRA, or spend it on health insurance coverage for your family. Henceforth you must spend the $500 only on health care through a yet-to-be devised system in which you will have a special ?account? for this purpose. Your $500 will be docked a $16 annual fee to operate this new system, leaving you with $484 remaining from the original $1,000.

A bank or financial institution under a third-party contract with the Texas Teacher Retirement System will handle your "account." With up to 600,000 individual accounts to "manage" on behalf of Texas school employees, somebody will make more than $8 million a year off this scheme, at your expense.

Some legislators opposed this travesty, of course. State Representative José Menendez (D-San Antonio) fought hard to save the $1,000. When his amendment to preserve the $1,000 was voted down, he pushed for a "sunset" clause that would automatically restore your stipend to full value in September 2005.

Representative Barry Telford (D-DeKalb) spoke eloquently in support of Menendez' motion: "If we don't pass something like this we are telling our teachers, 'We lied to you? when we promised help with health insurance last session.' Menendez' "sunset" amendment prevailed by a vote of 91-51.

Children will make a huge sacrifice so that incumbents can use the "no new taxes" slogan in re-election campaigns. Nearly 170,000 Texas children will lose their eligibility for the Children?s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Those children may have to stay sick because their parents cannot afford a doctor or medicine, or they may have a minor illness develop into something serious because it goes untreated. Many will fall behind in school because they are sick and cannot fully concentrate on their lessons. Among the 170,000 who lose their medical care will almost certainly be some (no one can say how many) who will die because CHIP no longer covers them.

Asked about the effect of the cuts in CHIP funding, Governor Perry showed little concern, saying the children "may be picked up in some other programs, whether it is Medicaid or what have you."

In reality, these kids will not be "picked up by some other program" because CHIP is the program created for children whose families work for a living but do not earn enough to pay for health care or health insurance. They do not, by definition, qualify for Medicaid because their parents are not on the welfare rolls.

College students face an especially heavy tax. Legislative budget slashers cut funding for higher education, then gave state colleges and universities unlimited license to raise tuition to make up for lost state funding. State Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) protested, "We are pricing somebody out of the dream of going to college."

Legislators hacked over $156 million from community college funding despite a 14.7 percent increase in student contact hours. This double whammy will force these schools to increase local taxes, reduce course offerings, raise tuition, hold down faculty salary raises, or some combination of all of the above. (Attached with this letter is a printout showing the effect of all this on the state's community colleges.)

Former world chess champion Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower observed, "Moral victories don't count." Giving Tartakower his due, things could have been worse. The original budget from the House Appropriations Committee proposed much harsher measures.

Education might have been hit much harder were it not for your responses to our pleas for help. Over 88,000 e-mails and faxes were sent to legislators using the TFT Web page from January through May (another 20,000 were sent to Congress urging action on the Social Security Offset and Windfall provisions). We don?t know how many letters were sent via snail mail, nor how many phone calls were made, but we know your voice was heard. Thanks for all your help!

The final school finance bill gives about $1 billion in new money to school districts, so our victories were not all hollow ones. Attached with this letter is a printout that shows how much new money will go to certain school districts. If you don?t find your school district on the list, let me know and we will look up the figures for you.

Each year AFT produces a Summer Learning Calendar with educational activities for kids. AFT has gone on-line with this fine service, adding interactive learning games and activities to the mix. This year?s Summer Learning Calendar is all about space, and it is overflowing with stargazing tips, fund facts about space travel, astronomical art activities and more. You can check it out at www.aft.org/calendar.

Want to receive this letter via email? Log onto the TFT Web page (www.tft.org) and click the "Subscribe to TFT's publication e-mail list" sign up.

NEXT MONTH: I will wrap up my report on the 78th Legislature with a list of the good, the bad, and ugly bills of 2003.

Sincerely,

John Cole, President
Texas Federation of Teachers

INCREASE IN SCHOOL FUNDING FOR 2003-2004*
DISTRICT	WEIGHTED AVG DAILY ATTENDANCE	NEW MONEY PER W.A.D.A.	TOTAL NEW MONEY FOR 2003-2004
ABILENE	22186	$110.00	$2,440,460.00
ALDINE	68698	$110.00	$7,556,780.00
ALIEF	53600	$110.00	$5,896,000.00
AMARILLO	34852	$110.00	$3,833,720.00
ARLINGTON	73940	$110.00	$8,133,400.00
AUSTIN	93314	$110.00	$10,264,540.00
BASTROP	8536	$110.00	$938,960.00
BEAUMONT	25890	$110.00	$2,847,900.00
BIRDVILLE	26535	$110.00	$2,918,850.00
BRAZOSPORT	16097	$110.00	$1,770,670.00
BROWNSVILLE	58525	$110.00	$6,437,750.00
CARROLLTON-FARMERS-BRANCH	30805	$110.00	$3,388,550.00
CLEAR CREEK	36324	$110.00	$3,995,640.00
CONROE	43560	$110.00	$4,791,600.00
COPPERAS COVE	8632	$110.00	$949,520.00
CORPUS CHRISTI	48703	$110.00	$5,357,330.00
CYPRESS-FAIRBANKS	81785	$110.00	$8,996,350.00
DALLAS	204840	$110.00	$22,532,400.00
ECTOR COUNTY	31958	$110.00	$3,515,380.00
EDINBURG	30959	$110.00	$3,405,490.00
EL PASO	78581	$110.00	$8,643,910.00
FORT BEND COUNTY	66936	$110.00	$7,362,960.00
FORT WORTH	99086	$110.00	$10,899,460.00
GALENA PARK	25498	$110.00	$2,804,780.00
GARLAND	63587	$110.00	$6,994,570.00
GOOSE CREEK	22013	$110.00	$2,421,430.00
GRAND PRAIRIE	26493	$110.00	$2,914,230.00
GRAPEVINE-COLLEYVILLE	15420	$110.00	$1,696,200.00
HARLANDALE	19317	$110.00	$2,124,870.00
HARLINGEN	20010	$110.00	$2,201,100.00
HOUSTON	264922	$110.00	$29,141,420.00
HUMBLE	29743	$110.00	$3,271,730.00
HURST-EULESS-BEDFORD	22919	$110.00	$2,521,090.00
IRVING	37620	$110.00	$4,138,200.00
JUDSON	21197	$110.00	$2,331,670.00
KELLER	20504	$110.00	$2,255,440.00
KERRVILLE	5739	$110.00	$631,290.00
KILLEEN	37952	$110.00	$4,174,720.00
KLEIN	39873	$110.00	$4,386,030.00
LA JOYA	26409	$110.00	$2,904,990.00
LAMAR	20494	$110.00	$2,254,340.00
LEANDER	19003	$110.00	$2,090,330.00
LEWISVILLE	48346	$110.00	$5,318,060.00
LUBBOCK	36061	$110.00	$3,966,710.00
MANSFIELD	21117	$110.00	$2,322,870.00
MCALLEN	28733	$110.00	$3,160,630.00
MCKINNEY	16500	$110.00	$1,815,000.00
MESQUITE	40506	$110.00	$4,455,660.00
MIDLAND	24648	$110.00	$2,711,280.00
MISSION	16878	$110.00	$1,856,580.00
NORTH EAST	66815	$110.00	$7,349,650.00
NORTH FOREST	14282	$110.00	$1,571,020.00
NORTHSIDE	82167	$110.00	$9,038,370.00
PASADENA	53507	$110.00	$5,885,770.00
PFLUGERVILLE	18516	$110.00	$2,036,760.00
PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO	32165	$110.00	$3,538,150.00
PLANO	57602	$110.00	$6,336,220.00
RICHARDSON	40707	$110.00	$4,477,770.00
ROMA	8095	$110.00	$890,450.00
ROUND ROCK	38998	$110.00	$4,289,780.00
SAN ANGELO	19125	$110.00	$2,103,750.00
SAN ANTONIO	74703	$110.00	$8,217,330.00
SCHERTZ-CIBOLO-UNIVERSAL CITY	7614	$110.00	$837,540.00
SOCORRO	36073	$110.00	$3,968,030.00
SOUTH SAN ANTONIO	12850	$110.00	$1,413,500.00
SPRING BRANCH	39811	$110.00	$4,379,210.00
SPRING	30260	$110.00	$3,328,600.00
TYLER	20959	$110.00	$2,305,490.00
UNITED	39432	$110.00	$4,337,520.00
VICTORIA	17143	$110.00	$1,885,730.00
WACO	19648	$110.00	$2,161,280.00
WESLACO	18999	$110.00	$2,089,890.00
WICHITA FALLS	18116	$110.00	$1,992,760.00
YSLETA	59785	$110.00	$6,576,350.00
* The new money figures do not take into account the cuts in employees' stipends. Please remember also that changes in student attendance will affect funding.

FORMULA APPROPRIATION FY 2004-05 Texas Public Community Colleges
College	% change in Contact Hours	Formula Appropriation FY 2002-03	Formula Appropriation FY 2004-05	% difference
Alamo	16.5%	120,417,290	115,564,940	-4.0%
Alvin	17.3%	16,457,560	16,127,910	-2.0%
Amarillo	8.1%	34,957,452	31,546,897	-9.8%
Angelina	17.9%	16,389,002	16,122,891	-1.6%
Austin	11.8%	77,249,588	71,633,214	-7.3%
Blinn	10.0%	40,125,484	36,796,274	-8.3%
Brazosport	3.4%	12,433,726	11,220,652	-9.8%
Central Texas	20.0%	36,021,570	35,886,775	-0.4%
Cisco	14.2%	8,837,660	8,501,577	-3.8%
Clarendon	-0.8%	4,636,750	4,184,374	-9.8%
Coastal Bend	15.0%	14,067,142	13,650,878	-3.0%
College of the Mainland	15.5%	12,817,060	12,179,999	-5.0%
Collin	22.9%	43,675,428	44,175,664	1.1%
Dallas	16.8%	171,987,494	166,437,110	-3.2%
Del Mar	17.3%	38,154,026	37,427,595	-1.9%
El Paso	5.7%	64,446,098	58,158,531	-9.8%
Frank Phillips	21.7%	4,902,784	4,988,618	1.8%
Galveston	-10.9%	10,517,080	9,491,000	-9.8%
Grayson	13.3%	12,786,162	12,032,097	-5.9%
Hill	28.1%	10,003,754	10,715,664	7.1%
Houston	7.8%	131,220,777	118,418,458	-9.8%
Howard	9.2%	15,984,8666936	14,127,786	-11.6%
Kilgore	4.0%	22,629,816	20,421,978	-9.8%
Laredo	7.0%	25,488,726	22,975,576	-9.9%
Lee	8.1%	22,278,828	20,105,235	-9.8%
McLennan	25.4%	23,155,306	23,793,868	2.8%
Midland	11.4	17,014,952	16,106,082	-5.3%
Navarro	21.8%	17,859,804	17,798,840	-0.3%
North Central	20.4%	14,740,490	14,740,043	0.0%
North Harris Montgomery	25.8%	78,363,762	81,483,602	4.0%
Northeast Texas	26.4%	7,111,602	7,454,511	4.8%
Odessa	13.1%	17,448,350	16,733,307	-4.1%
Panola	5.0%	7,147,710	6,450,357	-9.8%
Paris	27.3%	12,954,874	13,761,788	6.2%
Ranger	1.2%	4,636,750	4,184,374	-9.8%
San Jacinto	9.4%	73,521,754	66,348,737	-9.8%
South Plains	18.8%	26,779,668	26,250,044	-2.0%
South Texas	21.5%	39,114,482	39,870,167	1.9%
Southwest Texas	23.9%	12,478,080	12,717,902	1.9%
Tarrant	19.4%	80,542,054	80,089,124	-0.6%
Temple	16.3%	12,612,026	12,165,215	-3.5%
Texarkana	3.8%	18,138,782	16,369,105	-9.8%
Texas Southmost	9.9%	23,311,538	21,745,556	-6.7%
Trinity Valley	16.4%	21,052,086	20,574,427	-2.3%
Tyler	13.1%	32,524,104	30,294,730	-6.9%
Vernon	8.1%	11,235,586	10,139,406	-9.8%
Victoria	-1.9%	15,170,750	13,690,643	-9.8%
Weatherford	59.1%	10,754,428	14,554,433	35.3%
Western Texas	28.3	5,542,930	5,279,929	-4.7%
Wharton	17.5%	16,188,902	15,787,156	-2.5%
Community College TOTAL	14.7%	1,567,885,893	1,501,275,023	-4.2%