Just say no

The waning days of the 83^rd Texas legislative session are going to come down to yeas and nays.

The Senate HB 866 which reduced the number of tests public school children have to take. That means students who do well on state exams could skip mandatory tests (required grade level examinations) in sixth grade. That assumes that Texas can get a waiver from the federal government which requires 14 different tests by the end of eighth grade under the No Child Left Behind Act.  The law mandates our nation’s 98,000 public schools make “adequate yearly progress” and make remedial changes or risk losing federal funding.  Texas has over 80,000 fifth graders and 60,000 eighth graders who may be held back this year because of poor performance. While students have two opportunities to retake tests (in May and June), the bill’s supporters say resources used to administer tests can be targeted to help those most in need.  Further complicating the matter is that the Senate’s version still needs to be approved by the House which also eliminated tests in the fourth and seventh grades.

That’s a sticking point.

One measure that had legislators on pins and needles was mandatory drug testing (the use of biological material to detect specific drugs) for all unemployment recipients.  SB 11 by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) required all unemployment recipients answer a screening survey about possible drug use in order to receive benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families  (the federal and state government’s joint social welfare program).

Time ran out on the clock at midnight last night, however, when a compromise failed. It is noteworthy that one amendment was proposed which would have required mandatory drug testing for legislators.

One provision that makes it easier for UT-Austin to just say no is a measure that extended the university’s admissions’ cap.  Texas’ ten percent rule allows all students who graduate in the top of their class be admitted to their choice of public universities.  In 1997 the state legislature established the ten percent rule in reaction to Hopwood v. Texas from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals which struck down public universities’ attempts to enhance diversity by using race as a key factor in admissions. By 2008, so many students in the top 10 percent of their class were using the rule that UT-Austin had to admit virtually everyone.  That hurt minority applicants who were good, but not good enough to meet the 10 percent cutoff.  So UT-Austin successfully obtained a waiver which was extended this week to effectively allow UT-Austin to admit the top seven percent.  Now the waiver is has a sunset provision (regulation that will eliminate the bill’s application) effective in 2017.

We will see what the U.S. Supreme Court has to say because we are waiting on a June decision in the Fisher v. Texas case which considers whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment permits the consideration of race in undergraduate admissions decisions.

Just say maybe.

 

Soldiering on into the sunset

The march through agenda clearing (the process of completing the legislature’s policy goals for the two year biennial cycle) continues.  There’s much that still needs to be done by May 27, or else Governor Rick Perry would have to call a special session (meetings to address additional business) for 30 days. The biggest sticking points are budgets for water projects and education.  Governor Perry’s top priority is for a water plan that would use monies from the Rainy Day Fund (Texas’ budget surplus), but that proposal (backed by a Republican majority) takes $2 billion from the surplus and requires a constitutional amendment to establish a dedicated account (both require a two-thirds supermajority vote).

Democrats hope to rally the troops by threatening to withhold needed votes to force a compromise on education funding they want restored after the last biennium when $5.3 billion in school financing was cut.

What’s the legislature to do?

Even if $330 million in funding for the public teachers’ pension funds are reinstated (something that Democrats are demanding for a compromise to be reached), that still leaves a budget shortfall of $1.3 billion. Complicating matters is that Governor Perry wants monies for transportation which also have to come from the surplus.  That forces some tough choices on decision-makers.

Speaking of tough decisions, legislation which limits the decision-making authority of the Higher Education Coordinating Board (the policy unit regulating policies and procedures to operate public higher education institutions) was dealt a blow with Senate Bill 215 that limits the agency’s life expectancy to 12 years.  Such sunset legislation (requiring termination of an agency or program by a specified date) means that the Board will have to get future justification for survival.

Legislators think the Board takes an “isolated approach to decision making” (in the words of Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury) and point to the Board’s decision to close low-performing degree programs (those failing to graduate at least 25 students in five years). The Board is accused of being heavy-handed in closing programs (especially in rural areas which graduate fewer students), and legislators want more transparency and local control in the process.   Texas Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes, who oversees the Board, thinks that Texas needs the Board now more than ever to oversee initiatives for nontraditional students and online courses or else there will be an uphill battle to improve quality.

And higher education has more battles ahead.  The showdown over guns on college campuses comes to a floor vote soon since the Senate Criminal Justice Committee voted 4-2 to allow each campus to hold annual hearings to vote on whether guns are allowed.  Some are concerned that there are no penalties for “accidentally” bringing an unregistered gun on campus, while others raise the issue that disgruntled students will use weapons if they are unhappy about grades.  Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston), sponsor of the legislation that just passed, has proposed a solution, “grade on the gun curve.”

Soldier on faculty, soldier on.

Railroaded?

This week the three Railroad Commissioners (heads of the agency) appointed Milton Rister as Executive Director to oversee the daily operations of the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC).  Rister’s appointment, a former Republican political adviser who serves on Gov. Rick Perry’s senior staff (until he takes office Oct. 1), is a big deal because of the status that the RRC has in Texas politics.

The RRC is one of the oldest (created 1891) and one of the most powerful agencies in the state because it oversees the regulatory framework for oil, gas, and mining companies, along with regulating natural energy resources. Don’t let the name fool you though. While at one time the commission regulated railroads, it does not do so any longer. Under the sunset legislation (laws passed to transfer authority or to eliminate departments or agency functions), the Texas legislature got rid of the last bit of railroad power the RRC had in 2005.

Today its emphasis on regulation and safety of energy resources is vital to the Texas economy. Our oil and gas industry supports 14.3 percent of the jobs in Texas and the industry is responsible for roughly 25% of our state’s economy. In recent years it has also had to deal with the health and safety issues surrounding “fracking” (hydraulic fracturing where water and sand are used to break up the earth to release natural gas).

What makes the RRC an even more politicized agency is that in Texas, with its plural executive system where power is fragmented at the top the top levels of government, the top three Railroad Commissioners are elected in statewide elections.  Most folks don’t know it, but Texas has a weak executive system (and you certainly wouldn’t think it based on the larger-than-life personalities we’ve had as governors!). That system means that executive authority (which in most states is concentrated in the hands of the governor) is divided among a plural executive system of officers (meaning that multiple people carry out the functions that typically are reserved to a governor in a state). Under the 1876 Constitution, our state founding fathers’ distrust of government led them to divide power into different elected offices.  So while governors in other states typically appoint heads of office, that’s not the case in Texas where we make them run for political offices with support and backing of the political parties.

In the case of the RRC, the three commissioners then have the power to appoint an Executive Director, and that’s how Rister got his job. He has been praised for his insight into working with the legislature. Prior to coming to the RRC, Rister had held another position on the Legislative Council which is a bipartisan group which works with the Texas legislature to draft laws, so Rister is keenly aware of how the system works.  Not everyone likes the guy, however, and he was called an “ideological hitman” in a Houston Chronicle editorial back in 2006 because of his shrewd political tactics.   It is also notable that he was a campaign adviser to Republican Clayton Williams who had a disastrous loss to Ann Richards in the 1990 gubernatorial election.

The RRC has a lot on its plate going forward especially given the safety concerns about fracking, so lots of folks are watching to see where the track leads us with Rister at the helm.