Eyes on Education

No doubt when Texas public schools went back into session last week there were several relevant trends.  First, we continue to have a majority-minority enrollment—meaning ethnic minorities and racial groups are the majority within the student population. The largest population growth for those under 18 years old was among Hispanics. Of 979,000 students added to the census rolls since 2000, 931,000 were Latino/Latina.  Second, the sustained sluggishness of the economy has an impact on public schools and can strain the system.  Students who are economically disadvantaged and those whose families have low SES scores are at greater risk for not doing well in school.  SES stands for “socio-economic status”, and it measures three variables—income, education, and occupation.   About 60% of public school enrollments in Texas classrooms include students with low SES scores.  Students with limited English skills are about 16% of those students—and Hispanic students are the vast majority.

The last trend is shrinking resources.  Despite an increase of almost one million students in the last decade, funding for public education has not kept pace. In the 2011 biennium (the Texas legislative session that meets for 140 days in odd numbered years), the legislature cut over 4 billion dollars. Texas has struggled in recent decades to finance public education, and the governor has had to call the legislature into special session to sort out financing. The Texas constitution allows the governor to call special sessions as necessary—it cannot exceed 30 days and only issues set forth by the governor can be considered. Indeed current education cuts were a result of a special session called by Governor Perry.

Doing the math, the educational forecast for Texas schools shows that by 2050 our enrollments will increase from five to nine million students. When it comes to doing their homework, if the state legislature does what it did this season and refuses to increase funding to keep pace with enrollments, hard to tell how Texas will rank either short- or long-term.  We are usually in the bottom 20% for school finance, and currently Texas ranks 40^th nationally for financing education.

These challenges have an effect not just on primary and secondary school systems, but also on success beyond compulsory education (mandated school attendance) because of college readiness scores.  Only 38% of low-income students do well enough on their college entrance exams to be “college ready”, and only five percent of those with limited English language skills are ready for college.   Maybe that’s why 30% of Texans said that education was the most important issue facing Texas today.  And maybe legislators themselves may need to go back-to-school when they go back into session in 2013 to figure out a way to deal our shifting demographics.

They said that?

Last week Republican county judge Tom Head in Lubbock made national headlines when he gave a provocative interview to Fox News saying the country could lapse into a civil war with fighting like that at Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary War if Obama is re-elected.  The judge, who was trying to curry support for increased law enforcement funding, said the president would cede authority to the United Nations-the world governing authority of which the United States is a member. Judge Head argued the county needed to protect itself by purchasing more equipment to prepare for the U.N. invasion.  The judge’s interview gained national attention, and the Lubbock sheriff quickly distanced himself from the Judge Head’s remarks. The judge himself said the comments were taken out of context.

Such political gaffes (mistakes that are made when speaking publicly) and extreme political hyperbole (inflammatory rhetoric designed to elicit strong public reactions) foster a debate about the outer limits of free speech in the public arena.   Vice-President Joe Biden, who has been notorious for making gaffes which was criticized for his comments regarding Romney’s vision for the working class saying Romney would “put y’all back in chains”, implying the Republican presidential candidate supports slavery.  Toni Preckwinkle, a Democratic Illinois county board president had to retract a statement and publicly apologize earlier this summer after she said former President Ronald Reagan deserved a “special place in hell” because of his policies about the “War on Drugs” (the U.S. policy of “zero tolerance” meaning maximum penalties for drug violations).

More extreme rhetoric like that of U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin (R-Missouri) sparked outrage and calls for him drop out of the race when he made comments about rape suggesting that women’s bodies would reject impregnation in cases of “legitimate rape”.  The Akin incident reminded Texans of our 1990 gubernatorial campaign when Republican Clayton Williams commented that bad weather was like rape, sometimes you have to just “relax and enjoy it.”   More recently and closer to home, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tyler) compared homosexuality to bestiality, likened President Obama’s presidency to Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship, and warned there are “evil-doers” making “terror babies” to destroy the country, but he continues to enjoy wide support in his district.

Some wonder whether such statements are any part of the marketplace of ideas (the concepts or understanding about issues in our political world) and whether such statements enhance or harm the democratic process and our political culture-our set of beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and orientations that we have about government.   What does allowing a free and open marketplace mean for our political culture?  Should we allow expressions which facilitate a broader debate about policymaking or does such hyperbole undermine the civility of political life, leading people to be disenchanted with politics?

One thing is clear in our open marketplace of ideas—as one of my students so eloquently said-when politicians like Biden, Akin, and Preckwinkle make such comments, we the people, get to call them dorks.

Wedging out the competition

The upcoming election has a number of wedge issues (topics that are designed to divide a population, social, or political group), and among the hottest is immigration and undocumented immigrants (those persons who do not have the requisite proof that they reside in the country legally).  Democrats hope to capitalize on traditional popularity among Hispanics to turn out voters to support the party’s candidates and have accused Republicans of being anti-immigrant.   In turn, Republicans claim that they best reflect the traditional values of the Latino and Latina community—especially after the victory of Ted Cruz—a Cuban American—in the U.S. Senate primary race.  To further that image, the GOP (a short hand term referring to the Republican party as the “Grand Old Party”) has tapped Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco from San Antonio to speak at the Republican National Convention (August 27-30, 2012 in Tampa, Florida).  Canseco is a freshmen (first-term) lawmaker in the U.S. House who is running against another Hispanic—Texas House Representative Pete Gallego (Democrat from Alpine, Texas).

The two candidates’ positions about voter identification laws, which require a valid form of id to vote, have created a wedge issue among conservative Hispanics.   Thirty states have voter identification laws (three more have pending laws), but laws vary because different states allow various requirements for the identification.  There is a showdown in Texas over our new 2011 voter identification law which requires persons have a photo id to vote (in the past multiple forms of identification were acceptable, but the new law requires a picture). Canseco supports the law, and Gallego does not.

While the voter id law is being challenged in court, Governor Perry challenged the federal government’s directive that all undocumented immigrants who are on “deferred action” status for lawful residency applications be given a two year deferment.   President Obama’s action gives immigrants (who meet certain requirements) a work permit, and more importantly it gives them a photo identification. While it does not give deferred immigrants the right to vote, Republicans argue it could be used to vote fraudulently, while Democrats claim that Republicans are trying to disenfranchise and prevent immigrants from voting by having the voter id law. Perry was concerned that the president’s deferred action extension of 2 more years of lawful residency might mean that an immigrant could claim legal status. He responded to Obama’s action by clarifying that the photo identification could be issued, but that it did not confer any legal rights and that it should not be considered as some sort of pathway to citizenship.

It’s not known when a court decision will be handed down about the law, and it will most likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Hispanic voters render their verdict in November.