In turbulent times, essential issues dominate legislative agenda

In turbulent times, essential issues dominate legislative agenda

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By Patrick Brendel and Kara Vaught Friday, 19 December 2008

Williamson County ISDs work together for change

Going into the 2009 Texas Legislative session, lawmakers’ priorities are not radically different from those in past years. Legislators will battle for money in a finite budget. They will wrangle over the interests of preschoolers and post grads alike. They will debate how best to deliver health care to Texans. And they will argue over how much to invest in the state’s aging transportation network.

State representation maps

Education

Public education commands the largest portion of the budget, amounting to approximately $50 billion, or nearly 30 percent of the total, for 2008-2009.

“Every session must be a session on education,” said state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

A group of Williamson County school districts, made up of Leander, Coupland, Florence, Georgetown, Granger, Hutto, Jarrell, Liberty Hill, Round Rock, Taylor, Thorndale and Thrall, are joining together to persuade state representatives to pass legislation mainly dealing with school financing, said Bret Champion, Leander Independent School District superintendent.

Each district, through its elected board of trustees, will submit a letter to representatives with five points of interest: target revenue, the amount of money allotted per student based on a formula that includes the weighted average daily attendance; school accountability; taxing authority; transportation funding and technology allotments.

“What we’re hoping from the legislature is that they recognize that the funding system they put in place has really locked us in to an amount per student that is now two years old,” Champion said. “There’s no inflationary increase and it’s created some disparity. Even among our Williamson County school districts, the range is something like $4,600 per student all the way to around $6,000 per student.”

The districts would like to see the amount of money allotted for transportation increase, which has not happened since 1984.

An increase in technology funding from $30 to $50 per student will also be sought, Champion said. The districts would also like the state to grant the board of trustees more taxing authority. School districts are capped at $1.04 for operating and maintenance and 50 cents for interest and sinking taxes. In order to have flexibility in raising funds, Champion said the district is seeking to increase that maximum amount.

“[We want] to ensure that the goals the state has for us can be achieved in a fiscally responsible way that allows us to be accountable to our taxpayers and to ensure that we are doing right and good to educate students in the best possible way,” he said.

To make up for shortfalls in state money, school districts often turn to bond packages or local tax increases. However, once at the maximum taxing level, school boards must gain voter approval to raise taxes.

With this budget year, LISD became a Chapter 41 Wealth Equalization district. This essentially means LISD is too wealthy and is “required to reduce its wealth per weighted average daily attendance for the 2008-09 school year.”

Champion said LISD’s status as a Chapter 41 district has had little effect so far.

“Even deeper than the Chapter 41 as far as our priorities, we want the legislature to look at the target revenue [it set] for us, which is based on the prior year’s funding level with no consideration for inflation,” he said.

Austin Community College, which has a campus on Cypress Creek in Cedar Park and plans to purchase land for a Leander campus, will also send a delegation to meet with legislators about higher education costs and expansion of ACC campuses.

“Perhaps the most important aspect of ACC’s 2009 legislative agenda for Leander and Cedar Park residents is continuing the college’s firm leadership on advocating for state aid in order to keep tuition levels low,” said Vic Villarreal, City of Leander councilman and ACC adjunct professor.

Budget

When asked the most important issue in the 2009 session, state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, was blunt.

“It’s always the budget and money,” he said.

The budget, which was about $170 billion for the 2008-2009 biennium, acts as a master plan for the state’s activities, determining how much money agencies and programs receive.

In addition to the usual contentions — lowering taxes, funding necessary programs and securing local projects — are factors beyond lawmakers’ control, specifically, Hurricane Ike and the nation’s financial crisis.

State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, and other members of the Legislative Budget Board fixed a limit on certain areas of state spending, estimating the Texas economy will grow by only 9.1 percent during 2010 and 2011. That is down from 13.1 percent during 2008 and 2009.

Ogden, as Senate Finance chair, is the chief budget writer. He said restoring the University of Texas’ premier medical school and teaching hospital in Galveston, which was devastated by Hurricane Ike, will be the costliest item associated with the storm and could total $700 million.

Factoring in the replenishment of the state’s now-depleted windstorm insurance pool, some are saying that costs associated with the hurricane could rise to $2 billion, state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said.

Another strain on the budget is a new state business tax, created in 2007, that looks like it will raise $1 billion less than expected. Offsetting that loss, Ogden said, are sales taxes that have brought in about $1 billion more than expected.

The state has about $9 billion in its Rainy Day Fund and from past budget surpluses, Ogden said, plus $3 billion set aside for property tax relief.

(Download a PDF of the graphic "How a bill becomes a law")

Chart of How a House bill becomes a low

Health care

“Texas is the uninsured capital of the United States,” according to the Texas Medical Association. “More than 5.5 million Texans — including 1.4 million children — lack health insurance.”

According to the TMA, 21.2 percent of people in Williamson County have no health insurance, and most of the uninsured children in the U.S. are eligible for public health insurance, but are not enrolled.

“So these are folks that are working, but they can’t afford insurance,” Watson said.

This session, the Texas Department of Insurance is undergoing a Sunset Review, allowing lawmakers to scrutinize the agency.

“I think it’s real important that we figure out a way to utilize that opportunity and focus on health insurance,” Watson said.

Another concern is increasing the number of healthcare professionals in Texas. Lawmakers are discussing creating one or more medical schools in Austin-Round Rock or the Rio Grande Valley. Ogden said he will use his position as Senate Finance chair to try to secure funding for Texas A&M University’s new medical school in Round Rock.

Also, a group led by California nurses is repeating its 2007 efforts to establish uniform standards of care concerning patient-to-nurse ratios in Texas hospitals.

Proponents argue unionizing Texas nurses would empower them and ensure better medical practices. Opponents say statewide standards of care are good in theory, but such an initiative would require many more nurses than the state currently has or that the California nursing union could provide.

Transportation

Stressing the importance of efficient transportation to commerce, lawmakers say it is critical to put more money into the state’s transportation network, despite a general reluctance to increase spending amid the nation’s financial woes.

Watson said he would like to index the state gas tax — currently at 20 cents per gallon — to inflation. He also wants to ensure that gas tax revenue goes to its intended purpose, highway construction, instead of being diverted to other agencies, such as the Department of Public Safety.

“People, when they’re stuck in traffic, they’re now starting to understand that they’re paying money that they thought was going to go for transportation improvements,” he said. “But it’s not.”

As local entities take more responsibility for major projects that the Texas Department of Transportation used to pay for, those local entities should have more flexibility to manage and fund those projects, Watson said.

In 1997, during Watson’s first year as Austin’s mayor, the city decided to match funds with the state to build the interchange at Hwy. 290 and IH 35.

“And it’s still not finished. But that ain’t my fault. That is because the state decided not to finish that,” he said. “There is little way, if any at all, that a city or a county can come up with enough money to build those major types of projects.”

In 2007, voters approved $5 billion in bonds for road construction. That extra money to TxDOT should come with extra oversight, Ogden said.

“So the legislative issue is, ‘OK, how do we make sure, if we put all this additional funding in TxDOT, that it gets spent on what we really need them to spend it on?’” he said.

Most residents are represented by Sen. Steve Ogden, R-District 5, and Rep. Dan Gattis, R-District 20. Residents of Travis County are represented by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-District 14, and Rep. Donna Howard, D-District 48.

Source: Texas House, Senate

“What we’re hoping from the legislature is that they recognize that the funding system they put in place has really locked us in to an amount per student that is now two years old. There’s no inflationary increase and it’s created some disparity. Even among our Williamson County school districts, the range is something like $4,600 per student all the way to around $6,000 per student.” — Bret Champion, Leander Independent School District superintendent

A committee is a group of legislators appointed to consider specific issues. A conference committee is made of lawmakers from both chambers to forge a compromise over disputed legislation. This chart shows how a bill originating in the House of Representatives becomes a law. The same general procedure is followed with Senate bills, except the Senate acts prior to the House.

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