But Perry said Texas “reserves the right to decide how we educate our children and not surrender that control to the federal bureaucracy.”

Perry’s objections seem to center on the fact that the grant rules give preference to states that sign on to a push for national curriculum standards. Perry and Scott have been critical of the Common Core Standards Initiative, a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers with support from the Department of Education. Texas and Alaska are the only two states that have not joined the initiative.

So the grant rules giver “preference” to those who sign on for national standards–why not apply anyway and see what happens? And isn’t “local control” the basis of Texas public education? So why isn’t the state supporting districts (if any) that are implementing such standards on their own?

Are there potential negative consequences of national standards? Of course there are. But national standards or no, Texans, parents, students, and citizens, deserve to know why over 80 percent of students in the more desirable high schools are considered “college ready” but only half of them can meet the minimum SAT/ACT scores required by state colleges to enroll in schools without remediation.

After veto, governor proposes more money for community colleges

Trying to quell unrest over his June veto of $154 million for health insurance for community college employees, Gov. Rick Perry is proposing a unique solution: More money. Lots of it.

Maybe people are actually going to blame Perry for increases in local property taxes. Looks like he’s back-peddling quite a bit.

After veto, governor proposes more money for community colleges

In June, Perry vetoed the health insurance money because he and the community colleges disagree how the costs should be split between the state and local taxpayers and students. Several senators said they were unaware of the governor’s concern or the prospect of a veto. Perry’s staffers testified that most of the discussions were at staff levels, not with lawmakers.

And the staff just didn’t bring it to the lawmakers’ attention? I still haven’t seen a plausible explanation as to why Perry slashed the funding. Which political constituents did he think he was pleasing with his veto? He (or rather fellow Republicans) is just now finding out how much he has pissed people off.

Technorati Tags: Rick Perry, Texas, community colleges, health insurance, veto

MyWestTexas.com – Texas Democrats threaten retaliation for Perry’s veto

Meeting today in Washington, the Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation is so perturbed about Gov. Rick Perry’s veto of $154 million in community college funding that it may consider reprisals, spokesmen said.

The 12-member group sent an angry letter to Perry June 25 and will wait for an answer before deciding what to do, but Higher Education Act reauthorizations and federal grant funding are the obvious options, they said.

As far as I can tell, Republican members of the legislature aren’t happy with Perry’s veto. Why would he worry about what some Democrats think? They might cut funding to more college students? He’s already shown he doesn’t care.

Technorati Tags: Community Colleges, Rick Perry, health insurance, funding

MySA.com: Editorials

The governor said he doesn’t want to create more top research institutions before a new commission on higher education and global competitiveness comes up with a plan for the most effective use of funds.

This isn’t a new school. The institute was established by the legislature in 2001. It has already received $6.5 million in funding. It may or may not be deserving of the requested $6 million. It was at least as deserving as UT Permian Basin that received over $16 million dollars.

I think what bothers me more than anything else is that “he” -Perry- “doesn’t want to create more top research institutions” makes it sound like he is the sole authority of how many “top” research institutions Texas gets to have. I get the impression that this institute could not possibly exist without Perry’s blessing. The fact that it was created by a previous legislature is irrelevant.

All things considered, the SALSI is probably better off if it can develop without relying on the whims of state government. It’s just Perry’s political arrogance bugs me. How convenient to use the commission as an excuse to justify a veto in this case. What commission does he use to justify the cases he didn’t veto?

Technorati Tags: San Antonio Life Sciences Institute, Texas, higher education, Rick Perry, line item veto

The body count: Perry’s higher ed vetoes

The body count: Perry’s higher ed vetoes

Too bad he doesn’t give a reason for all the pork he leaves in.

Perry signs budget, blasts higher education funding

Perry reiterated his demand, aired in February, that lawmakers place all higher education special items in a portion of the budget subject to his line-item veto. Thirty-six special items added late in the legislative session by House and Senate negotiators and costing $123 million wound up subject to his veto pen, and he vetoed 14 of them.

But scores of other special items worth hundreds of millions of dollars were sprinkled through the budget and therefore remained essentially veto-proof. For example, the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, near Speaker Tom Craddick’s hometown of Midland, received $9 million for “instruction enhancement” and $7.4 million for “institutional enhancement.”

So how were items determined to be “special items” and listed separately subject to line item veto? How does “institutional enhancement” at Permain Basin contribute to state’s set goals for improving enrollment and graduation rates but a museum of fine arts at Angelo State University does not?

Now I don’t claim to know how these things were listed in the budget but it seems to me that if Perry could veto the community colleges’ group health insurance, he could have also found a way to veto other times that were “sprinkled” through the budget.

Does anyone know what Perry stands for and what he’s against in term of education issue?

Technorati Tags: Rick Perry, Higher Education, Texas, Line Item Veto, education funding

However, the governor said that in their budget requests submitted last fall, community and junior colleges tried to pass off as state-paid employees a large number who are paid with locally generated funds. Mr. Perry didn’t specify how many, though he said because of mislabeling, districts sought $126 million too much.

He lopped off the second year of their appropriation for group health insurance, which was an amount $28 million higher. He said the campuses have enough money to make ends meet.

Mr. Perry also said in his veto proclamation that two-year colleges “falsified their appropriations requests.”

If this were really true, shouldn’t the attorney general be involved and these presidents be charged with something illegal? We’re talking about 50 community colleges that apparently got together to falsify their budgets. Where are the conspiracy theorists when you need them?

Maybe it’s Perry who has “falsified” his reasons for attacking the community colleges and raising local property taxes.

Technorati Tags: Rick Perry, Community Colleges, health insurance, budget

MySA.com: Metro | State

Among Gov. Rick Perry’s flurry of vetoes last week, a $154 million cut in health insurance for community college faculty has stunned college leaders across the state and sent them scrambling to make up for the loss in already-tight budgets.

Though the cut won’t take effect until 2009, Texas’ 50 community colleges will probably start planning for the losses now, and could be forced to raise tuition or local property taxes, cut staff, or charge employees more for insurance, said Steven Johnson, director of external relations for the Texas Association of Community Colleges.

“It’s a big hit,” Johnson said.

In his written comments about the veto, Perry accused colleges of falsifying budget requests to get more money than they deserve, a charge that incensed college leaders and lawmakers. He said the state should cover insurance only for employees paid with state money, which excludes those paid with federal grants or funds from other sources.

Perry’s office did not return a call seeking clarification.

 

Johnson and McClendon say the funding equation was hashed out during countless hours of budget discussions. In fact, they said, an early version of Perry’s own proposed budget included the health insurance money.

This really is bizarre. Perry can’t even point to this as being a pet pork project of specific campus. He’s hitting all community colleges at once. What is he thinking?

This is the person who wants the state to issue a bond for $3 billion to fund cancer research. Where does he think he’s going to get the people to do the research, import from out of state?

This is the person who wants to provide voters with some sort of property tax relief. Where does he think the community colleges are going to get the money to make up for the cuts–the good fairy?

I guess Perry is really going to need more money for his statewide business slush economic development incentive fund. Any company that requires high skilled labor will be able to use the money to move qualified workers in from out of state.

Technorati Tags: Rick Perry, Community Colleges, Health Insurance

MySA.com: State Government

Higher education cuts included a $6 million veto for a San Antonio Life Sciences Institute. The University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Texas Health Science Center had jointly asked for it, saying it would stimulate growth of the city’s biomedical and biotechnology industries and spur commercialization of research products.

UTSA and UTHSC officials couldn’t be reached for comment, but Perry said he doesn’t want to create more top research institutions before a new commission on higher education and global competitiveness drafts a long-term plan for efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

Texas A&M University-International in Laredo lost $5 million from Perry’s vetoes that had been earmarked for “student success” initiatives to expand doctoral degree programs in business and outreach in math and science.

There may or may not have been good reason to line item veto some of the “pork” in the higher education funding bills. However, Perry’s argument that he “doesn’t want to create more top research institutions” is absolutely mind boggling.

Excuse me, did he miss the entire Top 10% Rule controversy this past session? How there simply wasn’t enough room at UT Austin to accommodate all the students who were qualified to attend? How many of these students would rather go out of state rather than attend another college in Texas?

He wants to wait before creating another top research institution because we might create more than we need? And just out of curiosity, since he only cut $35.9 million out $123 million in higher education earmarks, what was so special about the $87 million he didn’t cut?

AUSTIN — A proposal touted by Gov. Rick Perry to boost university funding based on graduation rates is getting a new push from some leaders who worry he may veto a big swath of the higher education budget unless he gets some reforms he wants.

And people complain about how unfair NCLB is. Do you think UTSA’s graduation rates would come close to UT Austin’s if they received as much money from the state per student as UT Austin and could restrict admissions as does UT Austin? UTSA has to get approval from the UT System before changing it’s admissions policies. So is Perry going to punish UTSA for not graduating a higher percentage of students while the state also requires them to admit virtually all high school graduates regardless of qualifications?

I really think Perry doesn’t want to go there. Imagine the controversy it will generate when the inequitable funding of higher education is brought into the spotlight.

Governor To TRS: Cut the State’s Contribution The TRS Board this week received a number of reports regarding future funding requirements. Currently, the state is paying the constitutional minimum of 6% to TRS and employees are paying 6.4%. The Governor of Texas and the Legislative Budget Board told TRS to cut their Legislative Appropriation Request to 5.6%. That is below the minimum required by the constitution and would require a constitutional amendment.

The TRS Board will be asking for 7.19% contribution rate. The difference between the two rates which is approximately $1.3 billion will have to be included as an “exceptional items” request. All allocation will have to go to the pension fund if the 7.19% is not received so there would be no funding for the TRS-Care. TRS reported that if the state contributes 1% of public education payroll for retiree health care, no supplemental funding should be necessary before 2010. TSTA will be working hard to increase the state’s contribution to at least 7.19%.

TRTA Legislative Updates Page – Legislative Update 56:

Budgeting Guidelines Cause Concern for Education Retirees

July 20, 2006

TRTA Taking Action to Protect TRS and TRS-Care Funding

On Friday, July 14, 2006, at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) Board of Trustees meeting, it was reported that TRS had received instructions from the Governor’s Office of Budget Planning and Policy (GOBPP) and from the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) directing TRS to limit their baseline request for general revenue-related funds to 90 percent of the amount expended in fiscal year 2006 and amounts budgeted for fiscal year 2007.

Quoting from a letter written by Ronnie Jung, TRS Executive Director, to the TRS Board of Trustees:

 

“Although public education funding, debt service requirements, and certain other programs were exempted from the 90 percent limitation, staff of both the GOBPP and the LBB have indicated that TRS is not exempt from the 90 percent limitation, even though the state constitution requires a 6 percent contribution rate for the Pension Fund contributions.

 

The impact of this requirement is that the TRS baseline appropriations request for the 2008-2009 Biennium will be limited to a state contribution rate of approximately 5.6 percent, and no baseline funding will be available for the retiree health care program, TRS-Care” (emphasis added by TRTA).

 

This is alarming news for anyone interested in the TRS pension trust fund and/or TRS-Care. TRTA representatives attending the TRS Board of Trustees meeting were gravely concerned over this new information. In addition, many TRS Trustees expressed their dismay over learning these stipulations being enforced by the GOBPP and the LBB. Certainly, there is just cause to alert all TRTA members (and all education retirees) of the impending difficulties that will be faced in the upcoming legislative session.

 

I can’t seem to find anything about this on the Governor’s website. All I’ve found is this:

Texas Governor Rick Perry – Press Release – August 12, 2004:

Perry Seeks $18 Million for Teacher Health Plan Administrative Costs

Also Recommends Funds for Higher Education Research, Health Science Centers

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today asked the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) to provide up to $18 million from existing, available funds to pay the administrative costs of teachers’ health reimbursement accounts for Fiscal Year 2005.

“I am asking legislators to join me in responding quickly so teachers do not have excessive administrative fees deducted from their health care benefits,” Perry said.

I would think that funding the TRS is more indicative of the candidates for governor commitment to education than if and when to take the TAKS.