From: curt@ekhadafi.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch 903 2F021 curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com 512-838-2806)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: TX school Funding Fiasco
Date: 19 Nov 92 13:24:35 GMT
Distribution: tx
Organization: IBM AWD, Austin


  --- Wednesday --- November 18, 1992 --- Vol. 2 --- No. 117 ---

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         THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION GOALS
  An APN publication, supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation
         and the Business Coalition for Education Reform
                                   __________         __________
                                  |          SPOTLIGHT          |
                                  |                             |
                                  |     WILL THE DOG HUNT?      |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   A Texas amendment to      |
                                  | recapture funds from        |
                                  | wealthy school districts    |
                                  | passed the Senate and       |
                                  | awaits House approval.  And |
                                  | Texas Gov. Richards tries   |
                                  | to cut spending by auditing |
                                  | school districts. (#9)      |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   But many Texans say those |
                                  | dogs won't hunt.            |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   Why?  A Houston parents   |
                                  | group says officials are    |
                                  | lookin' for equity          |
                                  | solutions in all the wrong  |
                                  | places.  The group          |
                                  | recommends shifting         |
                                  | the burden of school        |
                                  | finance from property taxes |
                                  | to state sources.           |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   Other critics say the     |
                                  | audit is a politically      |
                                  | motivated "witch hunt."     |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   A solution, says Rep.     |
                                  | Culberson (R), is to "get   |
                                  | school finance out of the   |
                                  | courthouse." (DRC 11/13)    |
                                  |_____________________________|

         ==============  QUOTE OF THE DAY  ==============
   "We have got to show the taxpayers that we are spending our
school dollars wisely, that Jay Leno tickets don't make the cut."
--  Texas Gov. Ann Richards on why she calls for an audit of each
                      school district. (#9)
  _______________________________________________________________
|       (c) 1992 by the American Political Network, Inc.        |
|    282 N. Washington St., Falls Church, VA  (703) 237-5130    |
|     APN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and      |
|           distribution with proper acknowledgment.            |
|                 Publisher:  Barbara A. Pape                   |
|                    Editor:  Richard R. Hough                  |
|          Managing Editor:  Angela R. Heffernan                |
|       Senior Staff Writer:  Sarita M. Wilson                  |
|  Editorial Assistants:  Daniel B. Conkright, Cecilia Serrano  |
|_______________________________________________________________|



                   =====  A LOCAL LOOK  =====

*4   EDUCATION FIRST:  TEXAS RESTAURANT ASSOC. HELPS STUDENTS
     Students who work in restaurants will be required to get
good grades according to a voluntary Texas Restaurant Assoc.
program (AP/FT. WORTH STAR TELEGRAM).  Employers in the Education
First program could help, for example, by arranging a more
flexible schedule for students in academic trouble.
     "[The program is] designed to encourage the thousands of
young people who work in the food service industry to stay in
school and realize their full potential," said Gov. Ann Richards
(D) a supporter of Education First.
     The association also proposes incentives for students with
high grades such as free movie tickets.  Association President
Bill Daniel said 120 of the group's 6,000 members already have
signed-up to participate in the program.
     Employers will enter into an informal contract with parents
and schools to require students to maintain good grades to keep
their job, according to the newspaper.  School will notify
parents and employers if a student falls behind in coursework.
Students could loose their jobs if their grades do not improve
within a period of time, reports the TELEGRAM.
     Daniel:  "The intent is to make sure that the student's No.1
priority is always getting a good education." (11/17)

                =====  LINE-ITEM LEARNING  =====

*9   A WARNING FROM THE TEXAS GOV.:  THE STAKES ARE TOO HIGH
     Texas Gov. Ann Richards (D) "warned" House Democrats
yesterday that the "political and economic stakes are too high to
risk allowing schools to close in the fight over public
education," writes the DALLAS MORNING NEWS (Slater/Stutz, 11/17).
She urged the House to approve a proposed constitutional
amendment that allows the redistribution of public funds among
school districts (See DRC 11/17, #11).  The State Senate already
approved the plan by a vote of 29 to 2 (See DRC 11/13, #5).
     Richards, Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock and House Speaker Gib Lewis
(D) Monday also said they will seek audits of each of the state's
school districts (multi cites).  Their request falls on the heels
of an audit report of 55 districts released last week.
     According to a report from the State Auditor's Office,
"Texas can save $642M annually by 1997 without sacrificing
educational quality," writes the HOUSTON POST (Selby, 11/17).
The report also criticized districts for wasteful spending on
travel, overstaffing, "exorbitant" legal fees and other non-
instructional costs, reports the DALLAS MORNING NEWS.
     Gov. Richards, referring to findings in the audit report
said:  "We have got to show the taxpayers that we are spending
our school dollars wisely, that Jay Leno tickets don't make the
cut."
     But critics called the audits a "witch hunt" that is
politically motivated, according to the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
(Brooks, 11/17).  Auditors questioned about 4% of the money spent
by school districts, the newspaper reports.  "That looks like we
scored 98%.  That's an A in anyone's book," commented Craig
Foster, exec. director of the Equity Center, a coalition of
property-poor school districts that opposes the Fair Share Plan.
     Meanwhile, a Houston parents' group is petitioning the
Legislature to "shift the school funding burden in Texas from
local property owners to state sources (HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
Markley, 11/17).  The N.Y. TIMES reports that Foster said, "[The
Governor's plan] is an attempt to get everything out of the local
property tax before they bite the bullet on state taxes."
(Cellis, 11/18)

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                              -30-

-- 
--
curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt L. Finch) | AIX NFS/NIS Field Quality 
My views are unrelated to those of IBM     |        Austin, TX
     Lead_or_Leave's objective is to get all Congressmen to sign a pledge 
Newsgroups: tx.politics