House seeks to block Perry's school action

[white cloud]

WASHINGTON - When the House approved additional money for the war in Afghanistan late Thursday, it also inserted a measure that seeks to circumvent efforts by Gov. Rick Perry to keep Texas schools from hiring more employees using federal dollars.

The proposal would allow the federal government to give money directly to school districts, provided Perry certifies that the federal support will not replace the state money. Perry must also agree not to proportionally cut education funding more than any other item in the next budget.

While the measure includes $10 billion in education funding nationally, Texas is the only state that must make such a certification before receiving the federal funding. Texas school districts stand to receive about $820 million in funding to hire additional employees.

Congressional Democrats pushed for the provision after Texas received more than $3 billion from the government in 2009 to boost education funding, only to see Perry not use the funds to augment the education budget.

Democrats charge that while Perry officially accepted the money from Washington, he simultaneously slashed the state's contributions to the education budget, allowing the state to essentially pocket the federal dollars without increasing school aid.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7092358.html

[efhmc]

1. The man has no love for the people of this state.

Plus he is fricking, fracking coo-coo.

[Avalux]

9. Bill White is gonna kick his ass.

We've suffered under Bush and Perry for far too long. It's time a Democrat take back the state house and I really think it's gonna happen. :bounce:

[sonias]

2. Lloyd Doggett is trying to make sure the schools actually get money

Instead of Perry and the Rs using it to plug the budget gap like they did last time. If the money is targeted for the schools they should get it period!

I think that's fair. The money should be spent in the schools like it's been ear marked - not at Perry's discretion.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. Good! Perry needs to stop stealing the money intended for the schools

Since it's apparent he cannot be trusted to apply the money as it was intended, then I'm all for them forcing him to in the future.

Let them fill their budget holes some other way.

[sonias]

4. Great framing!

Perry was stealing money from Texas school children.

The Democrats should take credit for stopping his thievery!

Rick Perry was set to steal more money from Texas, but our Texas Congressional Democrats stopped him just in the nick of time. They made sure Federal monies earmarked for Texas schools would actually get them. In prior years Governor Perry siphoned off the federal school funds to plug the Texas budget deficit.

Great going Texas Ds! :toast:

[ceile]

5. Excellent idea.

I certainly trust the school districts more than Perry.....

[sonias]

6. Perry whines about the education aid requirement of new jobs bill

Notice the headline says "could" not will. You see Perry has a choice so that those moneys get sent to schools and not plug his $18 billion dollar budget hole.

El Paso Times 8/4/10
Texas could lose education aid under new jobs bill

AUSTIN, Texas—The U.S. Senate gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that would require Texas to maintain state education spending levels through 2013, a state-specific mandate Republican Gov. Rick Perry has called unconstitutional.

(snip)
Perry said last month that the provision would keep the state from getting any money, and his spokeswoman said Wednesday that his concerns haven't changed. The Texas Constitution prohibits the governor from committing to future legislative spending. Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said previously that ties his hands.

(snip)
A spokeswoman for Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the Texas Democrat who initially crafted the amendment in a House version of the bill, said it wasn't unconstitutional.

"All it is going to require is that the governor makes assurances that he's not going to sign a budget that singles out education for cuts more than anywhere else," Doggett spokeswoman Sarah Dohl said.

Led by Doggett, Democrats in Congress said they put forth the provision because of the way the state handled federal stimulus dollars last year.

Doggett says state lawmakers used $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money last year to replace state money and ended the legislative session with billions in the state's Rainy Day Fund.

Doggett is just calling Perry's hand. Perry is so used to playing the shell game with federal money that he would rather turn down the money than really pay for education they way Texas should.

[sonias]

7. Doggett Calls Out Perry On Diverting Education Money, Pushes Amendment to Protect School Funding

Burnt Orange Report 8/6/10
Doggett Calls Out Perry On Diverting Education Money, Pushes Amendment to Protect School Funding

Fighting to make sure that education funding actually goes to Texas schools and teachers, Congressman Lloyd Doggett has inserted Texas-specific language into the education and jobs bill to prevent our state government from diverting education funding to fill budget holes elsewhere. Doggett's amendment, which passed in the Senate, is designed to prevent another bait-and-switch by Perry, in which emergency education funds go to balancing the budget, rather than helping our school kids. Texas is currently slated to get approximately $830 million of the $10 billion education and jobs bill, and Doggett is rightfully concerned that anti-education Perry won't use the funds as intended.

According to the Department of Education, Doggett's amendment would save 15,400 jobs in Texas. From a statement released by Rep. Doggett's office, emphasis mine:

Governor Perry didn't have any problem ordering every 6th grade girl to be vaccinated for a sexually transmitted disease. He didn't have any problem denying $3.2 billion in additional federal education monies to our local schools. This amendment says we have had enough. We have listened to the needs of parents and school leaders across Texas, we overcame the opposition of the Obama Administration, and we are writing into federal law a requirement that provides accountability for taxpayer dollars and prevents federal education dollars from being diverted again from local schools.

There is no Constitutional limitation on doing right by our Texas schoolchildren. The obligation that this amendment places on Texas is to spend new education dollars on education purposes. Our schoolchildren deserve no less. And that is why this approach has enjoyed the support of the Texas Association of School Boards and statewide groups representing teachers, principals, and school administrators from across the State.

Compliance is very easy, unless there remains a hidden Republican agenda to avoid accountability and to engage in more of the shenanigans of last year, which replaced state education dollars with federal dollars, leaving our schools no better off than if we had done nothing. Instead of concocting phony legalistic arguments to deny our local schools the funds that they so desperately need, Governor Perry should join with us in support of public education.

:kick: for our Congressman Lloyd Doggett!

:applause::applause::applause:

[onestepforward]

8. Doggett is awesome!

It is ashame that educational money needs to be protected... from our Governor.

[white cloud]

10. Perry, Texas educators at odds over controversial bill

Posted: Aug 05, 2010 6:32 PM CDT
Video Gallery
Perry, Texas educators at odds over controversial bill
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by Mark Wiggins

HEWITT - A bill approved Thursday in the U.S. Senate is causing a fight in Texas over the state's use of federal education funding.

State Democrats say clauses added to HR 1586, the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, will save Texas educators from budget cuts.

But Governor Rick Perry says the bill unfairly targets Texas, and will cost the state nearly a billion dollars in federal aid.

The stipulations were added to the bill by U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat. Dogget says when the state received federal money to help boost the education system, it simply dropped the amount of state dollars spent and used the savings to pad the state's rainy day fund.



http://www.kxxv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12934974