Houston Chronicle. June 15, 2012.
Weather Service must staff up for hurricane season
Every summer, hurricanes threaten millions, if not billions, of dollars in economic damage, and dozens, hundreds or even thousands of deaths. Hurricanes cannot be negotiated with; they cannot be prevented; they cannot be stopped. They are inexorable forces of nature, and the only defenses we have are quick evacuation routes, properly constructed buildings and drainage, and the meteorologists at the National Weather Service. So news that NWS workers may have to go on furlough during the height of hurricane season provokes alarming thoughts.
The NWS has spent the past several years “reprogramming” its funds, transferring $35 million away from certain projects in order to cover its payroll. There is no evidence of fraud or personal gain, just an agency trying to bridge the structural deficit between congressional funding and employee payroll, which makes up about 70 percent of the NWS budget.
With this shell game exposed, unless Congress provides extra money or repurposes current funding, the NWS may have to furlough thousands weather service forecasters or even temporarily shutter some offices.
But members of the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, including our own Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, have rejected any changes until the NWS and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, explain exactly what led to this “reprogramming” and answer questions about their finances.
And the weather service should have to answer those questions. In particular, just where is the disconnect between employee compensation and the federal budget? Who is refusing to match whom?
But Congress should get answers to these questions without forcing the NWS to sacrifice staff during the dangers of hurricane season. Given the potential threat, our representatives must treat this matter with a seriousness often reserved for military matters.
After all, when the federal government first established the original Weather Bureau, President Grant placed it under the Secretary of War.
While the current National Weather Service sits within the Department of Commerce, the national security and safety issues related to weather should not be ignored. Every summer raises the specter of that question: Will this be the year of a Category 5?
Our country is appropriately alert to any threats of terrorism, but let’s not forget that some of the greatest threats to our homeland security come not from bands of terrorists but from the west coast of Africa, where nascent weather patterns grow into destructive and deadly tropical storms.
Let’s get to the bottom of this funding debacle, but keep our eyes on the skies, as wary as ever.
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Corpus Christi Caller-Times. June 10, 2012.
Gov. Perry’s austerity path to prosperity needs limits
Gov. Rick Perry has told state agencies not to ask for more funding next year and to show what they’d look like with 10 percent smaller budgets. That’s the tone he’s setting for the 2013 Legislature, consistent with the one he set for the 2011 Legislature, which famously cut $11 billion from the budget.
The call for 10 percent cuts isn’t a new leadership device. Perry has used it in previous budget cycles. But circumstances have changed.
The economy has rebounded, revenue projections are up and the state’s Rainy Day Fund is fattening. The drilling activity that generated the rebound is expected to continue furiously for a couple of decades.
Nevertheless, the rebound hasn’t been big enough to turn around what is now being called a “structural deficit” caused by Texas’ under-performing business tax.
The business tax has been problematic since it was revamped six years ago on the mistaken assumption that it would generate $6 billion a year. Last year it raised $3.9 billion and this year it’s expected to provide $4.3 billion.
The business tax would seem an obvious problem for the Legislature to address. But its failure to generate $6 billion is well-established and, indeed, “structural.” Therefore, any solution that would generate the $6 billion would be tantamount to a tax hike. And a tax hike would run counter to item number three of Perry’s Texas Budget Compact, which says: “Oppose any new taxes or tax increases, and make the small business tax exemption permanent.”
The Compact also says to leave the growing Rainy Day Fund alone like the Legislature did at Perry’s behest in 2011.
So it appears that Perry is boxing the Legislature into further budget cuts. If that was his plan all along, we have to admit it’s brilliant. It’s his chosen way of keeping Texas on what he calls a “path to prosperity” and what others might call turnip-bleeding.
We think Texas’ path to prosperity is mostly beyond Perry’s sphere of influence. On the other hand, we also think a lot of wasteful spending would survive a 10 percent cut.
But we also continue to believe that the 2011 Legislature went way too far in one respect, when it cut $4 billion from public education. The rebounding economy should be an opportunity for the state to put some of that money back into education. Going the opposite direction — making further cuts in education — will lead Texas away from prosperity. What is the point of pursuing prosperity, if not to help the next generation become better than the current one?
The various agencies’ 10 percent reduction plans are supposed to be discussion starters, not done deals. If the discussions are about cutting non-education agencies to make more money available for education, we applaud them.
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The Dallas Morning News. June 14, 2012.
STAAR results should create urgency
Are you really passing a test when you get only 37 percent of the answers right?
Evidently.
Texas ninth-graders only had to correctly answer 37 percent of their Biology I questions this year to pass the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam in the subject. Similarly, they had to get just 37 percent of their questions right to pass the Algebra I test.
As a result of those low passing standards, known as “cut scores” in education lingo, 87 percent of ninth-graders passed the Biology I test. And 83 percent of them passed the Algebra I exam.
Texas, of course, is not the only state to arbitrarily set cut scores so too many students don’t fail. And states face difficulties in determining the passing benchmarks for new achievement exams. The STAAR test, for example, is more rigorous than the old Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exam. Students are being asked to climb over a higher bar.
Also, the percentage of questions students must answer correctly will grow more demanding each year. In Algebra I, for instance, they must correctly answer 63 percent of the questions by 2016.
Nevertheless, it is troubling that the passing benchmarks for the new end-of-course exams given to ninth-graders this year had to be set so low. And the standards were not only low in Algebra I and Biology I. As the accompanying chart shows, they were minimal in some key areas, such as reading and chemistry. In fact, the highest passing threshold was only 65 percent, and that was in writing.
The reality is that Texas had many ninth-graders passing exams in important courses only because they had to answer few questions correctly. As Houston school Superintendent Terry Grier said, the results create a false sense of security.
The results also should create a sense of urgency for the reforms that education change-agents such as new Dallas Superintendent Mike Miles are pursuing. Miles wants stronger principals, more effective classroom instruction and engaged parents across the Dallas school district. Research shows each of those can improve student performance.
The scores likewise should prompt Texas legislators next year to pick up where retiring state Sen. Florence Shapiro left off in the 2011 session. The Plano Republican, who headed the Senate Education Committee, tried to pass a smart bill to get more middle schools intervening early with struggling students. The bill died in the House. Next year, lawmakers should pass that bill so students in those vulnerable middle school years are ready for high school.
There are no magic bullets in education. But with reforms like these, the state shouldn’t have to resort to setting a passing rate at 37 percent.
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San Antonio Express-News. June 15, 2012.
Cancer fund reforms are a positive step
In 2007, voters approved a constitutional amendment to create the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. CPRIT is authorized to fund up to $3 billion for cancer research and prevention programs over 10 years through the sale of general obligation bonds. It has quickly become the second-largest source of cancer research funding in the nation.
Yet CPRIT’s worthy objectives don’t make it immune from political pressure or public accountability. Like two other high-profile funds that disburse taxpayer dollars — the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund — serious concerns have emerged about CPRIT grants process.
Last month, the institute’s chief science officer — Dr. Alfred Gilman, a Nobel laureate — resigned. Gilman charged that a $20 million grant to Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center was insufficiently vetted and that “political considerations” had affected funding decisions.
CPRIT’s oversight committee consists of nine political appointees from the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House along with the attorney general and the comptroller of public accounts. It’s a political body. But in recent weeks the committee has announced three important reforms:
A new position was created for a compliance officer, with duties to review and monitor the institute’s policies and procedures for grant awards.
All grants will be subject not only to commercial review but also scientific review.
A statewide working group will also be created to review and make recommendations for the future of the institute.
Science shouldn’t be subject to political whims. Neither should investments in the fight against cancer.
In a public statement, CPRIT Executive Director Bill Gimson said the changes are meant “to ensure we are the best possible stewards of the trust placed in us by the people of Texas.” That’s a $3 billion public trust. The changes at CPRIT are the first steps toward restoring public confidence in the grant process.
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Longview News-Journal. June 12, 2012.
Big job: Perry must appoint independent TEA boss
The appointment of Texas’ next education commissioner is one of the biggest chores on Gov. Rick Perry’s to-do list.
Robert Scott, 43, announced this past month he plans to step down from his post as education commissioner on July 2 after almost five years on the job. An attorney, Scott has been employed by the Texas Education Agency since 1994.
For the good of Texas, Perry should select an independent thinker, with a strong education background, who can work with a sometimes dysfunctional board of education to move the public in this state forward and who lacks a personal agenda.
The economic future of the state depends on quality education.
Being commissioner of public education in Texas is a thankless job. It requires someone with true dedication and determination to improve the state’s public education and who is willing to face the political heat that comes with the position.
In his last two years on the job, Scott had to deal with public education cuts, including a 40 percent cut in the TEA budget and the loss of one of his staff.
He was also charged with rolling out a new accountability system this school year before all the details had been worked out.
In the fall, the public school finance lawsuits brought by many of the almost 1,200 school districts in the state are expected to go to trial.
There is much work to be done and Scott’s successor needs to be named quickly.
Prior to Scott’s appointment, nominees to the state’s top public education job usually had experience on a school board or as superintendent. Texas has no shortage of recently retired superintendents to pick from.
Texas must have an educated workforce to remain prosperous. The state needs a visionary who can take on the challenge of trying to provide the 5 million public school children in the state with the best possible education.
Texas needs an education commissioner with expertise and a nonpolitical approach to the job.
