Grading Texas

It is time for Trump’s enablers and apologists to call him out

If any school kid had been overheard speaking half the trashy, racially-tinged remarks that President Trump makes headlines with, the child would have been suspended or transferred to an alternative, disciplinary campus. Unfortunately, there is no alternative White House. We are stuck with the occupant of the real Oval Office for the foreseeable future.

We also are stuck for the time being with a bunch of alleged political “leaders” in Texas who helped elect Trump and refuse to call him out when he uses his foul mouth to insult much of the world’s population as well as millions of American citizens –people of color – whom he purports to serve.

You can argue about whether the president of the United States is a racist, but there is no doubt that he is appealing to racists, and that’s a pretty thin distinction. Racists alone didn’t elect Trump, but they helped. He knows that, and he is counting on their support in 2020, if he is still a viable candidate.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a prominent member of the president’s adopted party, publicly and forcefully admonished Trump after the president’s trashy, demeaning remarks last week about Haiti, African countries and the people who live there.

There also may have been one or two other Republican members of the Senate who expressed their disapproval, but they weren’t the two U.S. senators from Texas, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, who have remained mum about the ill-prepared, uninformed and insensitive president they continue to help prop up.

The silence from Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who – like Cruz – are up for reelection this year, also has been noticeable. What kind of role models are they for Texas school children? We encourage kids to stand up to bullies. Should we expect any less from their alleged political leaders?

These are the same “leaders” who seem intent on dictating their version of morality to their constituents, to the dereliction of their real duties. Who can forget, for example, that Abbott and Patrick would rather tell school kids which bathroom they can use than provide enough funding to give all Texas children the educational opportunities they need.

Their morality meddling, however, doesn’t extend to the president. They refuse to call him out. Perhaps they don’t want to offend any of the president’s supporters, including the race-baiters they should be offending, because they don’t want to lose anyone’s vote, including a race-baiter’s.

Like all the other enablers and apologists for Trump, they also prefer power over decency, and power doesn’t require decency.

It is shameful.

Abbott talks tough while passing the buck on special education

Give Gov. Abbott some credit…but not too much. When the need arises, he can talk tough, especially on the eve of a reelection campaign. But most of the issues that cross the governor’s desk require more than talk, and that includes special education. And that’s where he still falls short.

When the federal government announced Thursday that Texas had violated federal law by denying tens of thousands of Texas children access to special education services, Abbott promptly issued a sternly worded letter blaming school districts for a “dereliction of duty” and directing Education Commissioner Mike Morath to begin preparing an “initial corrective action plan” within seven days.

“Parents and students across our state cannot continue waiting for change,” he wrote.

But then what, governor?

The Texas Education Agency shares blame for the special education fiasco, but it isn’t the real culprit. Neither are school districts. TEA quietly imposed an arbitrary cap on special education enrollment years ago, before Morath became commissioner or Abbott became governor. The cap, which was removed last year, was a symptom of a deeper problem – the inadequate state funding of special education services and other public education programs.

Abbott couldn’t do anything about education funding back then, but he can now, and so far he has refused to do so. During three legislative sessions as governor over the past three years, Abbott has shut the door on efforts to give public schools the level of state resources they need for special education and a host of other services.

Most recently, during last summer’s special session, Abbott’s “answer” for special education families was a plan to take tax dollars away from public schools and turn it over to private schools in the form of tuition vouchers. Fortunately, the House killed that idea, which ignored the fact that many private schools don’t provide comprehensive special education services and don’t want to. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, meanwhile, slammed the door on legislation passed by the House to increase public school funding.

In the wake of the new federal report, Morath plans to beef up special education support staff and take what other steps he can – within budget constraints set by Abbott and the Legislature.

And Abbott will continue to talk and blame everyone else for the problem.

Feds say Texas illegally failed to educate students with disabilities

Governor says January is “School Board Recognition Month.” How hollow is that?

In case you haven’t heard, Gov. Abbott has proclaimed this month “School Board Recognition Month,” but please hold your applause. The proclamation is a political offering worth more to the governor than to any school board member or anyone else associated with public education in Texas, including about 5.4 million school kids.

Sure, the document, embossed with the state seal and suitable for framing, says a lot of nice things about school board members and the “vital role” they play in helping to “secure our young people’s bright and precious futures.”

The resolution is fine if you appreciate that kind of thing, and most school board members certainly deserve the kind words and attention. But the words, by themselves, are hollow, coming from a governor who has persistently refused to advocate for the one thing that school boards need more than anything else, a dependable stream of adequate state funding.

As attorney general, Abbott fought in court against school districts seeking more funding, and now as governor he continues to fight against them, letting Texas lag about $2,500 behind the national average in per-student funding. Adequate and equitable state funding could make it a lot easier for school board members to tackle the “challenges” the governor’s resolution praises them for tackling.

In fact, the biggest challenge most school board members face is doing their jobs despite the obstacles thrown up by a governor and a lieutenant governor more interested in privatizing public schools than supporting them with something more than lip service.

Many legislators have reason to fear the teacher vote, but only if teachers vote for education

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt of Houston apparently is scared of teachers. He is scared, at least, of what teachers can do if they vote and vote for education. So, he has taken the first step in what may become a widespread effort to intimidate educators from going to the polls this year.

Last month, Bettencourt asked Attorney General Ken Paxton for a legal opinion on what school districts can and can’t do to encourage employees and students of voting age to register to vote and go to the polls.

He was responding to efforts of a nonpartisan group called Texas Educators Vote that is solicting the support of school districts to drum up a large voting turnout among educators. The campaign, whose partners include the Texas Association of School Boards and other pro-public education groups, also has drafted an oath that educators can sign promising to cast their ballots “in support of the more than 5.4 million Texas school children.”

Texas Educators Vote makes clear, in detail on its website, that public money and other school district resources, including equipment and email, cannot be used to advocate for or against a specific issue or candidate. But it points out that the 657,000 teachers and other employees of Texas school districts can make a positive difference in education policy if they vote — and vote in the best interests of their students and their professions – in the party primaries and the general election.

That is what Sen. Bettencourt fears and is trying to discourage. Bettencourt may be in a politically “safe” district. But he knows that educators who vote in the best interests of education won’t be voting for him and like-minded colleagues who persist in under-funding public schools, promoting private school vouchers and wasting resources and classroom time on high-stakes standardized testing.

“I don’t think everyone wants educators to go out and vote, which I find disappointing,” Laura Yeager, the Texas Educators Vote director, told The Texas Tribune.

As Blake G. Powell, president of Friends of Texas Public Schools, noted on the Texas Educators Vote website, “Elections are determined by who shows up, and your vote could determine the future of public education.”

Unfortunately, in recent years, many educators have not been showing up to vote, and many others have been voting against their own and their students’ best interest. That needs to change, or Texas public school students will remain among the most under-funded and over-tested in the country. And their parents will continue to see their local property taxes rise, and Texas teachers will continue to be significantly underpaid.

Texas lawmaker questions education group’s tactics for getting out the vote

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