PAGE THREE
GARNER
POLITICAL THEATER BY TEXAS DEMOCRATS
By Donna Garner
July 7, 2010 -- Democrat Reps. Chet Edwards and Lloyd Doggett and their cronies attached more than $20 billion in
domestic spending to the supplemental war-spending bill (H. R. 4899 passed the House July 1,)
including Amendment #2 that is focused on Texas to take revenge on Texas Republican Gov. Perry and Commissioner
of Education Robert Scott.
Perry and Scott were wise enough to recognize the dangers presented to Texas public schools
by Obama’s plan to federalize public schools through the Common Core Standards and Race to
the Top: national standards, national tests, national curriculum, teachers’ salaries tied to students’
test scores, teachers teaching to the test each and every day, Federal indoctrination of public
school children
Texas has spent the last four years rewriting its own standards (English, Language Arts, Reading,
Science, and Social Studies), and Perry and Scott refused to dismiss that excellent work. They,
along with Alaska, turned down the Obama administration’s federal “carrot” by refusing to participate in Common Core
Standards and Race to the Top.
Now Perry and Scott have a target on their backs. Edwards and Doggett added Amendment #2 to H. R. 4899 that will
keep Texas state education officials from deciding how $800 million in Federal aid to Texas’ public schools should be
spent.
Amendment #2 states that for Texas to get the $800 million for the public schools, Perry would have to guarantee that
the Legislatures, for the next three fiscal years (through 2013), would appropriate school funding that would equal or
exceed current funding.
First problem: The Texas Constitution does not give a governor the authority to tell the Legislature how to spend its
appropriations. Second problem: The governor does not have the constitutional authority to bind future Legislatures to
explicit appropriations amounts.
What Democrats Edwards and Doggett have done is attach an amendment to federal legislation that usurps the authority
of our Texas Constitution.
Even if the two unconstitutional problems were resolved, Texas would not be able to utilize the $800 million in H. R.
4899 because those federal funds would have to be distributed through the Federal Title I program. According to data
provided by the Texas Education Agency, 852 school districts would get less funding than through Texas’ present state
funding formulas. Here’s the biggest irony of all: Under the amendment, the public schools in Edwards’
District 17 would lose $7,448,696; Doggett’s school districts would lose $2,407,276.
Because the House legislation is different from the bill previously passed in the Senate, H. R.
4899 must go back to the Senate for final approval.
Donna Garner is a retired English teacher.
By Donna Garner
July 7, 2010 -- Democrat Reps. Chet Edwards and Lloyd Doggett and their cronies attached more than $20 billion in
domestic spending to the supplemental war-spending bill (H. R. 4899 passed the House July 1,)
including Amendment #2 that is focused on Texas to take revenge on Texas Republican Gov. Perry and Commissioner
of Education Robert Scott.
Perry and Scott were wise enough to recognize the dangers presented to Texas public schools
by Obama’s plan to federalize public schools through the Common Core Standards and Race to
the Top: national standards, national tests, national curriculum, teachers’ salaries tied to students’
test scores, teachers teaching to the test each and every day, Federal indoctrination of public
school children
Texas has spent the last four years rewriting its own standards (English, Language Arts, Reading,
Science, and Social Studies), and Perry and Scott refused to dismiss that excellent work. They,
along with Alaska, turned down the Obama administration’s federal “carrot” by refusing to participate in Common Core
Standards and Race to the Top.
Now Perry and Scott have a target on their backs. Edwards and Doggett added Amendment #2 to H. R. 4899 that will
keep Texas state education officials from deciding how $800 million in Federal aid to Texas’ public schools should be
spent.
Amendment #2 states that for Texas to get the $800 million for the public schools, Perry would have to guarantee that
the Legislatures, for the next three fiscal years (through 2013), would appropriate school funding that would equal or
exceed current funding.
First problem: The Texas Constitution does not give a governor the authority to tell the Legislature how to spend its
appropriations. Second problem: The governor does not have the constitutional authority to bind future Legislatures to
explicit appropriations amounts.
What Democrats Edwards and Doggett have done is attach an amendment to federal legislation that usurps the authority
of our Texas Constitution.
Even if the two unconstitutional problems were resolved, Texas would not be able to utilize the $800 million in H. R.
4899 because those federal funds would have to be distributed through the Federal Title I program. According to data
provided by the Texas Education Agency, 852 school districts would get less funding than through Texas’ present state
funding formulas. Here’s the biggest irony of all: Under the amendment, the public schools in Edwards’
District 17 would lose $7,448,696; Doggett’s school districts would lose $2,407,276.
Because the House legislation is different from the bill previously passed in the Senate, H. R.
4899 must go back to the Senate for final approval.
Donna Garner is a retired English teacher.