Texas PTA Legislative Action Alert

March 31, 2011 by theo.johnson · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Community, Education, Family, Health, Politics, Society & Culture, Technology

I received this email from our PTA. Earlier this week during a youth Bible study class, one of the students asked us to pray for their teachers in Plano ISD. Over 400 of them were losing their jobs and 40 were just let go from her school that week.

This is sad and shows how much our representatives in Texas care about the future of our youth. While my kids might not personally benefit from all of these programs, there are a lot of kids who will. For those parents who might not have the money to send their kids to private school or get outside help for their kids, these programs and grants are needed. If you live in Texas, take a little time to call your representative and ask them to fund public education.

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WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TODAY

ASK HIM/HER TO FUND PUBLIC EDUCATION

IN HB 1

THE BUDGET BILL FOR 2012-2013

CALL TODAY!!!

What you need to know:

Friday, April 1, the Texas House of Representatives will vote on the budget for the next two years. The budget on which they will vote makes deep cuts to public education.

HB 1 proposes giving $7.8 billion less to the Foundation School Program (FSP), the main source of funding for local school districts. This is 18% less than is required by current law.
Depending upon how a local school district chooses to address this reduced funding from the state, Texas could expect layoffs of thousands of school employees.
In addition to cuts to the FSP, HB 1 cuts or severely reduces funding for
- Reading, Math and Science Initiatives
- Pre-Kindergarten Early Start program
- Early Childhood School Readiness Grants
- Science Lab Grants
- Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program
- Virtual School Network
- Middle School Physical Education Grants
- Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program
- Extended Year Programs
- Limited English Proficiency Student Success Initiative
- Communities in Schools Programs
- Student Success Initiatives
- High School Completion and Success Initiative

What you can do:

CALL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE TODAY

ASK HIM/HER TO SUPPORT AMENDMENTS TO HB 1

THAT INCREASE FUNDING FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

To find contact information for your state representative, visit http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us. Enter the requested information into the fields listed (this includes your street address and ZIP code) and then select “HOUSE” from the District Type pull-down field and click the submit button. You will be taken to a page that lists the name of your state representative as well as their Austin (512) phone number. This is the number you should dial to register your concerns about HB 1.

Partnership For A Healthy Texas Conquering Obesity

Members and Friends of the Partnership for a Healthy Texas -

Both the Steering and Legislative Committees have been quite busy of late reviewing legislation, serving as issue area experts and making sure the Partnership priorities are both promoted and reflected appropriately in the budget and in legislation. We appreciate your patience during our lack of communication.

We have developed two documents; one, outlining the bills that fall into the Partnership’s legislative priority areas and; another, outlining the bills related to obesity and nutrition that the Partnership is tracking (click on the links to download each in PDF format). Below, is a rough outline of the budget as it relates to our issues. As you are probably well aware, the Senate version of the budget is still being hammered out while the House will discuss HB 1 on the floor tomorrow.

We anticipate calling upon our membership more as the process moves along. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions.

TEA – HB 1

HB1 would cut $66 million from School Health and Safety, which includes implementation of coordinated school health, counseling and mental health, physical activity, nutrition, and health education, and health services. This is a 70% reduction in funding compared to the current budget.

In addition to the 70% reduction in School Health and Safety, HB1 would end the state’s investment in:

Prekindergarten grants and Early Childhood School Readiness programs (down $223.3 million), meaning 144,000 fewer children would benefit from quality-assured public prekindergarten and school readiness programs each year
Middle School Physical Education grants (down $20 million), resulting in 425,000 middle school students no longer having access to programs proven to increase performance on Fitnessgram physical fitness assessments and with demonstrated positive correlation with TAKS Reading and Math scores
Life Skills Teen Parenting (down $19.7 million), meaning that 26,000 pregnant and parenting teens will have supportive services for graduating high school and learning healthy parenting skills
School Bus Seat Belt grants, reduction of $10 million that would have gone to assist school districts acquire school buses with three-point seat belts
Communities in Schools (though $9.7 million in federal TANF funds remain). 64,000 fewer students at risk of dropping out of school each year would no longer receive services that connect them to community resources that supports their success in school and beyond

The HB1 proposed cuts would be on top of reduction already made to the TEA budget in the current biennium:

$2 million cut to the Education Service Centers that provide technical assistance for implementing coordinated school health
$3.5 million cut to Communities in Schools
$41,000 for School Lunch matching
$850,000 for AVANCE family support

DSHS cuts

Community-based obesity prevention (HB1: 53% cut equaling $15.6m to all chronic disease prevention, SB1: same)
WIC Nutrition Supplements and Farmer’s Markets (HB1: $33.5m cut, which is 25,500 fewer recipients on monthly WIC Nutrition caseload, a 1% caseload cut, SB1: same)

TDAg budget recommendation:

There is a rider in the TDA component of the budget supporting the Texas Department of Agriculture’s capacity to coordinate existing farming resources and expand the Farm-to-School program by raising the Department’s full-time equivalent employee cap. This will allow the Department to create a Farm-to-School Coordinator position that will not require any appropriation of state funds. This coordinator position represents an opportunity to support the health of Texas children in a Legislative Session where cuts to children’s health services are endemic. A Texas Department of Agriculture Farm-to-School Coordinator position would additionally help support the growth of Texas farms, increase the availability of quality of food in Texas schools, and create valuable opportunities for nutrition education amid a costly obesity epidemic.

Carrie Kroll
Partnership for a Healthy Texas Chair