Volume 18, Issue 6
February, 2011
MCALLEN AFT NEWS
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
CALL YOUR SENATOR
AND LEGISLATOR NOW!
Add Your Voice for a Balanced Approach to a Balanced Budget
With projected public school layoffs of 100,000, your job or the job of someone you know is on the line…and so is the future of Texas. Call your Texas House representative or senator (see back of this newsletter) now to urge a balanced approach to balancing the state budget.
Our future and our children depend on a growing economy fueled by an educated workforce. Yet the state budget would cut some $10 billion from public education, wiping out pre-K for 64,000 students and leading to dramatically larger class sizes, school closures and layoffs of up to 100,000 school employees.
Tell your representative or senator to take a balanced approach to balancing the state budget by:
- Using the $9.4 billion Rainy Day Fund meant to meet service needs in tough economic times.
- Maximizing federal assistance, such as the Education Jobs Act money–$830 million for retaining teachers—that is earmarked for Texas by the U.S. Congress.
Closing unproductive tax loopholes, exploring new revenue sources, funding schools equitably and fixing the structural deficit that leaves our state billions of dollars short each year.
What the Polls Say
Texas Tribune/UT Poll
Given a list of things that could be cut to balance the budget and asked to check each that they’d consider, the voters were protective of state programs, and overwhelmingly so.
· They oppose cuts to public education, 82%;
· Pre-Kindergarten, 62 %;
· State grants to college student, 73%;
· State contributions to teacher and state employee retirement programs, 69 percent;
· The Children’s Health Insurance Program 87%;
· Or for closing four community colleges, 77 percent.
What’s at Stake?
The current budget proposal in the Texas House (HB1) would:
· Cut roughly $1,000 per pupil from annual state aid to school districts. The massive cuts contemplated in state aid for schools districts amount to $9.8 billion less than needed to maintain current educational services.
· Lead to potential layoffs of 100,000 school employees. The combined loss of public-sector and private-sector employment that resulting from such deep cuts in public education could exceed 240,000 jobs—enough to boost the state’s unemployment rate above 10% and stifle the state’s recovery from recession.
· Wipe out state grants for pre-kindergarten for 64,000 school children.
· Eliminate programs that provided extra help for 650,000 students at risk of failing high-stakes state exams.
· Lay off 400 Child Protective Service investigators and case workers, increasing caseloads by more than 25% in some cases, putting more children in harm’s way.
· Include severe cuts in state Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid rates for health-care providers could leave half of all infants, preschoolers, and elementary-aged children in Texas—along with a significant portion of older children—with health insurance that no provider will accept.
· Cut the state’s contribution to the Teacher Retirement System pension fund and cut in half the state’s share of health-care costs for TRS retirees.
What Can Texans do to Save Public Education?
Spend the Rainy Day Fund, which is estimated to have $9.4 billion, and automatically replenishes.
Maximize revenue sources by drawing down federal dollars, expanding existing revenue sources, creating new ones, and eliminating tax loopholes.
SENATORS TO WRITE AND CALL!
Juan Hinojosa (Hidalgo County)
P. O. Box 12068, Capitol
Station
Austin, TX 78711
1-512-463-0120
Eddie Lucio, Jr. (Cameron County)
P. O. Box 12068, Capitol
Station
Austin, TX 78711
1-512-463-0127
LEGISLATORS TO WRITE AND CALL!
Veronica Gonzales
P. O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
1-512-463-0578
Aaron Pena
P. O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
1-512-463-0426
Sergio Munoz
P. O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
1-512-463-0704
Ryan Gillen (Starr County)
On Public EducationCommittee
P. O. Box 2901
Austin, TX 78768
1-512-463-0416
Eddie Lucio III
P. O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
1-512-463-0606
Armando Martinez
P. O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
1-512-463-0530
Rene Oliveira
P. O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
1-512-463-0640
Lobby Day 2011 - Monday, March 14
Mark your calendars and join us on the bus for Lobby Day in Austin.