By Jennifer Bendery, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – With more than 20 Democratic members of the House standing behind him in support, Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) today lashed out against Tuesday's House Committee on Public Education vote to pass a substituted version of HB 604, which repeals the Robin Hood method of public school finance by 2005.
"Never in memory has the Committee on Public Education taken such action with such haste, with such little discussion, on such a major issue," Dunnam said.
"One committee, after hearing less than four hours of public testimony, after a warning from the new chairman that chilled public testimony, a committee composed of four members who were attending their first legislative committee meeting ever . . . voted to eliminate and abolish the most fundamental program and responsibility in all of Texas state government - and they provided no alternative."
When asked if there was any way that he would vote for repealing Robin Hood, Dunnam replied that he would support substantial changes to the program if there was a process in place that allowed for frank and thorough discussions of an alternative program.
Responding to a comment by House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) earlier this week regarding Robin Hood votes and re-election, Dunnam added that many House members are coming from the perspective that, "They don't need to fix the system to get re-elected, they just need a record vote against Robin Hood. And they are willing to destabilize our state for that purpose."
"This bill puts us in the position of not being able to vote in the best interests of individuals, of our districts, and of the state," said Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston), a member of the Public Education Committee who voted against HB 604. "We must either vote for this or vote to close the schools down."
"You can't throw out four chapters in the school code without a major revamp of the state tax system," Hochberg said. He said he disagrees with what HB 604 does for economic planning in the state, and that "the real flaw of Robin Hood is that the state hasn't met its responsibility to add enough money to it."
Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) said that while legislators have the opportunity for "more resources, to appoint a committee with lots of members, to hear more testimony on this issue" to better tackle current problems with school finance, Republicans may be pushing HB 604 through to the House floor as early as next week.
Rep. Barry Telford (D-DeKalb) said while he isn't defending the Robin Hood plan, there are schools in some of the poorest districts that now, as a result of Robin Hood, have "curriculum being offered that I would have never even dreamed of in the last 15 years. We can fix Robin Hood without sunsetting school financing."
Meanwhile, the Senate Education Committee is set for a hearing tomorrow morning to hear invited testimony on school finance. Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), who is chair of this committee, is also the author of companion legislation to HB 604.