By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
"I'm very proud of this bill," said Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) as he laid out before the Senate today the Conference Committee Report on SB 1, the general appropriations bill.
"This bill is an exception to the frustration that we all feel right now," said Ogden, in reference to what many see as the impending death of both HBs 2 and 3, relating to public education reform and funding in Texas.
Ogden said the bill appropriates $139.4 billion in all funds for the next biennium, a 10.1 percent increase in total funding compared to the estimated and budgeted amount for the 2004-05 biennium.
Included in the bill, said Ogden, is $65.57 billion in general revenue, a 9.8 percent increase over the previous biennium. GR dedicated funds are $5.9 billion, a 2.7 percent increase. Federal funding is at $5.9 billion, a 10.3 percent increase.
Ogden said major increases in GR funding - "the tax dollars that our citizens pay to our state to run our government" - includes $2.47 billion for education; $2.35 billion for health and human services; $194 million for general government; and $428 million for public safety and criminal justice.
The budget also includes state employee pay raises that Ogden called the largest adopted in recent years, some $340 million.
"You can be proud of this budget," said the Senate Finance Chair. "It is balanced." He touted a "significant" state employee pay raise that he said represents a 9 percent increase over the two years when added to longevity pay. He said there is an even larger pay raise for state law enforcement, noting those officers will be paid "at a rate comparable and competitive to any major city in our state."
The Bryan Republican said the bill restores and expands mental health funding throughout the state, restores mental health care, Medicaid and CHIP funds that were scrapped in the last state budget, and adds capacity to state hospitals.
Funds to the Texas Education Agency were increased by $2.8 billion in the budget, which Ogden says allows for the maintenance of the current standard for equity for public schools, funds at 100 percent of enrollment growth and provides "significant" new funding for public schools. The budget bill also increases funding for higher education by $1.1 billion, said Ogden, which he said will "result in significant improvements in our institutions of higher education" while limiting the rate of tuition increases.
The bill also reduces the waiting list at health and human services agencies 10 percent, said Ogden. "There are many people in this estate waiting on services who do not get them because there is just not enough money and not enough resources," said the Finance chair.
In spite of what the budget bill includes, some members addressed what the budget doesn't include.
Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos (D-Austin) said the bill is different in a lot of areas from the bill the Senate sent to the House. A $20 million item for Communities in Schools has been decreased only to several million dollars. "The reduction means we are unable to help another 20,000 children around Texas graduate from high school and contribute to our economy and stay out of jail and stay out of the pen."
Regarding the state employee pay raise plan, Barrientos said the original figure was reduced to 4 percent and then 3 percent in 06-07 with a minimum guarantee of $50 per month one year and $100 the next. He said those who make the least will get the smallest increases. The Austin Democrat said it does not make senses that agency executive in some cases received much larger increases.
Barrientos said the bill is the "most vexing" he has seen in recent years. He said the legislature "accomplished some lofty goals," such as restoring mental health, dental benefits and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) funding, but it also eliminated $100 million in utility bill assistance to the working poor in the process. He said the bill gives state employees a raise, "but gave the leadership significantly more."
"I don't like this budget," said Barrientos. "It is not enough for our Texas needs. I am forced to vote in the affirmative but we do need a long-term solution." The Austin Democrat said such a solution will require "hard decisions and brave leadership."
Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) said budget issues are the "rhetoric in here matched against the reality out there." He noted that, "Texas spends less on her own citizens than any other state in the country." Shapleigh said when the state defaults on its obligations to its people, the burden is then shifted to local taxpayers.
The El Paso lawmakers said a budget defines "a set of values," and asked what it says of the state's values when a state does not take care of the needs of its people.
Shapleigh then moved to the possibility of failure of public school reform and public school finance legislation this session, which he said will be a "victim of failed leadership." He said investing in the future starts with schools and if the state does not ensure that all of Texas' children get a quality education, the next generation of Texans will be less prosperous than today's.
The Senate then voted 30-1 to accept the Conference Committee on SB 1, with Shapleigh casting the lone "nay" vote.