H.B. 1 –The House’s version of the state budget for the upcoming biennium passed out of the House by a 98-49 margin Sunday, April 3^rd. This bill was passed largely on party line votes, with most republicans supporting the bill and most democrats opposing the bill. Want to Voice your Opinion... http://www.assistantcoach.net/poe2 ! 

            H.B. 1 as passed:

• Ratifies a $164.5 billion state budget for the upcoming biennium.
• Reflects a shortfall of about $23 billion less than the current state budget which includes about $10 billion less for public education.
• Includes no provisions for the use of the $9.4 billion “Rainy Day Fund” or for additional taxes.

House Bill 1 will reduce state and federal spending over the next two years by $23 billion by slashing financing for public education, reducing reimbursements for Medicaid (which could close down nursing homes), and reducing access for higher education. Cuts of this magnitude are unacceptable.

Texas needs to address minimizing its structural deficit during the current legislative session, or we will be faced with even deeper financial problems in two years than we are facing today. When we have a tax and school finance system where we have mandate after mandate that require us to spend more and more money, and then we enact mandates that cause us to collect less and less in taxes, we have a system that is fundamentally unstable and sooner or later we are going to have to fix it. The only way to get rid of a structural deficit is to 1) cut spending and 2) raise revenues. Neither of these options is too appealing for politicians, which is why our structural deficit continues to linger.

The problem with House Bill 1, which proposes $23 billion in cuts, is that it does not have a balanced approach. In a 2006 special session, our lawmakers pushed through legislation to permanently reduce available state revenue by inadequately offsetting local property tax cuts. Spending cuts alone cannot remedy the large structural deficit that this 2006 concession has created. There are several freshman representatives in the House who don’t have the knowledge or experience to realize that we will be crippling programs forever if we go forward with all the proposed cuts in the House budget.

Our lawmakers will be doing a great injustice to Texans by underfunding education for our Texas children. There will be thousands of excellent teachers that will be given pink slips and never return to the profession. Talented new prospective teachers will change their majors. Programs that helped our children develop into strong citizens and leaders, will cease to exist. These programs will no longer fill the gap for those kids that need direction and guidance to develop to their maximum capability. Simply voting on party lines is NOT what is best for Texas. Our lawmakers need to lay politics aside and diligently work to come up with a balanced approach to solving this budget crisis.

We need a budget that is more humane and beneficial for our state than House Bill 1. The goal should be for our lawmakers to come together and lay politics aside for the good of all Texans and produce a compromised budget that will address the structural deficit with a balanced approach, by cutting spending, cutting state mandates and finding ways to generate revenues. If not, then all our lawmakers have done is postponed, delayed and deferred their obligations into the next biennium.

House Bill 1 is currently being reviewed by the senate before it heads to conference committee. From there, ten other selected lawmakers will attempt to split the difference and develop a final budget that can pass a majority in both chambers. For now House Bill 1 remains a bare-bones, $164.5 billion budget that slashes $23 billion from the current biennium’s spending levels.

We simply can’t balance the budget through cuts alone without doing terrible damage to our economy and our future. If legislators hear only from those who want a rigid “cuts-only” approach, then public education will be extremely weakened, higher education will be reduced and the children, the elderly and the people with disabilities in our communities will be left unprotected.

It is important that you encourage those in your community to step up on behalf of a balanced approach to meeting the needs of Texas, rather than a “cuts-only” strategy, or our state and our children will fall behind. This state’s budget problem is so big that – regardless of political party – we must act together as Texans for our own common good.

It is time for the people of Texas to get more involved, call their legislators and demand that they do the right thing and properly fund our public schools.

Please consider the following points when contacting your legislators, and encourage them to vote for a budget that will properly fund essential state services such as, public education and health care:

• The proposed reductions in state funding break the state’s promise made in 2006 and will present extraordinary challenges for our public schools to continue to provide the quality of education for our students that Texas expects and deserves.
• Over the past several years, our schools have had a rigorous budgeting process that has focused on continued cuts due to underfunding from the state. The unfortunate result of the state’s extreme funding reduction is that most all of our districts have no way to further reduce costs without an extreme negative impact on the classroom. These severe cuts in funding, which will damage the future of Texas, should not be allowed.
• Texas needs to address its’ structural deficit during the current session, or it will face even deeper financial problems in two years than it faces today.
• Without a change in statute, the state will owe public schools $7.8 billion more than the House has budgeted.
• The state’s savings account (informally called the “Rainy Day Fund”, but officially the “Economic Stabilization Fund”) will have $9.4 billion we can use to balance the budget. The constitutional purpose of the fund is to maintain vital state services during economic downturns. The fund automatically replenishes from dedicated oil and gas severance taxes.
• What is the damage if we don’t use the “Rainy Day Fund”, and what is the risk if we do? If we don’t use all of the “Rainy Day Fund” the damage is great. On the other hand, if we use it all, the risk of not having the revenue in 2014-2015 to replace the fund dollars spent now is minimal. If for some reason the revenue does not recover, we can always cut at that time, we have no reason to cut so deeply now.
• Our lawmakers need to revisit our tax system. It is out of balance with our spending, and we have a significant structural deficit. The tax plan is fiscally irresponsible and we need our legislators to step up and lay politics aside and diligently work to come up with a balanced approach to solving the budget crisis. They cannot continue to keep putting a band-aid on it and postponing their obligations into the next biennium. It will take some political courage to stand in the gap and do what is right for the state of Texas.
• Some say that half of our school districts’ expenses are outside the classroom. That is not so. About 60% of revenues go to teachers, and another 10% goes to heating and cooling classrooms. Some politicians will distort numbers to make public education look bad.
 

Many have asked, "What can I do to help"? There are a few things you can do.

First, you need to contact your State Representative. We have tried to make it as easy as we can for you. AssistantCoach Systems has donated a website tool to make it easy for anyone in Texas to send emails to their State Representative. We urge you to go to this website now and spend 2 minutes to add your name to the list of those who are voicing their opinion against the proposed legislation. You can find the tool at http://www.assistantcoach.net/poe2. This website also allows you to view the Bill.

You can also act by calling your representative and/or sending a handwritten note. You can visit www.thsca.comand click on “Legislature” for a complete list of representatives and their contact information.

Lastly, we need to bring this Legislation to the attention of as many people as we possibly can and encourage them to contact their Legislators. Please forward this email along and encourage everyone to voice their opinions.

It is critical to act immediately, the quicker that you respond to this the better!