February 4, 2005

House Rolls Out New Political Strategy
with School Reform Plan as First Step

Craddick Takes Hands-On Approach in New
Single Shot Approach to Schools and Taxes

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Speaker Tom Craddick appears to be taking a new level of interest and a hands-on approach to school finance as House leaders roll out an education reform plan and overhauled political strategy for tackling the issue amid a looming court deadline this year.

Since winning the speaker's post two years ago, Craddick had been leaving the heavy lifting on school finance to a select committee he'd filled with more than two dozen members of his leadership team. But the Republican House leader appears to be directly involved now in the nuts and bolts development of a school funding plan while taking charge of the sales job that will be needed to pass a plan that keeps the courts happy and out of the Legislature's business this year. Craddick has been working vigorously behind the scenes - and he was eager to help promote an omnibus education reform package that Public Education Committee Chairman Kent Grusendorf outlined Thursday at a Texas Capitol news conference.

Craddick called House Bill 2 "a real rarity" because it's stocked full of major changes that House leaders think they can pass as opposed to the standard shell bills that lawmakers typically file early on in a session simply to use as starting-point vehicles. But after Grusenforf explained how the plan would increase the state's share of public education funding, cut property taxes, scale back Robin Hood, boost accountability and reward high-performing teachers while cracking down on low-performing schools, Craddick hinted at what the plan's most critical feature might be from a political and practical perspective.

"This is a 76 vote plan," the speaker said, a subtle but telling indication that the debate in the House on school finance would be taking a dramatically different course than it did when the wheels came off during a special session in April and May last year. The House last spring relied on a select committee that was three or four times larger than standing committees to come up with an all-encompassing plan that would require 100 votes and fall apart if any of its major parts failed. The theory then appeared to be that members would be more inclined to support controversial proposals such as video lottery gambling if they realized that they'd have nothing to go home and brag about if they helped kill any of the major components.

But after Grusendorf found a mix that the committee finally approved, the all-or-nothing approach backfired when Governor Rick Perry threatened to veto a business payroll tax proposal and Democrats teamed with two dozen conservative Republicans in opposition to VLTs as a way to ensure a defeat for a Republican majority that had been getting most of it wanted over the objections of the new Democratic minority for the previous year. The business tax measure came out. So did video lottery - and instead of being able to pitch the bill on redeeming features - Grusendorf and other House leaders at that point were essentially forced into the unenviable position of having to ask members to vote for a plan that had been taken apart simply as a way to keep the process moving. A House majority ened up passing a watered-down plan that didn't balance without some of the more controversial provisions. The Senate saw the House plan as little more than a shell bill and deemed it unsalvageable while letting the clock run out on the special session. After calling the spring special session when there was no apparent consensus at hand, Perry decided to not force lawmakers back to Austin until they could agree on a plan - and Craddick argued that they wouldn't be able to do that in the absence of a court order, which they now have.

Instead of going for broke with a single package of school finance changes and revenue measures, Craddick and his top leaders have broken education reforms and taxes into separate bills that will go through traditional standing committees that only have nine members each and will thus need only five votes to send each of the two major components to the floor. While the Ways and Means Committee works on a tax plan, the Public Education Committee can get to work on the new House Bill 2 while the speaker and his lieutenants twist arms or whatever may be necessary to make sure the reform bill will get at least 76 votes - or majority support when its before the full House. That process, in fact, has already begun as more than 100 members have been called into Craddick's office to see what they would or would not support in order to come as close to a consensus as possible at this early stage of the game.

While the education reform measure met immediate opposition from teacher groups as expected, the speaker and House leaders appear to be gambling that as long as they can win majority support for a plan that remains relatively intact they will then have some degree of momentum, the psychological advantage of having shown they can pass major school finance legislation and the leverage of the first bill to use to try to win support for the tax package as the second step in the revamped strategy that they seem to be employing in the regular session this year.

To make the package complete, Craddick said the more volatile measures such as video lottery gambling and a statewide property tax will be offered in separate constitutional amendment proposals in order to keep the entire plan from failing if any one of those measures fall short of 100 votes for two-thirds support or voter approval they would ultimately need. With each success, the next step ostensibly would be easier to achieve than it would have been if all aspects of the plan had been considered together as one.

While House leaders try to be innovative and attack the problem from a different angle, the new approach isn't risk free. The education reforms package won't technically die just because House members kill the tax plan or one of the constitutional amendments. But for all practical purposes, the big-ticket proposals dealing with equity, incentive pay and other major issues will for all practical purposes be worth little if the money to fund them isn't there. Most of the entire plan still must pass before it will meet court muster. But House leaders are hoping to achieve that with some calculated timing and a stairstep strategy instead of using a shotgun approach that didn't work nine months ago.

Grusendorf's bill at this point would increase public school spending by $3 billion over two years while lowering the maximum rate on maintenance and operations taxes from $1.50 to $1 per $100 valuation. It would boost the state's share of public school spending from 38 percent to 60 percent. Funding under the controversial Robin Hood recapture system would be cut by 88 percent without jeopardizing equity or causing poorer schools that have been receiving tax dollars from more affluent districts to have less money than they do now. The measure would increase the percentage of public schools in an equitable system from 80 percent to 90 percent - and it would give local districts the funds and the ability to design incentive plans to reward top teachers and individual schools that excel. Teachers would not get an across-the-board pay raise they say is needed to alleviate a teacher shortage and to slow an exodus from the profession. But their actual pay would go up $1,000 a year at the same time the $500 health insurance supplement they now receive would be axed in what would effectively balance out to $500 more a year on top of whatever incentive bonuses they might receive.

Immediate reviews on House Bill 2 were mixed. Instead of helping put an end to the state's teacher shortage Texas State Teachers Association President Donna New Haschke said the House plan would make a bad situation worse. "House Bill 2 is based on the flawed premise that more testing and complex equations using standardized test scores will create a better public school system," the TSTA leader said. "In reality, teachers and parents know what makes a classroom a better place to learn: good teachers, small classes, discipline and safety; and up-to-date books and teaching materials that meet high academic standards."

But while teachers ripped the House plan, the Texas Association of Business hailed it as legislation that would rely on "free market principles," boost accountability and lower administrative costs so more money could be spent in classroom instruction. Grusendorf “ has not only given us a map, but he’s driving the bus towards a better future for Texas," TAB President Bill Hammond said. “House Bill 2 is legislation that we can all climb aboard and support."

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, who won unanimous support for a comprehensive school finance plan two years ago, applauded House leaders for getting the ball rolling on school finance as early as they have. The Senate leaders noted similarities between the House proposal and a school finance plan that all 31 senators have already endorsed - and they expressed confidence that the Legislature could agree on a final package that will be needed by this summer to avoid a threatened court-ordered shutdown of the public school system if its not constitutional by October.