Last week I used the history analogy of Col. Travis, in his valiant fight for freedom from oppression during those 13 days at the Alamo, to describe our situation in the Texas Legislature regarding our fight for freedom from the oppression of the Robin Hood tax plan. If when last I wrote I felt like Travis, last Thursday night I felt like Fannin at Goliad! During the previously announced Public Education Committee meeting, to continue the discussion of school finance and specifically SB 4, we were surrounded, captured and taken out to be slaughtered! This meeting was a marathon session that lasted until past midnight with over 20 witnesses. For hours the committee heard an unending stream of detailed criticism of the bill. The thrust of the testimony was that SB 4 made the Chapter 41 school districts (everyone in district 108 except DISD ) richer at the expense of the poor districts. Speaker after speaker railed against the inequity of the bill using computer models of revenue per student.
Paul Colbert, a former legislator from Houston and active participant in creating the current Robin Hood plan, presented a detailed condemnation of the Senate for their efforts. He said numerous times that this plan made an intolerably unfair system only worse. In his analysis he repeatedly used several Chapter 41 districts, including Highland Park ISD, as examples of how they are getting an unfair advantage over the poor districts in the Senate plan. They felt that indexing the hold harmless provision was the worst possible idea. In fact they called for an elimination of the specific provision saying it had been long enough for us to "learn how to live under the same financial conditions as their students."
Buck Wood, the lawyer for the Equity Center in the Edgewood lawsuits testified that he knew the sentiment of the Supreme Court regarding the requirements for "equity" and in no way did he feel there was any relief necessary or possible from Robin Hood taxes. One could hear many a mumbled comment as to how this or that didn't seem fair and their argument obviously fell on receptive ears. To Chairman Sadler's credit, he repeatedly asked, in fact I would characterize it as imploring, anyone in the audience to come forward to disagree with the current testimony. Not one person was there to offer an alternative viewpoint.
I tried on several occasions to question the philosophy and disagree with their presumptions. The buzzards and jackals had an unfettered opportunity to pick at the carcass! I am continuing to work hard with Chairman Sadler to get our points across. There is still another battle to fight after we get the revenue estimate from the Comptroller, Carole Keeton Rylander. We can only work and hope for a San Jacinto.
Other Issues of Interest
As always, I encourage you to contact to my office with your thoughts. Please contact my office at P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas, 78768-2910, or E-mail me at kenn.george@house.state.tx.us.