Cleveland Advocate (Cleveland, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 10, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 6, 1991 Page: 2 of 28
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Schools
Continued from Page 1A
plan because “generally Liberty
County is a low-wealth county.”
The Texas Supreme Court de-
clared the state’s present public ed-
ucation funding system unconstitu-
tional because the gap between the
wealthy and the poor school dis-
tricts was too wide. The court gave
lawmakers until April 1 to enact
new funding measures.
Barker explained that the differ-
ence between the wealthy schools,
such as Deer Park ISD, and the less
wealthy schools is like living in a
$50,000 home and walking into a
home that costs “a million. There's
that much difference just in the fa-
cilities. A school district like Deer
Park - their average salary to then-
teachers is probably $32,000 a
year. The average salary say, in
Splendora, might be $25,000.
“If you compare the two school
systems, not only the building and
the facilities, the equipment that’s
in them, (it) is just like daylight and
dark.
“That was, in essence, why the
Supreme Court came to the deci-
sion they did. They felt like the
disparity between the wealthy and
the poor was too great,” Barker
said.
“You could say, 'well that's the
way life is', and that’s true, but edu-
cation in Texas, and in the (state)
constitution, is a state function ...
All the resources of the state, you
can make a good argument that
they should be used for every kid
and every kid should have equal
access to those resources regardless
where they are. That's just exactly
what the supreme court ruled.”
The state supreme court has
once again given legislators a
deadline to have a new funding
measure in place. It is now sus-
pected that if lawmakers are unable
to agree on an adequate system, the
court will mandate one.
Cupillas said, “Mainly it's a lit-
tle early to be sure what's going to
happen with it.”
Several officials see problems
with the two different 'Robin Hood
bills recently passed, one by the
Senate the other by the House.
“The wealthier schools, without
question, are going to have some
problems because they are not go-
ing to be able to spend at the level
they've been spending in the past,”
Barker said.
“It will probably require some
of their programs or their personnel
to do some cutting. But they would
be those programs that are way
above what the basic accredited
programs the state calls for.”
Few of the funding plans please
everyone. “There's several aspects
of some of the plans I don't partic-
ularly like,” Parrish stated. “For
example, some of the plans call for
the state taking over all the bonded
indebtedness of the school districts
on some given date.”
September 1, 1991 has been
given as the date the state might
take over all school districts'
bonded indebtedness, according to
Parrish.
“I really don't favor that kind of
thing. Also, their (the poor dis-
tricts') taxpayers know they can't
afford, and generally do not ap-
prove, bonds.”
Cupillas agreed. “Most of those
districts (with bonded indebted-
ness) are wealthy districts. They
can afford to borrow. A poor dis-
trict goes into debt out of despera-
tion.”
He added, the fairness of the
state taking over bonded indebted-
ness of the schools is questioned by
some officials.
Parrish stated wealthy districts
“have a tremendous amount of
bonded indebtedness. In fact, two-
thirds of indebtedness in this state
is in wealthier school districts and
not the poorer ones.
“So if the state takes over the
bonded indebtedness of the school
districts of the state, they're really
taking over the debts of the wealthy
districts.”
Parish continues, “That (the
takeover of bonded indebtedness
by the state) may be a selling point.
It may be a trade-off that's neces-
sary in order for us to implement
the 'Robin Hood strategy for
funding schools. And if it is, then it
may be worth the trade because, or
course, the benefits we'll (poor dis-
tricts) reap on down the road will
take care of the problem at the out-
set.”
Barker said the districts with
bonded indebtedness may be able
to pay off their debts with part of
their tax rate like they are doing
now.
Senate Bill 1, last term's school
funding bill the Supreme Court
found unacceptable, contained over
90 pages. Only 29 pages pertained
to school funding, according to
Parrish. He expects more rules to
be added.
“All of the other pages, at least
60, had to do with other kinds of
things that were imposed on school
districts. Other kinds of rules and
regulations or changes.
“Nothing was declared invalid
in Senate Bill 1 except the 29 pages
which pertained to funding. All the
others were kept in place,” Parrish
said.
“I definitely think that whatever
new legislation is sent through,
there will be some additional pages
that pertain to something other than
school finance.”
Parrish said Cleveland ISD was
at something less than half of what
the state average is in terms of
wealth per student. Whatever
comes of the Robin Hood’ plan, he
would like the children to benefit.
‘Tm interested in maximizing
dollars for the school district and in
behalf of the children of the school
district. Whatever plan that could
be put into place to do that, I'd be
very interested in.”
Parrish thinks there will be
“something in the new legislation
which addresses” the compensatory
education for at-risk students, and
career ladder which is how teachers
earn supplements to their base pay.
Parrish added he would like to
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see career ladder eliminated be-
cause he feels it has pitted teacher
against teacher, teacher against
administration, and has been very
divisive statewide.
“I think that could all be elimi-
nated by eliminating career ladder
and simply utilizing those funds in
behave of teachers’ salaries.”
Regarding compensatory edu-
cation, Parrish said, “We'd like to
get some closure on the open-ended
kinds of things that involve com-
pensatory education - how to han-
dle those programs because we
know there are some changes that
are eminent.”
He stated he had already been
advised of some changes that will
have to be made in the fall of 1991.
“Compensatory education, we
had been told as early as last sum-
mer, would have to be handled es-
sentially the same way Chapter
One funds are handled now.
They're very categorical, can be
spent for only supplementary kinds
of programs, and only for specifi-
cally identified children with
learning difficulties,” Parish said.
“We have been given the notion
in the last few days that perhaps
some of that regimentation regard-
ing compensatory funds will be
loosened by the state. I hope this
new legislation we anticipate will
loosen some of the strings that are
attached to compensatory money
and enable us to spend it with a lit-
tle more freedom.”
Parrish explained, “When we're
locked in so tightly, it's very very
difficult to comply with every de-
tail of the law. It’s also almost im-
possible to be innovative in any
way and meet local needs as far as
those programs are concerned.
‘Tm hopeful any new legislation
would address that.”
Barker said there are two ver-
sion of the Robin Hood’ plan. He
explained there are two bills be-
cause one comes out of the House
of Representatives and the other
comes out of the Senate. With these
passed, the bills go to a Conference
Committee which is made up of
members from both the House and
Senate, and the Committee will ne-
gotiate those bills into one.
“Really until that is done, a rep-
resentative or a senator really can't
take a stand on a bill.”
He explained the bills. “They
(the two bills) basically do the
same thing. The plan in the senate
develops 20 taxing regions in the
state of Texas. You send your tax
money in to them and a portion is
sent back out according to a scale.
In other words, the wealthier dis-
tricts will pay more money into it
than a less wealthy district and get
less back out of it. It’s merely a
levelling situation.
“The school districts will still
set the tax rates. That won't change.
But if that tax rate doesn't raise the
state average, the state will sup-
plement that. But if they raise over
it, then the school will lose that part
of it.”
Barker added there will be caps
on the tax rate a district can levy.
“For example, in one of these
bills it sets up a minimum tax rate
of 80 cents for maintenance and
operation. Another part of it sets up
20 cents. That bottom 80 cents
would qualify you (school districts)
to participate in the basic program.
Then there’s a range of 20 cents on
top of that you can use for bonded
indebtedness, and that's all.
“See you can go the 80 and the
20, then on top of that there’s an7
other 30 cents you can use for en-
richment. But they (lawmakers)
won't let you go further than that,”
Barker said.
“So you can't have unlimited
funds. You'll have only what those
funds generate in your district. If
you're a low wealth, the state will
bring in money that will bring you
Barker explained the money
would come from both the state
and the wealthier districts.
He added, “The wealthier dis-
tricts are not in favor of {’Robin
Hood’ plan), and the poorer dis-
tricts are not saying anything be-
cause they're happy with it.
“However the wealthier districts
realize, under the order handed
down by the Supreme Court, that
they're pretty well resolved they
know this is going to happen.
They're just hoping for the best
conditions they can get out of it.”
Barker said of the plan, “It's a
completely different philosophy
than we've ever had in Texas, be-
cause we’ve always allowed local
resources to be a factor in the edu-
cation within the local independent
school district.”
Because the Conference Com-
mittee has yet to approve legisla-
tion combining the House and Sen-
ate bills, Barker said, “We're prob-
ably a month away from knowing
exactly what our bill will be and
how it will operate and how it will
affect the state of Texas.”
He added, “I would like to see a
good bill finally passed that would
enhance education for the most part
and give school people some
chance to do their job. And I think
we’ll get that.”
Barker said he would also like
to see public education, “funded at
a level that would require all school
districts to move up rather than any
of them having to level down.”
He added that would be tremen-
dously expensive, and financially
impossible, because the state would
have to move all the level of edu-
cation up to the wealthiest districts.
According to Barker, it may be
close to the April 1 deadline before
the bills are finalized.
Satellite dish owners are warned of possible interference.
Nature
Continued from Page 1A
section with State Highway 321
in Tarkington. Part of the dam-
age had an effect on hundreds of
Tarkington residents - the satel-
lite dishes for the cable com-
pany serving the area were
blown over.
“The storm came through
about 6 p.m., near dark,” said
Faye Kelley, who was home at
the ranch Saturday. “I was
watching TV and I heard the
most awful racket. I looked out
and the top had been blown off
the bam.”
The high wind also blew the
dishes out of position, making
them useless for reception.
“It was kind of funny,” Kel-
ley said. “The sun had been
shining and there was no rain
really, then all that wind came
up. Then it quit and a rainbow
was in the sky.”
In addition to the dishes and
barn, a double carport was
“broke in half’ according to
Kelley.
The cable company restored
most of the service to their sub-
scribers Monday. Repeated calls
from the Advocate to the cable
company for comment were not
returned.
Kelley says she has nothing
to do with the satellite dishes
other than leasing a piece of
land to the cable company._
Mother Nature, however, is
not through with cable sub-
scribers in this area - or those
nationwide. The sun, it would
seem, is a might too bright.
The solar activity started in
earnest Tuesday and according
to astronomers will continue for
approximately one week. Offi-
cials say the activity will cause a
degradation in television picture
quality off satellite transmis-
sions.
Authorities report that
Thursday and Friday should be
the worst days for dish and cable
users in this area of Southeast
Texas. Depending on many
variables, total signal loss could
last as long as 20 minutes each
of these days._
EMS
Continued from Page 1A
meeting is to coordinate the ser-
vices and determine which ambu-
lances can best respond to emer-
gencies and how to dispafdh the
units. \»L
Commissioners were scheduled
to sign the contract with EMS, but
voted to table that until after
Thursday's meeting. Assistant
County Attorney Mike Stafford
said they can re-word a portion of
the contract to reflect the decisions
made during that meeting.
The court also opened bids for
the purchase of a van for indigent
health care. Only one bid was re-
ceived, coming from Liberty-Day-
ton Chrysler, in the amount of
$17,850. Commissioners voted to
award the bid, contingent on the
stipulation that the vehicle be de-
livered in 72 hours.
In other business, commUion-
ers voted to award a contnHT for
administrative services on the
Tarkington Water Supply project to
Baker and Associates, of Houston.
They also approved a lease agree-
ment for a transfer point for the
disposal of solid waste in the north-
east portion of the county, voted to
advertise for bids to sell 12 acres in
the south county, voted approval
for the Liberty Masonic Lodge to
provide the cornerstone for the new
county jail and paid bills totalling
$1,350.
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Lowe, R. T. Cleveland Advocate (Cleveland, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 10, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 6, 1991, newspaper, March 6, 1991; Cleveland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth871368/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin Memorial Library.