Thread: Texas to get $830 Million in Education Funds

Texas to get $830 million in education funds:

Friday, April 22 2011

Texas will soon be receiving the $830 million in funds for public education that have been tied up in political wrangling.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made the announcement Friday. Gov. Rick Perry said he welcomed the department's decision to approve the state's application for the funding.

The federal budget deal negotiated to avoid a government shutdown this month removed the strings U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Austin, had attached to the funds.

The bill removed a requirement that Perry, a Republican, use the funds to supplement existing school spending rather than just replace state funds in order to balance the budget.

Perry has blasted Doggett for attaching strings to the federal money intended to protect 300,000 teachers and other nonfederal government workers from layoffs.

Several Texas lawmakers responded to the funding announcement with the following statements:

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Statement:

Eight months after a provision that prohibited the state of Texas, and Texas alone, from accessing emergency education funding, $830 million dollars were delivered to the state earlier this afternoon. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX-26) and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) each led legislation in their respective chambers to get this provision removed and allow Texas to receive the funding it was originally denied.

"Today our schoolchildren and teachers received the funding they should have never been denied," said Dr. Burgess. "For months I worked with Senator Hutchison to repeal the Doggett language and today Governor Perry told me Texas did receive the funding from the Department of Education. This $830 million will give our schoolchildren, teachers, and communities additional funding during this financial crisis - today is indeed Good Friday."

"I am very pleased that Texas teachers and students are now being treated fairly. The Texas Republican delegation, with strong leadership by Congressman Michael Burgess, worked for months to undo the discriminatory Doggett amendment that could have cost Texas schoolchildren $830 million in badly needed funding for their education. This is a victory for our state's students and teachers," said Sen. Hutchison.

Last August Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-25) included an amendment in the Education Jobs Fund bill, H.R. 1586, that required the state of Texas, during the fiscal years 2011 to 2013 to maintain state support for elementary and secondary education at a level equal to or greater than the percentage provided for fiscal year 2011. That provision placed requirements on Texas beyond what all other states were required to make in order to qualify for funding and violated the Texas Constitution.

When the final 2011 budget was signed into law earlier this month, it included language that completely repealed the Doggett language, allowing Texas to meet the requirements to receive the funding.

Attorney General Abbott's Statement :

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education finally approved the State of Texas' application for its $830 million share of education funding. "After months of waiting, Texas schools will finally receive their $830 million share of education funds that were unnecessarily delayed in Washington, DC. We are grateful that the new Congress remedied Congressman Doggett's attempt to discriminate against his own State-and its school children. Fortunately for Texas children, teachers, and schools, the Doggett Amendment was stricken from federal law, the State's application was approved, and Texas no longer has to wait for the very same funds that were available to every other state months ago." "While we are confident that our legal challenge to the Doggett Amendment-and to the Administration's improper disapproval of Texas' application-would have ultimately succeeded, congressional action and Texas officials' prompt submission of a new application ensured that $830 million will be available to our schools right away. We are grateful to Congressman Michael Burgess, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Cornyn and the Texas congressional delegation for their efforts to resolve this issue more quickly than would have been the case if we had to wait for victory in federal court."

Governor Rick Perry Statement:

Gov. Rick Perry today welcomed the decision by the U.S. Department of Education to approve the state's application for $830 million in federal funding for Texas schools, which had been stalled in Washington for the past nine months as a result of an anti-Texas provision written by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett that singled out Texas and attempted to force Gov. Perry to violate the Texas Constitution in order to receive these funds.

"Today is a victory for Texas schools that have been waiting for these well-deserved federal funds for far too long," Gov. Perry said. "Thanks to our persistent efforts, including those of U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Sen. John Cornyn and other dedicated members of the Texas Congressional delegation, along with House Speaker John Boehner, this funding will soon be flowing to the school teachers and schoolchildren of Texas."

Texas had previously been prevented from obtaining its share of these federal funds for Texas schools as a result of an amendment from Rep. Doggett to the 2010 federal education jobs bill (H.R. 1586) that treated Texas differently from every other state and attempted to require Gov. Perry to make assurances that would violate the Texas Constitution. Rep. Doggett's anti-Texas amendment was subsequently repealed by a provision included in the federal budget bill passed by Congress and signed into law earlier this month.

"For months I worked with Sen. Hutchison to repeal the Doggett language and today Gov. Perry told me Texas did receive the funding from the Department of Education," Rep. Burgess said. "Today our schoolchildren and teachers received the funding they should have never been denied."

"I am pleased that the U.S. Department of Education has approved our application for $830 million in funding for education," Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott said. "These funds will provide much needed funding for our schools as they prepare their budgets for the coming year and will help retain thousands of Texas teacher jobs."

http://weareaustin.com/fulltext?nxd_id=139676

$830 million that is a lot of education funds for one State, since this Country is going broke.

I guess it takes that much money to educate all the undocumented aliens coming from Mexico to attend schools in Texas.

Originally Posted by Pisces_2010

I guess it takes that much money to educate all the undocumented aliens coming from Mexico to attend schools in Texas.

You have hit the nail on the head!

$830 million that is a lot of education funds for one State, since this Country is going broke.

I guess it takes that much money to educate all the undocumented aliens coming from Mexico to attend schools in Texas.

I'll open up this can of worms.

Why should taxpayers of other states be paying for Texas' lack of forsight, or selfish interests?

Texas is being subsidized by the other state's taxpayers in order for Texas to take advantage of cheaper wages, making Texas attractive to business.

Why should the other states be paying for the education of illegal aliens?

I do not mean for this to be Texas specific, as the question applies to each and every other state that is doing little to curb illegal immigration, and recieveing monies in order to continue the same insane tactics. It seems like a race to the bottom.

My tax monies should not be paying for any other states subsidized illegal labor.

Our lawmakers are corrupt and inept.

Gov. Perry looks like a spineless worm!

Texas needs to wake up, or they will be the next California.