Leaders warn of more budget problems in Texas

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Leaders warn of more budget problems in Texas

By

Scharrer, Houston

Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Leaders-warn-of-more-budget-problems-in-Texas-2972833.php#src=fb

AUSTIN – Two key leaders of Gov. Rick 's

team highlighted growing budget problems this week, with one projecting at least a $15

billion hole in the Medicaid program and another warning that the ban on social promotions will end

unless lawmakers find money to help struggling students.

More also will

be needed to pay for the new school accountability system, Texas Education

Commissioner

told school administrators Monday.

Warnings from

the two respected agency commissioners that state leaders need to appropriate

more money to fix problems in the costliest missions of state government -

education and health care - will renew the ongoing conflict between those

advocating more spending and others who want to shrink government.

They also will

present formidable challenges to 's leadership and spur speculation about

his political strength in the wake of his failed national campaign for the

Republican nomination for president.

" We need

to hear the truth so we can seriously address the consequences, " said

state Sen. Van de Putte,

D-San . " We have known Texas'

revenue system cannot meet and does not meet its growing infrastructure needs

in education, health care, water and transportation. What's new is that we

finally have two state officials with enough courage to say

the truth. "

Lawmakers last

year slashed billions in funding for education and health care under a

mandate that the state budget be balanced through spending cuts rather than

with revenue increases.

's

remarks on education funding and Health and Human

Services Commissioner Tom Suehs'

observations on the Medicaid health care program " are certainly

valid, " said Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden,

R-, who is retiring next year after 22 years in the Legislature.

However, he

said, it is too early to panic.

" Those

assumptions are based on things not changing. We see over and over that things

change a lot, and they change pretty fast, " Ogden said.

Texas also faces another school funding lawsuit, prompting Ogden to suggest a

special legislative session is needed.

" I don't

think you can fix school finance without a constitutional amendment, "

he said.

'Few good options'

Arlene

Wohlgemuth, executive director of the Texas Public Policy

Foundation, said other states should join Texas in resisting federal funds that come

with attached strings.

" This is

the best long-term solution to the Medicaid crisis, as it would return both the

money and regulatory authority over health care to the participating

states, " Wohlgemuth said.

Suehs'

staggering Medicaid projections are in line with the foundation's own analysis,

she said.

Texas lawmakers have " few good options to deal

with this crisis, " she said.

On the

education front, the foundation's Bill Peacock

contends the state is spending enough and that schools must become more efficient.

The 22-1 teacher-to-student ratio comes with no research evidence indicating it

is better than a 26-1 ratio, Peacock declared.

Schools should

get rid of administrators before teachers, he said, and teacher salary

schedules could be eliminated - allowing schools to pay more for

good teachers.

" There's

enough money in the current system to make sure that students get a good

education if the districts will make students their priority, "

Peacock said.

Red flag to business

Retired state

district judge F. McCown

said it is significant that, on consecutive days, the leaders of the state's

two largest agencies say " their agencies can't make it on what's

been budgeted. "

McCown, who

now directs the Center for Public

Policy Priorities, which advocates for Texans with low and

modest incomes, took note of who is making those assessments. " These are

conservative men who Governor has confidence in, and they are saying they

can't do it, " he said.

believes in

" living within our means while preserving essential state services, "

his spokeswoman Castle

said. " There are always those who will want more, and Governor will

work with lawmakers and agency leaders in the next session to pass a budget

that holds the line on new taxes. "

Van de Putte said

and other state leaders seldom listen to lawmakers. " They listen to

the business community. "

And business leaders,

she said, " need to realize that in a very short time we won't have the

workforce that we need or the income of Texans to be able to buy the goods and

services that they are selling. "