04/20/2004
Mosbacher outlines Greater Houston Partnership's public school finance plan at Chamber luncheon
Texas
must do a better job of making sure all of its public school students
are prepared for the workforce in today’s global economy, and that will
require increased funding while, at the same time, providing property
tax relief, the chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership said.
Rob Mosbacher, chairman of the Partnership’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee, outlined the Partnership’s plan for education and public school finance reform at the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce’s general membership luncheon on April 20.
“As a chamber of commerce, I’d like to provide a perspective on why I believe education matters as much as it does in this new century,” he said. “Fifty years ago, 65 percent of the jobs in this country could be filled by somebody with a high school education or less. Today, that figure is just over 15 percent. We must have better educated people to fill more of the jobs we have.”
In weighing in on the public school finance issue, the Partnership is following a path that has been taken in the past by business interests in the state, Mosbacher said.
“Historically, business in Texas has driven most of the education reform going back to the ‘80s,” he said. “Ross Perot promoted ‘no pass, no play.’ That was controversial at the time, but we have made progress in terms of trying to raise the bar, increasing accountability and improving standards.”
A Partnership committee on public school finance examined the progress the state education system has made, Mosbacher said. He praised the new Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test as an instrument that raises the level of achievement to help ensure that students who graduate will be better prepared for the workforce and/or college.
“It’s a difficult test, but it’s exactly what we ought to be doing,” Mosbacher said. “As a business person, I can’t hire people straight out of high school who don’t have higher math and science preparation.
“When we release the results this spring of the accountability study for 2004, trust me, it is going to be ugly. It’s going to be like the first year we did TAAS. But the good news is that we have established the baseline and we’re going to build on it. And it will not be long before kids in the 9 th grade will be performing at the ninth grade level.”
A major challenge the schools face is a large number of students – mostly Hispanic – whose native language is not English, Mosbacher said. He believes more efforts and funding are needed to help ensure these students do not drop out of high school.
Mosbacher, a board member on the Trust for Early Education, believes the key to preparing students for academic success is to reach them at an early age.
“We need the state to invest in quality pre-kindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds,” he said. “Seventy to 90 percent of brain development takes place by the time a person is 5 years old. We’ve got to reach kids early enough so that when they show up in kindergarten, it’s a relatively level playing field.”
Mosbacher believes the state education system is on the right track, leaving public school funding as the major issue to be addressed. He noted that the state has continued shifting more and more of the tax burden to property owners.
Compounding the problem, from the school districts’ point of view, is the $1.50 per $100 valuation cap for operating expenses. Most districts in Texas are either at or near the cap, and districts have had to cut teaching positions and even janitorial services, Mosbacher said.
The Partnership’s short-term solution calls for the reduction of local school property taxes by $2.3 billion; maintaining the existing homestead and other property tax exemptions; eliminating residential recapture (a major element of the “Robin Hood” plan where the state takes tax dollars from the high property value school districts and distributes it to poorer districts) through adjustments to school funding formulas including the updated cost of education index and residential credits; and creation of a “hold harmless” provision that ensures that future funding for the state’s school districts does not drop below current levels.
“Obviously, major property tax reductions and targeted education enhancements will require funding from other sources,“ Mosbacher said. “To produce the additional funding, we recommend that the Legislature consider revenue enhancements on several items to raise the $4.6 billion in needed revenue.”
The Partnership’s long-term plan recommends the establishment of a state task force to evaluate the restructuring of the tax system by the 2007 legislative session. The restructuring should include substantial additional reductions in property taxes paid by businesses and homeowners and the elimination of the current franchise tax. The plan also recommends that the state pursue a mixture of tax bases with the broadest coverage at the lowest rates possible that will provide for an equitable sharing of the tax burden between business and individual sectors.
“The Partnership recommends that the State ofTexas undertake a complete review of its current system of taxation,” Mosbacher said. “Property taxes are too high on businesses and residences and are a hindrance to future economic development. If the current sales tax is increased to help finance the short-term solution, it will be at or near the upper limits of any sales tax in the country. The franchise tax, which is the principal business tax in Texas, is not paid by five out of six businesses in our state. In other words, while the economy of Texas has changed significantly from a manufacturing base to a service base in the past two decades, the tax code has not kept up.”
He added, “If we’re going to raise the bar of expectations -- and we should -- let’s not throw money at it. Let’s adequately fund the mission. I believe that’s what we’re trying to propose.
“If we do that, I’m quite confident that, as we talk about a knowledge-based economy, we talk about creating critical thinkers, every single kid who walks through that door will have the capacity to succeed. I think the choices are pretty clear, and we’re going to do our best to stand up for school kids in the state.”
04/01/04
Congressional run-off candidate speaks at Chamber
Cy-Fair Houston Chamber members on April 1 heard from one of the two Republican candidates who are seeking victory in the April 13 run-off election for District 10 U.S. representative.
The run-off election will pit businessman Ben Streusand against attorney Michael McCaul. The Chamber invited both candidates to the April Governmental Affairs Committee meeting, but only McCaul attended.
Although McCaul is the only candidate quoted in this article, the Chamber has not endorsed either candidate.
The 10th Congressional District includes portions of Harris, Travis, Bastrop and Burleson counties as well as all of Washington, Waller, Austin and Lee counties. The Republican nominee in the 10th District will ultimately be its Congressman, since no Democrats have filed for the open seat.
McCaul, who said he oversaw security of President Bush’s ranch in Crawford as well as the Mexican border and the Texas State Capitol, noted that a terrorism threat remains against petrochemical facilities in and near the Port of Houston.
Shoring up national security would be his first priority if elected, McCaul said.
“Without our national security, I think everything else falls by the wayside,” he said. “The federal government’s primary responsibility is to protect out national security, provide a national defense and protect our borders.”
McCaul said he’d like to see measures passed to improve intelligence capabilities and strengthen security along the U.S.-Mexican border.
McCaul said he would also like to make the Bush Administration’s tax cuts permanent and to eliminate the Internal Revenue Service by implementing a national sales tax. Under such a plan, most services would probably be taxed, but medical care and food would be exempt, he said.
“The federal government spends $10 billion a year servicing the IRS, and Americans spend about $250 billion a year to comply with tax code,” McCaul said. “That’s a burden and a drag on our economy.”
On the issue of fixing Medicare and Social Security, McCaul suggested free-market solutions such as medical savings accounts and the option of investing retirement funds in annuities.
“If we don’t get a hand on these entitlement programs, we’re going to bankrupt our children and their children,” he said.
McCaul also suggests that creating primary care centers for those without health insurance and having patients pay for the care on a sliding scale would help reduce a burden on nonprofit hospitals and emergency rooms.
In answer to a question about how he would adequately represent a district that stretches from Cy-Fair to Austin, McCaul, a Travis County resident, said he would establish district offices in Tomball, Katy, Brenham and Austin. He added that temporary offices that would be open for a few days each month could be placed in county courthouses.
More information about the candidates is available at their respective Web sites:
The Governmental Affairs Committee meets on the first Thursday of each month at 9:15 a.m. at the Chamber office, 11050 FM 1960 West, Suite 100. The public is invited. For information, call 281-955-1100.04/01/04
U.S. 290 schematic design presented at Chamber meeting
Having completed its major investment study (MIS) for proposed reconstruction of U.S. 290, the Texas Department of Transportation has moved forward to the schematic design phase of the project.
At the April 1 meeting of the Transportation Committee of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, TxDOT project manager Roger Gonzalez presented an overview of what the corridor is likely to look like.
Construction is not scheduled to begin until at least 2009, he said. There could be some relief sooner, however, if the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) proceeds with a toll road along the Hempstead corridor and/or commuter rail is implemented along the Union Pacific rail line.
“What we looked at during the MIS was the potential Hempstead has along the corridor,” Gonzalez said. “It has a lot of potential, but it’s under utilized, and it could probably use a lot of rehabilitation, which would lead to redevelopment along the corridor.”
He added that by 2005 HCTRA would probably construct a toll road with two lanes in each direction. When completed, the existing 290 high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane would be relocated to the toll road, Gonzalez said.
Original plans called for the probability of light rail along the corridor, but current sentiment favors commuter rail, he said.
“If commuter rail is adopted, it would help the entire corridor,” Gonzalez said.
If commuter rail were adopted, TxDOT would be unable to acquire more right-of-way from Union Pacific. Outside lanes of the freeway would then be cantilevered to run above the rail lines, he said.
Gonzalez noted the MIS called for five main freeway lanes in each direction from the 610 Loop to Jones Road , four lanes from Jones to Mason roads and three lanes from Mason to FM 2920.
New freeway plans call for dedicated lanes from 34 th Street to Interstate 10 and from the 610 North Loop to I-10 to eliminate the problem of vehicles weaving across lanes on the West Loop as they near I-10, Gonzalez added.
The Chamber has advocated for many years solving the weaving problem.
Transportation Committee meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month at 8 a.m. at the Chamber office, 11050 FM 1960 West, Suite 100 . The public is invited. For information, call 281-955-1100.
Archived News
03/19/04 Speaker delivers informative, upbeat talk at Chamber luncheon
03/04/04 Chamber Transportation Committee advocating commuter rail
02/17/04 Radack outlines improvements in West, Northwest Harris County