Response to Law vs. Liberty

Thanks to my classmate Nina's blog I have become aware of a program for students I might have otherwise continued to be oblivious to. I had no idea that there was such helpful aid as the "B-on-Time" loan program. I am however appalled that lately it seems every budgetary crisis Texas seems to encounter results in a simple solution involving cuts from education! It's the 21st century. Education should be approached by our government as a priority, not an option.

Government cut $8million dollars from what was a $49million dollar budget for the upcoming fiscal year. $8 million dollars is such a minimal amount in the grand scheme of Texas' monetary budgets, however it may cost many students their education. While I am incredibly patriotic, I have always been a firm believer that college education in this country is ridiculously expensive and there are far too few opportunities for students to receive support and aid for achieving a higher education. Requiring that students finish in four years with a 3.0 GPA seems to be a fair stipulation. I don't think the debate here is whether or not those should be legitimate requirements, or if they will impact the quality of education. The travesty to me is that we, as a state, would go so far as to offer a program that is so unique and pretty awesome, and then sacrifice it's integrity for $8million dollars.

Personally, I am incredibly disappointed that I didn't find out about the "B-on-time" program sooner, and now that I have, I can't apply because of the recent budget cuts...

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/07/24/TopStories/Freshmen.May.Lose.Loans.After.Cuts.To.Funding-2926590.shtml

http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/facts/cd/page18.htm

http://chronicle.com/news/article/2729/in-texas-b-on-time-student-loan-program-be-short-of-money

Forsaken or Fostered? Texas foster kids caught in a catch-22

The Dallas Morning News posted yet another article about the distressing situation regarding Texas' foster care. Hundreds of foster children in Texas need homes, but it's not simply due to a lack of homes to place them in. Unfortunately, there is no immediate solution at hand either, and many of these kids are likely to be in permanent care of the state. In fact, because of recent new rules and bans that the state has put into effect, perfectly good foster parents have been removed from consideration for housing these kids. The recently tightened government standards, coupled with the caps placed on how many children are allowed in each foster home and facility, plus the general difficulty of placing these troubled youths, make it practically impossible to place them anywhere but a state office or a hotel room. "There are 474 rules for foster homes and the agencies that place children in the homes. They range from how often bed linens must be changed (at least once a week) to whether trampolines may be used as play equipment (no) to how a child may be disciplined." While I agree that strict regulations need to be placed on foster care (they are the children of our state after all), pedantic regulations shouldn’t inhibit and discourage good people from giving these kids a chance to have a relatively well-adjusted childhood.

Most of these kids are abused and troubled teens that have previously been placed in numerous foster homes, further complicating Child Protective Services task of finding suitable housing for them. Others still have special needs and/or are mentally challenged. Crimmins, the head of CPS, has stated that attempts to place troubled teens with providers who are licensed to care for them and their special needs often fails because the providers are hesitant to accept responsibility of the foster kids due to concern regarding the over-scrupulous state rules. So, CPS has been incurring costs of $345 a night per child to house these fosters kids in state offices. Not only is this troubling for state budgets, but more importantly, it is no way to help mend the damage done to these abused children.

Foster Parents, CPS, Placement Agencies, and Legislators all recognize that the system is in “crisis” and in need of some serious amendments. The most obvious testament to that are the hundreds of practically homeless children, and this while in the care of the state. Crimmins has made several case-by-case exceptions allowing certain foster homes to exceed their “cap”, placing more of these teens in various youth centers. However, allowing, say, 14 of the 450 hapless kids a consistent bed is in no way a fix.

Most troubling of all, Crimmins has said that there is no timetable for finding the ultimate solution. This is major! Not only is CPS incurring costs not budgeted for (as mentioned, $345 p/child for the more than 450 children that have, to date, spent nearly 900 nights in state offices), but it is also far from an ideal situation for these kids. That is no childhood, and these conditions are impacting the future of hopefully viable, working, and voting Texas citizens. They deserve a chance to have a stable youth, and that by no means includes sleeping on cots in state offices while employees watch over them in four-hour shifts. Read on if you feel so inclined…

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/DN-fostercosts_19tex.ART.State.Edition2.4341b12.html

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/05/07/7foster.html

Dewhurst proposes a plan to readress community college funding issue in Texas

It's about time somebody speaks up to put an end to this ongoing issue of funding for Community Colleges. One of the main purposes of community colleges is to provide education for the low income and those who are working through school. While everybody agrees that funding may need to be addressed and is definitely an issue, Perry's solution of simply cutting the budget and increasing tuition is by no means the optimum answer. Education in this country is already difficult enough to afford. Dewhurst is initiating steps to investigate other solutions for the funding issues. Check out the full article.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/07/26/0726highered.html

Perry moves to divest state-pension funds from companies doing business in Iran

What is anticipated to be hundreds of millions of dollars of Texas State pension funds are invested in companies doing business in Iran. Governor Perry is taking action to try and have these funds divested from these companies because, in Perry's own words, Iran is "a player on the international stage which is threatening to world peace" and one "involved in state-sponsored terrorism." State funds have already successfully been divested from companies doing business in Sudan. Governor Perry was moved to that course of action due to the atrocities being committed in Darfur by government backed militia. His intention would seemingly be to prevent Texas funds from fueling economies that will use their expanding resources to generate terrorism. I'm curious to see what they will propose reinvesting the funds into if they do divest. One thing is for sure... In regards to Iran, I personally don't understand why we would invest, much less hesitate to divest, state funds into companies associating so closely with a government who's intentions towards the US have, in recent decades, been in question, if not clearly understood. Check it out...
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/07/19/0719divest.html