Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 249, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 8, 2015 Page: 3 of 24
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STATE/NATIONAL
3A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Texas House attempts school funding fix
both chambers have called for
property and business tax cuts,
the Senate has made “tax relief”
a higher priority than education
funding.
In their draft state budgets,
both the Senate and House in-
creased school funding by $2-
plus billion to cover public
school enrollment that grows by
80,000 students per year amid
a statewide population boom.
The House approved its bud-
get plan after an all-night debate
last week and included an extra
$2.2 billion in new funding be-
yond enrollment growth costs —
money that’s largely available
because of rising property values
statewide that have increased
or those not currently collecting
local property taxes at high
enough rates, virtually the only
ones left out.
No district would see current
funding levels decline over the
first two years of the plan.
Education advocacy groups
have for weeks cheered Aycock’s
attempted school finance over-
haul —but all sides also agree it’s
still a long way from becoming
with those in poorer areas. Ay-
cock’s plan would scrap a series
of “outdated” funding formulas
and de-emphasize the share-
the-wealth plan by ensuring that
Texas’ poor school districts get
more new funding than their
wealthier counterparts.
“I think it does what’s right
for kids,” said Aycock, a Killeen
Republican who spent months
building bipartisan support for a
proposal he says he can shep-
herd through the lower cham-
passed by the Legislature that
aims to make Texas better.”
Public sentiment may build
for Aycock’s plan because at-
tempting it defies conventional
legislative wisdom — that law-
makers shouldn’t touch school
finance policy while the courts
are still involved.
The current case began in
2011, when the GOP-controlled
Legislature cut $5.4 billion from
public education funding. That
prompted more than 600
school districts statewide to sue
— triggering Texas’ sixth major
school finance legal fight since
1984.
By Will Weissert
Associated Press
AUSTIN — An ambitious
House proposal to fix the much-
criticized way Texas pays for its
public schools seeks to pour $3
billion extra into classrooms and
reduce the state’s reliance on the
tax revenues.
An additional $800 million
to fully fund Aycock’s plan can
come via a rider.
The Senate has yet to ap-
prove its budget, but hasn’t yet
earmarked extra money above
enrollment growth costs.
Aycock said he hadn’t spoken
to Senate budget writers or Gov.
Greg Abbott’s office and when
asked about the possibility of
closing the $3 billion gap, only
smiled.
“We’re hoping they’ll see it
our way,” he said.
Abbott spokeswoman Ame-
lia Chasse was non-committal
Monday, saying only, “Gov. Ab-
bott will consider any proposal
so-called “Robin Hood” funding
mechanism — even as a multi-
year court battle continues to
rage.
Unveiled Tuesday by the low-
er chamber’s leading schools ex-
pert, Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock,
the sweeping bill would increase
per-pupil funding for 94 percent
of the state’s 5.2 million public
school students — with some
law.
Texas has no state income
tax, meaning public education
funding relies heavily on local
property taxes and a “Robin
Hood” system under which
school districts in wealthier
parts of the state share funding
ber.
The problem may lie in the
Senate, which has focused more
on advancing school voucher
plans than freeing up additional
money for classrooms. While
Lawmakers restored about
$3.4 billion in funding in 2013.
school districts in wealthy areas,
Volunteer firefighters
charged with assault
Foster parents key to initiative
Among those eager to see
higher recruiting standards is
Paige Drew, a sophomore at
Sacramento State University
who spent 15 years in foster
care.
By David Crary
AP National Writer
The effort to improve the
lives of America’s foster chil-
dren may hinge on whether
state and local agencies can re-
cruit enough skilled, dedicated
foster parents who buy into the
concept.
Under a federal bill enacted
last fall, child-welfare officials
are directed to promote “nor-
malcy” for foster children —
encouraging their caretakers to
let them engage in a full range
of extracurricular activities on
par with other children.
This could mean a happier,
livelier household, but it also
entails greater decision-mak-
ing responsibilities. In the eyes
of some experts, that requires a
higher level of parenting skill
than has been expected of fos-
ter parents in the past.
In California and Florida —
among a handful of states with
their own “normalcy” laws —
child advocates are trying to
meet the recruiting challenge
with a program called the
Quality Parenting Initiative. It
acknowledges that foster par-
enting has an image problem
and seeks to attract a new wave
of motivated, capable adults
undeterred by higher expecta-
A
Fire Department in Waxa-
hachie. Alec Miller, 28, posted a
$75,000 bond and was released
Tuesday from the Ellis County
By David Warren
Associated Press
DALLAS — Volunteer fire-
fighters south of Dallas were ar-
rested on charges they held
down a man and sexually as-
saulted him at their fire station,
according to a court affidavit re-
leased Tuesday.
Five men ranging in age from
19 to 30 were charged with ag-
gravated sexual assault while a
23-year-old
charged with improper visual
recording for using a cellphone
to videotape the assault, the ar-
rest warrant affidavit showed.
Texas Rangers, who are lead-
ing the investigation and the af-
fidavit don’t say a motive for the
assault.
But Ellis County District At-
torney Patrick Wilson said it ap-
pears to be the result of a “rite of
initiation” for the victim.
At least one of the suspects is
a lieutenant with the Emergency
Services District No. 6 Volunteer
I
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1,
jail.
The toughest times were
during her high school years,
she said, describing a foster
family that often was unsup-
portive and occasionally abu-
sive. She advocates more rigor-
ous psychological screening of
prospective foster parents.
“I know it’s hard to find
them as it is, but you can’t let
just anybody be one,” she said.
Child-welfare agencies of-
ten have struggled to recruit
and retain top-notch foster
parents, said Jill Duerr Berrick,
co-director of the Center for
Child and Youth Policy at the
University of California, Berke-
ley. Citing an array of studies,
she said many foster parents
come from low-income house-
holds and face daily stresses
even aside from providing care
to traumatized children.
‘We have a system that re-
lies on strangers to open up
their homes to lovely, extraor-
dinary but very challenging
children, and to do it without
much training, support or su-
pervision,” she said.
He was named the depart-
ment’s 2014 officer of the year,
according to its Facebook page.
Online jail records did not indi-
cate an attorney for him.
The men were arrested Mon-
day along with Brittany Leanne
Parten, the woman accused of
recording the incident.
Ellis County Judge Carol
Bush said in a statement re-
leased to the Waxahachie Dai-
ly Light newspaper that Parten
is not a firefighter with the de-
partment.
Calls to the department
Tuesday went unanswered and
the Texas Department of Public
Safety declined to comment be-
yond a statement it released an-
nouncing the arrests.
Bush did not return a call for
comment on the incident.
./■
woman was
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
In this Feb. 26 photo, Paige Drew, who spent 15 years in
foster care, poses in Sacramento, Calif.
“Instead,
looking for beds, for people
who have space in their
homes,” Rodriguez said. “Our
system treats the foster parents
who come in as glorified baby
sitters, instead of people who
are going to be fully responsi-
ble for mental health interven-
tion, for helping with trauma.”
We need parents who will
be fierce advocates for their
children,” she added. “We need
to raise the prestige of foster
parenting so people think of it
as equal in value to the Peace
Corps.”
been
tions.
weve
One of its vocal proponents
is Jennifer Rodriguez, execu-
tive director of the San Francis-
co-based Youth Law Center. As
a youth, with a father in prison
and a mother battling schizo-
phrenia, she spent six years in
foster care, infused with re-
sentment as she bounced un-
loved from one group home to
another.
Traditional recruiting has
often failed to identify the peo-
ple who would be best at par-
enting troubled children, she
said.
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400-pound alligator gets
new home at preserve
a landowner in nearby Groves
called about an aggressive alli-
gator in a rural pond where chil-
dren swim.
Saurage went to the swampy
site to rope and remove the male
alligator, which he estimates is
35 to 40 years old.
Saurage says the alligator is
healthy and that he’s happy to
give the “majestic animal” a new
home.
Not seeing things as
clearly as you should?
r
I-1
Zf
nun
A 400-pound alligator safely
hauled out of a Southeast Texas
pond has a new home at a tour-
ist attraction that caters to ga-
tors.
OiilforFree
Cvniulidlion
\
SEE
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Gator Country preserve own-
er Gary Saurage said Tuesday
that the 11-foot reptile joins more
than 400 other alligators at the
preserve in Beaumont.
Saurage got the animal after
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The biggest creature at Gator
Country is a 12 foot, 6 inch alli-
gator nicknamed Kong.
— The Associated Press
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 249, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 8, 2015, newspaper, April 8, 2015; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124725/m1/3/: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .