Austin ISD caves to Union intimidation on Wage Rates

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

Sigh, of course they did:

In a split vote at its June 16 meeting, Austin ISD’s board of trustees adopted the federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage schedule as the schedule AISD uses to pay construction workers, and the board pledged to conduct an additional study to determine a living wage for workers.

Pipe fitters, laborers and representatives from Austin Interfaith and AISD employees union Education Austin urged the board to adopt Davis-Bacon and stop using what they called an outdated wage rate schedule, while others called Davis-Bacon “flawed” and asked the board to postpone the vote.

....

Initial work is moving forward on a few Austin ISD bond projects approved by voters in 2013. The district’s board of trustees decided to discuss potentially revising the wage rate structure after a group of local citizens at its April 28 meeting asked the district to halt work on bond projects until construction workers are being paid fair wages.

Davis-Bacon wage rates are based on a federal law requiring payment of prevailing wage rates for laborers.

At the June 16 meeting, trustee Tamala Barksdale made a motion to adopt Davis-Bacon rates, while trustee Ann Teich added the living wage floor amendment. The vote was 5–4, with trustees Cheryl Bradley, Lori Moya, Robert Schneider and board President Vincent Torres opposed.

Schneider said he is concerned about whether or not the district will be able to afford a wage increase coupled with paying for voter-approved 2013 bond projects in a timely manner.

Torres said he sees problems with Davis-Bacon prevailing wage determinations, including survey response errors and reliance on "inappropriately small and unrepresentative data sets."

While we're on the topic, learn more about the racist origins of Davis-Bacon here; money quote:

The Act was passed in order to prevent non-unionized black and immigrant laborers from competing with unionized white workers. The discriminatory effects continue, as even today minorities tend to be vastly under-represented in highly unionized skilled trades, and over- represented in the pool of unskilled workers.

Austin Community College calls $400 million November bond election

"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy."
1 Timothy 6:17

In case you weren't tapped out by $1.4 billion for an urban rail boondoggle, ACC is also lining up at the trough:

Austin Community College will ask area voters to approve a nearly $386 million bond package and 3 cent tax increase in November.

ACC board members approved the bond package and tax increase request June 16. District residents will vote on separate propositions for bond projects benefiting new and existing campuses. Also, if approved, ACC's 9.49 cent tax rate will incrementally increase 1 cent in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

The decision to seek bond money came after more than a dozen meetings and hours of board discussion. Multiple trustees questioned whether voter fatigue could negatively impact the results of this year's election in which there is also anticipated to be a multimillion-dollar transportation bond package put forth by the city of Austin.

Who cares if residents are being prices out of town when there's multimillion-dollar contracts to hand out?!?

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Update: Upon further reflection, it's worth pointing out that the ACC Highland campus, which will receive a good chunk of this bond, is also where the proposed urban rail line will end; seriously, who's getting paid on this one?!?

Lame-Duck Special Session: Invitation for Mischief

"A wise man fears and departs from evil,
But a fool rages and is self-confident."
Proverbs 14:16

This morning, we awoke to the following story on Breitbart Texas:

TEXANS PETITION PERRY FOR SPECIAL SESSION ON BORDER CRISIS

HOUSTON, Texas—Activist Texans are petitioning Texas Governor Rick Perry to call a special session of the Legislature to deal with the growing crisis on the Texas border with Mexico. The petition asks Gov. Perry to bring the Texas Legislature back into a forth special session to “develop and fund a border and port security plan utilizing state and local law enforcement.”

....

Over the Father’s Day weekend, many Texans gathered in a Facebook discussion thread to discuss the Texas Border Crisis and look for a solution. A conclusion of the discussion was that if the federal government was not going to secure the border then Texas can and should take the steps necessary to accomplish this task. The crisis came to a head earlier this month when Breitbart Texas released shocking photos depicting the deplorable living conditions of the recent surge in unaccompanied minors who are entering the country illegally in ever increasing numbers.

The idea grew out of a discussion involving a large number of people discussing the issue on Facebook. A spokesperson for the petition, Terri Hill, told Breitbart Texas that State Representative Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) joined in the conversation and said she has been working with the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Colonel Steve McCraw, to determine the cost of a sustained border security operation manned by Texas resources. Col. McCraw assured Riddle that Texas is capable of accomplishing the task of securing the border and executing the plan to achieve real results.

The cost is estimated to be approximately $1.3 million per week to secure the border ($67.8 million per year). The task now becomes, how to get the $67.8 million appropriated and put Col. McCraw and the Texas DPS to work. “I asked if a petition would help get the word out,” Hill said, “and help alert citizens to the severity of the matter and it was decided it would certainly be worth a shot.”

....

“Utilizing an online petition generator site,” Hill continued, “I created an account, entered our petition, made sure I included all the required information Representative Riddle said was necessary and we went live with it by 6:30 pm on Saturday evening.” The petition, Request for Immediate Texas Border Control, can be found online now. The petition states, "We, the undersigned, because the federal government has failed to act, call on the Texas Legislature to develop and fund a border and port of entry security plan utilizing state and local law enforcement."

A panic-stricken lame duck special session is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea.

In 2013, the 83rd Texas Legislature went on a wild spending spree.  It took them multiple special sessions to pass a pro-life law that should have sailed through during the general.  And people want to bring these clowns back into town?!?

While it's true that Governor Perry controls the agenda for any special session, it's also true that the legislators will be the ones actually writing the laws.  Does anyone think they won't abuse some vaguely defined charge like "border security" or "addressing the crisis on our border"?!?  Anyone?!?

Earlier this spring, we attended an interim Senate hearing that included a discussion about state-level border security efforts, as we wrote at the time:

In other words, you have a bunch of state and federal agencies with different sources of funding and accountable to no one not talking to each other and accomplishing nothing.

If we hastily pass poorly conceived legislation in a lame duck special session, it could make that problem MUCH worse.

In 2001/2, following 9/11, the Federal Government responded to panic stricken public demands to "do something" about terrorism.  The result was the TSA, the Patriot Act, and the Department of Homeland Security.  Do we really want to repeat this mistake on the Texas Border?!?

Furthermore, which Lt. Governor do you want to address this issue: Dan Patrick or David Dewhurst?!?

Nobody denies that the situation on our border is both a catastrophe and an outrage.  No one denies that the situation has deteriorated significantly in recent months.  But a lame duck special session isn't the appropriate mechanism to address it.  At best, a lame duck special session will add more bureaucracy to a system that already has too much of it.  If you're serious about border security, focus on electing Dan Patrick this fall, then address the issue calmly and rationally in the spring.

Never forget: The Margins Tax came out of a lame-duck special session....

Austin-American Statesman: Texas Dems Attack "Baseless"

"But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction;
Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;
But I will trust in You."
Psalm 55:23

[Author's note: Unfortunately, the original article is behind a paywall.  The text below is transcribed by hand from a paper copy.  Any minor errors are accidental.]

Ken Herman of the Austin-American Statesman calls B.S. on last week's Dem hysteria:

Dem gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis' team held a Tuesday conference call with journalists to chide that Repubs.  On the call was state Rep. Mary Gonzales, D-El Paso, who identifies as "pansexual," who called the GOP platform "extreme" and "dangerous" and said it "really said that people like me need to have therapy in order to be fixed, that people like may family shouldn't have the same access to education or they shouldn't ever really be here anymore."

Yes, Dems and Repubs differ on education, including how much to spend on it and whether public dollars should pay for private school tuition. Both sides claim their way would do the most good for the most kids. It's rhetoric, it's debatable and neither side's version is the panacea they'd like you to believe it is.

There's nothing, however, to debate about Gonzalez's effort to portray the GOP platform as evidence that Repubs believe "people like my family...shouldn't even really be here anymore." The comment was an out-of-bounds, knee-jerk effort born of Dems desire to portray Repubs as racists.

I can't see into Republicans' hearts (here is where Dems would insert a snarkism questioning whether there is such a thing), but I can see inside their platform. It is devoid of any call for the deportation of all Hispanics, a procedure which would cost Texas Repubs their junior U.S. Senator and the wife of the party's gubernatorial nominee.

The GOP platform supports legal immigration and opposes illegal immigration. "America is proudly a nation of immigrants," the platform says, going on to bemoan what everybody agrees is a broken immigration system.

There's a legitimate debate on the proper fix, but none calls for the deportation of legal resident, such as people in the Gonzalez family. I asked how she came to the conclusion that Repubs believe people like her family "shouldn't even really be here anymore."

"Some of their stances on immigration," she said. "I come from an immigrant family, so really their views and really taking out the Texas Solution. I was just referring to my immigrant family."

I asked if there are members of her family who are here illegally. She said there are not. I was mostly talking about the rhetoric that they were not wanted here," Gonzalez said, "I apologize for that."

Ouch.

Greg Abbott launches Bicentennial Blueprint

"The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way,
But the folly of fools is deceit."
Proverbs 14:8

One highlight of the Republican convention was General Abbott's speech.  It outlined a detailed conservative agenda that General Abbott intends to purusue as Governor.  We'll bring you the full speech as soon as it becomes available, but Team Abbott just released this web video:



Highlights:

• "The Bicentennial Blueprint will assure that Texans born today will live in a state with better schools."

• "It is time for government to listen to you, not the other way around." 

• "It will allow Texas to live up to our promise of greater opportunity to absolutely everyone, regardless of your race, your religion, or which zip code you come from."

The Plans:

• Read Abbott's economic agenda here.
• Point of Personal Privilege: It's FREAKIN' Excellent!!!

• Read Abbott's education agenda here and here and here.

• Read Abbott's "We the People" agenda here.

• Read Abbott's Health Care agenda here.

• Read Abbott's public safety agenda here.

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Update: Read the transcript of Abbott's speech:

Republican Party of Texas State Convention Speech: *Greg Abbott often deviates from prepared remarks. The following has been condensed for purposes of brevity.

Thank you Fort Worth. Thanks to my daughter Audrey for her introduction. From the moment I held her on the day she was born, I’ve thanked God for the precious gift of her life.

I’m proud to be joined by my beautiful wife Cecilia. She has a heart as big as Texas. But it’s her soul where you see her real strength. We were married for just two years when a huge oak tree crashed down onto my back leaving me paralyzed and forever changing our lives. It is so easy for brides and grooms to recite the wedding vow– for better for worse, in sickness and in health. But it is awesome to see your spouse truly embrace those vows like Cecilia has. Two months from now, we will celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary. That shows the character of the next First Lady of Texas.

[...]

We gather today under the promise that sets this state apart: That through hard work and big dreams each of us can succeed and each generation can surpass the previous one. Texas is the place where that promise still remains true. We're here today because we love this state too much to let the next four years in Texas look like the last six years under Barack Obama. I refuse to let our children be condemned to liberal policies that saddle them with debt, where the middle class is burdened with regulations that drive up costs and kill jobs, where government power overtakes individual freedom. I will not let them California our Texas.

Barack Obama and his operatives have set their sights on Texas. Liberal elites from the East Coast to the West Coast have fawned over and financed my opponent to try to remake Texas in their image. We’ve already seen that image. The President showed disdain for Texas values when – at a San Francisco cocktail party – he belittled Americans who “cling” to guns and God.

My opponent shares Barack Obama's mindset. She’s voted to restrict 2nd Amendment rights and even said she would “happily” sign gun restrictions into law. She took action against keeping God in our Pledge of Allegiance. And she stood for 13 hours to advocate abortion – even after five months. Of all things she then said she was pro-life because she wants every child to have a better chance in life. But for a child to have a chance in life – a child must first have a chance at life. I have news for the Obama Democrats: Texans value life. We trust in God. And Texans know the 2nd Amendment and the 10th Amendment are not suggestions - they are guaranteed rights.

My opponent even went to New York City and trashed Texas policies – calling our policies toxic. Toxic? Tell that to the leaders of Toyota who are moving their headquarters to Texas. Tell that to Catholic Latinas who praise Texas for protecting life. And tell that to the millions of middle class Texans who’ve landed a job in the state with the best business climate in America.

Talk about toxic – it’s my opponent’s record that's toxic to Texas. She didn’t just vote to raise taxes. She specifically targeted seniors and the disabled for higher taxes. She supports President Obama's EPA war on the Texas energy industry. And she's already said she would expand ObamaCare in Texas. Her prescription for Texas – is more government. My prescription? More freedom. You deserve a governor who will fight for freedom, for our future, for real Texas values. That’s why I’m proud to be your nominee for Governor of Texas.

This election is about two very different visions for Texas. What’s at stake is what kind of Texas children born today inherit when they graduate from college in 2036? 2036 is more than just 22 years from today. In 2036, we celebrate the bicentennial of Texas independence that put us on a pathway to become the greatest state in the nation. In 2036, we will look back at 200 years of accomplishments. At a victory at San Jacinto that gave birth to a Republic - and eventually the 28th State. At a frontier spirit that inspired generations of Texans to pioneer the way in the oil patch, on ranch lands and ultimately into outer space.

[...]

The bicentennial blueprint will ensure Texans born today will live in a state with better schools, better healthcare, safer communities, and – of course – the best job market in the country. My blueprint limits the size of government. It stimulates the private sector to create more jobs and lets you keep more of your money. My plan sets real spending limits in the Constitution. Your family has to live within a budget - government should too. My plan protects the Rainy Day Fund from being used like an ATM to pay for government operations. And my plan stops diverting transportation funding away from building roads. Money raised for roads should be spent on roads.

[...]

But Texans cannot prosper if they aren’t safe. My bicentennial blueprint offers new programs to crack down on horrendous crimes like human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault. And it makes schools safer for our children. And my plan will do what the federal government has failed to do: It will secure our porous border from the drug cartels and gangs that import crime to our state. This is more than just a border issue. We’ve seen the deadly danger of cartel activity infiltrate our schools and contaminate communities across the state. Our priorities are wrong when we live in a state that stops a valedictorian from mentioning God at a graduation speech but doesn’t stop drug cartels from crossing our border. As Governor, I will provide the tools and manpower we need to secure our border and I will enforce the rule of law.

The border is not the only thing the federal government is failing at. Just look at federal run healthcare. ObamaCare and VA care make one thing clear: the federal government doesn’t have a clue how to run healthcare. We need to get government out of healthcare and allow doctors and patients – not bureaucrats – to decide what’s best for our health. I’ve heard too many stories of patients losing their trusted doctor, seniors being excluded from the best hospitals, families being stuck with hefty bills, and doctors not only leaving their profession but leaving America with a shrinking supply of doctors. As Attorney General, I sued to stop ObamaCare. As Governor, I will continue to fight for a healthcare system that puts patients first and bureaucrats last. We need to look no further than the VA to see the future under Obamacare. No veteran who has fought for this country should suffer the indignity of being denied care due to bureaucratic bungling. It is time to renew this nation’s commitment to our warriors. Having served on the frontlines, they should go to the front of the line.

The cornerstone of my bicentennial blueprint is education. My wife has been both a teacher and a principal. We’ve seen how education can transform young lives so children can achieve things their parents couldn’t even dream of.

The job of the Governor is to set the vision. Here’s mine: Texas proudly ranks number one in the nation for job creation. We’re number one for energy. We’re number one for exports, for farms, for so many things. The time has come for Texas to set its sights on another number one ranking. Texas should be number one in the nation for educating our children.

[...]

My bicentennial blueprint focuses on helping every child learn to read and do math – at grade level – by third grade. My plan returns genuine local control to schools by allowing schools to opt out of mandates from Austin. Teachers and parents know far better how to educate our children. than do a bunch of bureaucrats in Austin or Washington. And my plan will stop forcing teachers to teach to so many high-stakes tests. When Texas reaches its bicentennial – it won’t matter how any child did on a four hour test. What will matter is if our children are prepared for the challenges of tomorrow. My bicentennial blueprint ensures Texas children will be ready for those challenges.

[...]

Our fight is not with another candidate or party. It's a fight for the future of every Texan. And I will never stop fighting for their future. To Texans looking for leadership that doesn’t take them for granted - that speaks to their highest hopes and deepest concerns - I am your candidate. To Texans wary of modern day politics who want candidates to say what they are for - not just what they are against - I am your candidate. And for Texans looking for a champion of Texas values - for a leader who won’t back down from the fight for liberty - I am your candidate.

Let me close by sharing a lesson I learned in a different kind of race. Running track. After practice was over and we had run all the required laps, we decided to run just one more. That extra work helped me go undefeated in the regular season. I’ve applied that lesson in everything I do. After the accident that left me in this wheelchair, I had to find a way to rebuild my strength. After work – long after the sun had set – I would come home, change clothes, and roll four blocks down the road to an 8-story parking garage. To work out – I would roll up that garage repeatedly. The first floor of the parking garage was easy. With each floor, it seemed like the garage got steeper and harder to climb - but I wasn’t about to quit. As I pushed harder and harder – ignoring the pain – I just kept saying to myself: just one more, just one more, just one more.

I apply the same lesson to this campaign. When I finish making all my calls for the day, I make just one more. When I go to events and shake hands before I leave, I shake just one more.

My friends, we have more than a track meet to win; more than a parking garage to climb – we're fighting for the very future of Texas. If we're going to make Texas freer, stronger and better, then I need you to join me in doing just one more. If every day you can knock on just one more door, make just one more call, send just one more email, take just one more person to the polls – then we will do more than win just one more election - we will win the next generation.

Thank you.

God Bless you all.

And may God Bless Texas.

The School District without Debt

So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.”
John 6:12

TPPF has a fantastic profile on one of the most efficient school districts in Texas:



Highlights:

• One of the most cost efficient school districts in the state.

• Mumford ISD: $5,571 per student; State Average: $11,642

• Consistently rated exemplary.

• 3 keys: Less Administration, Less Bureaucracy, Lower Cost of Education.

• $14 million in cash reserves; NO DEBT WHATSOEVER!!!

• "You don't build unless you have the money to pay for it.

• "We get the most out of our money."

Bryan Hughes runs 1080 around Anderson Cooper

"but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—"
Ephesians 4:15

Last night, our friend Bryan Hughes went into the Lion's Den on CNN and kicked Anderson Cooper's rear end up one side of the street and down the other:



Highlights:

• #BOOM: "The language in the platform is in the platform because we want to make sure that people have rights.  We heard from people who wanted access to that kind of counseling, that kind of therapy, and so we believe in free speech and free choice."

• "The platform begins in Texas at the precinct level and so, in this case, the neighbor of one of our delegates had been through this therapy, it was helpful to him, and he was concerned it might be taken away."

• "This is about giving people choices, if they want this, it should be available to them."