The Bluebonnet
Newsletter for Texas College Democrats Affiliates
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REDISTRICTING TEXAS
The 2010 United States Census showed Texas
to be the fast growing state in the nation, with a high
increase of Hispanic population. With this comes the
redistricting of state congressional districts. Above is
the state map as proposed by Representative Burt R.
Solomons (R-Carrollton). Once again, Republicans are
attempting to further their influence, bringing 29 His-
panic-majority districts to 28, though Hispanics far ex-
ceeded growth of any other ethnicity. In addition, the
two Asian-majority districts of Houston would be com-
bined into one. Currently, 101 of 150 (68%) of the State
House of Representatives are held by Republicans.
UNIFORM ELECTIONS
By Political Affairs Director Amber Hastings
Uniform elections in Texas are scheduled to
take place on May 14, 2011. These elections are the
municipal elections, which determine city councils,
mayors, school boards, and bond issues. These issues
are incredibly important and matter to individual com-
munities. They can change the way a community runs.
In the
state of Texas,
voter turnout is
usually less than
10% during mu-
nicipal elections.
There are more
than 1,000 mu-
nicipalities in the
state, and each
one will be hosting elections in May. In preparation for
these elections, please know that the last day to apply
for a ballot by mail is May 6th. Early voting for these
elections will be May 2-May 10. See you at the polls!"
STATE AND FEDERAL UPDATES
Texas:
HR 1 (State Budget) PASS: 98-49
SB 354 (CHL on Campus): Stalled
Unemployment: 8.2%
United States:
HR 1 (Federal Budget) PASS: 81-19
Unemployment: 8.8%
KATY ISD STUDENTS WALK OUT
After learning of impending
layoffs of teachers, on April 14th, stu-
dents at multiple Katy ISD high
schools protested, partaking in a walk
out. 350 Katy ISD Employees face un-
employment in the near future due to
a 100 million dollar district deficit.
Schools all over the state will face
similar situations as HR 1 cuts educa-
tion $8 billion. As for Governor Perry’s
response to this incident and his com-
ments on the budget, "The fact of the
matter is, I feel quite confident that
the Texas Legislature will fund our
schools appropriately. At the end of
the day, being in the classroom is a
lot more important to them than pro-
testing, particularly during school
hours. If they want to come here on
Saturdays and Sundays or after
school, have at it."
Petition to Express the
Grievances of Students
Because Texas Republicans in the
State House do not care about college
students.
Click the image below to sign, make
your voice heard
Interested in the 2010 Census Re-
sults? Take a look at the New York
Times Census Mapped out. Click on
the Map to check out the results
TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASS HR 1
On April 3, 2011, the Texas House of Represent-
atives passed HR 1, commonly known as the Texas
State Budget, 98-49. All 98 votes in favor were Repre-
sentatives from the Republican Party, while not one
Democrat voted in favor of the bill. Governor Perry ap-
plauded the House vote declaring it, “another step to-
ward achieving fiscal responsibility.”
TCD disagrees.
The passing of HR1 is neither fiscally or ethical-
ly responsible, and is a disgrace to the word responsible
to be implied as such. The Texas House Budget is un-
acceptable and leads to further degradation of the
state, with funding for education and health care re-
duced to irresponsible amounts.
It is no secret the two areas most heavily defunded are
education and health & human services. In education,
the cuts will affect students and teachers alike. At the
collegiate level, cuts to TEGs are immense and grants
will be completely unavailable to incoming students.
Nearly $400 million cut from Work Study Programs on-
ly add to the inability of students to afford education
expenses. The overall ambiguity and uncertainty has
prevented financial aid departments at universities and
colleges from allowing certain aid figures to students in
much need, an increasing necessity as tuition skyrock-
ets. This serves as a serious issue, increased student
enrollment is expected with a projected number of
494,283 students for 2013. At the primary and second-
ary levels, Schools overall will be underfunded by an
average of $800 per student. Resulting from this lack of
funding are the expected layoffs of over 108,000 school
employees. Other areas facing severe defunding are
special education, fine arts, and science.
In addition to cuts in funding, HR1 pushes the
conservative agenda, limiting LGBT outreach. In a pro-
vision for public universities to receive funding, it is
required that schools with LGBT resource centers es-
tablished Heterosexual resource centers, being equally
funded. While there is not any infringement on the
rights of the school, it does limit the ability to provide
such services with the decrease of funding and is a sly,
political move by Republicans to discriminate based on
sexual orientation. If this was not enough, Republicans
voted down a Democrat-proposed amendment to re-
quire schools to report incidents of sexual orientation-
based harassment, 97-49.
On the Health and Human Services front, Medi-
care, health care provided for elderly, faces $4 billion in
cuts, forcing numerous nursing homes to close due to
insufficient funds. These are our grandparents, the
greatest generation who provided us with a free country
in which we live today, apparently some take that for
granted.
When all is said and done about the cuts to
spending it comes down to this, fiscal responsibility
does not include decreasing the amount of people in
college, putting teachers out of a job, and leaving chil-
dren with disorders out of an education. Instead of us-
ing the $9.2 billion in the Rainy Day fund to compen-
sate for the deficit brought upon by the so-called “party
of fiscal responsibility,” Republicans would rather put
the sick and elderly out into the streets, discriminate
against non-heterosexuals, and do nothing to aid stu-
dents trying to pay for college. Make no mistake; they
have their priorities figured out, from the legislature to
the governor’s office. For this reason, Democrats must
unite and take preventative action against the bullying
politics of Republican lawmakers. Tell Republicans
their definition of responsible is not your definition of
responsible.
TCD is taking action, below is an official petition
against the cuts to education in HR1. As college stu-
dents, we are obligated to ensure a better future for
ourselves, and more importantly, those who are to
come; we are Texans for Tomorrow.
http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1067486-l0jNUFabF0