If you’d like to read more, check out #5 here: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/funding/nonedfaq.pdf

For details on the conference, see http://socialthinking.com.

I cannot tell you how many times I said Aha! the first time I heard MGW speak. The information I learned on social thinking helped me understand why my son does the things he does which was a big step in making things better (and explaining him to teachers).

* Thanks to Alli Kat at AutismTweetsTX for research help

Day 3 of Donneil Smith’s Manslaughter Trial – EverythingLubbock.com.

Please sign the petition to bring justice for Michael Nicholson: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/justice4michael/index.html

- Sir Francis Bacon

No one enjoys paying taxes. We are told that is part of what we do as a society – we pool our resources to create programs and services for the common good. We are frequently reminded that we all benefit from a well-educated society. And who can say no to more money going to children or law enforcement of any sort.

Like throwing a buck at the homeless guy on the corner, we vote, we pay, we feel good. We’re proud of ourselves, and we tell our neighbors how good we are. Feel-good taxes are designed this way – a sort of societal penance. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s look at what actually happens to that feel-good money we are all obliged to pay.

Your taxes fund public education*.

Your taxes fund the Texas Education Agency, charged with oversight of public education*.

Your taxes fund state schools.

Your taxes fund DADS, the agency charged with oversight of the state schools.

*If everyone had access to appropriate public education, fewer people would need institutions like the state schools – more people would have the skills to live independent, productive lives.

Some really horrible things have occurred in state schools. Your taxes fund agencies to oversee the state schools to make sure these types of things do not occur.

Your taxes fund Adult Protective Services, part of the Department of Family and Protective Services, which you also fund.

Your taxes fund the police departments that investigate when horrible things occur.

Your taxes fund the district attorneys charged with prosecuting people who carry out horrible deeds in state schools.

That’s a lot of money.

Michael Nicholson was murdered in the Lubbock State School over clothes. To date no one has been prosecuted, and the Lubbock D.A. has stopped talking.

State School Death a Homicide

Improving Care Environment Proves Difficult for Lubbock State School

Officials Say They Started Making Changes Right Away

From Michael Nicholson’s mother:

“I am Michael Nicholson’s mother, he had an obsession with his clothing and would only wear one set (they had all his other clothing locked in a closet) and got agitated when they were being laundered. That is what was happening on the morning he was killed. Mr Smith decided to put other clothing on him and Michael would remove the clothing as soon as he could. Mr Smith was restraining him while other staff members dressed him and Mr Smith got violent after about two hours of abuse where he choked him with a towel while restraining him. MICHAEL WAS NEVER TO BE RESTRAINED DUE TO A REPAIRED BROKEN NECK , for some reason that was left out of this addition of the story. The State School had inserviced all staff a couple of weeks earlier that Michael was never to be restrained. Michael was not fighting back he was trying to get away from the three staff that were torturing him, he was cornered in HIS bedroom with no way out. I have the reports from Adult Protective Services, the Lubbock State School and the Medical Examiner’s autopsy report. The reports prove that Mr Smith laid across his torso until he was asphyxiated, blue and not breathing, the staff finished dressing him and then went to get an oxygen bottle (which they could not figure out how to use for a while) before CPR was started. He never recovered. The DA in Lubbock has informed me that a decision will be made this week about charges sent to the grand jury. So far the only punishment for the staff has be losing their jobs.”

In San Antonio a state school employee physically forced a resident to perform oral sex on another resident. Although this happened nearly a year ago, there have been no charges or arrests. A pervert was fired, and that was that. When the City of San Antonio received a public information request for information related to the police reports in this case, the city went straight to the Office of the Attorney General for a ruling. San Antonio State School Worker Fired for Sexual Abuse

Haseeb Chisty was beaten so severely by a Denton State School employee that he went from being able to walk, talk and eat the cheeseburgers he loved to a life confined to a wheelchair and fed by a tube. Although Chisty’s abuser confessed his crime to a drug counselor who then reported the confession, investigators still refused to issue a finding of abuse. Obstacle Hinders Family’s Quest for Justice / State School, Where a Retarded Man was Beaten Severely, Has Legal Immunity

In Corpus Christi state school employees used cell phones to film staged fights between disabled residents. Corpus Christi State School Investigated after ‘Fight Club’ Videos of Residents Found

So much money from hardworking Texans – your money – is going to fund people who do not do their jobs. It is going to fund and protect murderers.

When Hannah Overton’s disabled foster son, unbeknownst to her, got into the pantry, she was charged with murder when he died from salt poisoning. She sits in prison awaiting appeal while true murderers from the state schools walk free. The Wrongful Conviction of Hannah Overton

The obvious lesson is to be sure you work in the right environment if you get that itch to murder. If you are an exhausted tax paying adult with a disabled child, paying and paying and getting no respite, no access to appropriate education, no response from the agencies responsible for oversight… When these things happen, you’d better not go to sleep. You’d better not collapse from exhaustion. Texas government protects Texas government, and it comes after you, the sugar daddy, if you make a mistake.

Your taxes also fund the prison where this mother sits, charged with murder.

Still feeling good?

Vote carefully. Call your representatives. Demand answers from the Lubbock D.A. with a quick call to 806-775-1118 – ask them who is being prosecuted for the murder of Michael Nicholson in the Lubbock State School. Who has been arrested? A bad ass dude walks in to a disabled man’s room and puts a towel around his neck until the man turns blue and dies. Five witnesses, NO CHARGES FILED. A mom takes a nap and is in prison for MURDER.

The family sought reimbursement from Richardson ISD for the private placement of their daughter in the residential treatment center, and the family was awarded $91K. Richardson ISD parents were outraged at this huge amount of money going to one flawed child.

The district appealed, and it all landed in the 5th Circuit. The 5th Circuit said, well yes, we cannot find a way to deny you this money so we’re going to jumble things up, re-write the rules and make you, family, go back to court to see if you still qualify for this reimbursement under our new rules.

Meanwhile the district, with unchecked access to our tax dollars, will throw more and more money at their private attorneys to fight this child’s right to a free and appropriate education.

From public education watchdog site Keep Eanes Informed:

One school district, one child, one parent at a time, private attorneys retained by school districts get RICH, RICH, RICH …

The laws designed to protect our children are being manipulated by a cottage industry of private attorneys who have found a cash-cow opportunity to use the public’s education tax dollars to enrich themselves by battling the rights of Texas schoolchildren.

In 06-07, according to the Texas Education Agency, Texas public schools spent more than $58,000,000 on private attorneys.  Fifty-eight million tax dollars that the people of Texas thought were going to educate children were diverted to private law firms.  

We must find a way to stop the flow of education dollars from public school districts, without limit or accountability, into the pockets of private attorneys who benefit while children suffer. 

This fiscal accountability issue affects each and every Texas taxpayer.

The $91K in reimbursement pales in comparison to what this district has spent and will continue to spend on private attorneys to fight this family. And the cost of simply providing this child with an appropriate education in the first place would quite possibly pale in comparison to the $91K.

The outrage of parents in Richardson ISD against this family is misplaced. Look to your district, look to your elected officials like Allen Vaught who ran on proactive solutions for public schools, and ask them why they are using children with disabilities to funnel millions of education dollars each year to their pals in the private law firms instead of using that money to educate those children – which is their charge.

With the publicity this case receives and the misplaced anger of people in the community toward this family, other parents of children with disabilities will shy away from Richardson ISD. They will privately or home school their children while continuing to fund abuse of children like their own through their property tax dollars which go directly to schools they cannot safely use. Take the child, leave the money.

Remember, as you attack this family, they are continuing to fund your school district, they are now forced to continue to fund their own private attorney to get their child educated by the system they fund, their tax dollars are funding the private attorneys contracted to battle their child, and they are funding private placement for their child. This is David and Goliath in the purest sense, and taxpayers need to fully understand this before rushing to assist Goliath.

Texas children with disabilities are subject to a set of laws that legalizes and promotes their marginalization. A more appropriate focus for community anger is at your school district and at school-hugging politicians like Allen Vaught (also a private attorney) who, through complete inaction, support this system that takes massive amounts of money from your childrens’ classrooms and flips it to their pals in the many private law firms suckling the public education titty dry.

Click here to read the entire article.

During a recent Texas Advocates conference, Mike Bright of The ARC of Texas presented an award to Addie Horn of the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

A little background on these organizations:

The Texas Advocates is a group of self-advocates from across the state. The Texas Advocates, whose website is part of The ARC of Texas site, receive grant money through the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities. That grant money is administered through The ARC of Texas.

The ARC of Texas is a group that is supposed to advocate for people with disabilities.

The Arc of Texas is the oldest and largest nonprofit, volunteer organization in the state committed to creating opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be included in their communities and to make the choices which affect their lives. The Arc supports families, advances public policies, provides training programs, and builds a statewide network of advocates.

Mike Bright is executive director of The ARC of Texas.

Addie Horn is the head honcho at DADS, the Texas Department of Aging and Disabilities Services. DADS is responsible for oversight of the state schools.

During Addie’s reign, 53 people died in Texas state schools of abuse or neglect.

In that same time, the Justice Department was at every single state school in Texas and found multiple violations.

The Corpus Christie Fight Clubs occurred under Addie Horn’s watch.

So here’s how it went down. During this Texas Advocates conference, Mike Bright of The ARC of Texas was selected to throw accolades at Addie Horn of DADS. Supposedly this award was from Texas Advocates, so why Mike Bright was chosen to actually give it to Addie Horn is beyond me – unless The ARC of Texas and Texas Advocates have the kind of tight relationship that almost makes them one and the same. Why didn’t someone from Texas Advocates give Addie her award?

Remember, The ARC of Texas is a group that is supposed to exist to make improvements to a broken, abusive, neglectful system to help the people with disabilities they supposedly represent.

An award honoring Addie Horn, the head of DADS, which oversees the state school horrors, is exactly the type of thing from which Mike Bright and The ARC of Texas should be furiously distancing themselves. DADS is a problem if you are actually advocating for people with disabilities. This is the system, and fighting for improvements to the system is theoretically why Mike Bright and ARC of Texas exist.

So why did Mike Bright give Addie Horn this award? You tell me. Better yet, ask him yourself: mbright@thearcoftexas.org

If the Texas Advocates had asked Jeff Garrison-Tate of Community NOW to give this award to Addie Horn, he would have said hell no.

This award should have come from the self-advocates who actually came up with this idea.

Several years ago, Mike Bright (ARC of Texas) sent a letter to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities stating that they no longer wish to participate in an organization known as the Texas Disability Policy Consortium. This is a type of umbrella organization for disability advocacy groups. Mr. Bright states that the ARC of Texas doesn’t like activism. The ARC of Texas doesn’t like folks in wheelchairs chaining themselves to buildings and participating in civil disobedience. The ARC of Texas says this is offensive. The ARC of Texas distances itself from self-advocates who are doing anything they can to make their lives better.

Some member organizations of the DPC have engaged in strident and, at times, offensive advocacy strategies to bring media and policy maker attention to issues. While such strategies may be considered appropriate by those organizations, we believe them to alienate the very policy makers whose support is critical and to work against common interests. The Arc does not want to be publicly identified as being in coalition with the organizations that engage in such advocacy activities.

The ARC of Texas receives federal and state money to advocate for people with disabilities, yet the ARC of Texas does not want to associate with activists and self-advocates. And the ARC of Texas is perfectly happy to slobber all over Addie Horn.

If you support and applaud and honor a failing and harmful system, you are throwing the people you claim to represent under the bus. What does that make you?

Answer: part of the problem.

The ARC of Texas recently sent out a letter begging for money. Due to the hard economic times we are in financial trouble, etc.

Good luck with that, ARC of TX. The advocacy world is changing, and people are getting tired of waiting around for ARC of Texas to do something beyond saying “Boo hoo, this is terrible” to the press. This isn’t the first time the ARC of Texas has had credibility problems, but for the love of this state I sure hope this is the last of it.

- Pam Meyercord, Texas Parent PAC

Here is your promised update: The new sprayground at Ferguson Park has 2 new porta-potties, including one with handicapped accessibility, so that may help the nearly 1300 kids at Truett who have to share one restroom.

Word on the street says 60 Iranian families are moving into one of the neighborhoods that feed into Truett Elementary. In response, Truett is getting 2 more trailers.

Yesiree, it just keeps getting better and better over here. Thank you again, Allen Vaught, for your proactive solutions for our neighborhood school. Any criminals who may be working in our neighborhood school also thank you for protecting their criminal records with your support of the Farrar Amendment.  There probably aren’t any criminals working at a nice school like Truett – I am sure qualified people are lined up out the door hoping for a shot at working in these conditions.

The district 107 autism families who continue to home school in relative isolation thank you. The middle class families struggling to educate children without doing them the disservice of putting them in horrid conditions with possible criminals for 7 hours every day thank you.

Here are a few more pictures of our neighborhood since you don’t visit this part of your district too often. These pictures were taken from the same spot on Inadale.

Truett Trailer Park and a sack of trash

Bishop Lynch expansion, next to Truett Trailer Park (note that there are no wheels on BL's new building)

I can’t wait to see what you come up with next, Representative Vaught, and you have certainly earned bragging rights for campaign season. I’ll be right there to help you boast.

- Ayn Rand

First off, congratulations to Truett Elementary for winning $326.71 in the Crappiest school in America contest. Spend your winfall wisely!

At the same time, I am sorry to learn that the city is cutting the funds for the after school program at Truett which serves 50 students from 3-6pm every day. This program provides a safe place and after-school tutoring for many children in Allen Vaught’s District 107.

We would all like to see things get better instead of worse for the children and neighborhoods in our community. It’s the reason you were elected.

- Pam Meyercord, Texas Parent PAC

Ready for this? Here’s the latest from Truett Trailer Park deep in the heart of District 107:

This school in Allen Vaught country is begging for $10K from a private company’s “shittiest school in America” competition. If you’d like to vote for Truett Elementary as the shittiest school in America and help them get $10K from Big Lots, please click here and vote 3 times a day until July 12.

Be sure to watch the video, because there are some things I’d like you to notice aside from the obvious which I profiled in Welcome to Truett Trailer Park last year.

First, please take note of the many spelling errors in this very public video. Go ask the principal, Tiffany Nemec, for a tour of Truett and ask yourself if you would be willing to work in those conditions. I am not saying that everyone who works at Truett is incapable of spelling “poses” but the best and brightest simply are not going to work in conditions that set everyone involved up to fail and fail hard.

Truett Elementary

I’d also like you to notice the comparison with Bishop Lynch High School which sits right across Inadale from Truett Trailer Park. I was saving this for a rainy day, but let’s go ahead and compare these schools now.

Bishop Lynch

The contrast between Bishop Lynch and Truett is stark on the surface. But when you look at the numbers, there’s not a huge difference. The average per pupil amount in the state of Texas is $10,162 and Bishop Lynch tuition is $10,400.

However, for that $250 difference, Bishop Lynch has been able to expand to meet the needs of the student population (3 times in the past 10 years), work with the community to forge healthy relationships and turn out a bunch of well-educated kids who are prepared for college. The facilities and landscaping are a source of pride in our neighborhood, and thankfully block the view of the Truett trailers for people passing down Ferguson.

Bishop Lynch isn’t perfect. There have been financial scandals that hurt the school, but the problems are resolved by firing thieves and tightening financial oversight. Parent and student satisfaction is watched closely, because the parents have the option to leave. They are not tethered to Bishop Lynch, and when they leave, the money follows them. It would be ridiculous to pay for something you do not use.

So what’s the real difference in these schools, District 107? How much of that $10,162 is actually making it to Truett Trailer Park? I don’t have an exact number for that, but it is less than $5K.

Do you remember last fall when I was trying to figure out what exactly a voucher is? If not, it’s here. If you are still confused, you aren’t alone. Here’s more.

Here’s where I’m going with this. In a strange turn of events, something emerged from this past legislative session. Allen Vaught and his gang of *waaah SB 1000 is a voucher* Tools put together a bill called HB 130.

HB 130 has done something huge for our state by providing a working definition of the word voucher from the anti-voucher folks themselves.

HB 130 was the same as SB 1000 with one key difference: The administration got a cut of the kids’ cash. HB 130 was cool with using public education cash to send kids to private schools. Religious schools were not excluded, so that’s cool, too.

Here’s the difference between Truett Trailer Park and Bishop Lynch, District 107: Bishop Lynch spends that money in the classroom. Truett spends that money on an administration that has proven over and over again that it is a terrible steward of our children’s money and quite possibly a front for a crime syndicate.

A proactive solution for Truett Elementary, Mr. Vaught, would be to cut out that waste and send the $10,162 directly to Tiffany Nemec.

But that is a voucher, according to Vaught himself. If the administration doesn’t get their mitts on the money designated for the neighborhood school, it is suddenly an SB 1000 situation, not an HB 130.

Let me tweak Pam Meyercord’s thoughts on Allen Vaught to reflect the actual situation:

“Allen Vaught unquestionably supports our corrupt administration and is proactive in finding solutions that protect the adults who exist off our taxes at the expense of the children in our failing and dangerous neighborhood schools.”

Don’t forget to vote for Truett as the crappiest school in America for the next few days. Thanks to Allen Vaught and his proactive solutions for our District 107 neighborhood schools we may actually win! Go District 107 – let’s be the best at being the worst!

- Civil Servants’ Year Book

Although there is no history of asthma in our families, our son suddenly developed severe asthma when he was a toddler. He must carry an albuterol rescue inhaler with him at all times, and during certain times of the year his activities are limited by his health. He also has a nebulizer at home, but he cannot leave the house without his rescue inhaler.

In the past we were able to get his inhaler every month for $4. The major pharmacies provided a list of commonly prescribed medicines at this cost, and it was a huge help to consumers who either do not have access to health insurance, do not choose to purchase health insurance or who, like us, purchase health insurance which we can hardly afford to use.

I’ve noticed our health insurance costs have steadily risen along with our deductibles and copays while our covered amounts decrease and the medicines we are permitted to use are more tightly dictated. In fact, none of the asthma maintenance medicines that keep him from having to use his rescue inhaler so much are covered even though at one time under the same policy they were. Weird, huh?

Wonder where all that is headed.

Sheeple

So I went to get my son’s rescue inhaler a few months ago, and I was told things have changed. In order to save the planet we must now pay $40/month for half as much medicine in my son’s rescue inhaler.

Here’s how it works: We pay $40 for his inhaler, 10 times what we used to pay, but we only receive half the amount. Our insurance only covers the purchase of one per month, so we are on our own to buy a second one for $120.

There is twice as much medical waste, and the cost to our family has risen from $4/month to $160/month.

I’ll confess I am the product of a Texas public school and cannot tell you the % increase – but I can tell you that it’s totally jank.

Here’s how partisan politics works for the government and against people like you and me:

First, you create a polarizing non-issue

Second, you challenge the masses to take an emotional position and begin bickering back and forth

Third, government moves in to save the people.

In this case, the planet is saved by doubling medical waste and dipping into our family’s already tight finances at the expense of our child.

Everyone put on your superhero capes and give yourselves a pat on the back.

- Anais Nin

Allen Vaught said of SB 1000, no way lady, that’s a voucher. No way am I going to support something that would reiterate existing federal disability law at the state level. No way am I going to support something that says if your crappy neighborhood school cannot or will not provide FAPE to your child with autism they must fund that child’s FAPE in a private setting. Vaught was perfectly aware of the major regression our son faced after only 3 months trapped in an inappropriate classroom. Our son and our family have been through a lot in his short life, and that is one huge nightmare we should never have been put through. Like thousands of others, we were stuck with a suffering child and a school that was daring us to sue.

From the Supreme Court:

Court says public must pay for private special ed

Associated Press Writer Jesse J. Holland,

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has ruled that parents of special education students who opt for private school instead of trying the public system cannot be barred from seeking public reimbursement for their tuition costs.

The court ruled 6-3 Monday in favor of a teenage boy from Oregon whose parents sought to force their local public school district to pay the $5,200 a month it cost to send their son to a private school.

Federal law calls for school districts to reimburse students or their families for education costs when public schools do not have services that address or fulfill the students’ needs. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the nation’s special education students are entitled to a “free and appropriate public education.”

Schools have argued that the law says parents of special education students must give public special education programs a chance before seeking reimbursement for private school tuition.

But advocacy groups and parents of some special education students contend that forcing them to try public schools first could force children, especially poor ones, to spend time in an undesirable situation before getting the help they need.

Justice John Paul Stevens said in his majority opinion that the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a school district to pay for private special ed services if the public school doesn’t have appropriate services.

“We conclude that IDEA authorizes reimbursement for the cost of special education services when a school district fails to provide a FAPE and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special education or related services through the public school,” Stevens said.

In the case before the Supreme Court, the family of a teenage Oregon boy diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — who was identified only as T.A. — sued the school district, saying the school did not properly address the student’s learning problems. The family is seeking reimbursement for the student’s tuition, which cost $5,200 a month. The family paid a total of $65,000 in private tuition.

In its appeal, the Forest Grove School District said students should be forced to at least give public special education programs a try before seeking reimbursement for private tuition. If not, parents would bypass public schools and go directly to private school — and then ask for reimbursement from school systems already burdened by ever-increasing costs.

The court’s decision does not require reimbursement, but Stevens said school officials “must consider all relevant factors, including the notice provided by parents and the school district’s opportunities for evaluating the child, in determining whether reimbursement for some or all of the cost of the child’s private school education is warranted.”
Justice David Souter, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.

“Given the burden of private school placement, it makes good sense to require parents to try to devise a satisfactory alternative within the public schools,” Souter said in the dissent.

This is the court’s second attempt at resolving this issue. The high court split 4-4 on a similar case fromNew York City two years ago. Justice Anthony Kennedy recused himself in the New York case but was among those who ruled on the Oregon case.

Nationwide, the number of special education students placed in private schools at public expense has not changed significantly over the last two decades, Justice Department lawyers said, citing statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. Just under 67,000 pupils were in private placements in 2007 — just 1.1 percent of the country’s nearly 6 million special education students.

The case is Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 08-305.

And there you have it.

Click here to read a Wright’s Law analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision.

—————————————-

I am editing this post to add my own opinion since my phone is ringing off the hook, and my email is full of “Hooray” messages.

This ruling was a decision on a disability law that has been in existence since the 70s. Here’s what this decision does:

1. It gives publicity to the fact that children with disabilities should not have to suffer and be punished with an inappropriate educational environment. People who have not walked a mile are now wiggling their necks and saying why shouldn’t *those* kids have to at least try public school. The answer to that, of course, is FAPE, but that is complicated for the world at large to understand, and the press has not bothered with an explanation.

2. This decision reinforces the fact that you must sue your way to the U.S. Supreme Court to receive FAPE.

[An Ohio family had to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court just to get the right to sue their school district without hiring an attorney (which they could not afford after all those school taxes and the massive expense involved in raising a child with a disability). ]

3. In Texas this means in order to receive FAPE you must sue and appeal and appeal and appeal. To get to the U.S. Supreme Court you must make it past the 5th Circuit in New Orleans. Look up the decisions coming out of that court, and best of luck to you. This court is hopelessly biased toward schools and their private attorneys.

If you win in Texas, this is no cause for celebration. You will get your appeals papers in the mail. The private law firms like Bracewell & Giuliani (yes, that Republican Giuliani’s firm) and Jim Walsh’s WABAGS that the schools hire with our education dollars will appeal. The private law firms know that sooner or later you will be in the 5th Circuit, and that’s the end of the line.

[The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act puts the burden of proof for FAPE on the schools, but it allows states to tighten that and put it on the parents. Most states have not done this, but Texas has.]

Someone on here asked me to do even more of Allen Vaught’s job for him than I already have. Someone in comments asked me to stop whining and give him some ready-made bills to file.

Here’s one, boys: Switch the burden of proof for FAPE back to the schools.

I am not an attorney or living off the backs of tax payers, but I would be happy to write the bill for you, too, Representative Vaught. Then you will have something substantial to wave around during your next campaign on proactive solutions for neighborhood schools.

- Anonymous

“I’m opposed to the voucher program, I campaigned against it, I voted against it, but my heart goes out to these people because to them that’s the only ray of hope they see”

- Allen Vaught, co-author of HB 130 voucher

This was a good move, Governor Perry – one that quite possibly avoided a huge class action discrimination suit from Texas parents of children with disabilities.

Raise Your Hand Texas/Vaught/Texas Parent PAC/Bill Ratliff/Mike Moses may have dropped some tears in their beers last night, but despite not getting this massive babysitting program, they still got their money.

“Perry wrote in his veto statement that the money would be better used to expand the number of children served in the existing program.

“Under the funding formula for the existing grant program, $25 million would serve more than 27,000 students over the next biennium, which is 21,000 students more than the estimated 6,800 students that would have been served under the bill’s proposed program – or a 305 percent increase,” Perry wrote.

But Patrick noted that the $25 million does not provide the districts the full amount needed to offer full-day classes, so the districts will still bear significant costs.

Even with the veto, those districts will get the money but the quality standards will not take effect.”

From the beginning HB 130 has been a bill that employed a selective voucher stance to push partisan politics. I don’t believe anyone has a problem with the HB 130 kids getting what they need, but not from the exact same legislators who scream about camel noses and vouchers whenever a private facility is accessed for kids with disabilities. Remember, private facilities are already publicly funded in the millions each year to warehouse the kids the system has failed.

You must stop using slick words to deny our children options while pushing your schemes.

An autism advocate asks more good questions of HB 130 supporters, state representatives, the press and even Governor Perry.

By Never enough

June 20, 2009 9:37 AM

Jason Sabo of the United Way of Texas said “the research is clear that needy children greatly benefit from high-quality, full-day pre-kindergarten classes…We are making the conscious choice not to abide by what researchers tells us work.”

Mr. Sabo, why is it okay for our schools to individually make the conscious choice to ignore this research for students with disabilities, hire their attorney goons to make the above wildly discriminatory argument, and for our TEA hearing officers and judges accept it?

If a child with autism can’t prove his need for a full-day Pre-K program, what hope is there for the future of Texas? Where is the United Way when it comes to righting this wrong faced by the truly NEEDIEST Texas children every day?

IS ANYONE LISTENING OUT THERE? Rep. Patrick? Sen. Zaffirini? The United Way? RYHT? Ms. Alexander? Political News Reporters across the state?

Would ANY ONE OF YOU care to comment on this outrageously unbalanced public education system in Texas and the reality facing parents who are unable to prove their child’s need for full-day Pre-K despite all the research and BASIC government guidelines for this special population when required to fund a court battle to attempt it?

I have the same questions, and you have a massive audience of parents of children with disabilities waiting for meaningful answers.

Click here to read the full article at Statesman.com

- Burka Blog 10 worst/best legislators

How do bad things keep happening in all of the school districts in HD-107, Representative Vaught? Your bad dog bill, your coal plant bill which you are hoping will quiet those pesky autism parents, the discriminatory pre-school voucher (which pissed off autism parents across the state), protecting criminal backgrounds of anyone who works for public schools… your latest moves don’t cut the mustard. We haven’t seen enough “proactive solutions for neighborhood schools” to hold Texas public schools accountable to children and taxpayers. In fact, some of your legislatin’ may have made things worse. Lots worse.

It’s a good thing the Dallas Morning News found out about the wild west gambler running Mesquite ISD’s sports programs before you supported the Farrar Amendment, Representative Vaught, or the DMN may not have been able to warn Longview ISD that a criminal was headed their way. Mesquite ISD sure wasn’t warning them, just as MISD didn’t warn the TEA or the families they theoretically exist to serve.

Please read one of the best DMN articles I’ve read in a long time and connect the dots for yourself:  http://www.dallasnews.com

When Mesquite police told district officials last year that their popular, affable football coach was pawning school-owned electronics and sporting goods, they told the cops to shut down the investigation. He gave it all back, they said. We’ve got it under control. We don’t need your help.

When Dallas Morning News reporters got wind of this and contacted district authorities, the response was dismissive: We don’t know what you’re talking about.

Instead of reporting the allegations to the Texas Education Agency, which the law says must be done within seven days, authorities quietly announced Halpin’s retirement in an abrupt, purposely misleading press release that cited “health reasons.”

And when Halpin started hunting around for a new job, Mesquite officials remained resolutely silent. Letting some other hapless district unknowingly hire a guy known to boost and hock school property was evidently a lesser evil than an embarrassing headline.

It was our reporters who had to clue in the Longview Independent School District, which was talking to Halpin about a new job, about the real reason for his resignation.

“God almighty, are you serious?” gasped the Longview athletic director when contacted by The News.

It wasn’t until reporters began filing open-records requests that the Mesquite district finally alerted the TEA to the case – a month after the expiration of the seven-day disclosure period that the state agency requires.

“We reported it in what we thought was a timely manner,” was all MISD Superintendent Linda Henrie had to say. The school board has backed her up, not elaborating on whether Mesquite lingers in some kind of unstable time sector where “seven days” and “six weeks” are about the same thing.

From the looks of my own neighborhood school, I’d say Representative Vaught is living in that same unstable time sector where 2 terms just aren’t enough to fulfill those juicy campaign promises.

Coming Soon: Updates on UB’s neighborhood school

- The Sensuous Curmudgeon

Didn’t want anyone to miss this one. Thomas Ratliff is scurrying for a spot on the State Board of Education. Vaught hypocrisy is referenced by a Collin County parent in comments (see red highlights below), and some good questions are being asked of T-Rat. Please read through all of the comments: http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/

Collin County Parent says:I haven’t really heard much from what appears to be true stakeholders on this issue. Just a lot of inflammatory partisan rhetoric thrown back and forth.

I will tell you that as a parent of a child with a disability whose school district sued them to escape their obligation to provide our child with an education, the stakes are very high.

I have followed the last two lege sessions very closely, and I have watched MANY organizations aligned with the Ratliffs (RYHT, etc.)fight options for disabled children while pushing those same options for non-taxpayers. I have watched lobbyists fight in the name of freedom (TFN) to ensure these children are pushed out of our public schools and leave their tax dollars behind to benefit those put nothing into the system. I have seen democrats sign onto positions to ensure children with disabiltiies are left in the cold, while co-authoring bills that defy those positions to provide all day day-care for those tagged “educationally disadvantaged” simply because they speak two languages instead of one.

When our tax dollars are highjacked to fund attorneys (more than $60 million per year at last report) their lobbyists and perhaps even campaigns to get elected officials to maintain this massive-scale bullying of our TRULY most vulnerable, one can put little stock in the cries of “underfunded public schools”, the need for more money/government control and the belief that ANYONE is fighting for liberty for ALL of our children.

While not a fan of the current state board, these issues seem to firmly follow party lines, and the “D” seems to stand for delusional when it comes to addressing students with disabilities and the deficiency of our current system. The “R”s can be equally as unsympathetic when it comes to these forgotten children. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know there are no state services for these kids, the waitlist is the longest in the country, and the condition of our 12 state “schools” (the most of any state in the country since we’d rather warehouse to fund an industry than provide community based services to include these residents in our lives) are the biggest embarassment and national scandal to hit Texas in ages.

Since Mr. Ratliff himself is apparently responding to comments on this list, I’d appreciate a response to this:

What is your plan to help children with disabilities who are being pushed out of our local schools by a public school system that only benefits from this practice with the outcome being more dollars left behind to educate fewer students, and a government body that has been taken over by attorneys who profit most from the maintenance and encouragement of this combative system against students with special needs who are entitled to a free appropriate public education under federal law that our educators and administrators are being trained to circumvent and rewarded for circumventing at the state level?

Thomas is the lobbyist son of former lt. gov Bill Ratliff who is pals with Mike Moses and other creeps who mix it up with the RYHT gang, and Charlie Butt, of course, who pulls Allen Vaught’s strings.

I’m breathless from all the connections.

- Madeline Albright

Spanish is a tricky language to learn. Mix up one letter or squiggly line and you’ve ordered penis instead of chicken, you’ve exclaimed “Happy Butthole!” instead of “Happy New Year!” or you’ve mixed up testicles and courage for drawers and compartmentalization… segregation.

Did you all stay up late enough to witness the HB 130 love fest around midnight on May 27?

Austin was falling all over itself for the “educationally disadvantaged”. What sort of horrible person would deny those kids a quality pre-K education in a nice private school setting?

The answer to that is no one.

No one stood up and asked the questions that needed to be asked. The questions with no good answer.

No one pointed out the segregation of these children.

No one asked how the educationally disadvantaged Barack Obama and that Supreme Court lady got where they are today.

No one asked about the massive amount of per pupil spending. The Tools behind HB 130 got $25 million, but they wanted $300 million!

No one asked why schools are providing a quality pre-K program to this population of children when the schools must only provide an “open door” to pre-schoolers with disabilities.

No one asked why we should fund daycare for these kids when so many families in this population do not even pay taxes. That would have really taken some cojones, eh?

Everyone just gave spineless doe eyes and let the kids and the money be sorted into their proper compartments.

(If you don’t understand that first paragraph, ask your local pre-K to translate.)

Tell them you have some questions about HB 130 that you would like answered by members of the Senate Education Committee today.

1. Why is there over $8K per child in funding written into this bill? (Remember, my kid is doing great in her pre-K for only $1400/year.)

2. Why are the same people who fought SB 1000, which would have allowed the money to follow children with autism to an appropriate education, so giddy to throw way too much cash at this private pre-K voucher?

3. Why don’t they want children with autism to have access to the same benefits of a quality education?

Here are email links and phone numbers for each committee member – calling is better, because they are all backlogged on emails.

Senator Shapiro: http://www.shapiro.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0108

Senator Patrick: http://www.patrick.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0107

Senator Averitt: http://www.averitt.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (817) 573-9622

Senator Davis: http://www.davis.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0110

Senator Gallegos: http://www.gallegos.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0106

Senator Ogden: http://www.ogden.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0105

Senator Van de Putte: http://www.vandeputte.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0126

Senator West: http://www.west.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0123

Senator Williams: http://www.williams.senate.state.tx.us/ Phone (512) 463-0104

Hopefully we can prevent this latest Allen Vaught nightmare from ever occurring.

(PS. Senator Carona, For some reason you helped author this mess yet you’d planned to oppose SB 1000 because public money could go to private schools….  When are the Republicans going to take away your R? )

- Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Artistic expression can take on many forms. Sometimes the message is so subtle that even the artist doesn’t realize there’s something good in there. Something to ponder, maybe to grasp onto and make a part of yourself. Something to make things better.

Escaping the Box!

Woodrow Wilson High School students, many of whom reside in District 107, have put together one of those rare beautiful things by filling the school parking lot with empty cardboard boxes.

A silly senior prank resulting in the desired, almost embarrassing, overreaction from the school’s principal.

The cliche chirp of the 90s was to think outside of the box. People even back then had begun to realize that the box was a dead end. A trap. The box was built by people we shouldn’t trust, and a box with no way out was a danger.

Read the above quote. Most of these boxes are well-built. Other shabby boxes are straight up locked. It’s a house of mirrors, and finding your way out is no easy task. This could be said about autism, 2-faced politicians and their odd bedfellows, public education, DISD scandals….

After this legislative session, the Texas House of Representatives needs to lose the box. It needs to be taken away from them. Texas is a worse place to live for our most vulnerable citizens after the goings on of this session. That’s why I began my morning by freshening up this blog and sharpening the focus (if that’s even possible).

Imagine my delight to learn about this wonderful senior prank where no one got hurt, clean up is a breeze and no property was destroyed. Imagine my delight to see a little shake up here in District 107, some kids probably from Allen Vaught’s own neighborhood, moving the box outside to their world, redefining the parameters, and, for a brief moment, really owning it.

Nice work, Kids. Keep thinking!

- That 1 Guy

Item 1: The Big

Matt Pulle has a nice article on Texas Watchdog about Senator Royce West, his connections and how West’s legislation gets him some dime. http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/05/state-sen-royce-wests-firm-earned-1m-from-public-agencies-many-aided-by-his-legislatio/

Go to the DISD Check Register and type West Associates in where it says Vendor Name. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/data/disdfiles/disdfileschecks.html

This isn’t breaking news. Everyone knows West, who sits on the Senate Education Committee, profits heavily off public education.

The question is: Why isn’t anyone doing anything about West’s many blatant conflicts of interest?

Do you know that just one of those fat DISD checks to West & Associates could have provided my son with years of appropriate education in a local private school? Just think of what one of those fat DISD checks could have done if it were put toward creating individualized programs for children with autism within DISD (and allowing those children access to the programs, of course).

Item 2: The Filthy

Speaking of dirty butts, some say the public schools need more money – including the teachers unions who were boo hooing on the news last night over the lack of toilet paper and soap in DISD shitholes… I mean public schools… I mean restrooms.

Go talk to Royce West – he’s got your toilet paper money, AFT. DISD doesn’t need more money – it needs fewer deals.

Item 3: The Charles

Dallas ISD announced its teacher of the year yesterday. (If you know how the selection process works for DISD Teacher of the Year, please post in comments.) This year a theater teacher from Bryan Adams High School right here in good ol’ District 107 is the winner. Congratulations to him.

This is a big deal, because the winner gets a $5K check from none other than HEB Foods.

Follow me:

HEB and Central Market – same thing…

HEB/Central Market CEO is a dude named Charles Butt…

Charles Butt likes Texas…

He likes it so much he’s buying up the Texas House…

Charles Butt is the money behind the Texas Parent PAC…

Charles Butt is a good chunk of the money behind Raise Your Hand Texas…

The Texas Parent PAC is Allen Vaught’s “man behind the curtain”…

Raise Your Hand Texas is providing “scholarships” to principals across the state to attend a Raise Your Hand Texas principal camp at Harvard…

That’s the main Gravy Train organizers training your school’s principal.

If you are having trouble with your principal, see if he/she attended the RYHT Harvard Party… and if you’d like to know what they learned, submit a public information request. Wonder if there’s a toilet paper tactic in there…

Watch the Butts, District 107. Our representative, Allen Vaught is a Butt Tool, and the Tools are all as busy as 3-legged cats covering up crap.

Allen Vaught supported this bill.

Here’s what this means….

• School forms contain sensitive information such as ssn, parent’s dl, dob, etc. So, shouldn’t parents need to know if school employees have a history of financial crimes, such as forgery, ID theft, credit card abuse?
• Coaches often drive school buses for sporting events. Shouldn’t parents know if a coach has been convicted of multiple DWI’s?
• Coaches and other teachers often collect funds for student activities. Shouldn’t parents know if there is a history of theft, credit card abuse, misappropriation of public funds?
• Coaches and teachers often spend time with students away from classes. Shouldn’t parents know if there is a conviction for providing alcohol to a minor?

Crimes not considered violent or of a sexual nature:

Driving while intoxicated

Purchasing/Furnishing alcohol for a minor

Making Alcohol available to a minor

Selling alcohol to a minor

Intoxicated Assault

Intoxicated manslaughter

Involuntary manslaughter

Public Intoxication

Boating while intoxicated

Contributing to the delinquency or neglect of a child

Engaging in organized criminal activity

Possession of marijuana

Possession of dangerous drugs

Possession of cocaine

Distributing Cocaine

Possession of heroin

Forging or altering prescriptions

Fraudulent prescription

Burglary of a habitation

Criminal mischief

Cruelty to animals

Violation of a Protective Order

Abandoning or endangering a child

Neglect of a child

Failure to report child abuse

Coercion of Police/Fire/Political Campaign

Retaliation

Hindering apprehension/prosecution of a felon

Evading Arrest

Interfering with duties of a public official

Impersonating a police officer

False report to a police officer

Harassment

Harassing communication

Abuse of an Official Capacity

Tamper with Government Record

Employee Embezzlement / Misapply Bank Funds

Theft 20k-100K

Aggravated perjury

False statement to obtain property

Credit Card Abuse

Debit Card Abuse

Forgery

Welfare fraud

Counterfeit documents

Embezzlement

Insurance fraud

Misapplication fiduciary duty

Possession of fraudulent identity

Pyramid promotional scheme

Fraud illegal use of credit card

Possession of identifying information

Forgery government instrument of money

Breach of computer security

Theft by check

Theft of property

Unauthorized use of motor vehicle

Terrorist threat

Larceny

Burglary

Burglary of a vehicle

Robbery

Gambling

Promotion of Gambling

Unlawful carrying weapon

Deadly Conduct

Criminal Tresspass

Possession of unlawful knuckles

Possession of unlawful switchblade

Resisting arrest

Unlawful restraint

Attempt to take prohibited substance in correctional facility

Call (512) 463-0244 to ask Representative Vaught to explain how this bill will help our District 107 neighborhood schools.

This bill will likely be sent to the Senate Committee on Government Organization on Monday May 18. To undo Vaught’s latest “proactive solution for District 107 neighborhood schools” please contact committee members and ask that Farrar’s amendment not be a part of the Senate version of the bill.

Senate Committee on Government Organization.

It only takes a moment to click each name and email members through the Senate website.

- Dick Armey

“Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.”

- John G. Diefenbaker

I’d like to share what happened to our son before he had a simple modification for TAKS. He aced the practice test. He failed the actual test. The actual test was not a reflection of his knowledge. It was a reflection of his inability to concentrate with the multiple stresses of an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by people he didn’t know (strangers), a large group, having to transfer information with a pencil – dysgrafia issues. So he failed.

In a small group, he passed. Same test. In a small group that was even more appropriate – not with other kids he deems “weird”, but with the small group testers that were in for other reasons such as severe asthma or fluctuating blood sugar, he did even better.

It still wasn’t a completely accurate reflection of his knowledge, because there was nothing to account for the poor impulse control – meaning he might find an answer that works, but if the question is looking for the best answer, he will choose the first thing he sees that works and move to the next question. He knew the answer to 1. but he’s moved onto 2. before getting through the list of options.

Without modifications, he failed. And that reflected poorly on the school. He could have been held back if the school had not given him the minor modifications he needed to succeed on the test, whether he knew the material or not. A huge shot to his fragile self-esteem, and a quick way to set in his mind that he is stupid and worthless and should not even try. That this is his lot in life.

That’s quite an education.

Allen Vaught approached someone who works with autistic children at a fundraiser just before the elections. Since I am involved in the autism community, this got back to me, because the person Representative Vaught approached is a friend of a friend. He told her wants to help autistic kids. Yet he’s not approaching an autism parent he knows in the district?

What’s up with that?

Could it be that District 107 autism families will not allow him to dole out under-the-table deals for their child and call it a day? Could it be that District 107 families expect him to do what it takes to get our kids back in public school, safely, where most families would like them to be? Could it be that he has learned that District 107 families have figured out that Allen Vaught supports the system, not the families impacted by the system’s tax-funded version of hell?

The system is set up so that our kids will fail. The system is set up to scare families who have a way of removing their kids from the system. The system benefits when our families are cleansed. This is what Allen Vaught means when he says he supports our public schools.

By supporting public schools/the system that systematically cleanses itself of children with disabilities, Allen Vaught is actually opposing education for an entire population of children.

Look through his bills, District 107.

See anything good in there that shows him helping autism families? See anything that would do anything substantial for education – not the system, for EDUCATION.

How can Allen Vaught help autism families by ignoring autism families?

He can’t. And he won’t.

I and the other special needs families of District 107 would love for Representative Vaught to prove me wrong.

Meanwhile we will watch and wait as we scrounge around for private school tuition and money for therapies, home school in relative isolation or deal with the repercussions of our kids who are hopelessly tethered to a neighborhood school.

Hopeless.

Vaught was re-elected thanks to straight-ticket voters who were after Obama’s message of hope.

You’d think he would be a little more appreciative of that message.