I am happy to announce our recent inauguration of the Texas Center for Education Policy that I direct at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Gary Orfield of the Harvard Civil Rights Project at Harvard University delivered our inaugural Texas Faces the Future Distinguished Lecture. The title of his talk was "Betraying the American Dream: Closing the College Gate."
Dr. Orfield’s presentation examined the changing social and political contexts for access to higher education from the late 1960s and early 1970s and forward. He then examined present disparities in Texas and the nation that should concern educators, policy makers, and the public.
The Civil Rights Era created openings and financial opportunities for the poor. It was also a time of boomer-driven growth of college campuses with open admissions to four-year campuses and affordable tuition rates.
In contrast, today's higher education context may be characterized in terms of declining state and federal resources to ensure access to higher education. For example, there have been significant reductions in monetary amounts for Pell Grants that do not offset the ever-increasing tuition and fees, resulting in unprecedented levels of indebtedness by the poor and middle class. This has resulted in increased access to college aid for middle, rather than lower class families.
Dr. Orfield also emphasized the vast transformation of our population, particularly in Texas. There is a shrinking of the school-age White population coupled with the soaring significance of a highly segregated Latino population and their high dropout and low college-going rates. He cited high-stakes, standardized tests at the high school level as culprits in the reconstitution of racially and economically defined patterns in educational attainment because of their specific correlation to the racial and economic backgrounds of the students that take them.
At the national level, African Americans register 8.8%, 8.1% and 5.6% of all bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, respectively. Similarly, Latinos register 6.3%, 4.7% and 3.2% of all bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, respectively. Dr. Orfield also emphasized gender disparities among those degrees that are awarded. There are significantly fewer men who complete degrees in higher education than their female counterparts. Among African Americans, 66.7%, 71% and 65% of bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, respectively, went to women. Among Latinos, 60.7%, 64.0% and 54.2% of all bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, respectively, went to Latina females.
He closed by underscoring the striking underpresentation of Blacks and Hispanics in higher education. "If this gap is not closed, Texas will have proportionately fewer college graduates." An under-educated public will lead to continued under employment and slowed economic growth in Texas.
More from me/us on all of this. It has been a very time-consuming and worthwhile endeavor. We have big dreams and we feel that we're off to a great start so stay tuned!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
QUOTE OF THE WEEK [Austin Chronicle]
"He is losing the war. The body armor he supplies to his troops in political warfare – money money money – is ineffective against the enemy's ideological fervor for better public schools. The more he flouts his assets – James Leininger, Bob Perry – the more the enemy regards him as a symbol of decadence and is determined to rise up against him. He is responsible for the largest casualty rate his troops have suffered in decades."
– Paul Burka on TexasMonthly.com, calling for Republican Rep. Tom Craddick to resign as Texas House Speaker
– Paul Burka on TexasMonthly.com, calling for Republican Rep. Tom Craddick to resign as Texas House Speaker
Friday, November 17, 2006
Anti-Illegal Immigrant Law Put on Hold [Escondido, CA]
by ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge temporarily blocked the city of Escondido on Thursday from enforcing a law that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants.
U.S. District Judge John Houston said that he had serious questions about whether the law would survive legal scrutiny and that it may inflict "irreparable harm" on tenants and landlords.
The law had been scheduled to take effect Friday in the suburb 30 miles north of San Diego, where Hispanics make up 42 percent of the 142,000 residents.
Houston did not say how long his order would last, but said he would schedule a hearing within four months.
The lawsuit was filed this month on behalf of two Escondido landlords and two women who live in the country illegally but whose children are U.S. citizens and attend school in the city. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleged the law illegally punishes landlords.
One of the landlords, Roy Garrett, welcomed the decision.
"(Illegal immigrants) are there, it's reality, it is immoral to force them to leave," Garrett said.
An attorney for the city declined to comment.
The City Council voted 3-2 last month to require landlords to submit documentation of their tenants' immigration status to the city, which would then verify that information with the federal government.
If tenants are found to be illegal immigrants, landlords would be given 10 days to evict them or face suspension of their business licenses. Repeat offenders could face misdemeanor charges and fines.
Last month, the ACLU persuaded a federal judge to temporarily block the city of Hazleton, Pa., from enforcing a crackdown on illegal immigrants. More than 50 municipalities nationwide have considered, passed or rejected laws to crack down on illegal immigration.
___
November 16, 2006 - 10:45 p.m. CST
Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Illegal_Immigrants_Housing.html
Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge temporarily blocked the city of Escondido on Thursday from enforcing a law that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants.
U.S. District Judge John Houston said that he had serious questions about whether the law would survive legal scrutiny and that it may inflict "irreparable harm" on tenants and landlords.
The law had been scheduled to take effect Friday in the suburb 30 miles north of San Diego, where Hispanics make up 42 percent of the 142,000 residents.
Houston did not say how long his order would last, but said he would schedule a hearing within four months.
The lawsuit was filed this month on behalf of two Escondido landlords and two women who live in the country illegally but whose children are U.S. citizens and attend school in the city. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleged the law illegally punishes landlords.
One of the landlords, Roy Garrett, welcomed the decision.
"(Illegal immigrants) are there, it's reality, it is immoral to force them to leave," Garrett said.
An attorney for the city declined to comment.
The City Council voted 3-2 last month to require landlords to submit documentation of their tenants' immigration status to the city, which would then verify that information with the federal government.
If tenants are found to be illegal immigrants, landlords would be given 10 days to evict them or face suspension of their business licenses. Repeat offenders could face misdemeanor charges and fines.
Last month, the ACLU persuaded a federal judge to temporarily block the city of Hazleton, Pa., from enforcing a crackdown on illegal immigrants. More than 50 municipalities nationwide have considered, passed or rejected laws to crack down on illegal immigration.
___
November 16, 2006 - 10:45 p.m. CST
Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Illegal_Immigrants_Housing.html
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Will more math, science classes add up?
Nov. 15, 2006, 12:26PM
Will more math, science classes add up?
State's assignment: Prepare seniors for college but keep curriculum flexible
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — Pre-calculus and physics. Those two classes strike terror in the hearts of many high school students, though both can be avoided by college-bound youths. But that could change as state education policymakers implement a new rule requiring students on the recommended graduation plan to take a fourth year of math and science.
A battle about the rigor of the courses that will count toward the so-called "4-by-4" curriculum rages anew at today's State Board of Education meeting.
In September, the board gave a tentative nod to a plan that would allow students to choose from a variety of courses, including some lower-level math and science classes, for their fourth credit. But many in the business community and some concerned parents are stepping up pressure on the board to require more-difficult courses for seniors.
About 60 school superintendents, educators, business leaders and parents have signed up to address the board, which has been struggling since July to implement the Legislature's mandate. The board must make a decision by Friday.
"A lot of key occupations like engineering and nursing are suffering because we've taken our eye off the prize and watered down the curriculum so much that it builds very little skills in students by the time they've graduated from high school," said George Edwards Jr., a former trustee of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD who favors requiring challenging courses such as physics and pre-calculus.
Edwards, a certified public accountant with Exxon Mobil Corp., represents the 160-member Cy-Fair Minority Parents Association in his demand for tougher standards. That position is at odds with district Superintendent David Anthony and others who want more flexibility in course selection.
Many in the education community say it will be difficult to find qualified teachers for high-level math and science. And they worry that too-tough requirements will drive students to opt out of the recommended graduation plan for a minimum plan that might not prepare them for college.
'Different abilities'
About two-thirds of Texas students follow the recommended diploma track, which the Legislature has designated as the default graduation plan. Students must have their parents' permission to opt for the minimum plan, which requires three years of math and two of science.
The board wants to increase the number of credits required for graduation from 24 to 26 so the extra math and science won't cut out electives. The new recommended plan will apply to students entering high school next year.
John Folks, superintendent of Northside ISD in San Antonio, hopes that the State Board will let districts count a variety of math and science courses for the fourth year.
"The bottom line is, kids have different skills, different abilities, different interests," said Folks, a former math teacher. "We don't need to put every kid in the same box."
Board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, said he thinks the 15-member elected board will go with the tougher standards. He said something has to be done because half of entering college freshmen require remedial instruction in math or English.
"We don't want seniors taking fluff courses because when they enter college, they're behind," he said.
Students on the recommended plan now take algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2.
Bradley favors limiting the fourth year of math to a course that requires algebra 2 as a prerequisite. There are only a few such classes now available, including pre-calculus and advanced placement statistics.
Tailored tracks
Terri Leo, a Republican board member from Spring, plans to propose a two-track recommended plan that would allow students who are interested in math and science to take the most-challenging courses. Those who are inclined toward liberal arts could choose from a variety of math and science courses for their additional credit.
"It satisfies the Legislature's demand for more rigor as well as school districts' need for flexibility," she said.
On the science side, students now need three credits, generally biology, chemistry and either physics or an integrated chemistry and physics course called IPC. Leo wants to phase out IPC, which is a middle-school-level course, and require the fourth-year credit to be physics or another lab-based science.
Sarah Winkler, vice president of the Alief ISD's Board of Trustees, said she is concerned that the new curriculum could crowd out vocational and technology internships in hotels, businesses and hospitals that the district has developed. Students can get college credit at Houston Community College and the University of Houston under the program.
"I'd hate to see those doors close," she said.
janet.elliott@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4335548.html
Will more math, science classes add up?
State's assignment: Prepare seniors for college but keep curriculum flexible
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — Pre-calculus and physics. Those two classes strike terror in the hearts of many high school students, though both can be avoided by college-bound youths. But that could change as state education policymakers implement a new rule requiring students on the recommended graduation plan to take a fourth year of math and science.
A battle about the rigor of the courses that will count toward the so-called "4-by-4" curriculum rages anew at today's State Board of Education meeting.
In September, the board gave a tentative nod to a plan that would allow students to choose from a variety of courses, including some lower-level math and science classes, for their fourth credit. But many in the business community and some concerned parents are stepping up pressure on the board to require more-difficult courses for seniors.
About 60 school superintendents, educators, business leaders and parents have signed up to address the board, which has been struggling since July to implement the Legislature's mandate. The board must make a decision by Friday.
"A lot of key occupations like engineering and nursing are suffering because we've taken our eye off the prize and watered down the curriculum so much that it builds very little skills in students by the time they've graduated from high school," said George Edwards Jr., a former trustee of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD who favors requiring challenging courses such as physics and pre-calculus.
Edwards, a certified public accountant with Exxon Mobil Corp., represents the 160-member Cy-Fair Minority Parents Association in his demand for tougher standards. That position is at odds with district Superintendent David Anthony and others who want more flexibility in course selection.
Many in the education community say it will be difficult to find qualified teachers for high-level math and science. And they worry that too-tough requirements will drive students to opt out of the recommended graduation plan for a minimum plan that might not prepare them for college.
'Different abilities'
About two-thirds of Texas students follow the recommended diploma track, which the Legislature has designated as the default graduation plan. Students must have their parents' permission to opt for the minimum plan, which requires three years of math and two of science.
The board wants to increase the number of credits required for graduation from 24 to 26 so the extra math and science won't cut out electives. The new recommended plan will apply to students entering high school next year.
John Folks, superintendent of Northside ISD in San Antonio, hopes that the State Board will let districts count a variety of math and science courses for the fourth year.
"The bottom line is, kids have different skills, different abilities, different interests," said Folks, a former math teacher. "We don't need to put every kid in the same box."
Board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, said he thinks the 15-member elected board will go with the tougher standards. He said something has to be done because half of entering college freshmen require remedial instruction in math or English.
"We don't want seniors taking fluff courses because when they enter college, they're behind," he said.
Students on the recommended plan now take algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2.
Bradley favors limiting the fourth year of math to a course that requires algebra 2 as a prerequisite. There are only a few such classes now available, including pre-calculus and advanced placement statistics.
Tailored tracks
Terri Leo, a Republican board member from Spring, plans to propose a two-track recommended plan that would allow students who are interested in math and science to take the most-challenging courses. Those who are inclined toward liberal arts could choose from a variety of math and science courses for their additional credit.
"It satisfies the Legislature's demand for more rigor as well as school districts' need for flexibility," she said.
On the science side, students now need three credits, generally biology, chemistry and either physics or an integrated chemistry and physics course called IPC. Leo wants to phase out IPC, which is a middle-school-level course, and require the fourth-year credit to be physics or another lab-based science.
Sarah Winkler, vice president of the Alief ISD's Board of Trustees, said she is concerned that the new curriculum could crowd out vocational and technology internships in hotels, businesses and hospitals that the district has developed. Students can get college credit at Houston Community College and the University of Houston under the program.
"I'd hate to see those doors close," she said.
janet.elliott@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4335548.html
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH Ordinance No. 2892
CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH
ORDINANCE NO. 2892
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 26, BUSINESSES, ARTICLE IV APARTMENT COMPLEX RENTAL, MANDATING A CITIZENSHIP CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT PURSUANT TO 24 CFR 5 ET SEQ.; PROVIDING FOR ENFORCEMENT; PROVIDING A PENALTY; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
WHEREAS, in response to the widespread concern of future terrorist attacks following the events of September 11, 2001, landlords and property managers throughout the country have been developing new security procedures to protect their buildings and residents; and
WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and familial status in most housing related transactions and further makes it unlawful to indicate any preference or limitation on these bases when advertising the sale or rental of a dwelling; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations stipulate that rental tenants must submit evidence of citizenship or immigration status consistent with 24 CFR 5, et seq.; and
WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Act does not prohibit distinctions based solely on a person’s citizenship status; and
WHEREAS, 24 CFR 5, et seq. provides for a uniform and non-discriminatory certification process for citizenship and immigration status; and
WHEREAS, the HUD certification process has been in place for many years, and is currently in use; and
WHEREAS, the City was previously dismissed from the Walker litigation upon agreeing to participate in HUD’s Section 8 housing program; and
WHEREAS, the HUD certification process for citizenship and immigration status applies to HUD’s Section 8 program; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds and determines that the benefits and protections provided through the HUD citizenship and immigration status certification processes would also benefit the City; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch is authorized to adopt ordinances
pursuant to its police power to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch has determined that it is a necessity
to adopt citizenship and immigration certification requirements for apartment complexes to safeguard the public, consistent with the provisions of 24 CFR 5, et seq.; and
WHEREAS, the City intends to adopt these provisions on a pilot basis for apartment complex rentals; and
WHEREAS, Section 26-118 of the Code of Ordinances provides for an appeal process that provides adequate due process; and
WHEREAS, the City will evaluate the success of these provisions within 180 days of the date this Ordinance goes into effect to consider their revision and/or expansion, including but not limited to the coverage of single family rental units and non-rental residential units; and
WHEREAS, the provisions adopted herein shall be applied uniformly and in a nondiscriminatory manner, and the application of these provisions must not differ based on a person's race, religion, or national origin; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch is authorized by law to adopt the
provisions contained herein, and has complied with all the prerequisites necessary for the passage of this Ordinance; and
WHEREAS, all statutory and constitutional requirements for the passage of
this Ordinance have been adhered to, including but not limited to the Texas Open Meetings Act; and
WHEREAS, the purposes of this Ordinance are to promote the public health,
safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Farmers Branch.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS:
That the following ordinance shall be approved and passed into law and duly codified in the City’s Code of Ordinances:
Section 1: That all matters stated hereinabove are found to be true and correct and are incorporated into the body of this Ordinance by reference as if copied in their entirety.
Section 2: Chapter 26, Businesses, Article IV, Apartment Complex Rental, is hereby amended as follows:
A. Section 26-116(d)(3)is hereby amended by the addition of the following:
“(c) Proof of compliance with the provisions of 26-116(f).”
B. Section 26-116, License Standards, is hereby amended by the addition of the following:
“(f). Citizenship or Immigration Status Verification
(1) Definitions
The following definitions, consistent with 24 CFR 5.504, are hereby adopted as part of this subsection:
Citizen means a citizen or national of the United States.
Evidence of citizenship or eligible status means the documents which must be submitted to evidence citizenship or eligible immigration status.
Head of household means the adult member of the family who is the head of the household for purpose of determining income eligibility and rent.
Noncitizen means a person who is neither a citizen nor national of the United States.
(2) The owner and/or property manager shall require as a prerequisite to entering into any lease or rental arrangement, including any lease or rental renewals or extensions, the submission of evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status for each tenant family consistent with subsection (3).
(3) Evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status.
Each family member, regardless of age, must submit the following evidence to the owner and/or property manager.
i. For U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals, the evidence consists of a signed declaration of U.S. citizenship or U.S. nationality. The verification of the declaration shall be confirmed by requiring presentation of a United States passport or other appropriate documentation in a form designated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (“ICE”) as acceptable evidence of citizneship status.
ii. For all other noncitizens, the evidence consists of:
a. A signed declaration of eligible immigration status;
b. A form designated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (“ICE”) as acceptable evidence of immigration status; and
c. A signed verification consent form.
(4) General.
i. The owner and/or property manager shall request and review original documents of eligible citizenship or immigration status. The owner and/or property manager shall retain photocopies of the documents for its own records and return the original documents to the family. Copies shall be retained by the owner and/or property manager for a period of not less than two (2) years after the end of the family’s lease or rental.
ii. For each family member, the family shall be required to submit evidence of citizenship or immigration status only once during continuous occupancy. The owner and/or property manager is prohibited from allowing the occupancy of any unit by any family which has not submitted the required evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status under this Section.
iii. These provisions shall be applied uniformly and in a nondiscriminatory manner. The owner and/or property manager’s application of these provisions must not differ based on the person's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status .
iv. These provisions shall not impair any existing lease or rental agreement, and shall apply only to a lease or rental agreement or extension entered into after the effective date of this ordinance.
v. A rebuttable presumption is hereby created that the tenant is either a citizen or a documented alien upon the tenant presenting either signed Declaration of U.S. Citizenship or U.S. Nationality and a United States passport or other appropriate documentation in a form designated by ICE as acceptable evidence of citizenship status, or by a non-citizen presenting a signed Declaration of Eligible Immigration Status and a form designated by ICE as acceptable evidence of immigration status.”
Section 3: If any section, paragraph, subdivision, clause or phrase of this Ordinance shall be adjudged invalid or held unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity of this Ordinance as a whole or any part of any provision thereof other than the part so decided to be invalid or unconstitutional. The sole intention of this Ordinance and the exercise of the police power of the City is for the purposes of assisting the United States Government in its enforcement of the Federal Immigration Laws and not an attempt or effort to promulgate new and additional Immigration Laws or to conflict in any manner with the Federal Government’s promulgation and enforcement of Immigration Laws.
Section 4: Penalty: That any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not to exceed $500 and a separate offense shall be deemed committed upon each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues.
Section 5: The City shall distribute a copy of this Ordinance to the owner and/or property manager of all existing apartment complexes in the City. The ordinance shall become effective on the 12th day of January, 2007, sixty (60) days from the date of approval.
Section 6. The fact that the present ordinances and regulations of the City of Farmers Branch, Texas are inadequate to properly safeguard the health, safety, morals, peace and general welfare of the public creates an emergency which requires that this ordinance become effective as provided for herein, and it is accordingly so ordained.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
Cindee Peters, City Secretary Bob Phelps, Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
John F. Boyle, Jr., City Attorney
RESOLUTION NO. 2006-130
RESOLUTION DECLARING ENGLISH AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH.
WHEREAS, the English language is the common language of the City of Farmers Branch, of the State of Texas and of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the use of a common language removes barriers of
misunderstanding and helps to unify the people of Farmers Branch, this State and the United States, and helps to enable the full economic and civic participation of all of its citizens, regardless of national origin, creed, race or other characteristics, and thus a compelling governmental interest exists in promoting, preserving, and strengthening the use of the English language; and
WHEREAS, proficiency in the English language, as well as in languages other than the English language, benefits Farmers Branch both economically and culturally and should be encouraged; and
WHEREAS, in addition to any other ways to promote proficiency in the English language, the City of Farmers Branch can promote proficiency in English by using the English language in its official actions and through activities such as supporting and enhancing English language usage, grammar, and literature programs and studies in its public library and other programs of the City; and
WHEREAS, in today’s society, Farmers Branch may also need to protect and preserve the rights of those who speak only the English language to use or obtain governmental programs and benefits; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch can reduce costs and promote efficiency, in its roles as employer and as a government accountable to the people, by using the English language in its official actions and activities.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS THAT:
SECTION 1. ADOPTION OF FINDINGS
That all matters stated hereinabove are found to be true and correct and are incorporated herein by reference as if copied in their entirety.
SECTION 2. OFFICIAL ENGLISH DECLARATION
a. The English language is hereby declared the Official Language of the City of Farmers Branch, Texas.
b. The City Council of Farmers Branch, the City Manager and the employees of the City of Farmers Branch shall take all steps necessary to ensure that the role of English as the common language of Farmers Branch is preserved and enhanced.
c. The City Council of Farmers Branch, the City Manager and the employees of the City of Farmers Branch shall make no ORDINANCE or adopt any POLICY which diminishes or ignores the role of English as the common language of Farmers Branch.
d. Except as otherwise allowed herein, or required by law or business efficiency, official actions of the City of Farmers Branch which bind or commit the City of Farmers Branch or which give the appearance of presenting the official views or position of the City of Farmers Branch shall be taken in the English language, and in no other language. Unofficial or non-binding translations or explanations of official actions may be provided separately in languages other than English, if they are appropriately labeled as such and reference is made to a method to obtain the official action; unless otherwise required by federal or state law, no person has a right to such an unofficial or non-binding translation or explanation, and no liability or commitment of the City of Farmers Branch shall be based on such a translation or explanation.
e. No ordinance, decree, program, or policy of the City of Farmers Branch or any of its subdivisions, shall require the use of any language other than English for any documents, regulations, orders, transactions, proceedings, meetings, programs, or publications, except as provided in Section 3.
f. A person who speaks only the English language shall be eligible to participate in all programs and opportunities, including employment, provided by the City of Farmers Branch and its subdivisions, except when required to speak another language as provided in Section 3.
g. No law, ordinance, decree, program, or policy of the City of Farmers Branch or any of its subdivisions shall penalize or impair the rights, obligations or opportunities available to any person solely because a person speaks only the English language.
SECTION 3. EXCEPTIONS
The City of Farmers Branch and its subdivisions may use a language other than English for any of the following purposes, whether or not the use would be considered part of an official action:
a. To teach or encourage the learning of languages other than English;
b. To protect and promote the public health, sanitation and public safety;
c. To teach English to those who are not fluent in the language;
d. To comply with the Native American Languages Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Voting Rights Act, or any other federal or state law;
e. To protect the rights of criminal defendants and victims of crime;
f. To promote trade, commerce, and tourism;
g. To collect payments, fines, or other financial obligation due and payable to the City;
h. To create or promote mottos or designations, inscribe public monuments, and perform other acts involving the customary use of a language other than English; and
i. To utilize terms of art or terms or phrases from other languages which are commonly used in communications otherwise in English.
j. Printed materials, signage, or other materials or documents of the City printed in languages other than English at the time of the adoption of this resolution and not otherwise excepted in this Section 3 shall not be discarded or reprinted in English only at the additional cost and expense of the taxpayers of the City until the materials have been exhausted or until they have become otherwise obsolete.
SECTION 4. PRIVATE USE PROTECTED
The declaration and use of English as the official language of the City of Farmers Branch should not be construed as infringing upon the rights of any person to use a language other than English in private communications or actions, including the right of government employees and officials (including elected officials) to communicate with others.
SECTION 5. SEVERABILITY
If any provision of this resolution, or the applicability of any provision to any person or circumstance, shall be held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this resolution shall not be affected and shall be given effect to the fullest extent practicable.
SECTION 6. FEDERAL AND STATE PREEMPTION
Nothing in this resolution shall be interpreted as conflicting with the statutes of the
United States or the laws of this State.
PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS, THIS 13th day of November, 2006.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Secretary Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Attorney
ORDINANCE NO. 2892
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 26, BUSINESSES, ARTICLE IV APARTMENT COMPLEX RENTAL, MANDATING A CITIZENSHIP CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT PURSUANT TO 24 CFR 5 ET SEQ.; PROVIDING FOR ENFORCEMENT; PROVIDING A PENALTY; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
WHEREAS, in response to the widespread concern of future terrorist attacks following the events of September 11, 2001, landlords and property managers throughout the country have been developing new security procedures to protect their buildings and residents; and
WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and familial status in most housing related transactions and further makes it unlawful to indicate any preference or limitation on these bases when advertising the sale or rental of a dwelling; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations stipulate that rental tenants must submit evidence of citizenship or immigration status consistent with 24 CFR 5, et seq.; and
WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Act does not prohibit distinctions based solely on a person’s citizenship status; and
WHEREAS, 24 CFR 5, et seq. provides for a uniform and non-discriminatory certification process for citizenship and immigration status; and
WHEREAS, the HUD certification process has been in place for many years, and is currently in use; and
WHEREAS, the City was previously dismissed from the Walker litigation upon agreeing to participate in HUD’s Section 8 housing program; and
WHEREAS, the HUD certification process for citizenship and immigration status applies to HUD’s Section 8 program; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds and determines that the benefits and protections provided through the HUD citizenship and immigration status certification processes would also benefit the City; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch is authorized to adopt ordinances
pursuant to its police power to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch has determined that it is a necessity
to adopt citizenship and immigration certification requirements for apartment complexes to safeguard the public, consistent with the provisions of 24 CFR 5, et seq.; and
WHEREAS, the City intends to adopt these provisions on a pilot basis for apartment complex rentals; and
WHEREAS, Section 26-118 of the Code of Ordinances provides for an appeal process that provides adequate due process; and
WHEREAS, the City will evaluate the success of these provisions within 180 days of the date this Ordinance goes into effect to consider their revision and/or expansion, including but not limited to the coverage of single family rental units and non-rental residential units; and
WHEREAS, the provisions adopted herein shall be applied uniformly and in a nondiscriminatory manner, and the application of these provisions must not differ based on a person's race, religion, or national origin; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch is authorized by law to adopt the
provisions contained herein, and has complied with all the prerequisites necessary for the passage of this Ordinance; and
WHEREAS, all statutory and constitutional requirements for the passage of
this Ordinance have been adhered to, including but not limited to the Texas Open Meetings Act; and
WHEREAS, the purposes of this Ordinance are to promote the public health,
safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Farmers Branch.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS:
That the following ordinance shall be approved and passed into law and duly codified in the City’s Code of Ordinances:
Section 1: That all matters stated hereinabove are found to be true and correct and are incorporated into the body of this Ordinance by reference as if copied in their entirety.
Section 2: Chapter 26, Businesses, Article IV, Apartment Complex Rental, is hereby amended as follows:
A. Section 26-116(d)(3)is hereby amended by the addition of the following:
“(c) Proof of compliance with the provisions of 26-116(f).”
B. Section 26-116, License Standards, is hereby amended by the addition of the following:
“(f). Citizenship or Immigration Status Verification
(1) Definitions
The following definitions, consistent with 24 CFR 5.504, are hereby adopted as part of this subsection:
Citizen means a citizen or national of the United States.
Evidence of citizenship or eligible status means the documents which must be submitted to evidence citizenship or eligible immigration status.
Head of household means the adult member of the family who is the head of the household for purpose of determining income eligibility and rent.
Noncitizen means a person who is neither a citizen nor national of the United States.
(2) The owner and/or property manager shall require as a prerequisite to entering into any lease or rental arrangement, including any lease or rental renewals or extensions, the submission of evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status for each tenant family consistent with subsection (3).
(3) Evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status.
Each family member, regardless of age, must submit the following evidence to the owner and/or property manager.
i. For U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals, the evidence consists of a signed declaration of U.S. citizenship or U.S. nationality. The verification of the declaration shall be confirmed by requiring presentation of a United States passport or other appropriate documentation in a form designated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (“ICE”) as acceptable evidence of citizneship status.
ii. For all other noncitizens, the evidence consists of:
a. A signed declaration of eligible immigration status;
b. A form designated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (“ICE”) as acceptable evidence of immigration status; and
c. A signed verification consent form.
(4) General.
i. The owner and/or property manager shall request and review original documents of eligible citizenship or immigration status. The owner and/or property manager shall retain photocopies of the documents for its own records and return the original documents to the family. Copies shall be retained by the owner and/or property manager for a period of not less than two (2) years after the end of the family’s lease or rental.
ii. For each family member, the family shall be required to submit evidence of citizenship or immigration status only once during continuous occupancy. The owner and/or property manager is prohibited from allowing the occupancy of any unit by any family which has not submitted the required evidence of citizenship or eligible immigration status under this Section.
iii. These provisions shall be applied uniformly and in a nondiscriminatory manner. The owner and/or property manager’s application of these provisions must not differ based on the person's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status .
iv. These provisions shall not impair any existing lease or rental agreement, and shall apply only to a lease or rental agreement or extension entered into after the effective date of this ordinance.
v. A rebuttable presumption is hereby created that the tenant is either a citizen or a documented alien upon the tenant presenting either signed Declaration of U.S. Citizenship or U.S. Nationality and a United States passport or other appropriate documentation in a form designated by ICE as acceptable evidence of citizenship status, or by a non-citizen presenting a signed Declaration of Eligible Immigration Status and a form designated by ICE as acceptable evidence of immigration status.”
Section 3: If any section, paragraph, subdivision, clause or phrase of this Ordinance shall be adjudged invalid or held unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity of this Ordinance as a whole or any part of any provision thereof other than the part so decided to be invalid or unconstitutional. The sole intention of this Ordinance and the exercise of the police power of the City is for the purposes of assisting the United States Government in its enforcement of the Federal Immigration Laws and not an attempt or effort to promulgate new and additional Immigration Laws or to conflict in any manner with the Federal Government’s promulgation and enforcement of Immigration Laws.
Section 4: Penalty: That any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not to exceed $500 and a separate offense shall be deemed committed upon each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues.
Section 5: The City shall distribute a copy of this Ordinance to the owner and/or property manager of all existing apartment complexes in the City. The ordinance shall become effective on the 12th day of January, 2007, sixty (60) days from the date of approval.
Section 6. The fact that the present ordinances and regulations of the City of Farmers Branch, Texas are inadequate to properly safeguard the health, safety, morals, peace and general welfare of the public creates an emergency which requires that this ordinance become effective as provided for herein, and it is accordingly so ordained.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
Cindee Peters, City Secretary Bob Phelps, Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
John F. Boyle, Jr., City Attorney
RESOLUTION NO. 2006-130
RESOLUTION DECLARING ENGLISH AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH.
WHEREAS, the English language is the common language of the City of Farmers Branch, of the State of Texas and of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the use of a common language removes barriers of
misunderstanding and helps to unify the people of Farmers Branch, this State and the United States, and helps to enable the full economic and civic participation of all of its citizens, regardless of national origin, creed, race or other characteristics, and thus a compelling governmental interest exists in promoting, preserving, and strengthening the use of the English language; and
WHEREAS, proficiency in the English language, as well as in languages other than the English language, benefits Farmers Branch both economically and culturally and should be encouraged; and
WHEREAS, in addition to any other ways to promote proficiency in the English language, the City of Farmers Branch can promote proficiency in English by using the English language in its official actions and through activities such as supporting and enhancing English language usage, grammar, and literature programs and studies in its public library and other programs of the City; and
WHEREAS, in today’s society, Farmers Branch may also need to protect and preserve the rights of those who speak only the English language to use or obtain governmental programs and benefits; and
WHEREAS, the City of Farmers Branch can reduce costs and promote efficiency, in its roles as employer and as a government accountable to the people, by using the English language in its official actions and activities.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS THAT:
SECTION 1. ADOPTION OF FINDINGS
That all matters stated hereinabove are found to be true and correct and are incorporated herein by reference as if copied in their entirety.
SECTION 2. OFFICIAL ENGLISH DECLARATION
a. The English language is hereby declared the Official Language of the City of Farmers Branch, Texas.
b. The City Council of Farmers Branch, the City Manager and the employees of the City of Farmers Branch shall take all steps necessary to ensure that the role of English as the common language of Farmers Branch is preserved and enhanced.
c. The City Council of Farmers Branch, the City Manager and the employees of the City of Farmers Branch shall make no ORDINANCE or adopt any POLICY which diminishes or ignores the role of English as the common language of Farmers Branch.
d. Except as otherwise allowed herein, or required by law or business efficiency, official actions of the City of Farmers Branch which bind or commit the City of Farmers Branch or which give the appearance of presenting the official views or position of the City of Farmers Branch shall be taken in the English language, and in no other language. Unofficial or non-binding translations or explanations of official actions may be provided separately in languages other than English, if they are appropriately labeled as such and reference is made to a method to obtain the official action; unless otherwise required by federal or state law, no person has a right to such an unofficial or non-binding translation or explanation, and no liability or commitment of the City of Farmers Branch shall be based on such a translation or explanation.
e. No ordinance, decree, program, or policy of the City of Farmers Branch or any of its subdivisions, shall require the use of any language other than English for any documents, regulations, orders, transactions, proceedings, meetings, programs, or publications, except as provided in Section 3.
f. A person who speaks only the English language shall be eligible to participate in all programs and opportunities, including employment, provided by the City of Farmers Branch and its subdivisions, except when required to speak another language as provided in Section 3.
g. No law, ordinance, decree, program, or policy of the City of Farmers Branch or any of its subdivisions shall penalize or impair the rights, obligations or opportunities available to any person solely because a person speaks only the English language.
SECTION 3. EXCEPTIONS
The City of Farmers Branch and its subdivisions may use a language other than English for any of the following purposes, whether or not the use would be considered part of an official action:
a. To teach or encourage the learning of languages other than English;
b. To protect and promote the public health, sanitation and public safety;
c. To teach English to those who are not fluent in the language;
d. To comply with the Native American Languages Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Voting Rights Act, or any other federal or state law;
e. To protect the rights of criminal defendants and victims of crime;
f. To promote trade, commerce, and tourism;
g. To collect payments, fines, or other financial obligation due and payable to the City;
h. To create or promote mottos or designations, inscribe public monuments, and perform other acts involving the customary use of a language other than English; and
i. To utilize terms of art or terms or phrases from other languages which are commonly used in communications otherwise in English.
j. Printed materials, signage, or other materials or documents of the City printed in languages other than English at the time of the adoption of this resolution and not otherwise excepted in this Section 3 shall not be discarded or reprinted in English only at the additional cost and expense of the taxpayers of the City until the materials have been exhausted or until they have become otherwise obsolete.
SECTION 4. PRIVATE USE PROTECTED
The declaration and use of English as the official language of the City of Farmers Branch should not be construed as infringing upon the rights of any person to use a language other than English in private communications or actions, including the right of government employees and officials (including elected officials) to communicate with others.
SECTION 5. SEVERABILITY
If any provision of this resolution, or the applicability of any provision to any person or circumstance, shall be held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this resolution shall not be affected and shall be given effect to the fullest extent practicable.
SECTION 6. FEDERAL AND STATE PREEMPTION
Nothing in this resolution shall be interpreted as conflicting with the statutes of the
United States or the laws of this State.
PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS, THIS 13th day of November, 2006.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Secretary Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Attorney
Farmer's Branch moves against illegal immigrants
LARA SOLT / DMN
Protesters gathered at Farmers Branch City Hall hours before Monday night's City Council meeting. Shouting matches periodically erupted outside the council chambers between supporters and opponents of the ordinances.
Some Hispanic activists said they will sue the city over the decisions.
Council approves restrictions on rentals, language measure
08:45 AM CST on Tuesday, November 14, 2006
By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News
Farmers Branch on Monday adopted strict measures against illegal immigrants, requiring apartment renters to provide proof of citizenship or residency and making English the city's official language.
The City Council also unanimously agreed to let police apply to participate in a federal program that would enable them to check the residency status of suspects in custody and initiate deportation proceedings in certain cases.
The measures, believed to be the first of their kind in Texas, brought cheers from supporters but sparked anger among some Hispanics and other opponents that the action will cause further racial tension in the city.
"Tomorrow in the courts. I'm winning tomorrow," said Jorge Rivera, an Irving community activist. When he addressed the crowd after the decision, he said in Spanish, "Don't worry, we are going to win."
Dallas activist Domingo Garcia also vowed to sue.
Representatives of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, however, said the language of the resolutions and ordinances approved Monday are different from what other cities have adopted – and over which they have sued. They said they will have to review the language before deciding whether to pursue legal action against Farmers Branch.
"It's hard for us to have firm, specific legal opinions, but we're all disappointed they chose to pursue this divisive path," said Rebecca Bernhardt, immigration, border and national security policy director for the ACLU of Texas.
Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for MALDEF, said he, too, was disappointed.
"Farmers Branch will likely feel the negative effects of this measure in its economy, as well as with increased racial tensions," he said.
Farmers Branch resident David McKenzie rejoiced at the city's decision.
"I'm happy, very happy," he said. " 'Surprised' is the word. I think it gets it going in the right direction. It's a start. ... I think it will be symbolic. I really do."
The English as the official language resolution means that the city generally will not provide documents any longer in Spanish but does not affect the use of Spanish by businesses or individuals.
"This is not meant to keep anyone from speaking Spanish or any other language in their home, at their workplace, in public or anywhere else," City Council member Tim O'Hare said.
A separate resolution calls for the Police Department to apply to enter into an agreement with ICE to essentially train a jail officer and give that person access to a federal database to check the immigration status of people in custody for crimes.
Under the rental restrictions, apartment owners and managers would be required to obtain papers showing citizenship or eligible immigration status from each member of a family planning to live there.
------------------------------------------------
The ordinance will go into effect Jan. 12 and will not affect anyone with an existing lease or rental agreement.
Violations are a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500, with each day a separate offense.
Wylie resident Sherry Wilkinson said earlier Monday that she wants her city to do the same thing.
"As soon as it happens here, I'm taking it to Wylie," she said. "The key is to get it done here."
Hundreds of people crowded into City Hall earlier Monday, filling the council chambers and spilling over into the lobby.
LARA SOLT / DMN
Billy Bruce of Duncanville was among those making his views known at Farmers Branch City Hall on Monday night.
Outside, nearly two hours before the meeting, dozens of protesters stood outside waving American flags and chanting, "People united will never be divided," and "What do we want? Justice. When? Now."
They bore signs asking, "Mr. O'Hare, What would Jesus do?" and saying, "In God We Trust, O'Hare is unjust."
Mr. O'Hare thrust Farmers Branch into the national spotlight in August with suggestions that the city emulate cities in other states that had adopted local ordinances making it harder for illegal immigrants to live and work there.
Earlier O'Hare suggestions that were not addressed by the council Monday were to penalize businesses that hired illegal immigrants and to curtail city subsidies for children of illegal immigrants in some city youth programs.
The council debated the merits of those proposals and the legal issues surrounding them behind closed doors Monday, citing state open meetings laws that allow governmental bodies to meet privately for consultation with their attorneys regarding pending litigation.
Moments before closing the doors, representatives of MALDEF briefed the council on the legal and financial ramifications of adopting such ordinances.
LARA SOLT / DMN
Farmers Branch police told resident Gerald Colgrove, who supported the limitations on illegal immigrants, that he'd have to leave during the shouting outside the council meeting.
During the meeting, a flurry of shouting matches periodically erupted outside, the two sides separated by a few feet and exchanging slogans and accusations of racism.
Police escorted one woman off the property, and another was taken into custody for disorderly conduct.
Mr. Rivera led opponents with a megaphone, appealing for calm during moments of tension as more than a dozen police officers monitored the situation.
As members of Hispanic and civil rights groups led their followers in chants of "We are Americans," one woman shouted back, "No you're not."
Chants of "U.S.A." by opponents of the proposals were met by shouts of "Enforce the law" by a small group of supporters.
"We understand we have some big problems. We don't support illegal immigration," said Luis de la Garza, a Farmers Branch resident and secretary for foreign relations for LULAC's national organization.
Staff writers Paul Meyer and Katherine Leal Unmuth contributed to this report.
E-mail ssandoval@dallasnews.com
Mo. Panel's Report Links Immigration To Abortion
Interesting how increased social mobility doesn't find its way into these arguments. Women simply have fewer children when they are socially mobile. That is, their productive and their reproductive years overlap, making it difficult to have children. So if we want to expand women's rates of reproduction, they need family-friendly policies and work places--in short, a major reorganization of work. Female faculty on the tenure track need paid leaves and these decisions should not be held against them whenever they take them. Conversely, if we want to lower women's rates of reproduction, we need to educate women and make them socially mobile. Reduced rates of reproduction is thus generally good news for women and their offspring.
The immigration piece does involve pull factors (like the pull of jobs that need to be filled in places like Missouri); however, push factors related to economic dislocations in Mexico and Latin America are equally, if not more powerful, factors in immigrants deciding to migrate.
-Angela
Mo. Panel's Report Links Immigration To Abortion
By David A. Lieb
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Nov. 13 -- A Republican-led legislative panel says in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers.
The report from the state House Special Committee on Immigration Reform also says that "liberal social welfare policies" have discouraged Americans from working and have encouraged immigrants to cross the border illegally.
The statements about abortion and welfare policies, along with a recommendation to abolish income taxes in favor of sales taxes, were inserted into the immigration report by Rep. Edgar G.H. Emery (R), the panel's chairman.
All 10 Republican committee members signed the report, while the six Democrats did not. Some of the Democrats called the abortion assertion ridiculous and embarrassing.
"There's a lot of editorial comment there that I couldn't really stomach," Rep. Trent Skaggs said Monday. "To be honest, I think it's a little delusional."
Emery, who equates abortion to murder, defended the assertions.
"We hear a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can't get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers," he said. "You don't have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it's not too surprising we would be desperate for workers."
National Right to Life estimates that there have been more than 47 million abortions since the Supreme Court established a woman's right to an abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The immigration report estimates that there are 80,000 fewer Missourians because of abortion, many of whom now would have been in a "highly productive age group for workers."
The statement connecting abortion to illegal immigration was listed under the report's recommendations on federal social policies and potential state legislative action on illegal hiring.
"Suggestions for how to stop illegal hiring varied without any simple solution," the report states. "The lack of traditional work ethic, combined with the effects of 30 years of abortion and expanding liberal social welfare policies have produced a shortage of workers and a lack of incentive for those who can work."
The immigration piece does involve pull factors (like the pull of jobs that need to be filled in places like Missouri); however, push factors related to economic dislocations in Mexico and Latin America are equally, if not more powerful, factors in immigrants deciding to migrate.
-Angela
Mo. Panel's Report Links Immigration To Abortion
By David A. Lieb
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Nov. 13 -- A Republican-led legislative panel says in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers.
The report from the state House Special Committee on Immigration Reform also says that "liberal social welfare policies" have discouraged Americans from working and have encouraged immigrants to cross the border illegally.
The statements about abortion and welfare policies, along with a recommendation to abolish income taxes in favor of sales taxes, were inserted into the immigration report by Rep. Edgar G.H. Emery (R), the panel's chairman.
All 10 Republican committee members signed the report, while the six Democrats did not. Some of the Democrats called the abortion assertion ridiculous and embarrassing.
"There's a lot of editorial comment there that I couldn't really stomach," Rep. Trent Skaggs said Monday. "To be honest, I think it's a little delusional."
Emery, who equates abortion to murder, defended the assertions.
"We hear a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can't get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers," he said. "You don't have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it's not too surprising we would be desperate for workers."
National Right to Life estimates that there have been more than 47 million abortions since the Supreme Court established a woman's right to an abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The immigration report estimates that there are 80,000 fewer Missourians because of abortion, many of whom now would have been in a "highly productive age group for workers."
The statement connecting abortion to illegal immigration was listed under the report's recommendations on federal social policies and potential state legislative action on illegal hiring.
"Suggestions for how to stop illegal hiring varied without any simple solution," the report states. "The lack of traditional work ethic, combined with the effects of 30 years of abortion and expanding liberal social welfare policies have produced a shortage of workers and a lack of incentive for those who can work."
Monday, November 13, 2006
OVERWHELMINGLY DISSATISFIED, LATINOS VOTE FOR CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS ON ELECTION DAY
News release from the Willie Velasquez Southwest Voter Institute. -Angela
November 8, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Michael Bustamante
916.425.0839
OVERWHELMINGLY DISSATISFIED, LATINOS VOTE FOR CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS ON ELECTION DAY
Want Troops Home Next Year
LOS ANGELES, CA - Nearly two-thirds of Latino voters are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time and nearly seventy percent of them voted for a democratic congressional candidate, according to a national exit survey conducted yesterday by the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), a non-partisan public policy organization chartered in 1985.
For whom did you vote in your Congressional District race?
National Topline:
Democratic Candidate 68.9%
Republican Candidate 26.5%
Other Candidate 4.6%
"Latinos are not happy with the way things are going right now and they spoke up forcefully at the polls yesterday for change," said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the WCVI. "Latinos want our U.S. troops home now."
Do you favor keeping a large number of U.S. troops in Iraq until there is a stable government OR bringing most of our troops home in the next year?
National Topline:
Wait for a Stable Government 25.8%
Bring Home Next Year 61.0%
Unsure 13.3%
In addition to voicing their dissatisfaction with the way things are going (66.3%), Latinos overwhelmingly support bringing most of our troops home within the next year (61%), compared to only 25.8% who believe that we ought to keep a large number of troops in Iraq until there is a stable government.
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?
National Topline:
Satisfied 20.9%
Dissatisfied 66.3%
Unsure 12.8%
Across the country, 68.9% of Latinos voted for a democratic congressional candidate while only 26.5% voted for a republican. In California the results were similar to the national findings. Fully 64.9% voted for a democratic congressional candidate while only 28.1% voted for the republican. Both Florida and Texas were similar to California in their votes, with 64.5% voting for democrats and 33.2% voting for republicans in Florida and 63% of democrats receiving support to 33.2% for republicans in Texas.
About the Exit Survey
The William C. Velasquez Institute conducted exit surveys of 3,138 respondents among Latino voters from 53 precincts in 8 states, which comprise 82% of all registered Latino voters. States included Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Simultaneously, WCVI also conducted separate exit surveys of Latino voters in California, Florida and Texas. WCVI Pollsters conducted 1,013 exit interviews in California, 763 exit interviews in Florida, and 572 exit interviews in Texas. The national margin or error is about +/- 2% while the state samples are between 3.5% for CA and FL and 4.5% for TX.
About the William C. Velasquez Institute
Chartered in 1985, The William C. Velásquez Institute (WCVI) is a non-profit, non-partisan Latino-oriented research and policy think tank with offices in San Antonio, Texas, Los Angeles, California and Miami, Florida. For more information regarding WCVI, please visit our website at www.wcvi.org
# # #
William C. Velasquez Institute
National Office
206 Lombard, 1st Floor
San Antonio, TX 78228
(210) 922-3118
California Office
2914 N. Main St., 1st Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90031
(323) 222-2217
Florida Office
2646-A NW 21st Terrace
Miami, FL 33142
(305) 635-6965
November 8, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Michael Bustamante
916.425.0839
OVERWHELMINGLY DISSATISFIED, LATINOS VOTE FOR CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS ON ELECTION DAY
Want Troops Home Next Year
LOS ANGELES, CA - Nearly two-thirds of Latino voters are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time and nearly seventy percent of them voted for a democratic congressional candidate, according to a national exit survey conducted yesterday by the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), a non-partisan public policy organization chartered in 1985.
For whom did you vote in your Congressional District race?
National Topline:
Democratic Candidate 68.9%
Republican Candidate 26.5%
Other Candidate 4.6%
"Latinos are not happy with the way things are going right now and they spoke up forcefully at the polls yesterday for change," said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the WCVI. "Latinos want our U.S. troops home now."
Do you favor keeping a large number of U.S. troops in Iraq until there is a stable government OR bringing most of our troops home in the next year?
National Topline:
Wait for a Stable Government 25.8%
Bring Home Next Year 61.0%
Unsure 13.3%
In addition to voicing their dissatisfaction with the way things are going (66.3%), Latinos overwhelmingly support bringing most of our troops home within the next year (61%), compared to only 25.8% who believe that we ought to keep a large number of troops in Iraq until there is a stable government.
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?
National Topline:
Satisfied 20.9%
Dissatisfied 66.3%
Unsure 12.8%
Across the country, 68.9% of Latinos voted for a democratic congressional candidate while only 26.5% voted for a republican. In California the results were similar to the national findings. Fully 64.9% voted for a democratic congressional candidate while only 28.1% voted for the republican. Both Florida and Texas were similar to California in their votes, with 64.5% voting for democrats and 33.2% voting for republicans in Florida and 63% of democrats receiving support to 33.2% for republicans in Texas.
About the Exit Survey
The William C. Velasquez Institute conducted exit surveys of 3,138 respondents among Latino voters from 53 precincts in 8 states, which comprise 82% of all registered Latino voters. States included Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Simultaneously, WCVI also conducted separate exit surveys of Latino voters in California, Florida and Texas. WCVI Pollsters conducted 1,013 exit interviews in California, 763 exit interviews in Florida, and 572 exit interviews in Texas. The national margin or error is about +/- 2% while the state samples are between 3.5% for CA and FL and 4.5% for TX.
About the William C. Velasquez Institute
Chartered in 1985, The William C. Velásquez Institute (WCVI) is a non-profit, non-partisan Latino-oriented research and policy think tank with offices in San Antonio, Texas, Los Angeles, California and Miami, Florida. For more information regarding WCVI, please visit our website at www.wcvi.org
# # #
William C. Velasquez Institute
National Office
206 Lombard, 1st Floor
San Antonio, TX 78228
(210) 922-3118
California Office
2914 N. Main St., 1st Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90031
(323) 222-2217
Florida Office
2646-A NW 21st Terrace
Miami, FL 33142
(305) 635-6965
With election over, lawmakers turn their attention to 2007 agenda
Posted on Sun, Nov. 12, 2006
With election over, lawmakers turn their attention to 2007 agenda
LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON
Associated Press
AUSTIN - The election dust has barely settled, but Texas lawmakers are already working on bills they'll push in the legislative session that begins in January.
Property appraisal caps, crackdowns on child predators and border security are among the major issues expected on the legislative agenda. The perennial proposals to allow casino gambling and to use taxpayer money for private school vouchers also are likely to pop up.
Lawmakers get their first chance to file bills on Monday, and clerks at the Texas House and Senate expect at least a few sponsors will be waiting in line when their offices open.
State representatives usually submit about 125 to 150 bills on the first filing day, said Robert Haney, chief clerk of the House. State senators typically submit about 100 bills that day, said Linda Hopkins, the Senate's assistant calendar clerk.
The 80th Legislative Session begins Jan. 9 and lawmakers will have until March 9 to submit most bills.
But some legislators, such as state Rep. Frank Corte, like to get an early start. The Republican from San Antonio has submitted as many as 13 bills on the first filing day every session for a decade.
Bills are assigned numbers in the order they're received, and Corte said he believes having low numbers on his proposals gives him a psychological edge.
"A low bill number a lot of times has the feeling to a lot of members that it's an important issue," Corte said. "It's something that was thought out way in advance. It wasn't something that you filed at the last minute."
The Legislature does not operate on a "first come, first served" basis, however. Once the session starts, the bills will be read in the House or Senate and assigned to a committee, whose chairperson then decides what to tackle first.
About 5,400 bills were filed in the House and Senate last year, but only a fraction of those were adopted and became law.
Even the earliest bills often take a back seat to proposals laid out by legislative leaders, such as Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate.
Dewhurst campaigned for re-election on a promise to get tough on child molesters. Under his plan, a person convicted once of molesting a child under 14 would be jailed for no less than 25 years. A second conviction would carry the death penalty.
Dewhurst spokesman Rich Parsons said he wasn't sure when that legislation would be filed. The lieutenant governor, who may not file bills himself, is working with senators to draft that proposal and other measures on drug testing and defibrillators in public schools.
y
With election over, lawmakers turn their attention to 2007 agenda
LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON
Associated Press
AUSTIN - The election dust has barely settled, but Texas lawmakers are already working on bills they'll push in the legislative session that begins in January.
Property appraisal caps, crackdowns on child predators and border security are among the major issues expected on the legislative agenda. The perennial proposals to allow casino gambling and to use taxpayer money for private school vouchers also are likely to pop up.
Lawmakers get their first chance to file bills on Monday, and clerks at the Texas House and Senate expect at least a few sponsors will be waiting in line when their offices open.
State representatives usually submit about 125 to 150 bills on the first filing day, said Robert Haney, chief clerk of the House. State senators typically submit about 100 bills that day, said Linda Hopkins, the Senate's assistant calendar clerk.
The 80th Legislative Session begins Jan. 9 and lawmakers will have until March 9 to submit most bills.
But some legislators, such as state Rep. Frank Corte, like to get an early start. The Republican from San Antonio has submitted as many as 13 bills on the first filing day every session for a decade.
Bills are assigned numbers in the order they're received, and Corte said he believes having low numbers on his proposals gives him a psychological edge.
"A low bill number a lot of times has the feeling to a lot of members that it's an important issue," Corte said. "It's something that was thought out way in advance. It wasn't something that you filed at the last minute."
The Legislature does not operate on a "first come, first served" basis, however. Once the session starts, the bills will be read in the House or Senate and assigned to a committee, whose chairperson then decides what to tackle first.
About 5,400 bills were filed in the House and Senate last year, but only a fraction of those were adopted and became law.
Even the earliest bills often take a back seat to proposals laid out by legislative leaders, such as Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate.
Dewhurst campaigned for re-election on a promise to get tough on child molesters. Under his plan, a person convicted once of molesting a child under 14 would be jailed for no less than 25 years. A second conviction would carry the death penalty.
Dewhurst spokesman Rich Parsons said he wasn't sure when that legislation would be filed. The lieutenant governor, who may not file bills himself, is working with senators to draft that proposal and other measures on drug testing and defibrillators in public schools.
y
Forum on Educational Accountability: Joint Statement on No Child Left Behind
In light of the recent election results, a window for changes to NCLB has opened. A good place to go for beginning to think about this is the Forum on Educational Accountability: Joint Statement on No Child Left Behind. Whether it goes far enough should be our collective concern. It thus merits a close read. -Angela
We the Undersigned, will work for the adoption of these recommendations as central structural changes needed to NCLB at the same time that we advance our individual organization's proposals. Jan 2, 2006
********************
Advancement Project
American Association of School Administrators
American Association of School Librarians, a division of American
Library Association
American Association of University Women
American Counseling Association
American Dance Therapy Association
American Federation of School Administrators
American Federation of State, County, and Municiple Employees
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
ASPIRA
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development
Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO)
Big Picture Company
Center for Community Change
Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking
Center for Parent Leadership
Children's Aid Society
Children's Defense Fund
Citizens for Effective Schools
Coalition of Essential Schools
Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism
Communities for Quality Education
Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders
Council for Exceptional Children
Council for Learning Disabilities
Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
Disciples Home Missions of the Christian Church
Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children (DLD/CEC)
FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing
Forum for Education and Democracy
General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church
Hmong National Development
International Reading Association
International Teaching Education Association
Japanese American Citizens League
Learning Disabilities Association of America
League of United Latin American Citizens
Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic
Justice of the United Church of Christ
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
National Alliance of Black School Educators
National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education
National Association for Bilingual Education
National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities
National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese Americans
National Association of Pupil Services Administrators
National Association of School Psychologists
National Association of Social Workers
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
National Coalition for Paren Involvement in Education
National Conference of Black Mayors
National Council for the Social Studies
National Council of Churches
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Teachers of English
National Down Syndrome Congress
National Education Association
National Federation of Filipino American Associations
National Indian Education Association
National Indian School Board Association
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium
National Mental Health Association
National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA
National Reading Conference
National Rural Education Association
National School Boards Association
National Urban League
Native Hawaiian Education Association
People for the American Way
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Rural School and Community Trust
Service Employees International Union
School Social Work Association of America
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Social Action Committee of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
Stand for Children
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
United Black Christians of the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church
Women of Reform Judaism
Forum on Educational Accountability
A network of 80 national education and civic organizations
Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
The undersigned education, civil rights, children's, disability, and citizens' organizations are committed to the No Child Left Behind Act's objectives of strong academic achievement for all children and closing the achievement gap. We believe that the federal government has a critical role to play in attaining these goals. We endorse the use of an accountability system that helps ensure all children, including children of color, from low-income families, with disabilities, and of limited English proficiency, are prepared to be successful, participating members of our democracy.
While we all have different positions on various aspects of the law, based on concerns raised during the implementation of NCLB, we believe the following significant, constructive corrections are among those necessary to make the Act fair and effective. Among these concerns are: over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing curriculum and instruction to focus on test preparation rather than richer academic learning; over-identifying schools in need of improvement; using sanctions that do not help improve schools; inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order to boost test results; and inadequate funding.
Overall, the law's emphasis needs to shift from applying sanctions for failing to raise test scores to holding states and localities accountable for making the systemic changes that improve student achievement.
RECOMMENDED CHANGES IN NCLB
Progress Measurement
Replace the law's arbitrary proficiency targets with ambitious achievement targets based on rates of success actually achieved by the most effective public schools.
Allow states to measure progress by using students' growth in achievement as well as their performance in relation to pre-determined levels of academic proficiency.
Ensure that states and school districts regularly report to the government and the public their progress in implementing systemic changes to enhance educator, family, and community capacity to improve student learning.
Provide a comprehensive picture of students' and schools' performance by moving from an overwhelming reliance on standardized tests to using multiple indicators of student achievement in addition to these tests.
Fund research and development of more effective accountability systems that better meet the goal of high academic achievement for all children
Assessments
Help states develop assessment systems that include district and school-based measures in order to provide better, more timely information about student learning.
Strengthen enforcement of NCLB provisions requiring that assessments must:
Be aligned with state content and achievement standards;
Be used for purposes for which they are valid and reliable;
Be consistent with nationally recognized professional and
technical standards;
Be of adequate technical quality for each purpose
required under the Act;
Provide multiple, up-to-date measures of student
performance including measures that assess higher order
thinking skills and understanding; and
Provide useful diagnostic information to improve
teaching and learning.
Decrease the testing burden on states, schools and districts by allowing states to assess students annually in selected grades in elementary, middle schools, and high schools.
Building Capacity
Ensure changes in teacher and administrator preparation and continuing professional development that research evidence and experience indicate improve educational quality and student achievement.
Enhance state and local capacity to effectively implement the comprehensive changes required to increase the knowledge and skills of administrators, teachers, families, and communities to support high student achievement.
Sanctions
Ensure that improvement plans are allowed sufficient time to take hold before applying sanctions; sanctions should not be applied if they undermine existing effective reform efforts.
Replace sanctions that do not have a consistent record of success with interventions that enable schools to make changes that result in improved student achievement.
Funding
Raise authorized levels of NCLB funding to cover a substantial percentage of the costs that states and districts will incur to carry out these recommendations, and fully fund the law at those levels without reducing expenditures for other education programs.
Fully fund Title I to ensure that 100 percent of eligible children are served.
National School Boards Association contact on this Joint Statement:
Reggie Felton, federal relations director at 703-838-6782 or rfelton@nsba.org.
© 2006 National School Boards Association
1680 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: (703) 838-6722 Fax: (703) 683-7590 E-mail: info@nsba.org
We the Undersigned, will work for the adoption of these recommendations as central structural changes needed to NCLB at the same time that we advance our individual organization's proposals. Jan 2, 2006
********************
Advancement Project
American Association of School Administrators
American Association of School Librarians, a division of American
Library Association
American Association of University Women
American Counseling Association
American Dance Therapy Association
American Federation of School Administrators
American Federation of State, County, and Municiple Employees
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
ASPIRA
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development
Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO)
Big Picture Company
Center for Community Change
Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking
Center for Parent Leadership
Children's Aid Society
Children's Defense Fund
Citizens for Effective Schools
Coalition of Essential Schools
Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism
Communities for Quality Education
Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders
Council for Exceptional Children
Council for Learning Disabilities
Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
Disciples Home Missions of the Christian Church
Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children (DLD/CEC)
FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing
Forum for Education and Democracy
General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church
Hmong National Development
International Reading Association
International Teaching Education Association
Japanese American Citizens League
Learning Disabilities Association of America
League of United Latin American Citizens
Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic
Justice of the United Church of Christ
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
National Alliance of Black School Educators
National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education
National Association for Bilingual Education
National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities
National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese Americans
National Association of Pupil Services Administrators
National Association of School Psychologists
National Association of Social Workers
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
National Coalition for Paren Involvement in Education
National Conference of Black Mayors
National Council for the Social Studies
National Council of Churches
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Teachers of English
National Down Syndrome Congress
National Education Association
National Federation of Filipino American Associations
National Indian Education Association
National Indian School Board Association
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium
National Mental Health Association
National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA
National Reading Conference
National Rural Education Association
National School Boards Association
National Urban League
Native Hawaiian Education Association
People for the American Way
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Rural School and Community Trust
Service Employees International Union
School Social Work Association of America
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Social Action Committee of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
Stand for Children
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
United Black Christians of the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church
Women of Reform Judaism
Forum on Educational Accountability
A network of 80 national education and civic organizations
Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
The undersigned education, civil rights, children's, disability, and citizens' organizations are committed to the No Child Left Behind Act's objectives of strong academic achievement for all children and closing the achievement gap. We believe that the federal government has a critical role to play in attaining these goals. We endorse the use of an accountability system that helps ensure all children, including children of color, from low-income families, with disabilities, and of limited English proficiency, are prepared to be successful, participating members of our democracy.
While we all have different positions on various aspects of the law, based on concerns raised during the implementation of NCLB, we believe the following significant, constructive corrections are among those necessary to make the Act fair and effective. Among these concerns are: over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing curriculum and instruction to focus on test preparation rather than richer academic learning; over-identifying schools in need of improvement; using sanctions that do not help improve schools; inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order to boost test results; and inadequate funding.
Overall, the law's emphasis needs to shift from applying sanctions for failing to raise test scores to holding states and localities accountable for making the systemic changes that improve student achievement.
RECOMMENDED CHANGES IN NCLB
Progress Measurement
Replace the law's arbitrary proficiency targets with ambitious achievement targets based on rates of success actually achieved by the most effective public schools.
Allow states to measure progress by using students' growth in achievement as well as their performance in relation to pre-determined levels of academic proficiency.
Ensure that states and school districts regularly report to the government and the public their progress in implementing systemic changes to enhance educator, family, and community capacity to improve student learning.
Provide a comprehensive picture of students' and schools' performance by moving from an overwhelming reliance on standardized tests to using multiple indicators of student achievement in addition to these tests.
Fund research and development of more effective accountability systems that better meet the goal of high academic achievement for all children
Assessments
Help states develop assessment systems that include district and school-based measures in order to provide better, more timely information about student learning.
Strengthen enforcement of NCLB provisions requiring that assessments must:
Be aligned with state content and achievement standards;
Be used for purposes for which they are valid and reliable;
Be consistent with nationally recognized professional and
technical standards;
Be of adequate technical quality for each purpose
required under the Act;
Provide multiple, up-to-date measures of student
performance including measures that assess higher order
thinking skills and understanding; and
Provide useful diagnostic information to improve
teaching and learning.
Decrease the testing burden on states, schools and districts by allowing states to assess students annually in selected grades in elementary, middle schools, and high schools.
Building Capacity
Ensure changes in teacher and administrator preparation and continuing professional development that research evidence and experience indicate improve educational quality and student achievement.
Enhance state and local capacity to effectively implement the comprehensive changes required to increase the knowledge and skills of administrators, teachers, families, and communities to support high student achievement.
Sanctions
Ensure that improvement plans are allowed sufficient time to take hold before applying sanctions; sanctions should not be applied if they undermine existing effective reform efforts.
Replace sanctions that do not have a consistent record of success with interventions that enable schools to make changes that result in improved student achievement.
Funding
Raise authorized levels of NCLB funding to cover a substantial percentage of the costs that states and districts will incur to carry out these recommendations, and fully fund the law at those levels without reducing expenditures for other education programs.
Fully fund Title I to ensure that 100 percent of eligible children are served.
National School Boards Association contact on this Joint Statement:
Reggie Felton, federal relations director at 703-838-6782 or rfelton@nsba.org.
© 2006 National School Boards Association
1680 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: (703) 838-6722 Fax: (703) 683-7590 E-mail: info@nsba.org
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
The donors behind the major candidates
Mon, Nov. 06, 2006 / FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
This year, the biggest names in the gubernatorial race aren't necessarily the ones on the ballot. Some of the bigger names may be the donors who are putting big bucks behind the candidates.
Here are some of the major candidates' top contributors and how much they had given as of late September. (Democrat Chris Bell's contributions from billionaire lawyer John O'Quinn came in October.) Libertarian James Werner is also running for governor.
REPUBLICAN RICK PERRY
Bob and Doylene Perry, a Houston home builder and his wife who made headlines for giving millions of dollars to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, known for its opposition to John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. More than $680,000.
AT&T. More than $270,000.
Thomas Dan Friedkin, Houston car dealer and Texas Parks and Wildlife commissioner. More than $215,000.
Alice L. Walton, a Mineral Wells heiress to Wal-Mart. At least $185,000.
Other notable donors include James R. Leininger, a San Antonio millionaire and school voucher supporter, and billionaire Lee Bass of Fort Worth.
DEMOCRAT CHRIS BELL
John O'Quinn, a Houston lawyer who helped the state win a $17.3 billion settlement with tobacco companies in 1998. At least $2.5 million.
Ricardo Weitz, a Houston auto dealer. More than $420,000.
Harold W. Nix, a Daingerfield lawyer who worked on the tobacco case. At least $250,000.
Terralynn Swift, widow of Houston energy executive Earl Swift. At least $170,000.
Other notable donors include billionaire Robert Bass of Fort Worth, lawyer Robert Patton Jr. of Fort Worth and oil company executive Lee Fikes of Dallas.
INDEPENDENT KINKY FRIEDMAN
John Herschel McCall, a shampoo magnate from Spicewood. More than $850,000.
Jimmy Buffett, singer. More than $215,000.
Barbara Bowman, San Antonio rancher and oil and gas producer. More than $150,000.
Mark Friend Shurley, a Central Texas lawyer. More than $110,000.
INDEPENDENT CAROLE KEETON STRAYHORN
Ryan & Co., a tax-consulting firm. More than $700,000.
George and Amanda Ryan of Dallas. More than $580,000.
John Eddie Williams Jr., a Houston lawyer involved with the tobacco settlement. More than $500,000.
Walter Umphrey, a Beaumont lawyer involved with the tobacco settlement. More than $500,000.
Other notable donors include W.A. Moncrief Jr. of Fort Worth's Moncrief Oil and Charles C. Butt of San Antonio, CEO of the H-E-B grocery stores.
SOURCES: Texans for Public Justice, Star-Telegram research
-- Compiled by staff writer Anna M. Tinsley
© 2006 Star-Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dfw.com
This year, the biggest names in the gubernatorial race aren't necessarily the ones on the ballot. Some of the bigger names may be the donors who are putting big bucks behind the candidates.
Here are some of the major candidates' top contributors and how much they had given as of late September. (Democrat Chris Bell's contributions from billionaire lawyer John O'Quinn came in October.) Libertarian James Werner is also running for governor.
REPUBLICAN RICK PERRY
Bob and Doylene Perry, a Houston home builder and his wife who made headlines for giving millions of dollars to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, known for its opposition to John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. More than $680,000.
AT&T. More than $270,000.
Thomas Dan Friedkin, Houston car dealer and Texas Parks and Wildlife commissioner. More than $215,000.
Alice L. Walton, a Mineral Wells heiress to Wal-Mart. At least $185,000.
Other notable donors include James R. Leininger, a San Antonio millionaire and school voucher supporter, and billionaire Lee Bass of Fort Worth.
DEMOCRAT CHRIS BELL
John O'Quinn, a Houston lawyer who helped the state win a $17.3 billion settlement with tobacco companies in 1998. At least $2.5 million.
Ricardo Weitz, a Houston auto dealer. More than $420,000.
Harold W. Nix, a Daingerfield lawyer who worked on the tobacco case. At least $250,000.
Terralynn Swift, widow of Houston energy executive Earl Swift. At least $170,000.
Other notable donors include billionaire Robert Bass of Fort Worth, lawyer Robert Patton Jr. of Fort Worth and oil company executive Lee Fikes of Dallas.
INDEPENDENT KINKY FRIEDMAN
John Herschel McCall, a shampoo magnate from Spicewood. More than $850,000.
Jimmy Buffett, singer. More than $215,000.
Barbara Bowman, San Antonio rancher and oil and gas producer. More than $150,000.
Mark Friend Shurley, a Central Texas lawyer. More than $110,000.
INDEPENDENT CAROLE KEETON STRAYHORN
Ryan & Co., a tax-consulting firm. More than $700,000.
George and Amanda Ryan of Dallas. More than $580,000.
John Eddie Williams Jr., a Houston lawyer involved with the tobacco settlement. More than $500,000.
Walter Umphrey, a Beaumont lawyer involved with the tobacco settlement. More than $500,000.
Other notable donors include W.A. Moncrief Jr. of Fort Worth's Moncrief Oil and Charles C. Butt of San Antonio, CEO of the H-E-B grocery stores.
SOURCES: Texans for Public Justice, Star-Telegram research
-- Compiled by staff writer Anna M. Tinsley
© 2006 Star-Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dfw.com
Friday, November 03, 2006
Immigrants Regroup
"There is little doubt that 2006 will be remembered not only for some of the most massive marches in US history but as the year marking the Al Qaeda-ization of immigrants." -Angela
by ROBERTO LOVATO / THE NATION
[from the November 13, 2006 issue]
While standing next to a large wreath of white carnations in front of Ground Zero on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Simeón Yañez was reminded that one can be both an advocate for and a threat to freedom. "Our friends are not recognized," said Yañez, speaking of the undocumented workers who perished in the Twin Towers but have not been counted among the dead. "We're the only ones making sure they're not forgotten."
As he gazed up at the gigantic Stars and Stripes on a building next to the "Tribute in Light"--two rays of light piercing the dusk-hour clouds from the ground he and thousands of other immigrants helped to clean immediately following 9/11--his contemplation was interrupted by a woman who walked past and said, "F--ing immigrants." The 48-year-old Yañez, who survived death threats from death-squad operatives claiming to defend freedom in wartime El Salvador, kept his cool.
"She's ignorant and doesn't know what she's doing. I have to deal with this a lot," said the brawny, soft-spoken immigrant-rights activist, who organized hundreds of other Long Islanders to join the historic marches earlier this year. Only minutes later, a bald man wearing a corduroy sport coat with a US flag pinned on the lapel pushed through the small crowd of candle-bearing immigrants, many of whom bore flags of their native countries as well as the flag of their new home. As he got to the front, the man yelled, "You should not be here! You're here illegally! You're a threat to our security!" A calm Yañez countered, "We're here to remember our dead, our injured," as he stepped between the man and agitated Ecuadoreans, Dominicans and other men and women standing in front of the wreath. "They should have come through the front door!" screamed the man before being escorted away by nearby Port Authority Police.
Lowering and then shaking his head in disbelief, Yañez said, "Some of us have lived terrorismo here--and in our countries. This hatred only gives us more reason to keep organizing."
This dynamic, of immigrant activism and native backlash, mirrors a larger pattern that has emerged in the past year. While the Republicans (and Democrats) have de-emphasized immigration and re-emphasized national security, immigrants themselves have been not so subtly linked to the terrorist threat. There is little doubt that 2006 will be remembered not only for some of the most massive marches in US history but as the year marking the Al Qaeda-ization of immigrants.
In this context, the Bush Administration's immigration policies have become increasingly militarized. Halliburton/KBR was awarded $385 million in government contracts for the construction of migrant detention centers along the US-Mexico border. The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security just handed major contracts to Boeing, General Electric and other military-industrial companies for the production of drones, ground-based sensors, virtual fences and other surveillance technology for use in the Arizona desert that were originally designed for war zones like the deserts of Iraq. In May the Administration announced the deployment of 6,000 additional National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border. That same month, and under the radar of most people outside the immigrant community, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, now "the largest arms-bearing branch of the U.S. government, excluding the military," according to a Cato Institute report) along with the FBI carried out hundreds of raids in neighborhoods and workplaces across the country. The ICE's "Operation Return to Sender" program captured more than 8,400 immigrants between late May and August in what DHS officials hail as "the largest operation of its kind in U.S. history." It is no coincidence that this same historical moment has witnessed the passage of the Military Commissions Act, which denies the habeas corpus rights of even legal residents who are suspected of providing "material support" to terrorist groups.
The immigrant-rights movement, meanwhile, has been declared all but dead by the mainstream media. In fact, it is regrouping in response to the national security panic gripping the country. The strategy questions raised by this climate dominated recent meetings in Chicago, Juarez (Mexico), Washington and the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles, where more than 2,000 leaders gathered in early September. Historians like Eric Foner draw parallels between the national security pressures that shaped (and divided) the civil rights movement during the cold war in the 1950s and the situation facing movimiento leaders at the front end of the war on terror. "The danger is that criticism of American society will be taken as aiding an outside enemy, and that the range of allowable discussion will be sharply narrowed," says Foner. "Another danger is the splintering of a movement as one group turns on another, to prove its patriotism."
Today, as many black leaders did in the 1960s, a number of movimiento leaders attack the politics of national security fear with their ultimate weapons: faith and familia.
"With God as my witness, I am not a criminal. I am not a terrorist. I am a mother who doesn't want to be separated from her son," said Mexican immigrant Elvira Arellano from the makeshift room she calls home and shares with her 7-year-old US-citizen son, Saul, on the second floor of her church on Chicago's West Side. Arellano, who made national headlines after taking refuge in Adalberto United Methodist Church instead of reporting to the DHS for deportation, provides moral, spiritual and political inspiration to a movimiento trying to redefine itself. "What is most important is that we, the inmigrantes, lead the struggle; we have to ask pastors, churches and other citizens to support us as we find a way to stop deportations and struggle for legalization," said Arellano.
The 31-year-old mother says she drew her own inspiration from the Central American immigrants she recently met during visits to California and Boston. They shared with her, she said, their experiences in building the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, when refugees who were denied political asylum after fleeing US-backed governments in Guatemala and El Salvador persuaded US citizens of many denominations to declare their churches sanctuaries. Elected officials in places like Los Angeles and Madison, Wisconsin, made their cities sanctuaries, prohibiting law enforcement cooperation with immigration officials, and many of these sanctuary ordinances are still in force. Arellano has had to face numerous death threats, hate letters and anti-immigrant protesters who believe she is a lawbreaker and should be deported. But this has only strengthened her resolve.
"We're watching the birth of a new sanctuary movement, and many are drawing inspiration from Elvira," says Angela Sanbrano, president of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), a network of more than seventy-five immigrant-led organizations in twelve states. "A lot of the repressive local and national policies against immigrants use a national security and anti-terrorist framework," adds Sanbrano, who herself received death threats from Salvadoran paramilitary operatives and whose offices were infiltrated by FBI agents during the Central America sanctuary movement. "They use these strategies to develop fear, to create a chilling effect."
In such a climate, says Sanbrano, who is also a leader in several national coalitions, including the Latino Congreso and the We Are America Coalition, "priority number one is challenging this fear by helping people understand their rights, by letting them know about this thing called the Constitution that says we can speak out and question immoral laws. Priority two is changing those laws." Sanbrano attends weekly meetings with church and other Los Angeles groups planning to continue the sanctuary tradition started in churches like the late Father Luis Olivares's La Placita church, where immigrants received food, housing and protection from immigration officials. During her travels across the country, Sanbrano says, she has encountered numerous church and community members who are preparing for the possibility that, rather than reform laws and legalize the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants like Arellano, Congress will create laws that further facilitate their exploitation. And some believe even worse things may transpire.
Nativo Lopez, head of Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, a California-based association engaged in advocacy and organizing as well as legal and social services, says he already sees the effects of the more repressive immigration policies. "Since the marches, our offices are getting calls daily from people whose homes have been raided, from the families of workers who've been captured," says Lopez, who is also one of the key members of the recently formed National Alliance for Immigrant Rights, a grouping of more than 400 organizations calling for an end to deportations and roundups and for full legalization of all immigrants.
Lopez has several fears about what may happen if the crackdown intensifies. The DHS is poised to implement new regulations for so-called "no match" letters, which are sent to employers by the Social Security Administration, or the DHS informing them of inconsistencies between government records and the information provided by workers. These letters are commonly used by employers as grounds for dismissal or to deny workers their rights. Lopez and Hermandad have started laying the groundwork for workplace committees to defend against the threats posed by the new regulations.
Echoing concerns about the melding of migration and national security in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, activistas in the United States are cognizant of the unique problems posed to the movimiento by the rise of a national security state here. And like the millions of Mexicans organizing against what they consider fraudulent elections and increased government repression just a stone's throw across the militarized border, activistas here face colossal challenges. But rather than succumb to what they consider repression disguised as the defense of freedom since 9/11, Yañez, Arellano and many other leaders in the movimiento respond by opting to use hope, faith and good strategy in their own defense--in the process translating and defining "freedom" into and on their own terms.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061113/lovato
by ROBERTO LOVATO / THE NATION
[from the November 13, 2006 issue]
While standing next to a large wreath of white carnations in front of Ground Zero on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Simeón Yañez was reminded that one can be both an advocate for and a threat to freedom. "Our friends are not recognized," said Yañez, speaking of the undocumented workers who perished in the Twin Towers but have not been counted among the dead. "We're the only ones making sure they're not forgotten."
As he gazed up at the gigantic Stars and Stripes on a building next to the "Tribute in Light"--two rays of light piercing the dusk-hour clouds from the ground he and thousands of other immigrants helped to clean immediately following 9/11--his contemplation was interrupted by a woman who walked past and said, "F--ing immigrants." The 48-year-old Yañez, who survived death threats from death-squad operatives claiming to defend freedom in wartime El Salvador, kept his cool.
"She's ignorant and doesn't know what she's doing. I have to deal with this a lot," said the brawny, soft-spoken immigrant-rights activist, who organized hundreds of other Long Islanders to join the historic marches earlier this year. Only minutes later, a bald man wearing a corduroy sport coat with a US flag pinned on the lapel pushed through the small crowd of candle-bearing immigrants, many of whom bore flags of their native countries as well as the flag of their new home. As he got to the front, the man yelled, "You should not be here! You're here illegally! You're a threat to our security!" A calm Yañez countered, "We're here to remember our dead, our injured," as he stepped between the man and agitated Ecuadoreans, Dominicans and other men and women standing in front of the wreath. "They should have come through the front door!" screamed the man before being escorted away by nearby Port Authority Police.
Lowering and then shaking his head in disbelief, Yañez said, "Some of us have lived terrorismo here--and in our countries. This hatred only gives us more reason to keep organizing."
This dynamic, of immigrant activism and native backlash, mirrors a larger pattern that has emerged in the past year. While the Republicans (and Democrats) have de-emphasized immigration and re-emphasized national security, immigrants themselves have been not so subtly linked to the terrorist threat. There is little doubt that 2006 will be remembered not only for some of the most massive marches in US history but as the year marking the Al Qaeda-ization of immigrants.
In this context, the Bush Administration's immigration policies have become increasingly militarized. Halliburton/KBR was awarded $385 million in government contracts for the construction of migrant detention centers along the US-Mexico border. The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security just handed major contracts to Boeing, General Electric and other military-industrial companies for the production of drones, ground-based sensors, virtual fences and other surveillance technology for use in the Arizona desert that were originally designed for war zones like the deserts of Iraq. In May the Administration announced the deployment of 6,000 additional National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border. That same month, and under the radar of most people outside the immigrant community, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, now "the largest arms-bearing branch of the U.S. government, excluding the military," according to a Cato Institute report) along with the FBI carried out hundreds of raids in neighborhoods and workplaces across the country. The ICE's "Operation Return to Sender" program captured more than 8,400 immigrants between late May and August in what DHS officials hail as "the largest operation of its kind in U.S. history." It is no coincidence that this same historical moment has witnessed the passage of the Military Commissions Act, which denies the habeas corpus rights of even legal residents who are suspected of providing "material support" to terrorist groups.
The immigrant-rights movement, meanwhile, has been declared all but dead by the mainstream media. In fact, it is regrouping in response to the national security panic gripping the country. The strategy questions raised by this climate dominated recent meetings in Chicago, Juarez (Mexico), Washington and the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles, where more than 2,000 leaders gathered in early September. Historians like Eric Foner draw parallels between the national security pressures that shaped (and divided) the civil rights movement during the cold war in the 1950s and the situation facing movimiento leaders at the front end of the war on terror. "The danger is that criticism of American society will be taken as aiding an outside enemy, and that the range of allowable discussion will be sharply narrowed," says Foner. "Another danger is the splintering of a movement as one group turns on another, to prove its patriotism."
Today, as many black leaders did in the 1960s, a number of movimiento leaders attack the politics of national security fear with their ultimate weapons: faith and familia.
"With God as my witness, I am not a criminal. I am not a terrorist. I am a mother who doesn't want to be separated from her son," said Mexican immigrant Elvira Arellano from the makeshift room she calls home and shares with her 7-year-old US-citizen son, Saul, on the second floor of her church on Chicago's West Side. Arellano, who made national headlines after taking refuge in Adalberto United Methodist Church instead of reporting to the DHS for deportation, provides moral, spiritual and political inspiration to a movimiento trying to redefine itself. "What is most important is that we, the inmigrantes, lead the struggle; we have to ask pastors, churches and other citizens to support us as we find a way to stop deportations and struggle for legalization," said Arellano.
The 31-year-old mother says she drew her own inspiration from the Central American immigrants she recently met during visits to California and Boston. They shared with her, she said, their experiences in building the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, when refugees who were denied political asylum after fleeing US-backed governments in Guatemala and El Salvador persuaded US citizens of many denominations to declare their churches sanctuaries. Elected officials in places like Los Angeles and Madison, Wisconsin, made their cities sanctuaries, prohibiting law enforcement cooperation with immigration officials, and many of these sanctuary ordinances are still in force. Arellano has had to face numerous death threats, hate letters and anti-immigrant protesters who believe she is a lawbreaker and should be deported. But this has only strengthened her resolve.
"We're watching the birth of a new sanctuary movement, and many are drawing inspiration from Elvira," says Angela Sanbrano, president of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), a network of more than seventy-five immigrant-led organizations in twelve states. "A lot of the repressive local and national policies against immigrants use a national security and anti-terrorist framework," adds Sanbrano, who herself received death threats from Salvadoran paramilitary operatives and whose offices were infiltrated by FBI agents during the Central America sanctuary movement. "They use these strategies to develop fear, to create a chilling effect."
In such a climate, says Sanbrano, who is also a leader in several national coalitions, including the Latino Congreso and the We Are America Coalition, "priority number one is challenging this fear by helping people understand their rights, by letting them know about this thing called the Constitution that says we can speak out and question immoral laws. Priority two is changing those laws." Sanbrano attends weekly meetings with church and other Los Angeles groups planning to continue the sanctuary tradition started in churches like the late Father Luis Olivares's La Placita church, where immigrants received food, housing and protection from immigration officials. During her travels across the country, Sanbrano says, she has encountered numerous church and community members who are preparing for the possibility that, rather than reform laws and legalize the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants like Arellano, Congress will create laws that further facilitate their exploitation. And some believe even worse things may transpire.
Nativo Lopez, head of Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, a California-based association engaged in advocacy and organizing as well as legal and social services, says he already sees the effects of the more repressive immigration policies. "Since the marches, our offices are getting calls daily from people whose homes have been raided, from the families of workers who've been captured," says Lopez, who is also one of the key members of the recently formed National Alliance for Immigrant Rights, a grouping of more than 400 organizations calling for an end to deportations and roundups and for full legalization of all immigrants.
Lopez has several fears about what may happen if the crackdown intensifies. The DHS is poised to implement new regulations for so-called "no match" letters, which are sent to employers by the Social Security Administration, or the DHS informing them of inconsistencies between government records and the information provided by workers. These letters are commonly used by employers as grounds for dismissal or to deny workers their rights. Lopez and Hermandad have started laying the groundwork for workplace committees to defend against the threats posed by the new regulations.
Echoing concerns about the melding of migration and national security in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, activistas in the United States are cognizant of the unique problems posed to the movimiento by the rise of a national security state here. And like the millions of Mexicans organizing against what they consider fraudulent elections and increased government repression just a stone's throw across the militarized border, activistas here face colossal challenges. But rather than succumb to what they consider repression disguised as the defense of freedom since 9/11, Yañez, Arellano and many other leaders in the movimiento respond by opting to use hope, faith and good strategy in their own defense--in the process translating and defining "freedom" into and on their own terms.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061113/lovato
SATs Scored in Error by Test Companies Roil Admissions Process
This is a wake-up call for more oversight over our unregulated testing industry. This pdf file presents a better image than what appears below.
-Angela
SATs Scored in Error by Test Companies Roil Admissions Process
By David Glovin and David Evans
Nov. 3, 2006 (Bloomberg) -- Jerry Lee Faine Elementary School in Dothan, Alabama, starts each day with two hours of reading and vocabulary. After that, there's arithmetic. "If you can read, you can do anything," says Principal Deloris Potter, a spry woman of 59 who has run the school since 2002.
Potter, trusting the work of her teachers, was confident of passing grades in April 2005 as students began two weeks of mandatory standardized testing in reading and math. That July, state education officials told Potter her school had failed the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test. The state warned it might fire teachers if scores didn't improve, she says. A dozen students transferred after the substandard rating. Faculty morale plunged.
"We felt like dogs," says Charlotte Adams, a reading specialist at the school.
In February 2006, the state said Jerry Lee Faine Elementary had passed. Harcourt Assessment Inc., a unit of London-based Reed Elsevier Plc and one of the world's largest test companies, had improperly graded the exam.
The snafu is at least the 30th time since 2000 that San Antonio-based Harcourt Assessment, which also wrote the exam, has made errors such as improper scoring, faulty instructions and questions with more than one answer.
Harcourt isn't alone. Other companies are constructing flawed tests, administering them improperly and scoring them incorrectly, according to lawsuits and education department records in 15 states.
SAT Error
In March, Pearson Assessments, a unit of London-based Pearson Plc, the world's biggest educational publisher, had to explain to high schoolers across the U.S. that it had erred in scoring about 5,000 SAT college entrance exams because its scanners couldn't read answer sheets that had expanded from humidity.
The next month, education officials in Minnesota discovered a separate issue with answer sheets that Pearson Assessments had created for a state-mandated exam. At least 500,000 people taking tests from 2000 through 2006 -- from Nevada third graders to aspiring teachers in many states -- were victims of test company mistakes, documents show.
"The errors we've seen from testing companies are probably just the tip of the iceberg," says David Berliner, 68, Regents' Professor of Education at Arizona State University in Tempe, who has written more than 200 articles, books and book chapters about education and served as president of the 25,000-member American Educational Research Association. "State education departments often lack the ability to adequately supervise these companies."
Millions of Tests
The U.S. is in a testing frenzy. Students in the 92,816 American public schools will take at least 45 million standardized reading and math exams this year. That will jump to 56 million in the 2007-08 school year, when states begin testing science as part of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law, the most comprehensive education overhaul in half a century.
Beyond No Child, tens of millions of additional tests assess college hopefuls, certify future stockbrokers and even evaluate preschoolers. With the stakes for making the grade so high for so many, errors by test companies have dramatic consequences.
Joseph Conigliaro lost his Pennsylvania teaching job after Princeton, New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service, the world's biggest standardized test company, incorrectly scored three of his licensing exams. ETS, which will pay $11.1 million to 4,100 teachers who were falsely failed, called the error an "anomaly."
'Growing Catastrophe'
Ryan Beck & Co. asked Linda Cutler to resign from a senior associate job at the securities firm after she and 1,881 other test takers were scored incorrectly last year on the Series 7 licensing exam for securities representatives.
"It's an exponentially growing catastrophe," says James Popham, an emeritus professor of education at University of California, Los Angeles, and author of 25 books on education. "No one knows how bad it is, and it's going to get worse."
Deputy U.S. Education Secretary Raymond Simon says states must better oversee test companies. "The whole teaching system is based on the results of those tests," Simon, 61, says. "If the integrity of the testing process is called into question, that brings into question the whole accountability system."
The national obsession with performance and measurement means a booming business for test-producing and grading companies. In 2005, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Educational Testing Service, Harcourt Assessment, Pearson Assessments and smaller firms generated $2.8 billion in revenue from testing and test preparation, according to Boston-based research firm Eduventures LLC. No Child tests alone produced about $500 million in annual revenue in 2005-06.
'Real Profits'
Along with creating exams, Harcourt Assessment, Pearson Assessments and companies such as White Plains, New York-based Haights Cross Communications Inc. sell mass-produced workbooks, practice tests and computer software that teachers use year-round to prepare students for No Child and other tests.
The burgeoning test preparation industry generated $1.7 billion in annual revenue last year. The $1.1 billion testing market and the $1.7 billion test prep business will grow by a combined 30 percent by the 2009-10 school year, Eduventures predicts.
For test companies, pitching schools to buy preparation materials after receiving a No Child contract is routine, says Robert Schaeffer, public education director at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based non-profit group.
"It's standard business practice, the equivalent of razor companies' giving away razors so they can make money selling blades," he says. "It's where the real profits are."
Test Prep
Profit margins in test preparation are as much as seven times higher than they are for No Child tests, partly because there are no requirements for high-quality questions on practice exams. States leave it to schools and school districts to decide whether the test preparation materials they're buying are sound.
Haights Cross, publisher of the Buckle Down test preparation workbooks, reported operating margins of 21 percent in its test preparation division for the first half of 2006.
In comparison, No Child tests, which must be custom designed for almost every state, have pretax profit margins as low as 3 percent, says Kurt Landgraf, chief executive officer of Educational Testing Service. He says his not-for-profit company lost $2.6 million on a $236 million four-year No Child contract in California.
'Cutting Corners'
Richard Rizzo, chief financial officer of Measured Progress Inc., a Dover, New Hampshire-based nonprofit firm that produces No Child tests, says he expects to earn margins triple those of No Child exams by selling practice questions and tests that schools use to gear up for the actual exams. Getting a foot in the door with a No Child contract can also lead to sales of achievement or psychological tests not related to No Child.
"Companies could conceivably low-ball the customized test because they know they could go in and sell the off-the-shelf products with a 40-50 percent margin," says Rizzo, 62, referring to tests that aren't specially designed for individual states.
Whether or not they low-ball, companies often scrimp when they bid on No Child contracts, Eduventures analyst Tim Wiley says. Getting a contract involves the same process as selling supplies or cafeteria food to a school: A company submits what it expects to be a winning package. ``As with any bidding situation, it definitely requires a lot of cost cutting," Wiley says. "Or, in some cases, cutting corners."
In Florida, CTB/McGraw-Hill won part of the state's testing contract for 3,800 schools in 2005. To grade the essay portion, the Monterey, California-based unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. hired $10-an-hour workers from Kelly Services Inc., the second-largest U.S. provider of temporary employees, and other companies.
'Layed Off'
Among the 2,947 graders was a person who won the job while he was employed packing bags of potato chips for PepsiCo Inc.'s Frito-Lay unit, applications compiled by the Florida state senate show. Kelly spokeswoman Renee Walker declined to comment.
Another grader was a cook in an Orlando, Florida, diner. One essay evaluator wrote he was "layed off" from a clerical job after working as a janitor. He graduated from Ambassador University, a Worldwide Church of God-run school in Big Sandy, Texas, in 1997. The school shut down that same year. Another said that he majored in ``Phylosophy/Humanity'' at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon.
Steven Weiss, vice president for communications at McGraw- Hill, said in an e-mailed statement that the company had performed extremely well in scoring more than 90 million documents with a total of more than 755 million essay and short- answer questions during the past five years.
Florida, Chicago
CTB/McGraw-Hill, Harcourt Assessment and Pearson Assessments don't break down their revenue from No Child tests and preparation materials in regulatory filings. Public records from the Wyoming department of education show the state is paying Harcourt, which has a $21 million, four-year No Child contract, more than $120 per student each year. Of that, about half is for No Child tests, and the rest is for preparation materials and other testing products.
Schools in Okaloosa County, Florida, pay $9.50 per student for a series of preparation tests called Stanford Learning First, which Harcourt Assessment renamed Learnia. By comparison, Harcourt received $4.93 per child from the state of Florida in 2005 to develop questions for its No Child-mandated annual Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Harcourt Assessment's experience shows how winning a No Child bid can be a prelude to more sales. In 2004, Harcourt got a four-year, $44.5 million contract to develop and score Illinois's No Child exams. Chicago schools then began purchasing Harcourt materials, testing director Xavier Botana says.
Tremendous Pressure
The preparation products included Stanford Learning First practice tests that measured student progress as they prepared for No Child exams. In the 2005-06 school year, the district spent $1.8 million on Harcourt's new Stanford Learning First product.
Christine Rowland, a former teacher of English as a second language who now trains colleagues at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, New York, says her pupils didn't learn more because of increased testing. Still, she relied on test preparation materials to help students pass the math test. The cost of failure was too high, she says.
"If I know they are going to test six things six weeks from now, that's what I'm going to teach," Rowland, 46, says. "It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on. The real fear is that it turns students off from learning."
Test companies, aware that Rowland and other teachers are being judged by how students do on No Child exams, are inundating schools with ads for preparation products such as practice tests, software and banks of sample questions. Often they say their materials are designed specifically to help students pass the state's No Child test.
'Test Anxiety'
``I'm getting mail from companies I've never heard of,'' says Susan Friedwald, head of teacher training at Public School 48 in the Bronx.
At Cracker Trail Elementary School in Sebring, Florida, 11- year-old Alexis Szoka took dozens of practice exams last year leading up to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. She wound up a nervous wreck. "My daughter has such test anxiety, she can't take a test anymore," says Alexis's mother, Carol Szoka.
One exam measured whether Alexis understood vocabulary and another checked her spelling. The school tested how well she read and whether she knew math. Some tests compared her reading and math skills with those of other fourth graders. Alexis was evaluated on phonics, writing and her understanding of text on a computer. Most tests were given two, three or four times a year. Teachers gave chapter tests in reading and math and benchmark tests throughout the year to see whether Alexis was progressing.
'Spray-And-Pray'
Andrew Lethbridge, Cracker Trail's vice principal, says one test gave fourth graders practice in filling in answer sheet bubbles on other tests. The materials came from divisions of Harcourt Assessment, Pearson Assessments and smaller, privately held companies.
"It was never like this," says Carol Szoka, who has two grown children who went through the same schools in Sebring, which is 85 miles (137 kilometers) south of Orlando. "They had an achievement test. They just took it. They weren't prepped."
Richard Demeri, Cracker Trail's principal, says test preparation materials have helped his students. Seven years ago, the school was given a grade of C by the state. Now, with test scores higher, the school has an A from the state and is no longer on probation.
"There's very little spray-and-pray teaching going on -- where you spray everybody and pray they get it," he says. The school uses test results to analyze each student's progress. ``It's much more individualized now,'' he says. Even if Demeri's students are prepared to take No Child tests, two Florida state senators question whether CTB/McGraw- Hill has qualified people to grade them.
Sports Science
Senators Walter "Skip'' Campbell and Leslie "Les" Miller Jr. sued the state education department and CTB/McGraw-Hill earlier this year to obtain applications of test graders. The department had refused to release the applications, citing confidentiality. CTB/McGraw-Hill settled the suit by providing copies of the scorers' personnel files with personal identifying information removed.
CTB/McGraw-Hill's $82 million, three-year Florida contract requires a scorer to have a bachelor's degree in mathematics, reading, science, education or a related field. On its Web site, the Florida Department of Education assures parents that graders of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test are professional, trained scorers.
Personal Trainer
Information the senate obtained shows one grader had an associate's degree, which is below a bachelor's, from the University of Delhi's School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education in Delhi, India.
She worked as a $7.50-an-hour cashier at a duty-free shop at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago before being hired to grade exams, according to the settlement documents. CTB/McGraw- Hill now says this person never scored exams.
A personal trainer with a degree in sports science from the University of Leipzig in Germany also graded essays, as did a convicted shoplifter who graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in physical education, the applications show. A person from Hungary wrote he was a ``pyshical education'' major. A physical education major from Methodist College in Fayetteville, North Carolina, wrote that she had attended "Methidist College."
McGraw-Hill's Weiss said its scorers from the University of Delhi met the requirements for a bachelor's degree. "Individuals must undergo a comprehensive training process before becoming qualified to score," Weiss wrote. "Scorers must maintain performance quality throughout the process."
Spelling Not a Requirement
CTB/McGraw-Hill spokeswoman Kelley Carpenter says the company subjects scorers to a rigorous three- to five-day training program. Next year, at Florida's request, the company will ensure that scorers have appropriate backgrounds for the subjects they grade, she says.
"They are constantly monitored,'' she says. ``And if they don't match the quality performance standards, they're not retained as scorers."
Carpenter says spelling errors on an application don't disqualify someone from being hired as a scorer. "Spelling in and of itself is not a requirement," she says.
When Deputy Education Secretary Simon is shown misspellings on applications of Florida scorers, he says he would demand excellence. "It's absolutely important that the integrity of the scorers is something the companies would be proud of and feel comfortable with," he says. "I can't imagine they would feel comfortable with a non-speller."
No Oversight
Cornelia Orr, head of the Florida Office of Assessment and Performance, says she reviewed about 25 percent of the grader applications. ``I felt like CTB had minimally met our expectations,'' she says. ``There are ways they can improve.''
One reason for the testing foul-ups and their dire effects is that there's no federal oversight of the testing industry. When the U.S. Congress authorized the No Child law it didn't create an agency to evaluate whether the companies making and selling the exams do an adequate job. Each state oversees its own test contractor.
Roderick Paige, who ran the No Child program as U.S. education secretary from 2001 to 2004, says the law is a good one. He says his concern is that testing may not be done accurately and competently. Paige, 73, says he summoned top executives from 20 testing companies to a conference room at the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 20, 2003, and demanded better performance.
'Making Mistakes'
In 2005, the Education Department's inspector general announced plans to study whether there's a need for federal review to detect and prevent errors. The study isn't yet under way, spokeswoman Catherine Grant says.
"We've got to get better testing producers,'' says Paige, who's now chairman of Chartwell Education Group LLC, a Washington-based school consulting company. "They're making mistakes."
Harcourt Assessment is making the most errors, according to records in 15 state education departments. In addition to erroneously failing Jerry Lee Faine Elementary, Harcourt wrongly flunked three other Alabama schools because of its grading snafu. It mistakenly passed 10 Alabama schools that should have failed, the state said.
`Shortcuts'
In Connecticut, Harcourt Assessment reported the wrong reading test scores for 355 high school students in 51 districts last year. The state fined the company $80,000. In Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and Virginia, Harcourt made errors on No Child tests and achievement tests given to measure how students compared with one another. States fined the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Employees took shortcuts," Harcourt Assessment Senior Vice President Robin Gunn wrote in a May 28, 2004, letter to Hawaii school principals, promising stricter oversight. Gunn has since left the company.
Hawaii hired a not-for-profit firm, Washington-based American Institutes for Research, to develop and score the tests after discovering more errors on Harcourt's 2005 exams. Illinois also replaced Harcourt in the middle of its contract; Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia didn't renew their contracts with the company.
Nevada fired Harcourt in 2004, after the company mistakenly failed hundreds of students, gave inflated scores to thousands of others and produced tests with missing pages, misspellings and flawed instructions, according to Nevada Education Department records.
Fined and Fired
"It was errors, one after the other, and not to a single student but to a large number,'' says Karlene Lee, the assistant superintendent in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. "In education, we don't have the luxury to say that 2 percent doesn't matter. Every child has to be accurate."
Nevada fined Harcourt Assessment $425,000 in 2002, before firing the company.
Harcourt's approximately $290 million in revenue last year was 3 percent of Reed Elsevier's sales, according to company filings. Reed Elsevier reported its profit increased 62 percent in the six months ended on June 30 to 217 million pounds ($403 million) compared with a year earlier. The company's shares rose 7.7 percent this year to 588 pence on Nov. 2.
Harcourt Assessment hired a new CEO, Michael Hansen, who took over in July after serving as executive vice president for corporate development at Guetersloh, Germany-based Bertelsmann AG, Europe's largest media company. Hansen, 45, says his company won't slip up again. He blames errors on the enormous demand for made-to-order state tests.
'Sacred Obligation'
"You went from an industry that was largely standardized to an industry that was highly, highly customized,'' Hansen says during an interview in a conference room in his San Antonio office suite, which is adjacent to the test production work floor. "Our most sacred obligation is that the test results are accurate and that they are timely."
Last year privately held Measurement Inc., a Durham, North Carolina-based test development and scoring company, wrongly failed 890 students out of the 5,461 it tested on Ohio's high school graduation exams. The company says it scored the exams correctly and then erred when it determined the students' grades based on the number of questions they answered correctly.
"We had a really spotless reputation," Senior Vice President Mike Bunch says. "This was just devastating to us."
Pearson Assessments grades 40 million exams each year. The company has the high-profile job of scoring the SAT, which more than 3,000 colleges and universities use as a gauge for admitting students.
'Hard to Get Perfection'
Pearson discovered its SAT scoring error in January after two students asked that their results be hand-scored. Score changes affected about 1 percent of the October 2005 test takers, says the New York-based College Board, a nonprofit group that represents 5,000 colleges and oversees the exam. Before most college admission decisions were announced, the College Board re-reported the roughly 4,400 scores that had been underscored.
"When you do 12 million tests a year, a lot of people are involved in that,'' College Board President Gaston Caperton says. "It's very hard to get perfection."
Shane Fulton, a lean youth who played soccer and tennis at George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, knows the pain of an incorrect score. Fulton had his sights on attending New York University or Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
'Something Was Wrong'
In June 2005, at the end of his junior year at the Quaker- run high school, he took his first SAT. He earned a score of 1,910 out of 2,400 on the three-part test, which assesses mathematics, reading and writing. Not satisfied with his performance on the math portion, he took the test a second time in October. He was shocked when the grade came back as a 1,330.
"I knew that something was wrong," says Fulton, 19, of Yardley, Pennsylvania. He asked to have his exam graded by hand. When the results were returned more than a month later, his score was actually a 1,720, or 390 points higher than initially reported.
By then, Fulton had suffered restless nights, sought sleeping pills from his parents and broken down in tears because of the uncertainty surrounding the scores and his future. Adding to his anxiety, he'd taken the SAT a third time because he didn't yet know his results on the second test. On that one, he earned an 1,850.
"Every year, there's more of an emphasis on how you do," says Fulton, who's attending Northeastern University in Boston and is suing Pearson Assessments and the College Board over the error. "I was thinking I wouldn't get into any of the colleges I applied to."
$50 Million Investment
Mistakes may soon cost Pearson Assessments and other test companies business. Educational Testing Service wants to bring scoring in-house to reduce the chance of errors. ETS's Landgraf has directed the company to invest $50 million so it can expand its scoring operation within three years. He estimates that will produce $33 million in new annual revenue. Pearson shares gained 12 percent this year as of Nov. 2, to 769.5 pence.
Having ETS grade his exam didn't help Pennsylvania teacher Conigliaro, one of the 4,100 false failures on the Praxis test. Forty-four states require the Praxis to evaluate teaching skill and knowledge in a particular field. ETS developed the Praxis and then, in Conigliaro's case, scored it incorrectly -- multiple times.
'Too Embarrassed'
Conigliaro, 55, an engineer and former machine shop owner, started teaching seven years ago as an intern at Mountain View Junior/Senior High School in Kingsley, Pennsylvania. His employment there was contingent on his passing the Praxis to get final certification. He took the exam in April 2003 and was told he'd failed. He took it again and got a second failing score. He took it a third and a fourth time and again flunked.
``I was missing by one or two points each time,'' he says.
Conigliaro was fired from his teaching job and wound up working as a bartender. ``I didn't want to leave the house for a year and a half because I was too embarrassed,'' he says.
ETS notified Conigliaro in July 2004 that there were scoring errors on his tests and that he had actually passed. In a press release that month the company cited a ``statistical anomaly'' in the scoring of nine exams from January 2003 to April 2004 and apologized to test takers. ETS spokesman Tom Ewing declined to comment further.
According to court papers by teachers who later sued ETS in federal court in New Orleans, the firm didn't start an investigation of its scoring of short essays until an unnamed state challenged the results. In March, the company agreed to pay $11.1 million to the test takers to settle the lawsuit.
'I'm Bitter'
Conigliaro, who sued and was part of the settlement, says he would have succeeded on at least three of the four exams he was told he'd failed. ``Yes, I'm bitter,'' says Conigliaro, who, after passing the Praxis and getting his license, now teaches business and accounting at Blue Ridge High School in New Milford, Pennsylvania. ``I was just about to get tenure, and I had to start all over again."
Errors can occur in the earliest stages of the test-making process and then snowball. In 2003, the Minnesota Department of Education found flaws in questions proposed by Maple Grove, Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corp., a privately held firm that provides testing for eight states. Minnesota school officials reviewed some questions, which are known as items. About 6 percent had no correct answers or multiple correct answers.
'Undermine Credibility'
"There are other concerns about item quality with another 60-70 percent,'' testing director Reginald Allen wrote in 2003 after the company challenged the state's decision not to renew its contract. The flawed test questions didn't make it onto state exams.
Company lawyer Dwight Rabuse declined to comment except to say that the state later hired a Data Recognition staffer to replace Allen. Minnesota Education Department spokesman Randy Wanke declined to comment. Minnesota now contracts with Pearson Assessments to provide its state tests.
"When you have an education reform agenda that's relying so heavily on standard tests to ensure school quality, it doesn't take so many problems to undermine credibility," says Thomas Toch, co-director of Washington-based research firm Education Sector, who wrote a 2006 report on test errors.
Executives at testing companies say they strive for perfection in the face of state demands for new tests each year, in at least two different subjects and for seven different grades.
Potential for Errors
Stuart Kahl, president and founder of Measured Progress, says the industry uses dozens of quality checks as companies draft, edit, print and deliver exams; retrieve, scan and read papers; and calculate, compare and convert raw scores into test grades. The process may take two years from start to finish.
"There's no question there are tremendous demands placed on the industry,'' Kahl says. "Obviously, when you redo things every year, you have tremendous potential for errors."
Former Harcourt Assessment President Jeff Galt says state education departments are sometimes to blame for errors that they require their testing contractors to assume responsibility for. He points to Connecticut, which is using Measurement Inc., its third testing contractor since 2003. The state got rid of Harcourt and then parted ways with CTB/McGraw-Hill.
``You have to wonder, Is the problem with the testing company or with the department?'' says Galt, 50, who now teaches business at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Connecticut Education Department spokesman Henry Garcia declined to comment.
On Probation
Harcourt Assessment's inability to follow instructions from Alabama is what cost Jerry Lee Faine Elementary its good name.
After the school was notified of its failure to make the required adequate yearly progress, the state placed it in the category of School Improvement, as probation is called under the No Child program. Newspapers publicized the designation, and parents won permission to transfer children to other schools.
"People will not move into this community," says Alfreda Mays-Rogers, whose grandchild is in first grade at the school.
The Alabama Department of Education summoned principal Potter 100 miles north to Montgomery, she says. Officials demanded more teacher training and insisted on additional reading instruction. Potter says she researched curricula used by other schools and dissected years of test data to figure out why her pupils hadn't passed. Nothing stood out.
During Potter's crisis of confidence, Kirby Hubbard, the testing director in Etowah County, about 250 miles to the north, discovered that Harcourt Assessment had miscalculated his schools' No Child results.
'Mad, Mad, Mad'
Harcourt had tallied the scores of students who'd been absent during part of the exam week, failing to follow Alabama's instruction to count the scores of only students who took the entire multipart test, state Education Superintendent Joseph Morton said in a Nov. 8, 2005, letter to Harcourt. That same type of error affected Jerry Lee Faine Elementary.
When the state told Potter her school had actually passed on Feb. 9, 2006, she took to the school intercom and made the announcement. Teachers ran into the hallways, cheering.
``We were happy, happy, happy,'' Potter says. "But you turn to the other side, we were mad, mad, mad."
Along with Potter, educators in Florida, Nevada and across the U.S. have to live with test company mistakes every year. Boston College emeritus professor George Madaus and researcher Kathleen Rhoades say there should be independent oversight of crucial exams.
"There's so much error in these products,'' Rhoades says.
'Make Testing Better'
Madaus, co-author of a 2003 study on test errors, envisions an impartial federally financed panel that would monitor state testing programs to ensure they're well crafted and used correctly. Such a board would analyze why there are errors and how they can be minimized. It also may offer a seal of approval on the test preparation products flooding the market, which can generate such a big chunk of a test company's earnings.
``This is not anti-testing,'' Madaus says. ``This is an attempt to make testing better.''
Potter tries not to be bitter. She notes with pride how her school has now passed the state test for two consecutive years. She has a message for test companies. ``They're hurting students more than anything else,'' she says. ``Please don't make that mistake on students. That's a reflection on our school, on my students, on my teachers. That's a reflection on me.''
It's also a reflection on the $2.8 billion test industry, which profits from selling materials to prepare students for high-stakes exams it has a hard time getting right.
To contact the reporters on this story: To contact the reporters for this story: David Evans in Los Angeles davidevans@bloomberg.net David Glovin in New York at dglovin@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 3, 2006 00:05 EST
-Angela
SATs Scored in Error by Test Companies Roil Admissions Process
By David Glovin and David Evans
Nov. 3, 2006 (Bloomberg) -- Jerry Lee Faine Elementary School in Dothan, Alabama, starts each day with two hours of reading and vocabulary. After that, there's arithmetic. "If you can read, you can do anything," says Principal Deloris Potter, a spry woman of 59 who has run the school since 2002.
Potter, trusting the work of her teachers, was confident of passing grades in April 2005 as students began two weeks of mandatory standardized testing in reading and math. That July, state education officials told Potter her school had failed the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test. The state warned it might fire teachers if scores didn't improve, she says. A dozen students transferred after the substandard rating. Faculty morale plunged.
"We felt like dogs," says Charlotte Adams, a reading specialist at the school.
In February 2006, the state said Jerry Lee Faine Elementary had passed. Harcourt Assessment Inc., a unit of London-based Reed Elsevier Plc and one of the world's largest test companies, had improperly graded the exam.
The snafu is at least the 30th time since 2000 that San Antonio-based Harcourt Assessment, which also wrote the exam, has made errors such as improper scoring, faulty instructions and questions with more than one answer.
Harcourt isn't alone. Other companies are constructing flawed tests, administering them improperly and scoring them incorrectly, according to lawsuits and education department records in 15 states.
SAT Error
In March, Pearson Assessments, a unit of London-based Pearson Plc, the world's biggest educational publisher, had to explain to high schoolers across the U.S. that it had erred in scoring about 5,000 SAT college entrance exams because its scanners couldn't read answer sheets that had expanded from humidity.
The next month, education officials in Minnesota discovered a separate issue with answer sheets that Pearson Assessments had created for a state-mandated exam. At least 500,000 people taking tests from 2000 through 2006 -- from Nevada third graders to aspiring teachers in many states -- were victims of test company mistakes, documents show.
"The errors we've seen from testing companies are probably just the tip of the iceberg," says David Berliner, 68, Regents' Professor of Education at Arizona State University in Tempe, who has written more than 200 articles, books and book chapters about education and served as president of the 25,000-member American Educational Research Association. "State education departments often lack the ability to adequately supervise these companies."
Millions of Tests
The U.S. is in a testing frenzy. Students in the 92,816 American public schools will take at least 45 million standardized reading and math exams this year. That will jump to 56 million in the 2007-08 school year, when states begin testing science as part of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law, the most comprehensive education overhaul in half a century.
Beyond No Child, tens of millions of additional tests assess college hopefuls, certify future stockbrokers and even evaluate preschoolers. With the stakes for making the grade so high for so many, errors by test companies have dramatic consequences.
Joseph Conigliaro lost his Pennsylvania teaching job after Princeton, New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service, the world's biggest standardized test company, incorrectly scored three of his licensing exams. ETS, which will pay $11.1 million to 4,100 teachers who were falsely failed, called the error an "anomaly."
'Growing Catastrophe'
Ryan Beck & Co. asked Linda Cutler to resign from a senior associate job at the securities firm after she and 1,881 other test takers were scored incorrectly last year on the Series 7 licensing exam for securities representatives.
"It's an exponentially growing catastrophe," says James Popham, an emeritus professor of education at University of California, Los Angeles, and author of 25 books on education. "No one knows how bad it is, and it's going to get worse."
Deputy U.S. Education Secretary Raymond Simon says states must better oversee test companies. "The whole teaching system is based on the results of those tests," Simon, 61, says. "If the integrity of the testing process is called into question, that brings into question the whole accountability system."
The national obsession with performance and measurement means a booming business for test-producing and grading companies. In 2005, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Educational Testing Service, Harcourt Assessment, Pearson Assessments and smaller firms generated $2.8 billion in revenue from testing and test preparation, according to Boston-based research firm Eduventures LLC. No Child tests alone produced about $500 million in annual revenue in 2005-06.
'Real Profits'
Along with creating exams, Harcourt Assessment, Pearson Assessments and companies such as White Plains, New York-based Haights Cross Communications Inc. sell mass-produced workbooks, practice tests and computer software that teachers use year-round to prepare students for No Child and other tests.
The burgeoning test preparation industry generated $1.7 billion in annual revenue last year. The $1.1 billion testing market and the $1.7 billion test prep business will grow by a combined 30 percent by the 2009-10 school year, Eduventures predicts.
For test companies, pitching schools to buy preparation materials after receiving a No Child contract is routine, says Robert Schaeffer, public education director at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based non-profit group.
"It's standard business practice, the equivalent of razor companies' giving away razors so they can make money selling blades," he says. "It's where the real profits are."
Test Prep
Profit margins in test preparation are as much as seven times higher than they are for No Child tests, partly because there are no requirements for high-quality questions on practice exams. States leave it to schools and school districts to decide whether the test preparation materials they're buying are sound.
Haights Cross, publisher of the Buckle Down test preparation workbooks, reported operating margins of 21 percent in its test preparation division for the first half of 2006.
In comparison, No Child tests, which must be custom designed for almost every state, have pretax profit margins as low as 3 percent, says Kurt Landgraf, chief executive officer of Educational Testing Service. He says his not-for-profit company lost $2.6 million on a $236 million four-year No Child contract in California.
'Cutting Corners'
Richard Rizzo, chief financial officer of Measured Progress Inc., a Dover, New Hampshire-based nonprofit firm that produces No Child tests, says he expects to earn margins triple those of No Child exams by selling practice questions and tests that schools use to gear up for the actual exams. Getting a foot in the door with a No Child contract can also lead to sales of achievement or psychological tests not related to No Child.
"Companies could conceivably low-ball the customized test because they know they could go in and sell the off-the-shelf products with a 40-50 percent margin," says Rizzo, 62, referring to tests that aren't specially designed for individual states.
Whether or not they low-ball, companies often scrimp when they bid on No Child contracts, Eduventures analyst Tim Wiley says. Getting a contract involves the same process as selling supplies or cafeteria food to a school: A company submits what it expects to be a winning package. ``As with any bidding situation, it definitely requires a lot of cost cutting," Wiley says. "Or, in some cases, cutting corners."
In Florida, CTB/McGraw-Hill won part of the state's testing contract for 3,800 schools in 2005. To grade the essay portion, the Monterey, California-based unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. hired $10-an-hour workers from Kelly Services Inc., the second-largest U.S. provider of temporary employees, and other companies.
'Layed Off'
Among the 2,947 graders was a person who won the job while he was employed packing bags of potato chips for PepsiCo Inc.'s Frito-Lay unit, applications compiled by the Florida state senate show. Kelly spokeswoman Renee Walker declined to comment.
Another grader was a cook in an Orlando, Florida, diner. One essay evaluator wrote he was "layed off" from a clerical job after working as a janitor. He graduated from Ambassador University, a Worldwide Church of God-run school in Big Sandy, Texas, in 1997. The school shut down that same year. Another said that he majored in ``Phylosophy/Humanity'' at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon.
Steven Weiss, vice president for communications at McGraw- Hill, said in an e-mailed statement that the company had performed extremely well in scoring more than 90 million documents with a total of more than 755 million essay and short- answer questions during the past five years.
Florida, Chicago
CTB/McGraw-Hill, Harcourt Assessment and Pearson Assessments don't break down their revenue from No Child tests and preparation materials in regulatory filings. Public records from the Wyoming department of education show the state is paying Harcourt, which has a $21 million, four-year No Child contract, more than $120 per student each year. Of that, about half is for No Child tests, and the rest is for preparation materials and other testing products.
Schools in Okaloosa County, Florida, pay $9.50 per student for a series of preparation tests called Stanford Learning First, which Harcourt Assessment renamed Learnia. By comparison, Harcourt received $4.93 per child from the state of Florida in 2005 to develop questions for its No Child-mandated annual Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Harcourt Assessment's experience shows how winning a No Child bid can be a prelude to more sales. In 2004, Harcourt got a four-year, $44.5 million contract to develop and score Illinois's No Child exams. Chicago schools then began purchasing Harcourt materials, testing director Xavier Botana says.
Tremendous Pressure
The preparation products included Stanford Learning First practice tests that measured student progress as they prepared for No Child exams. In the 2005-06 school year, the district spent $1.8 million on Harcourt's new Stanford Learning First product.
Christine Rowland, a former teacher of English as a second language who now trains colleagues at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, New York, says her pupils didn't learn more because of increased testing. Still, she relied on test preparation materials to help students pass the math test. The cost of failure was too high, she says.
"If I know they are going to test six things six weeks from now, that's what I'm going to teach," Rowland, 46, says. "It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on. The real fear is that it turns students off from learning."
Test companies, aware that Rowland and other teachers are being judged by how students do on No Child exams, are inundating schools with ads for preparation products such as practice tests, software and banks of sample questions. Often they say their materials are designed specifically to help students pass the state's No Child test.
'Test Anxiety'
``I'm getting mail from companies I've never heard of,'' says Susan Friedwald, head of teacher training at Public School 48 in the Bronx.
At Cracker Trail Elementary School in Sebring, Florida, 11- year-old Alexis Szoka took dozens of practice exams last year leading up to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. She wound up a nervous wreck. "My daughter has such test anxiety, she can't take a test anymore," says Alexis's mother, Carol Szoka.
One exam measured whether Alexis understood vocabulary and another checked her spelling. The school tested how well she read and whether she knew math. Some tests compared her reading and math skills with those of other fourth graders. Alexis was evaluated on phonics, writing and her understanding of text on a computer. Most tests were given two, three or four times a year. Teachers gave chapter tests in reading and math and benchmark tests throughout the year to see whether Alexis was progressing.
'Spray-And-Pray'
Andrew Lethbridge, Cracker Trail's vice principal, says one test gave fourth graders practice in filling in answer sheet bubbles on other tests. The materials came from divisions of Harcourt Assessment, Pearson Assessments and smaller, privately held companies.
"It was never like this," says Carol Szoka, who has two grown children who went through the same schools in Sebring, which is 85 miles (137 kilometers) south of Orlando. "They had an achievement test. They just took it. They weren't prepped."
Richard Demeri, Cracker Trail's principal, says test preparation materials have helped his students. Seven years ago, the school was given a grade of C by the state. Now, with test scores higher, the school has an A from the state and is no longer on probation.
"There's very little spray-and-pray teaching going on -- where you spray everybody and pray they get it," he says. The school uses test results to analyze each student's progress. ``It's much more individualized now,'' he says. Even if Demeri's students are prepared to take No Child tests, two Florida state senators question whether CTB/McGraw- Hill has qualified people to grade them.
Sports Science
Senators Walter "Skip'' Campbell and Leslie "Les" Miller Jr. sued the state education department and CTB/McGraw-Hill earlier this year to obtain applications of test graders. The department had refused to release the applications, citing confidentiality. CTB/McGraw-Hill settled the suit by providing copies of the scorers' personnel files with personal identifying information removed.
CTB/McGraw-Hill's $82 million, three-year Florida contract requires a scorer to have a bachelor's degree in mathematics, reading, science, education or a related field. On its Web site, the Florida Department of Education assures parents that graders of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test are professional, trained scorers.
Personal Trainer
Information the senate obtained shows one grader had an associate's degree, which is below a bachelor's, from the University of Delhi's School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education in Delhi, India.
She worked as a $7.50-an-hour cashier at a duty-free shop at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago before being hired to grade exams, according to the settlement documents. CTB/McGraw- Hill now says this person never scored exams.
A personal trainer with a degree in sports science from the University of Leipzig in Germany also graded essays, as did a convicted shoplifter who graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in physical education, the applications show. A person from Hungary wrote he was a ``pyshical education'' major. A physical education major from Methodist College in Fayetteville, North Carolina, wrote that she had attended "Methidist College."
McGraw-Hill's Weiss said its scorers from the University of Delhi met the requirements for a bachelor's degree. "Individuals must undergo a comprehensive training process before becoming qualified to score," Weiss wrote. "Scorers must maintain performance quality throughout the process."
Spelling Not a Requirement
CTB/McGraw-Hill spokeswoman Kelley Carpenter says the company subjects scorers to a rigorous three- to five-day training program. Next year, at Florida's request, the company will ensure that scorers have appropriate backgrounds for the subjects they grade, she says.
"They are constantly monitored,'' she says. ``And if they don't match the quality performance standards, they're not retained as scorers."
Carpenter says spelling errors on an application don't disqualify someone from being hired as a scorer. "Spelling in and of itself is not a requirement," she says.
When Deputy Education Secretary Simon is shown misspellings on applications of Florida scorers, he says he would demand excellence. "It's absolutely important that the integrity of the scorers is something the companies would be proud of and feel comfortable with," he says. "I can't imagine they would feel comfortable with a non-speller."
No Oversight
Cornelia Orr, head of the Florida Office of Assessment and Performance, says she reviewed about 25 percent of the grader applications. ``I felt like CTB had minimally met our expectations,'' she says. ``There are ways they can improve.''
One reason for the testing foul-ups and their dire effects is that there's no federal oversight of the testing industry. When the U.S. Congress authorized the No Child law it didn't create an agency to evaluate whether the companies making and selling the exams do an adequate job. Each state oversees its own test contractor.
Roderick Paige, who ran the No Child program as U.S. education secretary from 2001 to 2004, says the law is a good one. He says his concern is that testing may not be done accurately and competently. Paige, 73, says he summoned top executives from 20 testing companies to a conference room at the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 20, 2003, and demanded better performance.
'Making Mistakes'
In 2005, the Education Department's inspector general announced plans to study whether there's a need for federal review to detect and prevent errors. The study isn't yet under way, spokeswoman Catherine Grant says.
"We've got to get better testing producers,'' says Paige, who's now chairman of Chartwell Education Group LLC, a Washington-based school consulting company. "They're making mistakes."
Harcourt Assessment is making the most errors, according to records in 15 state education departments. In addition to erroneously failing Jerry Lee Faine Elementary, Harcourt wrongly flunked three other Alabama schools because of its grading snafu. It mistakenly passed 10 Alabama schools that should have failed, the state said.
`Shortcuts'
In Connecticut, Harcourt Assessment reported the wrong reading test scores for 355 high school students in 51 districts last year. The state fined the company $80,000. In Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and Virginia, Harcourt made errors on No Child tests and achievement tests given to measure how students compared with one another. States fined the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Employees took shortcuts," Harcourt Assessment Senior Vice President Robin Gunn wrote in a May 28, 2004, letter to Hawaii school principals, promising stricter oversight. Gunn has since left the company.
Hawaii hired a not-for-profit firm, Washington-based American Institutes for Research, to develop and score the tests after discovering more errors on Harcourt's 2005 exams. Illinois also replaced Harcourt in the middle of its contract; Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia didn't renew their contracts with the company.
Nevada fired Harcourt in 2004, after the company mistakenly failed hundreds of students, gave inflated scores to thousands of others and produced tests with missing pages, misspellings and flawed instructions, according to Nevada Education Department records.
Fined and Fired
"It was errors, one after the other, and not to a single student but to a large number,'' says Karlene Lee, the assistant superintendent in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. "In education, we don't have the luxury to say that 2 percent doesn't matter. Every child has to be accurate."
Nevada fined Harcourt Assessment $425,000 in 2002, before firing the company.
Harcourt's approximately $290 million in revenue last year was 3 percent of Reed Elsevier's sales, according to company filings. Reed Elsevier reported its profit increased 62 percent in the six months ended on June 30 to 217 million pounds ($403 million) compared with a year earlier. The company's shares rose 7.7 percent this year to 588 pence on Nov. 2.
Harcourt Assessment hired a new CEO, Michael Hansen, who took over in July after serving as executive vice president for corporate development at Guetersloh, Germany-based Bertelsmann AG, Europe's largest media company. Hansen, 45, says his company won't slip up again. He blames errors on the enormous demand for made-to-order state tests.
'Sacred Obligation'
"You went from an industry that was largely standardized to an industry that was highly, highly customized,'' Hansen says during an interview in a conference room in his San Antonio office suite, which is adjacent to the test production work floor. "Our most sacred obligation is that the test results are accurate and that they are timely."
Last year privately held Measurement Inc., a Durham, North Carolina-based test development and scoring company, wrongly failed 890 students out of the 5,461 it tested on Ohio's high school graduation exams. The company says it scored the exams correctly and then erred when it determined the students' grades based on the number of questions they answered correctly.
"We had a really spotless reputation," Senior Vice President Mike Bunch says. "This was just devastating to us."
Pearson Assessments grades 40 million exams each year. The company has the high-profile job of scoring the SAT, which more than 3,000 colleges and universities use as a gauge for admitting students.
'Hard to Get Perfection'
Pearson discovered its SAT scoring error in January after two students asked that their results be hand-scored. Score changes affected about 1 percent of the October 2005 test takers, says the New York-based College Board, a nonprofit group that represents 5,000 colleges and oversees the exam. Before most college admission decisions were announced, the College Board re-reported the roughly 4,400 scores that had been underscored.
"When you do 12 million tests a year, a lot of people are involved in that,'' College Board President Gaston Caperton says. "It's very hard to get perfection."
Shane Fulton, a lean youth who played soccer and tennis at George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, knows the pain of an incorrect score. Fulton had his sights on attending New York University or Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
'Something Was Wrong'
In June 2005, at the end of his junior year at the Quaker- run high school, he took his first SAT. He earned a score of 1,910 out of 2,400 on the three-part test, which assesses mathematics, reading and writing. Not satisfied with his performance on the math portion, he took the test a second time in October. He was shocked when the grade came back as a 1,330.
"I knew that something was wrong," says Fulton, 19, of Yardley, Pennsylvania. He asked to have his exam graded by hand. When the results were returned more than a month later, his score was actually a 1,720, or 390 points higher than initially reported.
By then, Fulton had suffered restless nights, sought sleeping pills from his parents and broken down in tears because of the uncertainty surrounding the scores and his future. Adding to his anxiety, he'd taken the SAT a third time because he didn't yet know his results on the second test. On that one, he earned an 1,850.
"Every year, there's more of an emphasis on how you do," says Fulton, who's attending Northeastern University in Boston and is suing Pearson Assessments and the College Board over the error. "I was thinking I wouldn't get into any of the colleges I applied to."
$50 Million Investment
Mistakes may soon cost Pearson Assessments and other test companies business. Educational Testing Service wants to bring scoring in-house to reduce the chance of errors. ETS's Landgraf has directed the company to invest $50 million so it can expand its scoring operation within three years. He estimates that will produce $33 million in new annual revenue. Pearson shares gained 12 percent this year as of Nov. 2, to 769.5 pence.
Having ETS grade his exam didn't help Pennsylvania teacher Conigliaro, one of the 4,100 false failures on the Praxis test. Forty-four states require the Praxis to evaluate teaching skill and knowledge in a particular field. ETS developed the Praxis and then, in Conigliaro's case, scored it incorrectly -- multiple times.
'Too Embarrassed'
Conigliaro, 55, an engineer and former machine shop owner, started teaching seven years ago as an intern at Mountain View Junior/Senior High School in Kingsley, Pennsylvania. His employment there was contingent on his passing the Praxis to get final certification. He took the exam in April 2003 and was told he'd failed. He took it again and got a second failing score. He took it a third and a fourth time and again flunked.
``I was missing by one or two points each time,'' he says.
Conigliaro was fired from his teaching job and wound up working as a bartender. ``I didn't want to leave the house for a year and a half because I was too embarrassed,'' he says.
ETS notified Conigliaro in July 2004 that there were scoring errors on his tests and that he had actually passed. In a press release that month the company cited a ``statistical anomaly'' in the scoring of nine exams from January 2003 to April 2004 and apologized to test takers. ETS spokesman Tom Ewing declined to comment further.
According to court papers by teachers who later sued ETS in federal court in New Orleans, the firm didn't start an investigation of its scoring of short essays until an unnamed state challenged the results. In March, the company agreed to pay $11.1 million to the test takers to settle the lawsuit.
'I'm Bitter'
Conigliaro, who sued and was part of the settlement, says he would have succeeded on at least three of the four exams he was told he'd failed. ``Yes, I'm bitter,'' says Conigliaro, who, after passing the Praxis and getting his license, now teaches business and accounting at Blue Ridge High School in New Milford, Pennsylvania. ``I was just about to get tenure, and I had to start all over again."
Errors can occur in the earliest stages of the test-making process and then snowball. In 2003, the Minnesota Department of Education found flaws in questions proposed by Maple Grove, Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corp., a privately held firm that provides testing for eight states. Minnesota school officials reviewed some questions, which are known as items. About 6 percent had no correct answers or multiple correct answers.
'Undermine Credibility'
"There are other concerns about item quality with another 60-70 percent,'' testing director Reginald Allen wrote in 2003 after the company challenged the state's decision not to renew its contract. The flawed test questions didn't make it onto state exams.
Company lawyer Dwight Rabuse declined to comment except to say that the state later hired a Data Recognition staffer to replace Allen. Minnesota Education Department spokesman Randy Wanke declined to comment. Minnesota now contracts with Pearson Assessments to provide its state tests.
"When you have an education reform agenda that's relying so heavily on standard tests to ensure school quality, it doesn't take so many problems to undermine credibility," says Thomas Toch, co-director of Washington-based research firm Education Sector, who wrote a 2006 report on test errors.
Executives at testing companies say they strive for perfection in the face of state demands for new tests each year, in at least two different subjects and for seven different grades.
Potential for Errors
Stuart Kahl, president and founder of Measured Progress, says the industry uses dozens of quality checks as companies draft, edit, print and deliver exams; retrieve, scan and read papers; and calculate, compare and convert raw scores into test grades. The process may take two years from start to finish.
"There's no question there are tremendous demands placed on the industry,'' Kahl says. "Obviously, when you redo things every year, you have tremendous potential for errors."
Former Harcourt Assessment President Jeff Galt says state education departments are sometimes to blame for errors that they require their testing contractors to assume responsibility for. He points to Connecticut, which is using Measurement Inc., its third testing contractor since 2003. The state got rid of Harcourt and then parted ways with CTB/McGraw-Hill.
``You have to wonder, Is the problem with the testing company or with the department?'' says Galt, 50, who now teaches business at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Connecticut Education Department spokesman Henry Garcia declined to comment.
On Probation
Harcourt Assessment's inability to follow instructions from Alabama is what cost Jerry Lee Faine Elementary its good name.
After the school was notified of its failure to make the required adequate yearly progress, the state placed it in the category of School Improvement, as probation is called under the No Child program. Newspapers publicized the designation, and parents won permission to transfer children to other schools.
"People will not move into this community," says Alfreda Mays-Rogers, whose grandchild is in first grade at the school.
The Alabama Department of Education summoned principal Potter 100 miles north to Montgomery, she says. Officials demanded more teacher training and insisted on additional reading instruction. Potter says she researched curricula used by other schools and dissected years of test data to figure out why her pupils hadn't passed. Nothing stood out.
During Potter's crisis of confidence, Kirby Hubbard, the testing director in Etowah County, about 250 miles to the north, discovered that Harcourt Assessment had miscalculated his schools' No Child results.
'Mad, Mad, Mad'
Harcourt had tallied the scores of students who'd been absent during part of the exam week, failing to follow Alabama's instruction to count the scores of only students who took the entire multipart test, state Education Superintendent Joseph Morton said in a Nov. 8, 2005, letter to Harcourt. That same type of error affected Jerry Lee Faine Elementary.
When the state told Potter her school had actually passed on Feb. 9, 2006, she took to the school intercom and made the announcement. Teachers ran into the hallways, cheering.
``We were happy, happy, happy,'' Potter says. "But you turn to the other side, we were mad, mad, mad."
Along with Potter, educators in Florida, Nevada and across the U.S. have to live with test company mistakes every year. Boston College emeritus professor George Madaus and researcher Kathleen Rhoades say there should be independent oversight of crucial exams.
"There's so much error in these products,'' Rhoades says.
'Make Testing Better'
Madaus, co-author of a 2003 study on test errors, envisions an impartial federally financed panel that would monitor state testing programs to ensure they're well crafted and used correctly. Such a board would analyze why there are errors and how they can be minimized. It also may offer a seal of approval on the test preparation products flooding the market, which can generate such a big chunk of a test company's earnings.
``This is not anti-testing,'' Madaus says. ``This is an attempt to make testing better.''
Potter tries not to be bitter. She notes with pride how her school has now passed the state test for two consecutive years. She has a message for test companies. ``They're hurting students more than anything else,'' she says. ``Please don't make that mistake on students. That's a reflection on our school, on my students, on my teachers. That's a reflection on me.''
It's also a reflection on the $2.8 billion test industry, which profits from selling materials to prepare students for high-stakes exams it has a hard time getting right.
To contact the reporters on this story: To contact the reporters for this story: David Evans in Los Angeles davidevans@bloomberg.net David Glovin in New York at dglovin@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 3, 2006 00:05 EST
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