The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 09, 1990, Image 7

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    Monday^April 9,1990
The Battalion
Page 7
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| House readies for finance vote
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Lewis hopes to have enough votes to pass $450 million bill
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AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas
House, stumped in its last attempt to
pass a school finance reform bul, is
to try again today with little more
than three weeks to spare before the
Legislature hits a May 1 court dead
line for change.
Speaker Gib Lewis has worked on
squeezing enough votes out of the
150-member House to pass a $450
million school finance bill, paving
the way for a conference committee
to try to hammer out differences be
tween it and a Senate measure to
spend $1.2 billion more next school
year.
“We’ve got an obligation here,
and that is to draft a school finance
bill and fund it,” Lewis, D-Fort
Worth, said. “I’m going to do every
thing in my power to pass a bill” that
will meet court muster.
Lawmakers are in their second
special session to try to address a
Texas Supreme Court ruling that
the school finance system is uncon
stitutional because of disparities in
funding available to property-rich
and -poor districts.
The court gave lawmakers until
May 1 to reform the $13.5 billion-a-
year system, which relies on a combi
nation of local property taxes, state
aid and some federal funds.
Today, Lewis is trying to avoid a
repeat of last session’s 101-45 vote
against a $511 million reform bill,
with some lawmakers saying it cost
too much, some saying it cost too
little and others complaining that
state mandates would be too costly
for schools to implement.
But a number of lawmakers — in
cluding Republicans and Hispanics
who voted against the measure last
time — say they still aren’t satisfied
Paper refuses
to endorse
candidates
WICHITA FALLS (AP) — Ed
itors of the Wichita Falls Times
Record News refused to endorse
Jim Mattox or Ann Richards in
the Democratic runoff, calling in
stead for Texans to write in for
mer San Antonio mayor Henry
Cisneros for governor.
The newspaper in’Sunday’s ed
itorial also rejected GOP guber
natorial nominee Clayton Wil
liams, saying Texas has had
enough “government-by-buf
foons.”
“Cisneros built bridges in San
Antonio, bridges between peo
ples,” the newspaper said.
“If Henry Cisneros could apply
his visionary thinking to the prob
lems confronting Texas along
with a spirit of unity rather than
... the two warring political par
ties, then we would all be better
served,” the paper said.
“Write in Cisneros. Then
watch Texas go.”
Cisneros’ wife, Mary Alice, told
of the endorsement, said, “Wow.”
She added the former mayor was
in El Paso on Sunday, cam
paigning for Richards for the en
tire day.
The First Hispanic mayor of
San Antonio, Cisneros served
from 1981 to 1989. He decided
not to run again in 1988, citing
personal problems.
Cisneros has backed Richards
in the gubernatorial race, appear
ing with her on the campaign
trail.
drafting an alternative measure that
will be offered if the initial bill is
turned down.
Gov. Bill Clements, who has
vowed to veto new taxes for school
finance reform, has said he would
accept a $450 million school finance
bill if lawmakers can fund it through
cuts in other areas of the state bud
get.
Besides finance changes, the bill
contains provisions supporters say
would make the education system
better.
One provision would have the
governor appoint the education
commissioner — from a list of rec
ommendations by legislative leaders
and with Senate consent — rather
than by the State Board of Educa
tion. The Education Board, which
currently makes rules on education
policy, instead would make recom
mendations to the commissioner and
Legislature.
Among other items, the bill also
provides for a facilities grant to be
gin in 1991-92; a technology allot
ment fund beginning in 1992-93;
and exemptions from state regula
tions for school districts rated as ex
emplary.
The proposed exemptions have
been criticized by some who don’t
want any schools to be allowed to
waive the 22:1 student-teacher limit
set for lower grades under sweeping
education reforms approved in
1984.
“If there’s one thing that we’ve
done right in the last half-dozen
with the new measure Lewis has Some are preparing substitute years, that (class-size limit) was it,”
been pushing. bills, and Lewis also is involved in said Rep. Paul Colbert, D-Houston.
Birds fall prey to lure of open chemical tanks
Oil pits double as death traps
needs drastic change
HOUSTON (AP) — A diverse
coalition of Houston legislators
has outlined two different plans
to revamp the Houston Indepen
dent School District, which some
leaders believe has grown out of
touch with parents and taxpayers.
One proposal involves dividing
H1SD into smaller, more man
ageable districts. The other idea
includes the creation of parent
councils with extensive policy
making powers.
Although neither proposal is
expected to get serious consider
ation during this special legis
lative session, the underlying
message is hard to mistake.
“The bottom line is, the system
is broken,” Rep. Ron Wilson,
Houston-D, said.
“We can’t accept the way it is,”
Rep. Roman Martinez, Houston
D, said.
“We just feel like it’s time to
make a change,” Republican Rep.
Brad Wright said.
The legislators see HISD as a
huge, unwieidly district that can
not be managed effectively by
one person. They say the system,
the fifth largest in the nation, has
grown out of touch with parents
and taxpayers. This year, HISD
has 233 schools and 191,000 stu
dents, mostly minority and poor.
Martinez even goes so far as to
blame Superintendent Joan Ray
mond for an authoritarian man
agement style that stifles true de
centralization, which means
shifting power to the schools, the
teachers and the parents,
“In my work with HISD, they
thrive on closeness,” Martinez
said. “It’s to the point of intimida
tion, where Joan Raymond puts
out the word and it scares every
body into not wanting to do any
thing because they are worried
about her coming down and
buckling down.”
Raymond said she invites the
legislators to sit down with her
and discuss their concerns, which
she believes are perceptions not
based on reality.
In her S'/a years in the district,
she said, she has been transfer
ring more and more power to
school principals and to district
superintendents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — From the air, the ponds
and open tanks of oily wastes dotting the arid landscape
of West Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma have the
lure of fresh water.
But for thousands of protected and migratory birds
each year, the oilfield and chemical pits are instant
death traps.
“Once their wings touch that oil, they crash. ... Once
they land they’re none,” said Tom Smylie, assistant re-
f ional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
outhwest region. “They start preening their feathers,
and that oil gets into their digestive system; it’s really a
pathetic death.”
Robert Lee, a special agent with the wildlife service in
Lubbock, said half a million protected, non-game birds
are killed in the pits every year in Texas, Oklahoma and
New Mexico, along with another 100,000 waterfowl.
“That’s twice the number of birds estimated killed by
the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and that’s annually,” Lee
said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service in late 1988 gave oil
and gas companies and other industries a one-year
grace period to cover or clean them up.
Since Oct. 3, 1989, however, operators of pits that
are killing migratory birds have been subject to criminal
fines under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which
makes it illegal “at any time, by any means, or in any
manner, to ... kill ... any migratory birds.”
In its first case since cracking down on oil and chemi
cal pit operators, Union Pacific Railroad of Houston
pleaded guilty recently before a U.S. magistrate in Lub
bock to killing 46 migratory birds in a waste treatment
pond in Big Spring.
The company will pay a $5,000 criminal penalty and
$1,393.50 in civil restitution to the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department for the lost birds, and will cover
the pond with a screen mesh to prevent further wildlife
deaths, the Wildlife Service said.
U.S. Attorney Marvin Collins of the Northern Dis
trict of Texas said he wanted the case to “serve as a
warning to those in the oil industry who have neglected
to clean up their oil pits. If they have oil pits that are
killing migratory birds, this office will actively pursue
their prosecution.”
EMS struggles to meet calls
HOUSTON (AP) — Response
times by the city’s strained emer
gency medical service surpassed 20
minutes in some areas last year, and
the agency still is struggling to meet
an increasing number of calls for
help.
Houston Fire Department statis
tics, obtained by the Houston
Chronicle through the Texas Open
Records Act, show extreme dispari
ties in average response times in dif
ferent parts of the city.
A response time of eight minutes
or less is nationally recognized as
critical for saving lives. In 1989,
Houston ambulances responded to
about 48 percent of their calls within
eight minutes, the statistics show.
Some residents in the far north
east and western sections waited 20
minutes or more on the average for
emergency assistance last year. Gen
erally, amoulances took much longer
to reach their destinations in outly
ing areas than in the inner city.
The city’s EMS has 44 ambulances
and 172 paramedics to serve the city.
Assistant Chief Dennis Holder, who
heads the EMS, said the service has
received no new ambulances or per
sonnel in at least two years.
Fire Chief Robert L. Clayton said
he is asking City Council to purchase
six more ambulances in fiscal 1991,
which begins July 1. Clayton said he
hopes to persuade the council to
eliminate 53 positions of chauffeurs
who drive district chiefs to scenes
and use those positions to staff the
six ambulances.
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ALL MAJORS INVITED TO APPLY
The Battalion
Staff Positions
Applications available for:
Assistant city editor • Assistant lifestyles editor • Assistant opinion page editor
Assistant sports editor • Reporters • Staff writers • Reviewers
Feature writers • Sports writers • Columnists • Copy editors
Photographers • Cartoonists • Graphic artists • Clerks#
Application for fall and summer semesters can be picked up in 216
Reed McDonald and are due by 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 18.
‘When You Needed
It Yesterday!
Professional Word Processing
And Laser Printing
Reports * Resumes * Letters *
Thesis * Dissertations *
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Other Services Include:
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Fax Service Coming Soon
AGGIE SPECIAL
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Expires 4/30/90
Tax not included in price.
One coupon per pizza.
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