School Accountability Ratings Will Post at 1 PM Today

Here we go, ready or not with the TPM for the second year in a row. From the Texas Education Agency:

AUSTIN – The 2010 state accountability ratings will be posted on the Texas Education Agency’s website at 1 p.m. Friday.

Commissioner of Education Robert Scott will also hold a press conference to discuss the ratings at 1 p.m. Friday in room 2-195 of the William B. Travis State Office Building at 1701 N. Congress Ave. in Austin.

And, yes, TPM will be used again this year, and like last year - and it says this as big as Dallas on the TEA website just like it did last year - it will improve school scores. It was designed to improve accountability ratings, so I don't know what the big surprise was. In other news, everyone can quit ranting about how pathetic and weak the whole TAKS thing is because Education Commissioner Robert Scott recently sent out this communication to administrators:

The new assessment program, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), will assess the content standards at a greater depth and at a higher level of complexity than the current Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) program. The overall difficulty of the assessments will be increased as a result of including more rigorous items, and by setting performance expectations at a higher level.

The entire letter is worth a read, and I'll blog on it some more in another post. Scott talks about the future of TPM and gives a broad picture of the new accountability tests that begin next year. Just so we are all on the same page, our Texas legislators and state wide officeholders and candidates know that starting in the 2011-2012 school years, high school students will be required to take 12 high stakes tests in order to graduate instead of the current four? And, that they will be harder? And, that we don't have new textbooks to go with the new TEKS? And, that the dropout problem will get worse instead of better?

OK, just checking. We don't want any shock and awe from legislators over the new accountability system they mandated.

Bring Your Own Toilet Paper to Harris County Courts

We knew Harris County had a big budget shortfall. I heard from a good source yesterday that one way Harris County has cut expenses is by not having janitorial services in their buildings during the day. This includes the Harris County courts. So, all day long, you have the public using the restrooms, using up toilet paper, throwing up, making a mess, and being generally unsanitary and gross, without anyone cleaning up the mess. One judge is bringing his own TP to work.

This stinks.

I don't think they cut janitorial services at Houston Municipal Courts, but they found a new twist to their old scam, disguised as a budget cut. They already had packed courtrooms, where everyone but a couple of people had an attorney. Person after person was given the advice to plea no contest or guilty and pay a fine, in order to avoid jury trial. It was like printing money for the City. Now, they print money even faster by not allowing police officers to appear in court until after 1 PM. So, they are making people wait, and who wants to do that. So, now they have you where they want you, and they want you to pay your big fine and leave.

This stinks, as well, but at least you don't have to carry toilet paper with you to 1400 Lubbock.

Why Latinos Give Up On Education

In "The Latino Lag," the New York Times starts off with a bunch of statistics about Latinos and education, concluding that there is a gap between Latino high school and college completion rates compared to whites and Asians.


Some reasons given for lack of achievement (some research based, some anecdotal):

• discouragement due to anti-immigrant sentiment
• not proficient in English
• 3/4 of Latinos who cut their education short said they had to do so to help their family, including too much economic costs to the family  - both in losing income from lack of work and expending money on college
• they are more likely to be teenage mothers, needing to take care of infants
• the need to babysit younger siblings
• lack of education by foreign born parents, with the level of the mother's education being a predictor - leading to a lack of understanding of college options, as well as putting low importance on college
• having to take remedial and ESL courses in college for no credit, causing college expenses to go up, as well as increasing the amount of time to earn a degree
• lack of college bound preparation in high school
• families taking trips to their home countries when work permits - but their kids are in school, causing students to miss too many classes

Some solutions for completing high school and college:

• special college bound programs beginning in 10th grade, such as dual credit
• high school teachers and counselors sharing knowledge about college admission, scholarships, etc.
• language immersion
• small learning communities in college

The article is well worth a read. In my work in high schools, I have seen all of the reasons listed above for lack of achievement in play for Latino students. It's been my experience over the past three years or so that we are doing a better job of getting Latino kids graduated from high school, but we haven't been attending very closely to ensuring they get into college and complete college.

Rick Perry Questions God's Actions

Governor Rick Chicken Perry has changed his opinion on what caused the BP disaster that killed 11 people.

My Oil Business Friends Told Me God Caused It

May 3, 2010:  Perry questioned whether the spill was "just an act of God that occurred."  "From time to time there are going to be things that are acts of God that cannot be prevented."

A Lawyer Told Me BP Caused It

June, 2010: The truth is that BP has not asserted the cap because it acknowledged that evidence would reveal that the explosion and resulting spill were the product of gross negligence -- which renders the statutory cap irrelevant. We know this because, during a conference call with Gulf Coast attorneys general, BP General Counsel Jack Lynch acknowledged that gross negligence would be revealed as a cause of the explosion that led to the oil spill."

Perry flip flopped because it dawned on him that he could get a whole bunch of money out of BP for the couple of tar bars that washed up on Bolivar - $20 million - if he went the trial lawyer route.

Maybe the title of this blog post should be, "Rick Perry Trusts Trial Lawyers."

Renew Sugar Land?!

Wow. I got caught in a huge downpour yesterday as I made my way into Sugar Land after a day of appointments, errands and lunch with a friend. I'm talking about the kind of downpour that causes the streets to flood in Houston in a matter of minutes, with drivers stalled and news crews out in force, knee deep in water.

And, you know what? The streets here in Sugar Land functioned like they always do during deluges. The water ran to the sides of the streets where it built up a little (so you have to drive a little more to the inside of the street), then rushed down into gutters at low points.

So, no. We don't need a Renew Sugar Land campaign, but we sure do need Renew Houston, whose slogan is "Good Streets. Good Drainage. A Better Houston." All I could think about today was how I got stuck in a similar downpour at Greenbriar and 59 recently. I had a whole quarter of mile to go to get from where I was onto the freeway. It had been raining 15 minutes. And the streets flooded so quickly, my Prius was almost swamped.

I don't want to be out in that risking my property or my life. I don't want my economic opportunities to make or spend money to be thwarted by precipitation. Except for, of course, that's happened to me that many, many times in the 23 years I've worked in Houston.

I liked what Kuff had to say about Renew Houston in a recent blog post:

Is Renew Houston the best possible solution to the drainage problem we all agree the city has? I don’t know what the “ideal” funding mechanism would be, given that it’s a local issue, so I can’t adequately answer that question. There are things to criticize about Renew Houston, as Tory and Neil have done. But it’s what we’ve got, and the choice isn’t between Renew Houston and some other ordinance/referendum/whatever that could be passed as an alternative, the choice is between Renew Houston and doing nothing for another ten years. I believe Renew Houston is an improvement over the status quo, and I plan to vote for it.

It would be fantastic if those of us who live outside the city, but work and spend money in Houston, could vote for Renew Houston. But since we can't, I'm hoping that common sense and desire for a better Houston will cause the anti-tax crowd to do the right thing and vote to improve streets and drainage.

Dudley! Do Right by the Gulf!

I would have never thought BP would have a sense of humor, but here they go replacing the very unfunny Tony Hayward with Managing Director (Bob) Dudley "Do Right."

He's an American, so not a Canadian Mountie, and spent some of his childhood in Mississippi, so he knows Southern melodrama. If he succeeds by dumb luck like our hero, Dudley Do Right, that's OK by me.

The strange part is that the villain is BP whom he works for, and I'm not sure who the love interest is, unless it's the American public. He needs a horse to divert our attention away from the environmental disaster. Maybe Magic Sparkle Pony Matt, a commenter over at Bay Area Houston (where all BP posts have been mysteriously deleted,) can donate his horse to the cause.

Anti-BP Testimony Was Flowing Last Week

A technician associated with Deepwater Horizon testified on Friday about problems with the rig prior to the explosion: 

Mike Williams, who worked for rig owner Transocean Ltd., said a three-way alarm system to warn of fire, explosive gas and toxic gas was turned on to monitor conditions, but its sound and light alarms had been disabled.

[---]

The rig's drilling room also had chronic computer problems, including one computer that carried the nickname "the blue screen of death," he said

Williams said the computer had a 1990s operating system and was subject to periodic failure.

Williams also said the Deepwater Horizon was to be sent to a shipyard for extensive repairs. He said he was told the rig would be there for an extended time because "it was in very bad shape."

This hops on top of previous testimony about a leak on a control pod on the blowout preventer and "anomalous pressure test readings" prior to the explosion.

If you still think the BP disaster was an "Act of God," you are either a BP employee, an oil industry lobbyist, Rick Perry or stupid. 

Corpse Flower Lois: July 22, 11:15 PM

Lois waited until we got back from vacation to start blooming, so we decided to pay her a late night visit tonight. Hundreds of other folks had the same idea.

She's really lovely, and quite impressive. To me, she smelled like cooked cabbage - very strong smelling cabbage. To another person in our group she smelled like garbage. They had the Stink-O-Meter at 4 out of 10.

A couple of tips. Buy your tickets online. You'll pick them up at the Museum. Even better - become a member. The member line was much shorter at ticket pickup, and the member ticket price is half of the regular price of admission.

Buy your ticket for early in the day. A little secret is that you can enter the Butterfly Center, where Corpse Flower Lois is,  any time after your ticket time, and if you have an earlier ticket, you go straight to the head of the line. Our example - we had 10:30 PM tickets, but a friend with us had a ticket for 8:30 PM. He met us for dinner and when he showed his ticket to the HMNS staffer at 10:15, he was told to go to the head of the line. He graciously stayed in line with us.

Be prepared to wait in line for at least hour, once you pick your ticket up at the ticket counter. You'll wait and wait and wait (with very nice, patient people in line with you) and then enter the Butterfly Center and snake through a line up the stairs through an arthropod exhibit and around to Lois. They let about 20 people at a time into the room where Lois is. They'll make noises about you moving on, but the reality is you can stay awhile and take photos.

It's very warm once you get into the Butterfly Center. That smell you smell is likely your neighbor - until you get to Lois. She definitely has a distinctive smell that apparently is getting stronger by the hour.

Everyone in my group had a great time and we all agreed we'd try to go again, even with the long lines.

If you aren't following @CorpzFlowrLois on Twitter, why not? I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed that real Lois did not talk to me and give me some sass. I was sorry we did not see Zac or Red Shirt Guy. Maybe next time! When she fully blooms, she is expected to be that way - and with her strongest smell - for maybe 12 hours. The museum is open 24 hours a day, so keep an eye on the HMNS blog and follow Lois on Twitter, and plan your visit.

Oh, one last tip - parking is a problem. Try the Rose Garden parking. It's free, and there were spaces there. It was probably 3/4 full at 10 PM.

Campaign Cash: Houston Area Texas House Races

I've been curious about the June 30th campaign cash numbers for Houston area Texas House races, and today I found a cool interactive app on the Texas Tribune that gave me the numbers. Since I was curious, I thought some of you might be, as well. Click on the link to the HD districts and you'll go to Greg Wythe's Texas Political Almanac, where he has a map and past election data for each House District.

HD 26 Fort Bend:
Phillip Andrews, Democratic Challenger
Raised: $4650
Loans: $2291
Spent: $4635
COH: $877

Charlie Howard, Republican Incumbent
Raised: $4650
Loans: $0
Spent: $18,308
COH: $353,584

HD 28 Fort Bend:
Wayne Raasch, Democratic Challenger
No numbers reported.

John Zerwas, Republican incumbent
Raised: $110,420
Loans: $0
Spent: $36,699
COH: $153,861

Note: Bill White is going to do well in Fort Bend, but we have absolutely zero chance of gaining any House seats here.

HD 127 Kingwood
Joe Montemayor, Democratic Challenger
Raised: $2280
Loans: $0
Spent: $2471
COH: $0

Dan Huberty, Republican Challenger
Raised: $76,676
Loans: $45,000
Spent: $80,305
COH: $4395

HD 132 Katy

Sylvia Mintz, Democratic Challenger

Raised: $2269

Loans: $0

Spent: $0

COH: $650

Bill Callegari, Republican Incumbent
Raised: $61,313

Loans: $0

Spent: $22,856

COH: $231,753

HD 133 Houston
Kristi Thibaut, Democratic Incumbent

Raised: $116,363

Loans: $0

Spent: $48,022

COH: $150,012

Jim Murphy, Republican Challenger

Raised: $111,752

Loans: $0

Spent: $62,630

COH: $124,917

HD 134 Houston
Ellen Cohen, Democratic Incumbent
Raised: $230,181
Loans: $0
Spent: $175,331
COH: $265,536

Sarah Davis, Republican Challenger
Raised: $54,130
Loans: $114,200
Spent: $35,685
COH: $103,073

HD 137 Houston
Scott Hochberg, Democratic Incumbent

Raised: $71,305

Loans: $0

Spent: $14,819

COH: $96,316

Sylvia Spivey, Republican Challenger

Raised: $2055

Loans: $3000

Spent: $4304

COH: $1427

HD 138 Houston

Kendra Yarbrough Camarena, Democratic Challlenger

Raised: $106,663

Loans: $0

Spent: $40,828

COH: $120,532

Dwayne Bohac, Republican Incumbent

Raised: $200,812

Loans: $0

Spent: $86,473

COH: $228,453

HD 141 Houston

Senfronia Thompson, Democratic Incumbent

Raised: $59,653

Loans: $0

Spent: $79,952

COH: $172,775

Michael Bunch, Republican Challenger

Raised: $45,505

Loans: $0

Spent: $83,465

COH: $7706

HD 143 Houston

Ana Hernandez, Democratic Incubment

Raised: $10,000

Loans: $0

Spent: $12,490

COH: $43,084

Gilbert Pena, Republican Challenger

Raised: $0

Loans: $0

Spent: $0

COH: $0

HD 144 Pasadena

Rick Molina, Democratic Challenger

Raised: $92,283

Loans: $0

Spent: $36,949

COH: $23,597

Ken Legler, Republican Incumbent

Raised: $82,135

Loans: $0

Spent: $80,873

COH: $11,546

Did I miss any Houston area races where there is a challenger? If you have any insights into these races, such as who the donors are, or how the money is being spent, please leave a comment.

BP Parody Press Conference on "Bitty Spill"

I hadn't seen this - hilarious!

Highlights:

• calling the oil spill "Bitty Spill" and "Mother Earth's Diarrhea Attack" (and they point out that diarrhea genetic)
• admitting that Tony Hayword has made some gaffes, including saying that "plugging the BP oil well will be as easy as popping a zit before a prom"
• hoping for other news that will get everyone's attention, including "Is that the little black boy from Different Strokes? There's Gary Coleman, right over there!"

I found it on "Are Americans Bullying BP?" I know some defensive BP employees who certainly think so.

SBOE Candidate Marsha Farney a Tea Partier?

As I've said before, trust a Republican who claims to be moderate, at your own peril. My example was SBOE 10 candidate Marsha Farney. My example today? Again, Marsha Farney. Moderate, she is not.

She proudly celebrated the 4th of July at Tea Party rally in Williamson County:

Marsha Farney, who is running for a State Board of Education seat, was not as reserved about where she stood. "I'd rather be here than with those America-bashing Democrats," she said.

Great. She's outed herself as standing with the haters - haters of our President, haters of our federal government, haters of accurate history, haters of Democrats.

Any so-called independent or pro-public education endorsing group who endorses Farney loses all credibility with me. There is a highly qualified candidate in the SBOE 10 race - Judy Jennings. Check her out!