Board Approves new sex ed Policy
Texas Education Board members voted against proposals to teach middle and high school students about consent, sexual orientation or gender identity. The board will take a final vote Friday.
Starting in 2022, seventh and eighth grade students in Texas will learn about forms of birth control beyond abstinence, but middle schoolers still won't have to learn about the importance of consent or the definitions of gender identity and sexual orientation.
Over the last several months, panels of educators and medical professionals formulated recommendations to overhaul the health and sex education policies. The Texas State Board of Education, which determines what 5.5 million Texas public school students learn, has heard from hundreds of educators, advocates and experts across the state throughout the process.
The 15-member, Republican-dominated board took a preliminary vote Wednesday to overhaul the minimum standards for what Texas students learn about health and sex, a process that has taken more than a year. It will take a final vote Friday. This marks the board's first thorough revision to its sex education policy since 1997 and will affect millions of students in the state.
Board members included language teaching middle school students to "analyze the effectiveness and the risks and failure rates ... of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods in the prevention of STDs, STIs and pregnancy," in addition to the importance of abstinence. Currently, learning about birth control methods beyond abstinence is only a requirement in high school, where health education is an optional course.
Texas elementary and middle schools must offer health education for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, but high school students can meet state graduation requirements without taking those classes. Texas also doesn't mandate that schools teach sex education. Schools that do so must stress abstinence as the preferred means of birth control for unmarried young people, and parents can opt their children out of any lesson they choose.
Much of Wednesday's debate revolved around whether to include lessons on consent, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Ruben Cortez, a Brownsville Democrat, unsuccessfully attempted to add language teaching middle school students about "bullying and harassment because of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression."
"That language is nowhere to be found anywhere else, and again there’s this lack of awareness and lack of attention to this specific issue," board member Marisa Perez-Diaz, a Converse Democrat, said in support of her colleague. "I think that the language needs to be more explicit, especially at the middle school area and at a time where our adolescents are experiencing a lot of changes."
Republican members voted against the language. Instead, they supported teaching students to prevent "sexual bullying," which confused some members who seemed unable to define the term.
"If we can't define it, then how do we expect teachers to teach it and students to learn it? If we don't know what sexual bullying is, then what is a teacher required to teach?" said Georgina Pérez, an El Paso Democrat.
"When it happens, you know it when you see it," said Pat Hardy, a Fort Worth Republican.
"It's a form of sexual harassment, essentially, not in the workplace," concluded board chair Keven Ellis, a Lufkin Republican.
Cortez tried to add a similar sentence in the high school standards, suggesting teachers "explain why everyone deserves to be treated with respect, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity." His proposal again failed to pass.
"We've heard the testimony. These students are out there. They've talked to us in September and they're asking us to hear their voices, and it seems like only a few of us are listening to what they're asking of us, but these are real experiences that our kids have," he said. "It seems like it's falling on party lines, which is sad to me because I think we're here as representatives of this body to represent the voices of every child, and I think we're leaving out a segment of kids when we take these types of actions."
The vote, which was largely along party lines, aligned with actions from Texas Republican leaders to target LGBTQ rights and protections over the last several years. In 2017, they unsuccessfully pushed a policy preventing transgender people from using public bathrooms that match their gender identity. Last year, they encouraged an investigation into whether a mother supporting her child's gender transition was committing "child abuse."
Earlier this week, dozens of people showed up at a virtual public hearing to encourage the board to adopt comprehensive sex education that explained options for contraception, the importance of consent, and the definitions of gender identity and sexual orientation. Some chastised the board for refusing to specifically reference LGBTQ students in its standards.
The message that refusal gave was "people like me don't matter, young people like me don't matter and people in the LGBTQ community should just stay in the closet," said Jules Mandel, outreach and advocacy coordinator for left-leaning Texas Freedom Network, a board watchdog.
Others showed up at that Monday hearing in favor of abstinence-only education, which promotes teaching students to avoid sex until marriage. Several attendees discouraged the board from including the concept of consent in the standards, arguing it would pressure teenagers to have sex.
"Consent puts yes to sex as an option on the table for teenagers," said Dan Bailey, leader of a youth organization called Just Say YES, which encourages young people to refrain from all forms of sexual activity.
On Wednesday evening, Perez-Diaz unsuccessfully proposed teaching high school students to "analyze the similarities and differences between legal consent to sexual activity and affirmative consent to sexual activity." She said it was important for students to understand the concept before leaving for higher education and the workforce.
Federal data shows Texas consistently has one of the highest teen birth rates in the country, which studies show correlates with an emphasis on abstinence-only education. About 39% of Texas high school students report having had sex, but less than half of them used condoms and a small percentage used birth control pills.
Experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association oppose abstinence-only education and champion comprehensive sex education. This type of sex education prioritizes accurate and exhaustive information about contraception, human sexuality and sexually transmitted infections.
Joe Biden has Promised to ban new oil and gas Leasing
Joe Biden has promised to ban new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters. The Trump administration held its last Gulf of Mexico auction Wednesday.
In the last opportunity for oil companies to bid on federal Gulf of Mexico waters under a Trump administration, the federal government on Wednesday leased more than a half-million acres to companies for offshore oil drilling and production.
The leasing event, livestreamed from New Orleans, comes as President-elect Joe Biden readies his transition — Biden promised during his campaign to ban new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters as part of his clean energy plan to reduce the use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change.
Members of the oil industry largely saw Wednesday’s auction as an opportunity they were unlikely to have for the next four years.
“They wanted to jump on it before the window potentially closes and there are more regulatory hurdles,” said Sami Yahya, a senior energy analyst for S&P Global Platts Analytics. The change in presidential administrations “is one of the top things operators have in mind.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said about 518,000 acres were leased during the auction for nearly $121 million in high bids. That exceeded the agency’s target of $100 million, said Mike Celata, Gulf of Mexico regional director for the bureau.
“These are clearly uncertain times, with COVID-19 and the low oil price,” Celata said. “I’m pleased, given everything that has happened, at the size of the sale. The Gulf has a long future [for oil production].”
Expectations for the sale were dim because of decreased global oil demand and low oil prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Oil companies have struggled this year as the pandemic, combined with less faith from Wall Street investors, have left them strapped for cash.
“Back in the 2014 era, we used to have billion-dollar auctions,” Yahya said. “We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.”
There were 105 bids placed during the Wednesday auction — a recovery from March when only 84 were placed, but down from 165 in August of 2019. The highest bids were placed by subsidiaries of European oil companies Royal Dutch Shell, Equinor and BP, all of which placed more than $17 million in bids, with Shell spending the most on Wednesday at $28 million. California-based Chevron put down $17 million in bids. A handful of Texas energy companies, including a subsidiary of Murphy Oil, which recently said it would relocate its headquarters to Houston from Arkansas, made smaller offers. Murphy placed $5.3 million in bids.
Agency officials declined to comment during a press conference on whether holding the lease sale was motivated by the incoming Biden administration’s stance on leasing federal lands and waters for oil production.
But, holding two auctions a year in the Gulf for the unleased 79 million acres of federal waters has been standard practice under Trump’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, typically holding one in March and another in August. This auction had been pushed back from August, officials said, due to COVID-19 (although Yahya said the delay was likely an effort to wait for oil prices to stabilize following the presidential election).
“Without commenting on proposed policy by incoming administration officials, our lease blocks are offered many times,” said Kate MacGregor, deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior. “These blocks have been offered time and time again.”
Environmental groups criticized the lease sale as a last-ditch effort by the Trump administration to favor the oil and gas industry instead of moving to transition the U.S. to forms of energy that are less carbon-intensive. They also warned of the risk of oil spills offshore, which can endanger the Gulf’s ecosystems.
“This lease sale is pouring fuel on the flames of climate change,” said Emma Pabst, a global warming solutions advocate with Environment Texas. “It’s steadily burning through what little time we have left to act.”
Sin Tax Might Save the Texas Budget
A hole in the state's finances almost always starts a conversation about how to raise money. This time, marijuana and casinos are in the spotlight.
Texas budget writers will start out billions of dollars short in 2021.
New sin taxes might spell relief. Name your vice: Pot? Casinos? Online betting? Lobby signings and bill filings already point to activity there.
Federal help might be available, too, either in the form of a new coronavirus relief program or from Medicaid expansion — an attractive federal matching program conservative state leaders have avoided for years because of the strings attached to it.
Accounting tricks are always popular. To keep a budget balanced, the state can employ some of the same sleights of hand familiar to anyone who has reached the bottom of their bank account before the end of the month — like moving payments from one paycheck period to the next.
The periodic — and most often symbolic — attack on tax exemptions and exclusions will get a fresh airing. The lonely and unpopular call for a state income tax will, too.
The exemptions and exclusions from current taxes amount to billions of dollars. The state comptroller keeps an inventory for the curious, and should have a new version ready soon for the incoming Legislature. It looks less appealing, politically speaking, as lawmakers work their way through the supporters of each tax break. And every Texan is in that company: The $46 billion in exemptions and exclusions from the sales tax for this year alone includes $3.2 billion for groceries and $3 billion for motor fuel.
So keep your mind on sin. It’s the easiest category to tax. In a state that loves to hate taxes, sin taxes are considered voluntary — just a cost of doing things that are considered unnecessary or frivolous, like smoking, drinking or gambling.
This explains why some of the biggest gaming companies in the country have hirelings ready to lobby the Texas Legislature in 2021, in spite of — or because of — the absence of legal casinos, slot machines, sports books or poker tables in the state. The Las Vegas Sands Corp., owned by Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, has signed up a gang of lobbyists that includes former top aides to the governor and the outgoing speaker of the Texas House. Boyd Gaming, a casino operator, has a former top aide to the lieutenant governor on retainer. The lobbyist filings with the Texas Ethics Commission go on and on: Look up the filings under “Gambling,” and the agency’s website spits up a 12-page list of names.
The in-person and online gaming companies are loading up.
They’re hardly alone. A dozen bills that would legalize or decriminalize marijuana for personal or medical use came in during the first week that legislation could be filed. Voters might get a chance to vote on something like this when all is said and done: “Proposing a constitutional amendment to authorize and regulate the possession, cultivation, and sale of cannabis.”
The hurdles are substantial, but they’re less foreboding than the nearly absolute resistance to a state income tax. That’s been a nonstarter in the Texas Capitol for decades.
By that measure, almost anything else seems like cause for optimism. Texas legislators have allowed agricultural hemp, which has all of the non-recreational qualities of marijuana, and CBD oil, derived from marijuana for medicinal uses without the intoxicants. Other states — even some conservative ones — have legalized or decriminalized marijuana. One law firm arguing for legalization claims a pot tax would bring in $1.1 billion every two years.
And Texas has allowed charitable bingo, horse and dog racing with parimutuel wagering, and a state lottery — each new version of gaming framed as a way to alleviate budget problems.
Comptroller Glenn Hegar already warned legislators they will be $4.6 billion short of the revenue he originally forecast for the current budget, which runs through the end of October. He’ll have another forecast for the coming regular session — an estimate of state revenue available to spend over the next two years.
It’s expected to be short of what lawmakers hoped for. And it will trigger a conversation of unpleasant political alternatives among the people who write a budget that does the things Texans want done without taxing those same Texans hard enough to make them squeal.
They can cut programs and services. They can do some of the standard accounting tricks. They can create new taxes and fees or raise the ones they’ve got. They can do some combination of those things, taking care not to anger too many constituents along the way.
In the state budgeting business, that’s the road to sin.
Texas high-Speed Rail Company Still Lacks Permits
In a letter to the Japanese prime minister, Gov. Greg Abbott said that the company had all the permits needed, but later he had to backtrack. Legislators are expected to file bills to regulate high-speed rail projects during their next session.
DALLAS — Less than two months before the Texas Legislature begins its next session, the yearslong battle over a controversial high-speed rail project is expected to spark more legislative skirmishes.
And after years of public skepticism, Gov. Greg Abbott recently signaled his support for the project in a letter to Japan’s prime minister, although his spokesperson later said that Abbott’s office will “re-evaluate this matter.”
Last month, Abbott sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga saying: “This venture has my full support as Governor of Texas, and I am hopeful that final negotiations of this project with Japan can be concluded so that construction can begin. Public support and momentum are on our side, and this project can be completed swiftly.”
The Oct. 2 letter also included a significant error. Abbott told Suga that the company developing the high-speed rail line had “all the necessary permits to begin construction.”
The Texas Tribune found that Texas Central, the Dallas- and Houston-based company in charge of the project, is far from receiving all permits needed to build the 240-mile line, which would stretch from Dallas to Houston and cost around $20 billion, according to the company. When contacted by the Tribune with this information, Abbott’s office said it would review the matter.
“From the beginning of this project, the Governor made clear that he could support this project if, and only if, the private property rights of Texans are fully respected,” Abbott spokesman John Wittman told the Tribune on Oct. 7.
“The Governor’s team has learned that the information it was provided was incomplete. As a result, the Governor’s Office will re-evaluate this matter after gathering additional information from all affected parties,” Wittman added.
The governor’s office has not responded to multiple follow-up questions about the results of its review and has not explained why Abbott didn’t know the project lacked permits or who Abbott was relying upon for information about the project.
Abbott’s office also has declined to say whether he has sent subsequent correspondence to Suga. Texas Central plans to use Japanese technology similar to that used for the famous Shinkansen bullet train and the company could receive a loan from a Japanese public financial institution.
During a September 2019 trip to Japan, Abbott rode the bullet train and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation that would promote collaboration between the two regions. The bank had signed an agreement with Texas Central in August 2018 that would provide a loan of up to $300 million to the company.
Abbott had previously preached caution about the project. In 2016, at a Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce gathering, Abbott said that these kinds of projects cannot be a “money-losing proposition.” During the 2017 legislative session, he signed a bill prohibiting the state from funding high-speed rail projects.
But his October letter to the Japanese prime minister alarmed some lawmakers whose districts are in the path of the proposed rail line.
“Naturally, I was disappointed to see the letter because it expressed support for the project based on what I knew to be inaccurate information,” state Rep. Ben Leman, R-Anderson, said in an interview last month. Abbott “clarified that and I'm extremely appreciative of that.”
Other lawmakers plan to file legislation to slam the brakes on the project.
State Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, has filed a bill that would forbid state agencies, like the Texas Department of Transportation, from giving permits to high-speed rail projects if the federal approvals and permits have not been secured yet.
“What we're saying is that until Texas high speed rail gets all of its approvals from the federal government, TxDOT can't waste any time, energy, attention, manpower, money,” Toth said.
Kyle Workman, president of Texans Against High-Speed Rail, said that he expects to see similar bills filed as well.
“I can't disclose all of our game plans,” Workman said. “But the reality of it is that we are prepared… to propose legislation to protect the citizens of the state of Texas, both in terms of their private property rights and the taxpayer subsidy that is inevitable and protect their tax dollars.”
Texas Central declined to respond to questions from the Tribune, but CEO Carlos Aguilar issued a statement saying the company is "now focused on finalizing financing and getting ready for execution."
Company still lacks key permits
The Texas Central high-speed rail project has been in the works for more than eight years, and the company has promised to fund the project with the support of private investors and without public funds. But critics have said that the cost will be higher than $20 billion and that it can’t be built without public support.
The project has received support from leaders of urban areas, like the mayors of Dallas and Houston, but has encountered hard resistance in the rural counties on its path. Landowners, rancher associations and local elected officials have criticized the project and said they oppose the use of eminent domain to take private land for the project.
Texas Central has said that it plans to start construction by the first half of 2021 and that it has already secured sites for stations in Dallas, Houston and the Brazos Valley.
But the Tribune found that Texas Central still hasn’t applied for a key permit from the federal Surface Transportation Board, which regulates transportation projects, for the construction and operation of the proposed rail line, according to an STB spokesperson.
And two Texas agencies, the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said they haven’t received all the necessary permit applications from the company, including the route proposal and a permit to discharge stormwater during the construction process.
A third agency, the Texas Department of Transportation, must approve permits for the rail line to cross state roads during construction, but a spokesperson said the agency would consider any proposals from the company only after the STB approves the project.
The company did receive two key approvals in September from the Federal Railway Administration, which provided the regulatory framework and the environmental review for the high-speed train. The railway administration explained that these rulings covered several of the permits needed by the project in areas like railroad safety, protection of parkland and protection of cultural resources.
Meanwhile, Texas Central is still trying to secure the land along the proposed route. Texas Central says it has secured more than 600 parcels covering about 40% of the lots — not the land — it needs for the project.
The company has said it could use eminent domain to take the land it needs for the rail line, but a Leon County landowner has sued the company, claiming Texas Central is not an “operating railroad” and that would be a “critical limitation on the eminent domain authority.”
After losing in the Leon County district court, the company won in the 13th Court of Appeals in May. The Texas Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear the case in the next few months.
Leman, who has been one of the main elected officials leading opposition to the project, said that when eminent domain is used in other ways in Texas, such as for pipelines, electrical transmission lines or roads, a state agency regulates whether eminent domain authority is needed. But that’s not the case with high-speed rail, he said.
When other companies tried to bring high-speed rail to Texas in the 1980s, Texas created a regulatory agency, the Texas High-Speed Rail Authority. But that agency was ultimately dissolved after those projects failed.
“There is no state agency authorized by statute to have general regulatory authority over the high speed rail in Texas,” Leman said. “So landowners have no one to turn to, no one, no agency.
“This is not about being against eminent domain,” Leman added. “This is about having an appropriate process where landowners are treated fairly.”
More bills focused on project are expected
For the last four legislative sessions,Texas lawmakers have been trying to pass laws to regulate high-speed rail projects.
In the 2019 session, at least seven bills were filed including measures to limit surveying land for high-speed rail until funding for the project is secured, allow landowners to repurchase land taken under eminent domain if the project fails, and give county governments authority to stop construction of a high-speed rail project in their jurisdiction until they approve any necessary county road alterations needed.
None of them got to Abbott’s desk. But legislators expect a new batch of rail-related bills to be filed when lawmakers return to session in January, including some of the same measures that died two years ago.
Toth, the only lawmaker who has filed a bill focused on high-speed rail so far for 2021, said that as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, he is going to be watching to ensure that no state money is spent on the project.
State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, who is the chair of the Transportation Committee in the House, said that there are “a lot of legitimate concerns surrounding this project.”
“Protections for Texas landowners is a high priority for a lot of legislators, including me, and I am sure there is more we can continue to do to protect property owner rights,” Canales said. “As the project moves forward, it is essential that Texans are given the truth and that the entity involved is transparent at every step of the way.”
Texas Legislature Meets in Less Than 100 days
With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to affect everyday life, Texas legislators know that it won't be business as usual at the Capitol during the 2021 legislative session. But how different things will be is still an issue they're working to resolve.
The Texas Legislature meets in less than 100 days. Nobody knows how the session will look.
"The Texas Legislature meets in less than 100 days. Nobody knows how the session will look." was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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The Texas Capitol is a bustling place when the Legislature is in session — the elevators are crowded, the hallways are packed, the committee hearing rooms are overflowing and the chamber floors are covered with state lawmakers.
But with less than 100 days until the 87th regular session and the coronavirus pandemic still upending once-regular ways of life, it’s unclear what typical functions at the Capitol will look like in January, or whether they will even exist.
That uncertainty this close to the session could have ramifications for what members say will be one of the toughest legislative sessions in recent years: tackling billions of dollars in shortfalls to the state budget, undergoing the process of redrawing the state’s political maps, and navigating issues like health care and public education that have been a focus during the pandemic.
On top of that, the Capitol has been closed to most everyone for months, prompting questions about the access that the public will have to the legislative process.
Senate and House members spearheading logistical discussions say that while much remains up in the air, the two chambers are working together to implement session rules that are consistent for both chambers. With wildly different dynamics in the 31-person Senate and the 150-person House, though, some suggest that the two chambers may not end up on the same page.
“Our primary concern is safety, transparency and public access,” said state Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat who serves as vice chair of the House Administration Committee. “There’s so much up in the air.”
State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, chair of the committee, said the House is “in conversation with the lieutenant governor’s office,” but noted that “until there’s a presumed speaker, we don’t have a lot of guidance” in the lower chamber.
To Geren’s point, there’s only so much the House can do to prepare for the next session when its speaker is retiring and control of the lower chamber could flip to Democrats in November. There aren’t any declared candidates yet in the race to replace Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. However, if a member collected the votes needed to win before January, they could become the presumptive speaker and informally lay the groundwork on what protocols would be in place.
On the Senate side, rumors have lingered for weeks over what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has told senators to expect come January. On a recent call with Senate chairs, according to several people who had knowledge of the call but weren’t authorized to speak on the record, Patrick outlined a worst-case scenario that involved limiting the legislation allowed for consideration and banning the public, press and lobbyists from entering the chamber.
A senior adviser for Patrick declined to comment for this story. And state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican who chairs the Senate Administration Committee, did not respond to requests for comment.
Some decisions have already been made. Plexiglass dividers have been installed in several House committee hearing rooms, Geren said. Such barriers, he said, won’t be installed on the 150 House floor desks in the chamber after a trial run with a couple of them because they would interfere with the light used by new mobile sanitizing machines, as The Dallas Morning News first reported. House and Senate offices have also offered free webcams to offices in preparation for conducting more business virtually.
The Legislature, though, still faces a list of seemingly never-ending questions: Should temperature checks or some other form of screening be required before people enter the building? How can the House spread out 150 desks on the chamber floor — and will press and essential staff still be allowed on it? How can the public testify on legislation in committee hearing rooms, particularly on measures that generate a lot of interest?
Buoying those questions are layers of uncertainty about whether the virus will spike this winter, whether a vaccine will be available — and accessible — and, heading into the November election, whether Democrats will have control over the House, which could mean a change in leadership style to counter the GOP-controlled Legislature.
In August, Geren sent members results from a House survey over how and when the Capitol should reopen. Not every member responded, but those who answered questions about requiring temperature checks upon entering the Capitol and requiring face masks while inside committee rooms and public meeting spaces overwhelmingly supported those measures.
Howard told the Tribune that members are considering different sorts of screening protocols for how the public enters the Capitol but that no decisions have been made on what that could look like.
Since mid-March, the Capitol has been closed to the public, preventing members from holding interim committee hearings inside the building with public testimony. Those hearings are usually scheduled to help members consider or research business that could come up during the next session.
On Monday, hearing notices were posted for Senate Higher Education and Education interim committee hearings, both of which are set to happen next week. Each notice states that access to the Capitol “is limited to legislators and staff only” — and that only invited testimony will be allowed. “Invited testimony will be conducted via video-conference,” the notices say.
As a sort of workaround in the House, the speaker’s office released a memo in July detailing three options for how to conduct committee business while also adhering to lower-chamber rules, which do not allow for virtual hearings. Some committees have carried out interim business following that guidance.
Still, Democrats and Republicans have called on Gov. Greg Abbott, who oversees the Capitol, to reopen the building in recent weeks, arguing that if in-person fundraisers and public schools can resume, so can interim committee hearings. Such requests have gone unanswered publicly, and a spokesperson for the governor did not respond to a request for comment for this article. A spokesperson for the State Preservation Board also declined to comment.
“It certainly looks like we’re not going to have anything open before session starts,” Howard said. “We’ve really had no opportunity to have interim hearings, which has been extremely frustrating.”
State Rep. Phil King, a Weatherford Republican who chairs the House Redistricting Committee, said that “right now, we’re just locked out” — and added that it’s his “strong preference” that the Capitol reopen as soon as possible.
“I think it’s time now,” he said.
In the meantime, some members are already mapping out what office-specific guidelines they may issue for the 87th session. While most members say they are waiting to finalize those plans until closer to January, a number of them have already laid out protocols.
State Rep. Jon Rosenthal’s office, for example, has established a set of guidelines that staff and the lawmaker “will adhere to independent of rules and procedures the House Administration Committee provides the members for the 87th Legislative session,” according to a memo from the Houston Democrat’s office and assuming he wins reelection.
Masks will be required to enter Rosenthal’s Capitol office, which will not allow more than six people inside at a time. Rosenthal and his staff, the memo says, will also be tested for the virus “a minimum of once per week.” And interns, should they be hired, will work from home unless “dramatic changes happen” to prevent the spread of the virus.
On the other hand, state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from Deer Park and a member of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus, said he and his staff “absolutely will not” mandate masks — and that his “office will be open to all just as it has been since I was first elected.”
“It won’t bother me if visitors want to wear [a mask], I’m not going to make them take them off,” Cain told the Tribune. “In 2017 or 2019, if someone wanted to wear a mask, I would not have cared.”
Another Republican, state Rep. Dade Phelan of Beaumont, said his office is considering limiting staff and the number of visitors allowed in the office at one time. He said his office is also thinking about trying to move meetings online, though no decisions have been made yet. Across the rotunda, state Sen. Borris Miles’ staff members said they have already installed a plexiglass shield at the front desk in the Houston Democrat’s office.
Meanwhile, a group of House Democrats including state Reps. Joe Moody of El Paso and John Turner of Dallas have spent the past several months working on a governance platform to add to the conversation about what the session should look like.
“Keep the ‘People’s House’ accessible to all who wish to safely participate,” read a line in a one-pager that was presented at the House Democratic Caucus’ recent virtual retreat. “Institute daily COVID checks for everyone entering the Texas Capitol,” reads another. Another one: “Propose penalties to discourage anyone from flouting pandemic rules.”
The pandemic has, of course, impacted other issues tied to the Legislature and its usual timeline. In addition to addressing the billions of dollars in shortfalls to the state budget and other core issues during session, state lawmakers are also set to undergo the once-in-a-decade process of redrawing the state’s political maps.
The pandemic has already halted several hearings that both the House and Senate redistricting committees had scheduled across the state during the interim. And, on top of that, King, chair of the House Redistricting Committee, said the census data that helps lawmakers draw political maps is not expected to arrive until at least June — which could put the Legislature on track to work beyond the 140-day regular session.
“I think we’re headed for a special session on redistricting regardless,” King told the Tribune.
Others agree. At a virtual event in July, the lieutenant governor said the Legislature could be in session until at least September, citing the budget and redistricting.
“I’ve told my staff and I’ve told senators,” Patrick said, “don’t plan any vacations until maybe after Sept. 30 of next year.”
Disclosure: The State Preservation Board has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/06/texas-legislature-coronavirus/.
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Texas Needs More Poll Workers
Working at polls is going to look different this year. Find out what poll workers do, who qualifies to be one and how to become one yourself.
Texas needs more poll workers this year because of the pandemic. Here's how to become one.
"Texas needs more poll workers this year because of the pandemic. Here's how to become one." was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Kathy Schneider worked as a Dallas County election clerk in 2018, but out of concern about the coronavirus, she’s choosing not to this year.
“I am 64 and really not interested in exposing myself to coronavirus any more than I need to do,” Schneider said.
Instead, she’s volunteering as a poll watcher for the Democratic party, which she can do outdoors and distanced in a parking lot.
Texas is preparing for a general election for which election officials are expecting unprecedented turnout — and unprecedented demand for election workers. The general election will require local election officials to hire more election clerks because of an extended early voting period, new cleaning and disinfection protocols, and expectations that more people will use curbside voting and mail-in ballots.
Historically, elections have been staffed by older retirees, a demographic that is particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. A lack of people willing to work because of the pandemic caused some Texas’ counties to close down polling locations during the July primary runoffs. And some officials are concerned that could happen again this fall.
What does an election worker do?
Poll workers do far more than just check IDs and assist with voter equipment. They work long hours setting up polling stations and securing them after closing each night. Bilingual election clerks serve as translators for voters who need assistance. Election clerks also drive materials to and from polling locations; process ballots, equipment and paperwork; and answer questions voters might have.
Counties are also trying to provide more ways for voters to drop off mail-in ballots. For this election, absentee voters can drop off their ballots in person at their county elections offices as soon as they’re completed. And many counties are opening drive-thru ballot drop-offs. For both options, voters should be prepared to show their IDs.
“It takes some of the pressure off the post office and makes voters feel more comfortable that they’re going to have their ballot arrive timely and be tallied,” said Dana DeBeauvoir, the Travis County clerk, whose office has opened three drive-thru options.
DeBeauvoir said Travis County will need about 2,500 election workers this year. In Hidalgo County, officials are hoping for around 800 election workers, nearly doubling the number from past general elections.
Who can serve as an election worker?
“At this point, if you call and say you’re interested in working, we’re hiring you, as long as you meet the requirements,” said Yvonne Ramon, elections administrator in Hidalgo County. “We won’t know [our final needs] until the polls actually open.”
To be an election worker, you need to be 18 years old and registered to vote in the county you wish to work in. The only exception is for teenagers participating in the Student Election Clerk program. Elected officials, candidates, and people related to or employed by a candidate are not allowed to work in an election.
Nicholas Miller won’t be 18 in time to vote in the November election, but since 2019, he’s been working as an election clerk. For him, it’s a way to contribute to the democratic process.
The student program allows high schoolers who are 16 or older to work as election clerks at polling locations throughout early voting or on Election Day.
“I want to [work] this November because I feel like I have a bit of a duty to do it,” Miller said. “I certainly would not want COVID-19, but if I got it versus a poll worker in her 70s got it, it would be a big difference in how it shook out.”
Plus, he says, it’s actually a lot of fun.
Will I be paid to do this work?
Yes. Election workers are paid hourly for the days they work during the election. Counties set their own wages for their election workers, but they have to pay at least the federal minimum wage. However, many counties pay anywhere from $10 to $14 an hour depending on the role.
Election workers should be prepared for long days. At a maximum, you can expect to work a 14-hour shift. However, some counties will accept part-time workers, so make sure to check in with your county about its requirements.
What training do I need?
Training happens at the county level ahead of the start of early voting and Election Day.
How can I apply to be an election worker?
If you are interested in becoming an election worker, check with your county about how to apply. You can use this tool to find your county’s contact and election worker information.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/21/texas-poll-worker/.
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August Unemployment Rate in Texas Drops
The U.S. Labor Department on Friday announced Texas' unemployment rate for August was 6.8%, underscoring a summer of large and steady numbers of jobless Texans.
August unemployment rate in Texas drops to 6.8% from 8% in July
"August unemployment rate in Texas drops to 6.8% from 8% in July" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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Six months after the coronavirus pandemic began choking the economy, Texas' unemployment rate in August was 6.8% — a sign the state's economy has improved from the spring months, but is still suffering.
The Texas rate, announced by the U.S. Labor Department, is down from 8% in July and an even starker improvement from April and May when Gov. Greg Abbott closed or limited in-person commerce across the state.
But after Abbott sought to reenergize the flailing economy by allowing businesses to reopen, the coronavirus spread rapidly through Texas, eventually leading Abbott to reverse some of his economic decisions. And in late August and early September, after weeks of declining numbers of Texans applying for unemployment relief, that trend reversed.
Now, the new economic data helps paint a more clear picture of the recession in Texas — the economy has made progress from the dreadful early months of the pandemic, but economists said the data underscores a large and steady number of jobless Texans over the summer months.
“We were mostly stagnant,” Michael Carroll, director of the Economics Research Group at the University of North Texas, told The Texas Tribune.
On Thursday, in another attempt to energize the economy, Abbott again began loosening restrictions for restaurants and other businesses in most regions of Texas. Retail stores, restaurants and office buildings, which have been allowed to open at 50% capacity, will be permitted to expand to 75% capacity. Hospitals will be allowed to offer elective procedures again and nursing homes can reopen for visitations under certain standards.
It’s too soon to tell what impact Abbott’s moves will have on the economy, but Tim Fitzgerald, an economist at Texas Tech University, hopes the trend of Texans entering the workforce continues.
“Today’s report is a good sign for the economy and indicates there’s more labor force participation and more employment across the state,” Fitzgerald, who worked on the Council of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration, told The Texas Tribune. “Now, the future course of the virus is obviously going to be important."
The state's failure to control the coronavirus, which has left more than 14,000 Texans dead, means a strong economic resurgence, however, will have to wait, economists said. Nearly 2 million people across the state are still collecting unemployment relief and The Texas Workforce Commission has struggled to keep up.
Despite the agency’s woes, many unemployed Texans who were able to receive unemployment benefits during the spring and summer also received an additional $600 a week as part of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act legislation approved by Congress, which expired in July.
“The CARES Act was predicated on a two to three month period of major slowdown,” Waco economist Ray Perryman told The Texas Tribune. “We are now at six and counting."
In an effort to supplant that money in August, President Trump announced new, extra $300 weekly payments would be distributed to unemployed people, but the program was short-lived and ended in September.
The consequences of the disintegrating safety net have already been dire — some Texans receive as little as $69 per week in benefits, a paycheck that was easier to manage when federal money was added.
Now, October is approaching and monthly bills will be due again, but despite the Trump administration announcing a new eviction moratorium, some unemployed Texans unable to pay their bills have not been protected, Houston Public Media reported.
Still, neither Congress nor President Trump have indicated additional money for unemployed people, who in Texas have faced “unprecedented financial challenges,” Abbott said Thursday.
“You still have a significant number of people that are unfortunately either unemployed or underemployed right now,” Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said recently during The Texas Tribune Festival.
As a result, Texans have spent less money over the last five months, leading to far fewer revenues from sales taxes, the largest source of revenue for the state’s budget. Already, state leaders have ordered state agencies to cut budgets by 5%.
“Consequently, further declines in sales tax revenue may ensue in the coming months,” Hegar said in early September.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has said he would rather die from the coronavirus than see instability in the economy, said Thursday’s announcement by Abbott was an important step in helping buck Hegar prediction.
“I know this is welcome news to everyone watching, and all the business owners out there,” Patrick said alongside Abbott Thursday.
But the Texas Restaurant Association said in a statement Thursday that many restaurants “will continue to struggle to reach the occupancy cap because of the social distancing requirements.”
“We’ve crossed the six-month mark of this crisis,” the statement read, “and it’s no exaggeration to say that the next few weeks will make the difference between tens of thousands of businesses surviving the economic fallout, or being forced to close their doors forever.”
Dr. Seth H. Giertz, an economics professor at the University of Texas at Dallas who used to work in the Congressional Budget Office, wasn’t optimistic about the current trajectory.
“It’s possible we could have bad financial situations and many more businesses collapsing even on the route we’re going now, just because businesses aren’t able to operate the way they were before and they're not getting the same support,” Giertz said.
Houston Public Media, University of Texas - Dallas and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/18/texas-unemployment-rate/.
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Extra $300 Payments Will no Longer be Given to Unemployed Texans
The Federal Emergency Management Agency notified state officials Wednesday that the payments for out-of-work Texans have ended, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, which handles unemployment claims.
Unemployed Texans will no longer receive an extra $300 in weekly payments
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Texans receiving unemployment benefits who qualified for an extra $300 in weekly jobless payments issued by the Trump administration will no longer receive the additional funds after claims from last week are paid, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
The agency, which processes unemployment claims, said in a news release Wednesday afternoon it had been notified of the news by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provided the funds. Roughly 1.8 million Texans currently receive the $300 payment, according to the workforce commission.
It’s unclear whether more federal relief could be on the way for unemployed Texans. According to a report by The Washington Post on Wednesday, White House officials were considering an additional round of executive actions, including one to address unemployment benefits.
In August, President Donald Trump announced the extra weekly payments after an additional $600 weekly payment approved by Congress to help offset losses tied to the pandemic expired in July. The Trump administration said the federal government would provide $300 per week and that states could decide whether to contribute an additional $100, which Texas did not do. The state applied for federal funding roughly two weeks after the president issued his order.
Since the pandemic began in March, nearly 3.4 million Texans had applied for unemployment assistance as of Aug. 29. Texas has seen record-worst jobless rates in the months since the start of the pandemic, and the state's economy has, as the state comptroller has described multiple times, entered into a recession.
After news of the additional funding was made, the workforce commission said over 347,000 Texans receiving unemployment benefits would not qualify for the additional $300 weekly payment as of Aug. 24. A spokesperson for the agency said some people did not qualify because they did not indicate they had lost their jobs because of the pandemic when they filed for unemployment. Others did not qualify because they were receiving less than $100 in weekly unemployment benefits.
Disclosure: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/09/300-unemployment-texas/.
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Texas is Revising its Sex Education Standards
The State Board of Education is taking up the first revision of sex ed curriculum in more than 20 years. LGBTQ students say they're being excluded again.
Texas is revising its sex education standards, but they'll likely remain silent on LGBTQ issues
"Texas is revising its sex education standards, but they'll likely remain silent on LGBTQ issues" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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By the age of 16, Atticus Sandlin has become a sex education expert.
As a student at Hebron High School in Lewisville Independent School District, in the suburbs of Dallas, he built what he calls a "sex ed mini career," educating himself through internet research, conferences and advocacy groups — then turning around and educating his peers.
Last school year, he says, students would find him in the halls to ask questions like, "What is a hymen?" or "Does this count as sex?" He handed out condoms, pamphlets and dental dams to anyone who asked, and highlighted the importance of respecting other people's boundaries. He even taught sexual education classes specifically for LGBTQ students through Youth First, a program in North Texas for queer teens.
Texas does not require public schools to teach LGBTQ issues in sex education, an omission that frustrates Sandlin, who is bisexual and a transgender boy. "There are some queer people who don't do their own research, and they don't get information from school or any resources," said Sandlin, now a high school junior at public iSchool Virtual Academy of Texas. "It's important that they get that information even when they don't have access to it or it's not safe for them to get access anywhere else."
This week, the Texas State Board of Education, which determines what millions of public school students learn, is expected to approve new standards outlining how schools should teach health and sexual education — the first revisions to that statewide policy since 1997. At an initial public hearing this June, many students, teachers and advocates asked the board to require that students learn about sexual orientation and gender identity, especially since LGBTQ students are more likely to be discriminated against and bullied.
One study conducted by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that as many as 158,500 LGBT youth live in Texas, about 2% of the state's youth population.
But the final proposal, set for debate and a preliminary vote this week with final approval expected in November, still excludes any direct mention of LGBTQ issues.
Over the last several years, Texas Republican leaders have targeted LGBTQ rights and protections. In 2017, they unsuccessfully pushed a policy preventing transgender people from using public bathrooms that match their gender identity, and last year they encouraged an investigation into whether a mother supporting her child's gender transition was committing "child abuse."
At its June hearing on the new policy, the 15-member elected education board — 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats — split down partisan lines, with Democrats pushing for explicit inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity and Republicans largely opposed.
"There likely will not be consensus on this," said Keven Ellis, a Lufkin Republican, who chairs the board, at the June meeting. He told The Texas Tribune in an e-mail that he supported teaching about "different types of bullying, including bullying for sexual reasons."
All Texas public schools must offer health education for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, but health education is optional in high school. The board is considering requiring all seventh and eighth grade health teachers to include lessons about contraceptive methods for the first time, now only a requirement in high school health.
Schools are not required to teach sexual education, but those that do must stress abstinence as the preferred choice for unmarried young people and spend more time on it than any other sexual behavior. Parents can opt their children out of any lesson they want.
Dee Lepine, a 17-year-old senior at Timber Creek High School in Keller ISD, remembers eighth grade health teachers showing students pictures of people with sexually transmitted diseases and telling them not to have sex. That was the last health class Lepine, who is nonbinary and uses gender-neutral pronouns, took. There was no mention in the class of sexual orientation or gender identity.
"I think just knowing that having attractions when you're a teenager is normal and you shouldn't scare kids with scary images," Lepine said. "It's really important that they don't feel like, you know, a freak, because everyone deals with it."
Lepine remembers learning the details of sex education from the media and friends, who were similarly uneducated and confused.
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Sandlin can clearly remember one of the most uncomfortable assignments he received in a public school sexual education class. Each eighth grade student was given a cup with liquid and told to pour it back and forth among other students' cups.
"At the end of it, they put drops in all of our cups. If your cup turned purple, you had a [sexually transmitted infection]," said Sandlin. "I just remember it being awkward. I was like, are they really trying to get us to simulate sex?"
And most important, the educator at the front of the classroom didn't include very many lessons that would apply to LGBTQ teens. Sandlin sat in the class with a few friends taking notice of the gaps in the lessons, like the statement that all sex risks pregnancy, which is untrue for many queer people.
In high school, whenever Sandlin realized a class had a substitute teacher, he would run to the front of the room to explain his chosen name and pronouns, which differ from the name and gender he was given at birth. Some teachers made a point of ignoring his requests — an indication, he believes, that comprehensive health education classes would be just as useful for those outside of the queer community.
"Pretty much every queer person I know has experienced some level of bullying or just plain ignorance," he said. "One time, I had a teacher straight up say, 'I'm not going to call you that.'" As he's gotten more confident, Sandlin has reported such incidents to counselors, but said it's scary to go up against a teacher.
The State Board of Education debated the importance of adding gender identity and sexual orientation into the standards in June, and a few Republicans suggested strengthening the lessons around bullying, making it clear that students know that they should respect everyone. But they largely opposed making direct references to LGBTQ students.
"If we start delineating things, we need to go back and make sure we include everybody else," said Ken Mercer, a San Antonio Republican on the board.
"If we can save a life because we include this and we allow these students to find that there is no shame in their gender identity, isn't it worth it to you? It's worth it to me," said Ruben Cortez, a Brownsville Democrat on the board. "Hearing and knowing of teens that have [killed themselves] ... because of some of the things they deal with, if we in Texas have the opportunity to correct some of this and save one life, I think it's worth it."
Georgina Pérez, an El Paso Democrat on the board, said including LGBTQ students in the health standards would parallel work the board has already done creating standards for Mexican American and African American studies courses over the last couple of years. "LGBTQI is an identity, an identity that's not reflected in any of our curriculum," she said.
"Racism is a lot bigger problem than the sexual thing as far as people being picked on for different things," responded Pat Hardy, a Fort Worth Republican on the board.
The state sets minimum standards for what should be taught, but districts are allowed to include additional topics they feel would benefit their students. Some districts, including Austin ISD and Fort Worth ISD, have adjusted their own health and sex education policies to include lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Conservative groups such as Texas Values have headed the fight against these policies, considering them pro-LGBT "indoctrination" and urging parents to opt their children out of sexuality courses. Left-leaning advocacy groups such as Texas Freedom Network, Planned Parenthood and the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy have pushed in the other direction.
Sock Trimarco, who is "queer in most senses of the word" and uses gender-neutral pronouns, has taken sex ed workshops through Planned Parenthood after learning abstinence-only sex education in the online public school Texas Connections Academy.
The 17-year-old shies away from coming out as transgender and nonbinary in school or out in the world, worried about people "pushing back or being upset" or even resorting to violence. "I have to think in my head and say, 'Should I introduce myself as my deadname, or should I introduce myself as my name?'" Trimarco said, referring to their previous name.
Sex education that includes LGBTQ students benefits everyone, they said. "To teach people not only that it's OK to be you, but it's also OK for other people to be queer."
Disclosure: Texas Freedom Network and Planned Parenthood have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/08/texas-state-board-education-sex-ed/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
Texas Students - Tuition Should Decrease due to Pandemic
Students with financial hardships and a hurting economy say tuition should be lowered at their Texas universities. But some colleges are adding new fees related to an increase in distance learning.
Texas students said pandemic-era tuition should be cut. But it’s going up at some schools due to distance learning fees.
"Texas students said pandemic-era tuition should be cut. But it’s going up at some schools due to distance learning fees." was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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Paying for her tuition at the University of North Texas was already going to be a challenge this fall for Aimee Tambwe. Just recently, her dad — who helps pay for her education — lost his job because of pandemic-related layoffs.
So Tambwe, who is taking most of her classes remotely this semester, was dumbfounded to see her tuition bill increase by $315 because of “distance education” fees for five courses she’s signed up to take.
“This is not something that we can control. I didn’t plan for a pandemic,” Tambwe said. “I don’t think it’s fair to increase the fees on top of students losing their jobs and funding. This does not help me.”
Students across Texas are denouncing what they view as unfair increases in fees that add to the financial strain on students, especially during a pandemic in which thousands of Texans are losing their jobs and their homes. It’s further injury to students who have instead argued for tuition decreases because of restrictions to campus amenities and experiences that are typically paid for with their fees.
At the University of North Texas, the distance learning fee is $35 per credit hour, capped at $315. According to the school’s website, the fee is used to support the management, delivery and technology for distance education courses.
UNT officials say it’s not a new fee, but because the pandemic has necessitated more students going remote, the fee is being applied more widely.
UNT Provost Jennifer Cowley said in an interview that she was sympathetic to students’ frustration.
“I totally understand where it would be coming from,” Cowley said.
Currently, 28% of the fall’s course offerings are online and come with the corresponding distance learning fee, Cowley said.
As students call for tuition cuts, Texas university officials have defended their prices, saying that online classes are not less expensive than in-person classes because faculty and staff still need to be paid. There are also some additional costs associated with technology upgrades needed for more remote instruction.
At other schools across Texas, students are facing sticker shock over some price hikes made months before the pandemic. At the University of Texas at Austin, undergraduate tuition rates will increase by 2.6% per year until 2022, a move that will increase tuition by more than $140 per semester for the next two years.
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A recent petition from the Texas State Employees Union calls for a tuition decrease of 10% for the duration of the pandemic across the University of Texas System. There are at least five tuition-related lawsuits against Texas universities, stemming from students demanding discounted tuition or reimbursements because of the campus changes related to COVID-19 responses.
A recent survey of UT-Austin students also showed that 91% of students were not satisfied with tuition rates.
Gabrielle Vidmar, a Texas State University student, said the San Marcos school had estimated she would pay nearly $7,000 in tuition and fees for the fall semester – including almost $1,000 in new “electronic course” and “off-campus class” fees for classes that had been designated as online because of the pandemic. Her previous tuition bills have been around $4,000.
Texas State later reversed course and shaved off many fees for students, including Vidmar. But the sting remains, compounded by the fact that Vidmar’s money will still be going toward services like athletics and the library, neither of which she plans to participate in or use during the pandemic.
“We are not getting the bang for our buck,” Vidmar said. “It sucks ... that the general consensus is that we feel Texas State doesn’t care about us. And that they’re in it for the money.”
A spokesperson for the school declined to comment and referred questions to a statement released by the school.
Texas State University revised its fee structure in late July. If a student has at least one face-to-face class, school officials said, the $50 per-credit-hour electronic course fee would be dropped. But if a student only takes online and hybrid courses, the electronic course fees would remain while $342 in on-campus fees will be waived.
“Texas State leadership recognizes the hardships our Bobcat Community is experiencing because of COVID-19,” a message from the school reads. It notes that the change will waive more than $7 million in fees for students.
Students like Vidmar, with one in-person class, are off the hook. But others, who may be afraid to go to campus or who simply are placed in online-only classes, will be charged the full slate of distance education fees.
“We didn’t get a stimulus check, we didn’t get help from anyone,” said McKenzie Decker, a Texas State student who started a petition to erase all the online fees. “They’re screwing over students that may not have a choice here.”
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas System, the University of North Texas and Texas State University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/24/texas-tuition-universities/.
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Schools Reopening in Texas
With the safe reopening of schools this fall in doubt, parents with the resources are setting up "learning pods" or seeking other options. But the do-it-yourself approach to education threatens to leave behind students of color and poorer families.
As school reopenings falter, some Texas parents hire private teachers. Others can only afford to cross their fingers.
"As school reopenings falter, some Texas parents hire private teachers. Others can only afford to cross their fingers." was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Earlier this summer, Kristina Boshernitzan and a group of neighbors stood in the driveway of her Austin home for a socially distanced meeting to figure out how to take greater control of their childrens' educations.
With the coronavirus spreading unpredictably and plans to safely reopen schools shifting day by day, the parents grappled with the increasing prospect that it might be unsafe, or impossible, to send their children back to school in the fall.
Each faced difficult decisions. One neighbor's husband had stage 4 cancer, and she didn’t want her children to expose him to the new coronavirus, which they might pick up in a classroom. Another mother had young twins with lung issues. Just a cold is enough to send them to the hospital, and they can take no risk of being exposed to COVID-19.
Boshernitzan, who works full-time at a nonprofit, wanted parents to pool resources and find ways to make virtual learning easier. They discussed hiring a college student or nanny to help children complete their online school district coursework, or finding a music or arts instructor who could replace enrichment courses while schools are closed for in-person learning.
To reach even more parents, she created a private Facebook group for parents in northwest Austin who want to connect and form “learning pods,” a term she said is “in the zeitgeist right now.” In less than two weeks, the group gained almost 500 members.
Such scenes are playing out across Texas and the country as school districts delay their return to in-person instruction this fall and COVID-19 cases continue to surge. Parents will be playing an even bigger role in determining what and how their children learn, and they are deploying all the resources they have at their disposal to ensure it goes more smoothly than in the spring.
For some, like Boshernitzan, that means organizing learning pods in which families pool their money to hire an instructor and take turns hosting small groups of students to follow the school district’s learning plan at home. Others are withdrawing their children from public schools entirely and planning to home-school with learning materials they can find online for free and at cost. Some parents with younger children are sticking with trusted private child care centers that separate students and follow strict health codes.
But many parents don't have the money to hire private instructors or the flexibility to home-school their children. Upon hearing that Frisco ISD wouldn’t open classrooms for at least three weeks after the school year begins, Chloe McGlover panicked, knowing her budget is too tight to hire a tutor or full-time teacher for her 11-year-old son, Jhonte. The single mother owns a massage therapy business and lost money shutting down earlier this year during the statewide stay-at-home order.
“I already know I can’t afford it. There’s really no point in even looking,” she said. “Whatever little savings I had is almost depleted now.”
The decisions parents are making in response to the patchwork of opening dates, remote learning and do-it-yourself education coming this fall underscore the fact that the pandemic will exacerbate education gaps between higher-income and low-income students, as well as white students and students of color.
A University of Texas and Texas Politics Project poll earlier this summer showed that 65% of Texans said it was unsafe for children to return to school. Black and Hispanic Texans were more likely than white Texans polled to say it was unsafe. Available data from some of Texas’ most populous counties, including Harris County, shows Black and Hispanic Texans disproportionately contracting COVID-19.
Research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests there are higher rates nationally of hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 among some people of color than there are among white people, and that circumstances such as being an essential worker and lacking health insurance are related to these risks.
Low-income, Black and Hispanic Texans are more likely than high-income and white Texans to be essential workers and to lack health insurance. And those families, a majority in Texas public schools, are less likely to be able to afford private supplements to their children’s education.
Some with money and resources will sprint ahead. Those without will lag behind. Thousands of families still don’t have access to the laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots they will need to learn from home this fall, and for some, keeping schools closed cuts off access to food, medical care and a refuge from abuse.
“There’s ugly sides to parenting, and I think the idea that I’m going to protect my kids first is really beautiful and really ugly,” Boshernitzan said. “How do you balance your desire to give to your kids without taking away from others?”
“We’re about to see what happens when we turn up the volume on families and turn it down on schools,” wrote Paul von Hippel, an associate professor in education policy at the University of Texas at Austin, in an opinion piece this spring on disparities in student learning due to the pandemic.
For privately organized efforts like learning pods, parents are tending to connect with others in their neighborhoods and school zones, already segregated by race and class.
“The question is how far kids who don’t get that, who don’t have access to that, how far are they going to fall behind?” said Tomeka Davis, assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State University. “If schools are already cash strapped, how are they going to remediate kids who have lost that much school to the pandemic?”
Amber Williams-Platt considered putting her 3-year-old son in pre-K in Georgetown ISD this fall, but she’s reconsidering in light of the pandemic. Out of work and in school, she looked for subsidized or free child care options such as Head Start but said she was put on waitlists each time. She used a federal stimulus check to catch up on overdue electricity bills and is living off Social Security payments.
She heard about the learning pods but ruled the idea out quickly as an option for her family. “It has merit, but it takes money to do something like that. You have to have food available for all of the children. You have to have space available,” she said. “If you can’t, you can’t properly share in the duty.”
Texas gave public school districts more flexibility last week on how long they can keep their campuses closed, with educators and parents clamoring that it wasn’t safe to return. Some districts, especially urban and suburban ones where the virus is spreading quickly, may keep their campuses closed to students through the fall and into early winter. Over the last couple of months, state officials have postponed and walked back guidance multiple times, as the politics and health concerns of the pandemic shift — preventing districts from finalizing safety plans or reopening dates.
Largely unsure about their public schools’ plans, hundreds of Texas parents are joining local Facebook groups connecting parents who want to share the responsibilities and costs of hiring instructors to facilitate online learning for their children. The learning pod trend has caught on across the country, especially among upper- and middle-class families with kids in public schools.
Throughout the spring, many school districts struggled to get acclimated to remote learning, facing technical difficulties with their learning platforms and failing to get many students the technology they needed. That put the onus on parents to effectively home-school their kids, in some cases while working from home, or risk them not learning at all.
Boshernitzan and her husband both work full time and are considering a combination of a private child care and a learning pod for their three elementary-age children. A strong proponent of public schools, she plans to send her kids back to Austin ISD in person as soon as it’s safe, and she recognizes how lucky she is to have options.
A whole new industry is springing up around the learning pod trend, with new organizations offering to connect pods of families with teachers or tutors. The Texas Learning Pod, for example, started by a University of Texas at Austin student, links families with college students, offering packages that range from $20 to $55 per hour depending on the number of children and grade levels. And public and private school teachers who are worried about getting sick when schools resume in person are looking for opportunities to teach learning pods.
Sarah Bridle, a parent of five children in Keller ISD in North Texas, is worried her eighth grade son in particular will feel “chained to sitting at the computer” watching teachers livestream lessons. So she’s considering a learning pod where he could socialize with other kids in his grade while completing school assignments.
A stay-at-home mother, she started a Facebook group earlier this month for Keller and nearby Northwest ISD parents who want to create learning pods, getting the idea from a popular San Francisco group called Pandemic Pods and Microschools. Bridle’s group now has more than 900 members.
Bridle has talked with her husband about bringing in one student to join her family’s pod who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it, and she’s encouraging other families to do the same. “That’s not always going to be possible, and there’s not an easy fix,” she said. “That’s why we need our public schools system, and we have to find a way to get through this and come through the other side without losing our public schools.”
Chelsey Carter, a co-founder of Bridle's group, is one of an increasing number of parents looking to home-school their children without using resources from the school district, which is virtually unregulated in Texas. Carter is reaching out to other families to form a small group of five or fewer children who hop from home to home and work from the same curriculum.
“While we know the school district is doing everything they can … we feel like there’s just too many unknowns,” said Carter, whose son finished first grade at Northwest ISD last year. “We want to have stability and consistency for our child, and we feel like home school is the best way to do that.” A social worker, she worried her son would have to spend the day tied to a computer if he learned with a school district, which didn’t fit in her schedule. This way, she can share the responsibilities of helping students learn with other parents and potentially pool money to hire a teacher for a couple of days a week.
The Texas Homeschool Coalition said it has seen a major increase in parents inquiring about how to home-school their children, seeking more stability during a rocky year. It has created a tool to help parents withdraw from their public schools and provided resources and free learning packets for parents who want to try it. According to the coalition, about 25,000 students withdrew from public schools to home-school in Texas in 2018.
It’s unclear how much of a blow the drop in enrollment will be for Texas public schools, which are funded based on daily attendance. Texas is requiring school districts to count the number of students who attend remotely and announced last week it will give school districts a break if their attendance drops dramatically during the first 12 weeks.
The uncertainty of where coronavirus hot spots will erupt is especially stressful for parents, who want stability for their children and for themselves. Many know it’s inevitable that some public schools that reopen while the virus is still spreading quickly will have to close again, complicating their decisions.
Rene Coronado and his wife, who both work full time outside the home, will pay $200 per week to keep their 6-year-old son in a private child care center they trust instead of sending him to Grapevine-Colleyville ISD in North Texas. The center had two positive COVID-19 cases this summer, which it handled well, Coronado said, quickly confirming which students had been directly exposed and informing parents as needed.
He received an email from Grapevine-Colleyville ISD last week that included limited details on health and safety protocols for students. “It was just super clear that if one kid gets sick, all the other kids get exposed,” he said. “Even if we couldn’t afford [private child care], which we’re very fortunate we can, we would have to figure it out anyway because the school is going to shut down.”
Disclosure: Facebook and the University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/23/homeschool-texas-schools-reopening/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
Undocumented Immigrants are Self-Evicting Across Texas
Without money to pay rent, facing pressures from landlords and afraid of courts, people without legal immigration status have limited options.
Undocumented immigrants behind on their rent are self-evicting across Texas
"Undocumented immigrants behind on their rent are self-evicting across Texas" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
The coronavirus pandemic pushed María and her family from a small two-bedroom apartment in southeast Houston into homelessness in less than a month. Her boss cut her hours in a clothing warehouse in mid-March as business slowed. Without enough money to pay rent, she packed her belongings and found another place to live even though there was a statewide moratorium on evictions.
“When I couldn’t find how to pay, I just had to leave,” said María, 47, who is an undocumented immigrant. “I didn’t want to be in debt, and I couldn’t go to court.”
María asked that she be identified by a pseudonym out of fear that immigration authorities could seek to deport her.
On paper, an undocumented tenant has the same rights as anyone else during the eviction process. But housing attorneys and tenant and immigration advocates say undocumented immigrants are frequently hesitant to exercise those options. Their fear of the legal system and lack of access to government-funded financial help prompt many to self-evict, or prematurely leave the property. And as a result, many turn to a network of nonprofits and religious organizations accustomed to helping vulnerable people who keep the Texas economy humming. But those groups say their ability to assist is being stressed by the many people who were swiftly left without work due to the coronavirus pandemic's economic wallop.
Zoe Middleton is the Houston and Southeast Texas co-director at Texas Housers, an affordable-housing advocacy group. She said that because Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are allowed in courthouses, undocumented renters avoid going inside these buildings out of fear of being deported. There have been cases in Texas in which undocumented immigrants were arrested in courthouses while appearing for cases unrelated to immigration.
“I think the fear that concerns most of the undocumented tenants that I’ve spoken to is that somehow the [eviction judges] will collude with ICE or that their documentation status will be used against them by their landlord even if they try to remain on the property,” she said. “So they choose to leave the property so they don’t risk detention and deportation.”
Many renters in Texas found temporary relief in eviction moratoriums, federal pandemic relief payments, unemployment checks and rental assistance programs. Undocumented migrants, though, either don’t qualify for such aid or are afraid that merely seeking it will alert immigration authorities to their presence in a country whose president has called some immigrants “animals,” makes racist remarks and consistently tries to create barriers for migrants.
In many of Texas’ largest counties, evictions in June were lower than they were for the same month last year. In Harris County, where María lives, eviction filings were down about 67%. Local moratoriums, rent assistance programs and other government aid have helped renters stay afloat for the time being. Still, housing advocates forecast a historical increase in evictions statewide due to the unprecedented unemployment COVID-19 swiftly spurred.
But tenants who decide to leave a home on their own, or self-evict, many times don’t even get to the point at which an eviction is filed, so there’s no record of how many people, like María, pursue this route.
“When it comes to eviction, a verbal threat of eviction or lock-out may result in an undocumented person packing up and leaving immediately,” said Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants’ Union, a housing advocacy group. “This could be due to the lack of understanding of their rights, but it could also be from fear of engaging with courts in order to stand up for their rights.”
“We want to do more”
Linley Boone-Almaguer, an attorney with the nonprofit Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, said that widespread job loss has compounded tenants’ anxieties during the eviction process. And immigrants have been more affected by this year’s historic unemployment than U.S.-born workers, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.
“There’s a lot of home health care aides. There’s a lot of people like certified nursing assistants, housekeepers, day cares, people — both documented and undocumented — that work in the service industry,” Boone-Almaguer said. “And so many of those people lost their jobs completely or lost hours, or they work at the flea market selling things, so there’s so many jobs like that, where people lost their very, already very limited income. And so you have seen evictions spiking during the COVID period.”
In these cases, many undocumented immigrants rely on their community and avoid seeking assistance from the government or nonprofits. But if they do reach out for benefits like rent assistance, they face language barriers.
“When they want to ask for help from a nonprofit, and the staff only speaks English, they feel intimidated and don’t want to go on,” said Adriana Godines, a volunteer for Dallas Area Interfaith, a community group made up of religious congregations, schools and other nonprofits. “Even if I tell them that there will be no problem and they won’t ask for your Social Security, they prefer not to [ask for help].”
And even people who go to the justice of the peace courts, where eviction cases are heard, face similar hurdles.
“A lot of JP courts won’t have bilingual speakers,” said Lizbeth Parra-Davila, a housing fellow at the University of Texas School of Law. “Throughout Texas, that has been the case where I’ll call JP courts and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, we don’t have any Spanish speakers. We don’t have any Spanish interpreters.’”
Many undocumented people have been counting on their families, friends and churches.
Godines has seen homes with 12 people living together as people who self-evict move in with loved ones.
“It’s people of all ages. Kids, adults, sometimes senior citizens,” she said.
Godines has worked with families searching for rental assistance, and she said that funds are running low among nonprofit organizations that are allowed to serve undocumented immigrants.
“We want to do more, but we don’t have more resources,” Godines said. “But the little that we have in this community, we give it.”
Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas explained that many priests and churchgoers have pooled together resources to pay for rent and food for undocumented migrants. But he, too, worries how long such resources will last.
“I don’t think we know yet how serious this is or how long it will last. When the city assistance program opened, the help available was overwhelmed in the first couple of hours,” Kelly said. “It could be a very lengthy situation. There’s so much uncertainty.”
Ready to work
As María was planning to move out, she heard that a Christian pastor nearby was willing to let her live in a small apartment in the back of his church. She let her kids sleep on the king-sized bed there, and she took a small couch. They had to share the kitchen with the church staff and churchgoers.
“Sometimes we wouldn’t eat until everyone left the church,” María said.
She was grateful, but also sometimes uncomfortable.
“My way of thanking them was cleaning the church,” she said.
After almost three months there, she was asked to leave. A relative of the pastor was also having trouble paying rent and was going to use the apartment. María told the pastor not to worry, that she was going to find a solution.
“Even before the pandemic, things were tough in our community,” said Josephine Lee, an organizer with the workers’ group El Pueblo Primero, which has been trying to help María. “People were living check to check. This pandemic basically made it where it was completely unbearable. People call us saying that most of them haven’t paid a month [of rent], but half of those haven’t paid for two or more months.”
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After having her working hours cut, María decided to self-evict. Undocumented immigrants, such as María, are frequently afraid of the legal system. Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune
María now lives apart from her family, though she still regularly sees her kids, who moved in with her ex-husband. She has been staying with a friend, trying to save some money to find a new place. But jobs are still hard to come by.
She has managed to pick up work cleaning homes here and there, but not much more than that. And finding financial help is out of the question: Undocumented workers are not eligible for stimulus checks, and they can’t apply for unemployment benefits.
“I don’t have papers, but I file my taxes every year,” said María, who uses an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number provided by the Internal Revenue Service, as do many other undocumented workers who don’t have Social Security numbers.
According to the IRS, ITIN users paid more than $23.6 billion in taxes in 2015. In Texas, undocumented immigrants contributed $1.5 billion in local and state taxes, a 2017 study found.
María’s older daughter, who is a citizen and lost her job at a mall, applied for state unemployment benefits.
“But she tried and tried, and the website never worked,” María said. “If that would have worked out, we might have been fine.”
In Houston, María has appreciated the help from her community, but she said she’s also ready to work. She hoped to get back to work at the clothing warehouse this week, but she never heard back from her former boss. Now she’s applying to work in a plastics factory. Her goal is to save up for a car, to be able to access more jobs, and to have a steady paycheck to get a new home.
“Now I don’t have furniture, I don’t have beds to sleep. We only have clothes and our personal stuff,” she said. “But at the end, that’s not the most important. What you really want is a place to be quiet, no matter if you have to sleep or eat on the floor. The important thing is to have a place of peace, to be with your kids.”
Disclosure: The University of Texas System has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/22/evictions-texas-undocumented-immigrants/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
Reality Winner Seeking to Serve Remainder of Prison Sentence at Home
Kingsville native Reality Winner was a government contractor serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to mailing a classified report to a news organization.
By Menda Eulenfeld, South Texas Community News July 22, 2020
According to Military.com, former Kingsville Airman Reality Winner has tested positive for COVID-19. The Kingsville native was a government contractor serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to mailing a classified report to a news organization.
Brittany Winner, Reality’s sister, told the Daily Report that her sister had emailed her of the positive result.
Reality is currently serving her 5 year sentence at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth and is seeking to serve the remainder of her sentence at home. Brittany Winner said her sister doesn’t currently have symptoms.
Texas GOP Postpones Convention
After struggling to kick off the virtual gathering Thursday, the party's executive committee has voted to wait until Saturday to resume business, hoping it can use the time between to smooth things out.
Texas GOP postpones convention a day due to technical problems
"Texas GOP postpones convention a day due to technical problems" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
The Texas Republican Party has postponed its state convention by a day to give itself more time to figure out technical issues that plagued the virtual gathering Thursday.
After a nearly four-hour meeting that ended after midnight on Friday, the State Republican Executive Committee voted 51-5 to resume convention business Saturday instead of later Friday. The delay was encouraged by party Chairman James Dickey, who expressed uncertainty throughout the night that the party could start the convention again Friday without encountering further problems related to its online credentialing process.
"I very, very much think this would be a wise move," Dickey said of resuming Saturday.
The party faced hours-long delays as it sought to get its convention going earlier Thursday. Dickey abruptly announced Thursday evening that the convention would reconvene at noon Friday, citing "extenuating circumstances and technical issues."
Now, with the SREC vote, convention business will not begin again until Saturday morning, likely about 8 a.m., Dickey said. That also means the convention will last a day later than originally scheduled, going into Sunday.
For weeks, the party had pushed to hold an in-person convention in Houston, one that was expected to draw thousands of people, even as coronavirus cases spiked across the state. After exhausting legal options earlier this week, party officials moved forward with the virtual meeting, which they said they had long been preparing for as a backup plan.
The saga has been especially high-stakes for Dickey, who faces a serious challenge to his chairmanship from Allen West, the former Florida congressman. It was not immediately clear when exactly that vote would be held at the convention under the new schedule approved by the SREC.
In any case, Dickey opened the SREC meeting Thursday night with an apology.
"I am sorry that today did not go much, much better," Dickey said, "and as the chair, that is my responsibility, and I accept that responsibility."
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/17/texas-gop-convention/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
No Shutdown Coming For Texas
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said it will take weeks to see whether his recent mask order and decision to close bars are effective in slowing the virus' spread.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says "there is no shutdown coming" as coronavirus cases surge
"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says "there is no shutdown coming" as coronavirus cases surge" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
As the number of new coronavirus cases in Texas continues to rise and hospitals grow more crowded, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday there is no statewide shutdown looming.
Abbott said last week that if the spread of the virus didn't slow, "the next step would have to be a lockdown." But in a television interview Thursday, he said that there have been rumors of such a move and stressed that they were not true.
“Let me tell you, there is no shutdown coming,” he told KRIV-TV in Houston.
Abbott pointed to measures he’s taken in recent weeks, including a statewide mask mandate and an order shutting down bars, to slow the spread of the virus. It will take a few weeks to see a reversal in coronavirus case surges, he said.
He has repeatedly stressed this week that, if people wear masks, he'll be able to avoid shutting down the state. On Wednesday, he told KPRC-TV in Houston that it seems like people ask him about a shutdown "like a thousand times a day."
"People are panicking, thinking I'm about to shut down Texas again," he said. "The answer is no. That is not the goal. I've been abundantly clear."
As of Thursday, there were 10,457 people in Texas hospitals with the coronavirus. That was down slightly from a peak of 10,569 on Tuesday, but still an 8% increase from a week ago and more than four times the number a month ago. Abbott described seeing a "flattening" of hospitalizations. The state has reported 3,561 deaths from the virus.
“We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but this could be a glimmer of hope,” Abbott said of the recent hospitalization numbers. “But the only way we can avoid a shutdown is if we do get everybody buying into this process of wearing a face mask.”
Earlier Thursday, Abbott defended his coronavirus response at the Texas GOP convention after acknowledging widespread discontent among party members. Several Republican officials have voiced their criticism of Abbott’s statewide mask order.
"The last thing that any of us want is to lock Texas back down again," he said during the virtual convention.
But Democrats continued to push for Abbott to take more action to stem the spread of the virus.
"Governor Abbott should start listening to public health officials and members of his own coronavirus taskforce before he makes blanket claims," Abhi Rahman, a state party spokesperson, said in an email. "After experiencing record deaths today and over 10,000 new cases, it's shocking that Abbott continues to double down on his failed policies and positions."
Correction: The photo caption for this story originally misstated when Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference on steps to reopen Texas businesses. The press conference was in April.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/16/texas-shutdown-greg-abbott/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
Texas not Ready for November Election
In some counties, previously advertised polling places were shuttered at the last minute for lack of workers, some fearing the pandemic or reluctant to risk exposure to voters who were not required to wear masks.
Runoff elections show Texas not quite ready for November's main event
"Runoff elections show Texas not quite ready for November's main event" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
As dress rehearsals go, Tuesday's Texas primary runoff elections weren't bad, but for some voters and poll workers, they revealed problems that need to be fixed before November's big show.
With much lower turnout than primary or general elections, the first in-person election day during the coronavirus pandemic saw voters reporting heavily sanitized polling places, an ample supply of gloves, finger cots or pencils to mark up their ballots, and socially distanced lines. With a tiny ballot in many places, some were in and out of polling places in minutes.
But some Texans who sought to vote by mail — and submitted their applications on time — indicated they never received their ballots. Some opted instead to vote in person. Others went uncounted. It’s unknown how many were affected.
Other voters sent in their mail-in ballots only to have them returned unopened. Some of those reached county elections offices after a second attempt, while others still appeared lost on election night. It’s also unknown how many were affected.
In some counties, previously advertised polling places were shuttered at the last minute for lack of workers, some fearing the pandemic or reluctant to risk exposure to voters who were not required to wear masks. Others walked off the job Tuesday morning after discovering some of their fellow poll workers wouldn’t be donning masks.
And throughout the night, the Texas secretary of state's portal for reporting election night returns was either broken or incorrect, first displaying garbled numbers in various races on the ballot and later showing discrepancies with county reports.
“I would say a number of the problems we saw in this election are red flags that, left unaddressed, could result in massive problems in November,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, in a statement.
On the eve of the election, Bexar County saw examples of the staffing issues local officials could face in November when counties are expected to run a higher number of voting sites. Late Monday night, the county announced it would not run three planned polling places on election day. Along with closures announced last week, that meant the county cut 12 of the 226 voting sites it had planned.
“Today, we had three teams decline to serve, because of the COVID-19 virus,” said elections administrator Jacque Callanen. “Please keep in mind that the average judge’s age is 72, so we certainly understand their concerns.”
By Tuesday morning, mask politics reached into election administration in Collin County, where at least two Democratic poll workers said they abandoned their duties after realizing some of the Republican poll workers at their sites didn’t intend to wear masks.
Longtime poll worker Allison St. Claire agreed to work the election as a “foot soldier” working to help keep elections safe and fair even though her kids “weren’t wild about” the idea because she’s considered high risk for complications that come with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
“I assured them we’d have PPE on and we’d be fine,” St. Claire said. “I’d been there a little less than four hours, and I just decided, you know, this is not worth the risk if they’re not going to mask up.”
At her assigned polling place inside a high school, Cynthia Riley’s shift lasted about 45 minutes after she decided she was unwilling to sit for 14 hours next to poll workers who weren’t wearing masks.
“I guess I just missed the memo that I needed to be concerned about other election workers,” Riley said. “I did understand we couldn't require the voters to wear a mask. … I didn’t realize I needed to be concerned about the people sitting on the other side of the plexiglass next to me."
For some first-time and regular mail-in voters, election day went by without their votes being counted.
Multiple voters continued to report they had not received the ballots they requested in a timely manner. Travis County realized that thousands of its voters had incorrectly filled out their applications and missed checking off the runoff election or indicating a party on the form they submitted — an issue that came to light because some voters who didn’t receive runoff ballots did get ballots for a special election to select their state senator. But it’s unclear how many voters in other counties were similarly tripped up by the form.
In Burnet County, Jennifer Hess and her mother — both considered high risk — applied for and received mail-in ballots, but the 59-year-old artist said she miscalculated when those ballots could be dropped in the mail based on her experience voting in Washington state, where she said she posted her ballot on election day.
In Texas, those postmarked votes are only counted if they’re received by 5 p.m. the day after the election. Voters who don’t get their absentee ballots in the mail on time can still drop them off in person, but they can only drop off their own ballot and have to show photo ID to do so.
“I don't think the USPS has ever been able to deliver mail that fast,” Hess wrote to The Texas Tribune. “And, the voting law prevents me from being able to deliver my mom's ballot for her, (which is sealed inside two envelopes). Our vote was not heard.”
In Dallas County, Michael Vendrell, a teleradiologist who works from home, faced a maddening situation getting his ballot to count. An experienced absentee voter, he left his absentee ballot for pickup at the end of June only to find it back in his mailbox days later — unopened and with a printed return label to himself that had been seemingly tacked on by the post office.
It was a conundrum the Dallas chapter of the League of Women Voters had heard from various other voters.
Vendrell scratched off the label, dropped it back in the mail and didn’t get it back. But his name never appeared on the county’s roster of voters who had cast early ballots by mail. When he called the elections office, a county worker indicated they were still receiving mail-in ballots and would call him when his ballot came in. But two weeks after it was picked up by a postal carrier, it had not shown up at the county elections office.
“The fact that I didn't have one vote ... get counted is not my issue,” Vendrell said. “My issue is we have a broken system.”
Among those voters almost left out of the election was Carmen Radley, a 38-year-old writer in Austin.
Radley first attempted to vote at an elementary school around midday on the last day of early voting but was met with what she described as a “COVID tunnel” — a line of an estimated 100 people wrapped around a school hallway on both sides.
“I was disoriented. I got in there and saw the line and thought about waiting and just decided this wasn’t ethical — to risk exposing myself and bring that to a hospital,” Radley said.
Her options were limited. Scheduled to have surgery the morning after the election, Radley was supposed to be self-isolating at home. On Tuesday afternoon, an Instagram post on curbside voting caught her attention, but she wasn’t sure how that worked.
After speaking with a reporter, Radley reached out to the Travis County clerk’s office about voting from her car. The process required an initial call to the clerk, a second call once she got to a polling location and a third call by the clerk to alert poll workers there about a curbside voter.
“Not sure how this is current process would be feasible for general election crowd,” Radley wrote in a text after casting her ballot. “Just so many hoops to jump through.”
Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state's office and the League of Women Voters have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/15/texas-primary-runoff-elections-november/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
Texas’ Primary Runoff Elections
Texans will be voting in the middle of a pandemic on Tuesday in a runoff election originally scheduled for May. Here’s what to watch for when the results come in.
6 things to watch in Texas’ primary runoff election
BY ALEX SAMUELS JULY 13, 2020 UPDATED: JULY 14, 2020
1. A race to face off against John Cornyn
Whoever wins the U.S. Senate Democratic primary runoff — a race between Air Force veteran MJ Hegar and and Dallas state Sen. Royce West — will face an uphill battle against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who will have a huge financial advantage in a traditionally red state. As tightening polls at the top of the state ticket have given some Texas Democrats hope for November, the race between Hegar and West has become contentious. With Hegar leading in the polls, West has amped up his questioning of Hegar’s party credentials and harnessed the energy over police misconduct to energize his campaign.
If Super Tuesday is any indication, West will perform well in his hometown of Dallas, so the question is whether Hegar can overcome that advantage in other parts of the state. Working in her favor are outside groups like EMILY’s List and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee— plus Hegar’s own campaign — that put up a combined $2 million to mount a massive television ad campaign on her behalf. The spending differential between the two campaigns is approximately $85 to $1.
2. If a Republican wins Tuesday, is that a win in November?
In two GOP congressional runoffs, the winners will be clear favorites to become their districts’ next members of congress. In District 17, which includes Waco, Bryan-College Station and rural parts of east central Texas, former U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions is seeking a return to Washington. He represented Dallas in the U.S. House until losing his seat in 2018 to Democrat Colin Allred. Now he has moved 100 miles south and faces local businesswoman Renee Swann, who has the support of retiring U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan.
In the Texas Panhandle, two outspoken conservatives will vie for the nomination in one of the state’s reddest U.S. House districts. One of the candidates, Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor, has the backing of President Donald Trump. He’ll square off against Josh Winegarner, a veteran agriculture expert and lobbyist. Trump had a near-perfect endorsement record in Texas on Super Tuesday. In several primaries, his nod either helped land a candidate above the runoff threshold — as in Jackson’s case — or cement the candidate’s name on the November ballot. (With Trump’s poll numbers suffering, however, it’s unclear if his endorsement will carry the shock and awe it did several months ago.) Another notable race for a safe GOP seat is the runoff for state House District 60, where Jon Francis, son-in-law of Farris and JoAnn Wilks, will face off against the Gov. Greg Abbott-backed Glenn Rogers. The Wilkses — brothers Farris and Dan and their extensive families — have doled out millions supporting candidates and causes that reflect their hardline political ideology anchored in faith, freedom and guns. In turn, Francis, who works at Wilks Development, a real estate development and investment company, has received the backing of hardline conservative leaders and groups, including Empower Texans and outgoing state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford.
3. Swing congressional seats
But in four other prominent congressional races, the parties are picking their candidates in what are expected to be competitive seats this fall. In another race that has gained Trump's attention, the president has tried to tip the scales in favor of Tony Gonzales in the 23rd Congressional District, a perennial swing seat represented by outgoing U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes. Gonzales will face the U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz-backed Raul Reyes for a chance to take on Gina Ortiz Jones, the Democratic nominee.
In Austin, Mike Siegel hopes to overtake Democratic rival Pritesh Gandhi for a chance to take on U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, later this year. Siegel won the Democratic nomination in 2018 and came within 5 percentage points of besting McCaul in a seat that has long been in Republicans’ grip. Another likely competitive race this November has quickly transformed into an expensive one: Kathaleen Wall, a prominent GOP activist-donor, has spent more than $8 million, most from her own pocket, for the nomination in the 22nd Congressional District near Houston. Wall is up against Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls, who won the most votes on Super Tuesday. The winner will face Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni in November in a race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land.
Farther north, March Democratic primary frontrunner Kim Olson faces rising momentum from former local school board member Candace Valenzuela in a bid to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell. The winner of the primary will face Republican Beth Van Duyne in the fall.
4. The wild card: Robert Morrow
For Republicans in Texas, Robert Morrow advancing to the GOP primary runoff for a seat on the State Board of Education was nothing short of frightening. Morrow is perhaps best known for wearing a jester’s hat and holding incendiary signs outside political events around Austin. He also has a history of making racist, sexist and profane statements. On the day before the runoff, his account was restricted on Twitter. Still, he finished first in the three-way primary on Super Tuesday to fill the seat of retiring member Ken Mercer. All Republicans on the board quickly teamed up to rally around his opponent, Lani Popp.
Republicans were puzzled and dismayed that Morrow, who doesn’t have much in terms of a formal campaign, endorsements or money, advanced as far as he did. Even Morrow himself has admitted that he thought his chances of winning the runoff were slim. But if he wins, Morrow, a self-described performance artist who was ousted after a brief stint as chair of the Travis County Republican Party, could have a voice on adopting school textbooks and determining the curriculum for millions of Texas children. Backing Popp, a Northside ISD speech language pathologist, are Abbott and the Travis County GOP, which issued an anti-endorsement of Morrow in January. The winner in the GOP runoff Tuesday will face Texas State University English professor Rebecca Bell-Metereau, a Democrat, in November’s general election.
5. Progressive Democrats challenge more moderate foes
Texas progressives are determined to have a political comeback after a good chunk of their candidates lost their primary races in March. In New York, voters were primed to welcome a new, diverse set of candidates after nearly a month of protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. In Texas, at least three progressive challengers have mounted aggressive campaigns against two moderate Democrats in the northern part of the state.
Siegel’s Austin congressional bid has received the endorsements of national progressive leaders like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. At the local level, José Garza, who has been endorsed by Julián Castro, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sanders, is challenging Travis County DA Margaret Moore in a nationally watched race. And state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, who has been in the Texas Senate for nearly three decades, faces a stiff challenge from Sara Stapleton-Barrera. Lucio, who has long bucked his party on votes concerning abortion, has enjoyed the support of Republican megadonors and has been aggressively campaigning on his Senate seniority over the past few weeks.
6. What will the election’s impact be on health in Texas?
Prominent state Democrats and civil rights activists have repeatedly called on the courts to expand voting by mail to all Texans because of health concerns. All of their attempts have failed. When he issued a statewide mask mandate, Abbott excluded churches and people voting in the primary runoff elections. That means it will be up to people heading inside crowded polling places to decide whether to wear a mask.
Previously, the Texas secretary of state issued “minimum recommended health protocols” for elections, including a suggestion that voters bring their own hand sanitizer to the polls and that they “may want to consider” voting curbside if they have symptoms of the new coronavirus. The guidelines come as Texans headed to the polls at high rates for the historically low-turnout runoffs. Through July 8, nearly 800,000 Texans had voted early — either in person or by mail; more than 482,000 people have voted in the Democratic Party runoffs, while more than 316,500 have participated in Republican runoff contests.
Still, in close races in Texas, the results may not be immediately known. Because of the number of voters casting mail-in ballots, the final results might not be tabulated for days. And in close race, it may not be clear who won by late Tuesday night or even Wednesday morning.
Disclosure: Texas State University and the Texas secretary of state have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism.
6 things to watch in Texas’ primary runoff election was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
TWC Won't Collect Overpaid Unemployment Benefits
A Texas Workforce Commission spokesperson said he was previously unaware that a judicial order bars the state from recovering funds when the overpayment is the agency's fault.
Texas reverses course, says it won't collect overpaid unemployment benefits in instances when it was the state's mistake
"Texas reverses course, says it won't collect overpaid unemployment benefits in instances when it was the state's mistake" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Workers who lost their jobs and received overpayments from the Texas Workforce Commission won’t have to pay back those unemployment benefits if it was the state’s mistake, commission officials now say.
That's different from the agency's previous insistence, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, that the 46,000 Texans who received overpayments in recent months would have to pay the state back — even if they were not to blame.
“Texas is prevented by court order from collecting overpayments caused solely by the commission's error,” spokesperson Cisco Gamez said Wednesday during a media update posted on Facebook. That court order, which Gamez said he was previously unaware of, dates to 1978.
"I have to apologize for giving you information that was not more clear," Gamez wrote in an email to The Texas Tribune on Thursday.
The agency is seeking $32 million in unemployment benefits back. The commission is unsure how many people were overpaid because of a TWC error but says it’s very rare. Last year, according to a U.S. Department of Labor audit, TWC was responsible for 0.4% of incorrect payments.
“Anecdotally, there are roughly eight to 10 of these types of errors identified each year,” Gamez said Monday.
In most cases, overpayments occur because applicants report incorrect information or are not eligible, according to the agency.
Claimants who have received notices about overpayments can appeal the process, but TWC can take legal action if it doesn’t recover the money. If TWC finds unemployment fraud in a case, the person has to give back the benefits and pay a 15% penalty.
“There is no statute of limitations on debts owed to the state,” Gamez wrote in a previous email. “TWC cannot forgive or dismiss the overpayment and there is no exception for hardship.”
After two months of decline, unemployment claims have started to increase in Texas again. More than 117,244 people applied for unemployment claims last week, an increase of 21.4% compared with the week before. It was the second week in a row that the number of claims rose. Since mid-March, nearly 2.8 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in Texas.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/09/texas-unemployment-overpayment/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
Texans Filing Unemployment Claims Increased
In Texas, more than 117,244 people applied for unemployment claims last week, an increase of 21.4% compared to the week before.
Number of Texans filing unemployment claims increased for second week in a row as 117,244 sought benefits
"Number of Texans filing unemployment claims increased for second week in a row as 117,244 sought benefits" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
As Texas experiences a surge of coronavirus infections, more than 117,244 people applied for unemployment claims last week, an increase of 21.4% compared to the week before. It was the second week in a row that the number of claims rose.
Since mid-March, nearly 2.8 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in Texas. The peak of unemployment claims came in early April, when more than 315,000 Texans applied for the benefit in a single week. During June, as businesses reopened, the demand for unemployment benefits decreased, but it was still more than five times larger than the number of applications than during the same month last year.
"The numbers are much lower than in March, but they are rather alarming and they coincide with the increase of coronavirus cases," said Sarah Zubairy, associate professor of economics at Texas A&M University. "Even if you open the restaurants, bars and gyms, this virus will be on the loose and it will affect how people are deciding to engage with the economy."
The overall unemployment rate for June is scheduled to be published next week. Texas’ unemployment rate hit an all-time high of 13.5% in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May, the unemployment rate slightly fell to 13%. But the forecast for the coming months remains unclear.
"Governments are responding, so hopefully we will see improvements, but because of the coronavirus expansion, things are still very uncertain," Zubairy said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s worst-ever monthly unemployment rate was 9.2% in November 1986, as Texas reeled from the last big oil bust. Later, during the Great Recession, the unemployment rate in the state never surpassed 8.3%.
The state’s unemployment rate is the share of Texans in the labor force who are out of work. The unemployment rate is different than the raw number of people filing for unemployment insurance because some of those filers are still employed but have been furloughed or had their hours cut.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/09/texas-unemployment-claims-coronavirus/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
International students at Texas universities can’t return without in-person classes
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 visa holders in the United States under the Student Exchange Visitor Program will not be allowed to enter or stay in the country if they are attending American schools that will offer only online classes this fall.
“It’s insane that this is not even up to me”: International students at Texas universities can’t return without in-person classes
"“It’s insane that this is not even up to me”: International students at Texas universities can’t return without in-person classes" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
When University of Texas at Austin senior Stephanie Flores-Reyes checked her fall course schedule earlier this week, she was shocked to see all five of her classes were slated to only be online. But as an international student from Mexico who spends the school year here on an F-1 student visa, it could suddenly be problematic for Flores-Reyes to be enrolled only in classes that meet online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 visa holders in the United States under the Student Exchange Visitor Program will not be allowed to enter or stay in the country if they are attending American schools that will offer only online classes this fall. Instead, they must either transfer to a school with in-person instruction or “potentially face immigration consequences," according to a release.
For students attending schools with hybrid plans, the category most Texas universities will fall under as they forge ahead with a mixture of in-person and online classes this fall, colleges must certify to ICE that the students are enrolled in the minimum number of classes required to progress through their degree plans at a normal speed — and that they are "not taking an entirely online course load" this fall.
Flores-Reyes chose her courses carefully in order to graduate on time next May. She doesn’t want to budge from her schedule, which could potentially delay her degree progress, but having all online classes means she can’t return to the U.S.
"It's insane that this is not even up to me," Flores-Reyes said. "I can't make those decisions. If I'd known, obviously I would have chosen in-person classes."
On Wednesday, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, seeking a temporary restraining order against the policy. Harvard announced its move to full online instruction for the 2020-21 academic year earlier this month. No Texas university has yet said it has similar intentions.
ICE's new guidance drew heavy criticism from education groups.
"We urge the administration to rethink its position and offer international students and institutions the flexibility needed to put a new normal into effect and take into account the health and safety of our students in the upcoming academic year," the American Council on Education said in a statement.
The move also has some higher education experts worried about what will happen if more classes get pushed online, even if a school is designated to be hybrid.
“The online-only rule is a good one, if it allows international students to enroll, take classes and not have to come to campus,” said Michael Olivas, the former director of the University of Houston’s Institute for Higher Education Law. “But ... there’s a tidal wave of online classes coming our way, to hybrid schools. And if the international students that are here have to return to their home country midway, that’s going to be bad.”
Olivas said the hope is that if universities transition to online-only classes midway through the semester, ICE will be flexible and implement special-circumstance rules similar to those that helped the same group of students when the pandemic swept the country earlier this year.
But Student Exchange Visitor Program documents indicate that may not be the case.
“If a school changes its operational stance mid-semester, and as a result a nonimmigrant student switches to only online classes, or a nonimmigrant student changes their course selections, and as a result, ends up taking an entirely online course load, schools are reminded that nonimmigrant students ... are not permitted to take a full course of study through online classes,” the new guidance reads. “If nonimmigrant students find themselves in this situation, they must leave the country or take alternative steps ... such as transfer to a school with in-person instruction.”
ICE's decision could potentially alter fall plans for thousands of international students in the state. At UT-Austin alone, there are more than 5,000 international students, according to the school’s international office. Spokesperson Fiona Mazurenko said in an email that staff members are working to respond to and support students with the limited information they have received, but declined to comment on how situations like Flores-Reyes' would be handled.
"We continue to advise all F-1 students to enroll in classes designated as in-person or web-enhanced," Mazurenko said in the email.
The University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at El Paso also said they would work with each international student to make sure that their course schedule meets federal requirements for F-1 visas. Texas A&M University said it was monitoring the situation and would update students as more information became available.
On Wednesday, University of Houston President Renu Khator said in a tweet that the university would work with international students to support their education.
"As a university with global footprint, we deeply value what international students bring to our classrooms, research labs and to the campus in general," she said.
Some Texas faculty members are considering taking matters into their own hands. David Arditi, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, said he would do an independent study course for international students so that they could have the requisite in-person instruction required to stay in the country.
Arditi said he would not be compensated for the independent study course. He views this as a necessary way to protect international students – an "already vulnerable" group.
"In normal circumstances, I'm protective of my time," Arditi said. "But this is a horribly repressive system. ... We have to step up and find alternatives."
Flores-Reyes would prefer to return to Austin, where she rents an apartment still stuffed with her belongings. She hasn’t been able to cross the border to retrieve anything since she fled in March to Nuevo Laredo.
Now she is looking to speak with her international adviser to plan her next steps, all while dealing with an unfamiliar set of constraints.
"I had no idea this was going to happen," Reyes-Flores said. "Now is not the time to be enforcing these rules."
Disclosure: Texas A&M University, the University of Houston, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at El Paso have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/08/texas-international-students-college-classes/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.