CHAPTER 1



Chapter 9

Study Guide To Go

Learning Objectives

1. Illustrate what is important in public policy by ranking budget shares for major areas of state spending

2. Explain the sunset process by which state agencies are reviewed periodically.

3. Explain the state bureaucracy’s influence on public policy.

4. Comment on: the size of the Texas bureaucracy; the competence, pay, and retention of state employees; and the employment of women and minorities.

5. Describe the responsibilities of the State Board of Education (SBOE) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

6. Discuss current problems and programs in public education, from kindergarten through high school.

7. Describe Texas’s system of higher education—public community and junior colleges, state universities, and state technical colleges—and discuss important issues relating to organization, direction, and funding of the system’s institutions.

8. Give arguments for and against use of the “10 Percent Rule” to promote diversity in Texas’s public colleges and universities.

9. Describe the organization and function of state agencies providing social services, and comment on the need for government intervention to provide needy Texans with temporary financial assistance, health and mental health services, and help in finding employment.

10. Explain the implementation of economic policies by state agencies in the areas of business regulation and promotion.

11. Identify Texas’s important environmental issues and describe the work of state agencies that are responsible for dealing with environmental problems.

12. Discuss the importance of promoting homeland security.

13. Discuss problems involved in privatizing the delivery of state social services in Texas.

14. Explain why the Dallas region’s reservoir plans are opposed by East Texas residents.

Public Policy and Administration

I. Role of State Agencies

II. State Employees

A. Bureaucracy and Public Policy

B. Number

C. Competence, Pay, and Retention

III. Education

A. Public Schools

1. State Board of Education

2. Texas Education Agency

3. Charter Schools

4. Testing

B. Colleges and Universities

1. Boards of Regents

2. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

3. Higher Education Issues

IV. Health and Human Services

A. Human Services

B. Health and Mental Health Services

C. Employment

V. Economic Policies

A. Business Regulation

1. Oil and Gas

2. Public Utilities

3. Insurance

B. Business Promotion

1. Highways

2. Tourism and Trade

3. Certification of Trades and Professions

VI. Environmental Issues

A. Air and Water

B. Hazardous Waste

VII. Homeland Security

Overview of the Text (pp. 343-371)

This chapter focuses on Texas’s public employees, the nature of state agencies, and the implementation of policy in four major areas: education, health and human services, business and economic development, and environmental issues.

Role of State Agencies (pp. 344-345). More than 200 state boards, commissions, and departments implement state laws and programs in Texas. Some were created by the state constitution, while others were established by acts of the legislature. According to the sunset review process, each agency is studied every 12 years and then abolished, merged, reorganized, or retained.

State Employees (pp. 346-350). In 2003, Texas had the full-time equivalent of 266,000 state employees. In other words, there were 120 full-time employees for every 10,000 Texans. The state does not have a merit system for its personnel. It does have a highly centralized compensation and classification system, but each agency determines its own personnel policies for hiring, promoting, and firing. The turnover rate is high (15 percent in fiscal year 2004), due in large part to relatively low pay. Women constitute more than half of state employees.

Education (pp. 350-357). Headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has headquarters in Austin. Teachers, administrators, and other employees in Texas’s more than 1,000 independent school districts staff public schools for young Texans at all levels from kindergarten through high school. TEA is headed by the commissioner of education, who is appointed by the governor with Senate approval. Overseeing TEA is the State Board of Education (SBOE), which is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts. Controversies over the SBOE’s role in rejecting textbooks and placing textbooks on “conforming” or “nonconforming” lists attract public attention from time to time. In addition to curriculum approval for each subject and grade, the SBOE approves State Board for Educator Certification rules and manages the Permanent School Fund.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board provides some semblance of direction for the efficient and economical operation of the Lone Star State’s public community colleges, state universities, and state technical colleges. This board is composed of nine members who are appointed by the governor for six-year terms and approved by the Senate. Most of Texas’s public universities function as components of six multi-campus university systems that are governed by boards of regents appointed by the governor. Technical colleges are parts of the Texas State Technical College System. There are 50 community or junior college districts.

Health and Human Services (pp. 357-363). Millions of Texans benefit from social services administered under the direction of the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission and four commissioners. Each commissioner heads one of four departments: State Health Services, Family and Protective Services, Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, and Aging and Disability Services. Appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate, the executive commissioner appoints the four commissioners with the consent of the governor. Services include financial assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; medical treatment for people falling below the poverty level through Medicaid; food stamps for the elderly, the disabled, and poor families; and mental health facilities to treat mentally ill and mentally retarded people. Job training for unemployed workers is supervised by he Texas Workforce Commission.

Economic Policies (pp. 363-365). The popularly elected three-member Railroad Commission is one of the most highly publicized regulatory agencies. Despite its name, the major function of this commission involves regulation of oil and natural gas production. Another important regulatory agency is the Public Utility Commission. It has jurisdiction over rates and services involving telephone companies, electric utilities in unincorporated areas, and radio-telephone service statewide. The Office of Public Utility Counsel represents consumers in rate cases. Regulation of Texas’s insurance industry has been placed in the hands of the commissioner of insurance, who is appointed for a two-year term by the governor with the consent of the Senate. Deregulation of the insurance industry and the electric power industry means that competition plays a more important role in meeting the needs of consumers.

Business promotion by the state includes highway construction and maintenance. Headed by a three-member commission appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate, the Department of Transportation is responsible for the condition of almost 80,000 miles of Texas highways. More than 19 million motor vehicles are registered in Texas, and highway accidents result in an annual death toll of more than 3,500.

Maintaining a state parks system and conserving wildlife are responsibilities of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. Its nine members are appointed by the governor. Both parks (with recreational facilities) and wildlife (fish, birds, and animals) stimulate tourism, which is the state’s third largest industry. Although these parks attract 10 million visitors each year, state spending on parks is very low as compared with spending by other states.

People working in more than 40 trades and professions (for example, accounting and nursing) are licensed by various state agencies, thus certifying their proficiency and protecting the public. Each licensing board has at least one “public” member who is not employed in the regulated occupation.

Environmental Issues (pp. 368-370). The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) coordinates the state’s environmental policies. Appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate, the three full-time commissioners serve for six-year terms. Although TCEQ has jurisdiction over water pollution, the six-member Texas Water Development Board is responsible for water conservation strategies designed to maximize protection of this critical natural resource. Hazardous waste materials of different kinds (for example, high-level radioactive and nonradioactive) constitute critical environmental and health problems that require government action.

Homeland Security (p. 370). Terrorist hijackings of four passenger planes on 11 September 2001 resulted in more attention to preparation for preventing or coping with terrorism. The Governor’s Office is involved in disaster preparedness, and a counterterrorism intelligence unit operates within the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Department of Agriculture have compiled information on bioterrorism that could target human and animal life in the state.

Looking Ahead (p. 371). Five trends in state administration seem likely to continue: decreasing resources for state agencies, accountability for efficient and economical performance in delivering public services, devolution of federal programs to the states, legislation increasing the governor’s control over Texas agencies, and judicial actions to ensure that state policies comply with U.S. and Texas law.

Overview of the Selected Readings

“Privatizing Services Stumbling” by Robert T. Garrett (pp. 378-379)

In 2006, Texas was undergoing a sweeping privatization of its social services. Unfortunately, this effort has been plagued with problems. Complaints involve unacceptable delays in communicating with privately run call centers, children wrongfully rejected for health insurance, and new paperwork for head nurses in state hospitals and schools for the mentally impaired. Further, the state has had to spend more on some programs and to cancel 1,000 layoffs. Supporters of privatization argue that these initial problems are temporary and soon will be resolved. Opponents criticize the state for poor planning and undue haste, but conservative commentators insist that privatization is here to stay.

“Dallas Region’s Reservoir Plans Irk East Texas” by Thomas Korosec (379-381)

Proposals for the Marvin Nichols reservoir on the Sulphur River and Lake Fasrill on the Neches River are pitting Dallas-Fort Worth area water users against East Texas landowners, environmentalists, and timber producers. The Region C Water Planning Group, which is asking for the new reservoirs as part of a fifty-year regional water plan, notes that these facilities would supply only 18 percent of the region’s water needs. But together with water conservation and reuse, along with existing water supplies, these reservoirs should prevent the area from running dry, as Dallas almost did during the record drought of the 1950s. Further, Planning Group members observe that other places for reservoirs are not available. Opponents argue that the water projects will cost jobs in the lumber industry and destroy wildlife habitat.

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