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2014 TASKFORCE RECOMMENDATIONS TO
MALC AND SHC
Goals and Objectives
Familiarize local advocates with taskforce proposals
Develop sense of priorities within each issue area
Bring stories to light that may serve as strong
testimony or talking points for legislation
Gauge support for taskforce proposals
EDUCATION
State of Latina/o Education
• 52% of all public school students in Texas
• Latina/os comprise 90% of all ELL students in Texas
• Nearly 1 out of every 10 Latina/o students qualify for special education services
• 78% of all Latina/o public education students are low-income
• Of those Latina/os who took the SAT in 2012, only 59% passed
Task Force Positions
• School Finance• Teacher Quality• Access to Curriculum• Parent & Community Engagement• School & District Accountability• High-stakes Testing & Student Assessment• Preserving Public Education• Access to Higher Education• Funding, Capacity & Expansion of Higher Education• College & University Campus Climate• Student Retention & Completion in Higher Education
School Finance• All children should have an equal right to resources like quality academic
instruction, extracurricular activities, and technology so they can succeed academically and serve as productive members of society.
• Public schools should have adequate and actual cost-based funding to provide transportation so as not to hinder participation by economically disadvantaged students in summer school, extended day programs, after-school tutoring, etc.
• Students in property-wealthy districts should not continue to access substantially greater resources at lower tax effort than students in property-poor districts.
• In using dollars from the expected state surplus, the Legislature must prioritize investment in public school funding, rather than make education-related appropriations on a “funds-left-over” basis.
• Texas must stop privatization experiment efforts such as corporate charter schools, Home Rule charter districts, vouchers, and full-time virtual schooling that divert public education funds from publicly accountable, neighborhood public schools.
Teacher Quality• Teaching quality means that teachers are prepared, supported and trusted to assess
student performance in their classrooms.
• Quality instruction for Latina/o and emergent bilingual students begins with supervised programs based on proven instructional methodologies.
• All Texas students should have access to culturally and linguistically competent teachers and administrators.
• Quality teaching for Latina/o students is more than mere cultural recognition; it involves pedagogy, or the ability to connect content objectives to the “funds of knowledge” and experiences of multicultural students to enhance learning.
• Quality teaching necessitates less focus on "teaching to a test.”
• Teacher preparation programs need to be revised so that they are interdisciplinary and engage teacher candidates with the cultural and linguistic resources to meet the needs of multicultural communities.
• There must be an equitable distribution of high-quality teaching across and within schools. The state should create reassignment incentives and provide additional professional support to help with that distribution.
Access to Curriculum• Texas public schools should provide all students with access to college-ready
curriculum.
• The State must direct TEA and THECB to work together to ensure alignment between high school graduation requirements and college admissions requirements.
• Trade and technical programs within the K-12 context should be optional and viewed as supplemental in nature, not as a replacement for curriculum that provides all students a fair opportunity to attend college.
• The state should increase equity in the availability of high-school endorsement and dual-credit course options across public high schools.
• All students should be exposed to curriculum and texts that acknowledge the contributions of historically underrepresented communities.
Parent & Community Engagement• Students, parents and communities need to have more input on how education
they receive impacts them and reverse their limited involvement in school and district infrastructures.
• The diversity of actors—i.e., teachers, administrators, boards and committee members— in Texas' educational system should better reflect the demographics of the state.
• For many Latina/o parents, the structure of the traditional Parent Teacher Associations is not always sufficient to meaningful engage parents who have been previously excluded or underserved by that model.
School & District Accountability• The State must increase equity in the availability of high-school endorsement
and dual-credit course options across public high schools.
• The State must monitor the quality of applied and locally-developed courses to ensure students' eligibility to Texas and out-of-state colleges and universities.
• The State must lead with an accountability system that places a greater focus on the resources and the “holding power” of schools (IDRA, Quality Schools Action Framework).
High-stakes Testing & Student Assessment• High-stakes testing obstructs students’ access to quality learning time and
diverts precious dollars and resources (e.g., teacher and staff time) to testing companies.
• The misuses of state-mandated testing are both unethical and unsupported by research, and disproportionately impact poor, minority, and ELL students, as well as those students receiving special education services.
• Focusing on student test performance does not lead to a deeper understanding of the curriculum.
• In a student assessment system that moves away from a sole reliance on high-stakes testing, high school graduation standards would consist of the following requirements for receiving a Texas high school diploma:– Course grades and overall GPA;– Student evaluations by teachers;– Student portfolios;– School attendance; and– Students’ contributions to their school and community.
Preserving Public Education• Corporate charter schools should be subject to the same accountability
standards as traditional public schools.
• The State should revisit its Home Rule policies that allow school boards to convert an entire district to a charter school format, thereby exempting them from state provisions such as teacher contract requirements and student discipline regulations.
• Full-time virtual schools, which generally have high teacher-student ratios, result in poor student performance.
Access to Higher Education• College should be a realistic option for all Texans, regardless of race, geography or socio-
economic background.
• Protecting access to Texas public universities requires institutions to consider race as a limited factor in admission decisions and to preserve the TTPP.
• College affordability problems are not solved by cut-rate schemes such as “$10,000 diploma challenges” that raise quality and marketplace credibility concerns for students and whose costs may outweigh its benefits for institutions of higher education themselves.
• Tuition deregulation has erected barriers to access to higher education for Latinas/os.
• All qualified students must have an equal opportunity to attend Texas’ flagship universities.
• The State must ensure that institutions of higher education adjust their entrance requirements to better align with the new high school graduation plans and coursework.
• Dual credit programs between high schools and colleges are vital and contribute significantly to student success in college.
Funding, Capacity & Expansion of Higher Education• More funding is needed for two- and four-year public college and university
programs focused on student retention.
• Texas must address the lack of doctoral programs and law and medical schools in border cities.
• The State should expand the funding and resource capacity of Hispanic Serving Institutions.
• Funding support for Mexican American Studies Centers, Programs, and Departments must be a priority.
College & University Campus Climate• College and university governing bodies, administrators, staff, and tenure-track
professor positions should better reflect the current demographics of the state.
• The Legislature should take a more proactive role in improving student diversity, particularly in predominantly Anglo, four-year institutions of higher education.
• Texas should demand greater transparency and improved enforcement of college and university campus assaults and discrimination policies.
Student Retention &Completion in Higher Education• Financial incentives and loan forgiveness options should be available for students
who obtain bilingual- and ESL-certified teaching degrees and pledge to work in schools with acute shortages.
• The growing use of standardized testing to filter students out of certain degree programs is problematic for Latina/o college students.
• Academic and social supports for Latina/o students must be priorities, particularly at predominately White institutions.
• Higher education institutions must leverage any and all state and federal funding (e.g., TRIO) and work-study opportunities.
¡Gracias!
For more information please contact:
Patricia D. López, Ph.D., Task Force [email protected](512) 565-1722
Celina Moreno, Task Force [email protected](617) 388-3551
Resources
• Full Education Recommendation and Backgroundhttp://issuu.com/txlatinoedpolicy/docs/shc_malc_edu_task_force_agenda_fina/0
• Additional reading material text herewww.idra.org
Healthcare
Data may not total 100% due to rounding.
SOURCE: KCMU/ Urban Institute analysis of 2012 ASEC Supplement to the CPS.
Hispanics have particularly high uninsured rates.
Insurance Coverage of Hispanics in the United States and Texas, 2011:
NOTE: Totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
SOURCE: KCMU/Urban Institute analysis of 2011 American Community Survey
Hispanics in Texas have particularly high stakes in the Medicaid expansion decision.
Nonelderly Uninsured <138% FPL by Race/Ethnicity
Total = 3.1 Million Total = 25.4 Million
United States Texas
NOTE: Totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
SOURCE: KCMU/Urban Institute analysis of 2011 American Community Survey
The Texas Medicaid expansion decision has important impacts for the overall uninsured and Hispanics nationally.
Other States49%
CA15%
TX12%
FL9%
GA5%NY
4%IL4%
NC4%
Total : 25.4 Million
Other States43%
CA26%
TX22%
FL9%
Total: 8.9 Million
Distribution of Total Uninsured <138% FPL Distribution of Uninsured Hispanics ≤138% FPL
Medicaid expansion/Close the Coverage Gap:
• Participants acknowledged that reaching a “Texas Solution to the Coverage Gap” is both essential and politically challenging.
• Follow the example of the red states and Republican governors who have already found ways to negotiate solutions with federal Medicaid officials to make this work in their states.
– ensuring coverage is equally available statewide in Texas;
– supporting health coverage and health homes for all family members;
– offering comprehensive benefits that are at least as good as commercial and small business standards;
– including personal responsibility provisions such as:
• affordable cost-sharing (e.g., co-payments, premiums for adults above the poverty line) that is not punitive to family members with serious or chronic illness; and
• incentives for wellness behaviors that are evidence-based and not punitive to persons who are ill;
– including reasonable policies to ensure ongoing access to community safety net providers;
– and pursuing good faith negotiations (i.e., free from “poison pills”) with federal Medicaid authorities.
– Do not rule out a key role for considering the input, leadership, needs, and voices of Texas communities, local and county officials, and safety net health care providers.
• In the US between 2000 and 2008, the number of women in need of familyplanning services who were Hispanic increased by 27%, and the number whowere black increased by 11.5%, while the number who were white decreased byless than 1%.
• About three-quarters of poor women, women who are uninsured, AfricanAmerican and Latina women and those who were born outside the United Stateswho obtain care from a family planning center consider the center to be theirusual source of medical care.
• While Latinos represent 16.7 percent of the population nationwide, nearly 40percent of Texans are Latino.
• In Texas, 46% of Hispanic women are uninsured compared to 17.5% of Whitewomen.
Latinas and Access to Health Care
Guttmacher, May 2012
Latinas and Access to Health Care
Latinos face greater obstacles to obtaining, and benefiting from, sexual and reproductive health services than non-Latino white Americans. As a result, Latinos experience higher rates of reproductive cancers, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections than most other groups of people in the U.S. For example:
REPRODUCTIVE CANCERS
• Latinas are more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group — one and a half times as likely as non-Latina white women (ACS, 2012).
• Latinas have the third highest death rates from cervical cancer (ACS, 2012).
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS
• Latinos contract HIV at nearly three times the rate of non-Latino whites (CDC, 2012a).
• The rate of gonorrhea for Latinos is double that of non-Latino whites (CDC, 2012b).
• The rate of chlamydia among Latinos is more than twice as high as it is for non-Latino whites (CDC, 2012b).
Approximately 20 percent of Latinas have not visited a physician in the last year, and one-third of Latinas do not have a regular health care provider (KFF, 2011b).
Women’s Healthcare• Continue progress toward restoring and increasing access to women’s health care.
• Recommend Texas HHSC and DSHS be directed to take a leadership role in identifying and filling
gaps in access to low-income women’s health care across the state. The state’s goal should be
to ensure all populations in need have access.
• The agencies should compile information that identifies resources and gaps across the
state, including:
• Areas which have had facility closures (i.e., the 76 clinics which U.T. Researchers
report have closed to date), as well as those with reduced hours and/or reduced
services, and distinguishing those from areas where there have never been local
providers.
• Service capacity that is supported with federal and/or private funds that are not
state-appropriated resources.
• Participants agree that coordination and oversight by the state agencies is desirable, but a
simple merger of all Women’s Health and Family Planning programs is not desirable, as
it would result in loss of access to care to some populations under current state law
restrictions.
• Establish an “Opt-Out” policy to auto-enroll women who have had a Medicaid-paid birth into
the Texas Women’s Health Program after delivery.
• Women who chose not to participate could simply decline, but research has shown that
opt-out policies are effective at promoting participation.
Establish services of certified Promotoras/esas a Texas Medicaid service benefit
• Currently, services may only be funded as an administrative activity of the Medicaid Managed Care health plans, which limits their use (by limiting the extent HMOs can use their services, and drawing a lower federal Medicaid match).
• Promotoras/es could fill critical gaps for Texas families related to Texas Medicaid, such as:
– connecting new mothers with screening for postpartum depression,
– encouraging good pre-conception health care for those planning families,
– connecting families with prenatal care and parenting classes, and
– helping all Medicaid Managed Care enrollees (maternity, children, individuals with disabilities, and seniors,) and their parents, family members and caretakers, to navigate the system, learn self-advocacy skills, and overcome barriers to care.
Health & Fitness
To promote the best possible health of children, Texans Care for Children and other
advocates propose:
Limit the marketing of unhealthy foods in schools, and the availability of
unhealthy foods and beverages on school campuses
Promote community opportunities for physical activity (for all ages and family
members)
Increase access to affordable, healthy foods through school based initiatives,
community gardens and support of farmers’ markets
Support measures, like a soda tax, that reduce public health spending while
increasing public health revenue.
Children’s Medicaid and CHIP
• The Texas Legislature has not adopted legislation to correct conflicts between Texas Medicaid-CHIP laws and federal law changes under the ACA. Two factors affect Texas children can be remedied in the 2015 session:
– Ensure that Texas children can continue to qualify for segments of 6-month continuous coverage as they have since January 2002 per SB 43 of the 2001 session. Current HHSC policy would limit children to only one 6 month CE segment out of each 12-month period.
– Eliminate the current exclusion of children from Texas CHIP unless they have been uninsured for at least 3 months. Children should not have to go without coverage and parents should not face tax penalties for leaving their children without coverage for 3 months.
Medicaid Managed Care Consumer Assistance and Ombudsman
Create a network of local/regional assisters (e.g., located at AAAs and ADRCs), plus enhance capacity at HHSC Ombudsman, to really serve all Medicaid Managed Care enrollees who need assistance accessing care and navigating systems.
Raise network adequacy standards for Medicaid Managed Care (i.e., local access within a reasonable timeframe).
• Complaints from Medicaid Managed Care families in Rio Grande Valley and El Paso have included children with serious conditions including cancer having treatment disrupted because of parents receiving inaccurate information about hospital participation in Medicaid Managed Care health plans.
• Texas Medicaid Managed Care health plans have mixed track records: some preform better than others in outcomes and patient and provider satisfaction. Texas Medicaid should work aggressively to require best practices in its contracts.
• Federal Medicaid officials have indicated that Texas should look to incorporating best practices statewide in Medicaid Managed Care
Increased capacity in training, loan repayment programs, and residency placements of across the spectrum primary care and behavioral health professionals
• Invest in growing the Texas primary care workforce through increased funding for loan repayment programs.
• Research and pursue the proven and promising approaches to effectively target reducing provider shortages and encouraging providers locating practices in border and rural Texas.
Increased Outreach and Application Assistance Capacity for all Texans
Marketing, outreach, and application assistance are needed by Texans for
access to both private commercial insurance and Medicaid-CHIP. HHSC
and TDI budgets should include support for statewide networks of
culturally competent application assistance and health care navigation
across the full spectrum of public and private insurance programs.
o Holding hearings to identify and explore the unmet needs for educating and
assisting Texas consumers, as revealed in the 2014 Marketplace open
enrollment period, could provide the basis for future legislation.
o This legislative inquiry could help define the need and expanded role for TDI,
HHSC, and DSHS in supporting statewide networks of outreach and
application assistance.
Resources
A Diverse network of Texans and Texas organizations will keep working to find health care for the Texans in the “Gap Group,” to tell their stories, and to seek inclusion of Texas’ working poor in the ACA’shealth reform.
www.cppp.org
You can link to all the websites below from our CPPP website:
www.covertexasnow.org;
www.TexasLeftMeOut.org
www.texaswellandhealthy.org
Immigration
Expand Immigrants’ RightsAllow eligible undocumented immigrants to apply for a Texas driver’s license.Lawmakers should ensure that an applicant’s information will not be turned over to immigration officials, unless the applicant is under criminal investigation.
– Rationale: Increases public safety by reducing the number of unlicensed, uninsured drivers in Texas.
– Note: Survey results indicate that a driver’s license bill is the Task Force’s top priority for proactive legislation in 2015.
Prohibit peace officers from asking for the nationality or immigration status of a victim of or witness to a crime, unless it is necessary to investigate the crime or gather information in furtherance of an application for a visa designed to protect victims assisting law enforcement.
– Rationale: Keeps communities safe by changing current practices that discourage immigrant families from reporting crimes to the police.
Oppose Militarization of the Border
• Creation of an oversight mechanism to make the Texas Department of Public Safety more transparent and hold it accountable, particularly on issues related to checkpoints and border security contracts.
• Study of compliance issues around a state mandate to take DNA samples of the unidentified remains of migrants who have perished attempting to cross the border.
• Drafting of resolution(s) encouraging the passage of federal comprehensive immigration reform, the end to the Secure Communities Program, the end to immigrant detention quotas, etc.
Oppose Bills That Restrict Immigrants’ Rights• Oppose any proposed ban on so-called sanctuary cities, which would allow police
to inquire about a person’s immigration status.
• Support In-state tuition: Ensure Texas continues to grant certain immigrant students, including undocumented students, access to state financial aid and in-state tuition rates at Texas public institutions of higher education.
• Oppose E-Verify: Fight bills seeking to require Texas business or agencies to use E-Verify, a voluntary employment verification program that often incorrectly identifies authorized workers as undocumented.
• Oppose “S-Comm” Expansion: Combat efforts to expand the federal “Secure Communities” Program (for example, requiring local jails to participate in the program), which has led to the deportation of many immigrants who committed only minor infractions or had no criminal record at all.
Civic Engagement Registration
• Provide online voter registration
• Modify or drop deputization requirements
– require Election offices to provide more training.
• Provide electronic voter registration at government agencies
• Move voter registration deadline to last day of early voting or alternatively to 10 days prior to Election Day.
• Take more pro-active action to register eligible high school students including
– mandates to the Secretary of State to partner with schools
– Automatic registration process
Voting Procedures• Abolish or Reduce the burdens of the Restrictive Photo ID law
– allow for more identifications to be included including student IDs.
– Provide easier and cheaper access to underlying documents necessary for photo ID
– Allow other governmental agencies the ability to provide Photo IDs, including school districts
• Expand early voting to include two weekends and open all day on Saturdays and Sundays
• Do more to include the importance of voting in the school curriculum
• Examine the possibility of uniform Election dates for local elections
Economic Opportunities
Asset Building
Housing:
Establish a dedicated revenue source to fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Capital and Capacity-Building for Small Businesses• Fund the Texas Capital Access Program
• Access to Banking
• Redirect Business Subsidies to Small Businesseso Latino-owned businesses in Texas are overwhelmingly small
businesses.The Legislature should look to generally redirect any business subsidies so that they go to help the in-state, small businesses who are crucial to Latino employment and wealth building.
College Savings
• Amend SNAP and TANF asset limits to allow children to save for college
• Require for-profit colleges to provide students with information from the TWC Directory of Licensed Career Schools & Colleges to students prior to enrollment and expand the directory to include the average student loan burden at the end of the program and student loan default rates.
Asset ProtectionPredatory Lending:
Rein in abusive payday and auto title lending practices.
Add to protections against abusive property tax lending practices; require counties to offer affordable payment plans to homeowners as an alternative.
Protecting Investments
• Simplify probate process for low-income families, particularly related to the transfer of home ownership.
• Adopt model laws to ensure basic quality standards for for-profit tax preparers.
Modify or Repeal Driver Responsibility Program The Texas Driver Responsibility Program,, has caused the licenses of more
than 1.3 million Texas drivers to be suspended. The Program creates fees for those with moving violations that are unaffordable for working-class Texans and have been shown to have no effect on reducing DUIs or other driving offenses.
The Program is driving millions of Texas families into economic crisis and endangering their employment.
Workforce Issues• Raise the minimum wage
• Strengthen laws against wage theft;
• Improve workers compensation, especially for those most vulnerable in the construction industry;
• Increase options for affordable childcare;
• Support initiatives to reduce barriers to employment for those with criminal history;
– “Ban the Box” to Remove Unnecessary Discrimination Against Ex-Offenders
• Connect education to the needs of the workplace through apprenticeship and training
• Provide more training opportunities for persons who get laid off or who lose their jobs due to companies closing.
Questions• Please rank your top 3 recommendations/proposals
• Are there any topics you feel that are missing from the recommendations?
• Which of the proposals will impact your family and community the most?
• Please share a personal story that highlights the need to adopt one of the proposals or recommendations?
• Would you be willing to support all the proposals by making calls, testifying or submitting letters?
