Good morning!

Readers have some very definite opinions about the salaries and benefits paid out to Texas' public school superintendents.

You will find those at the conclusion of today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

UPFRONT, where we put corrections and amplifications... Yesterday's "Number of the Day" should have included the word annual in describing the $7.8 billion in remittances illegal aliens in Texas sent to Mexico in 2021. I apologize for any confusion.

Lawmaker Pushes for Government Control of Private Property

• Legislation by Republican State Rep. Justin Holland of Rockwall would facilitate a program pushed by the Biden administration to undermine private property rights and ownership. Darrell Frost has the details.
       
• Holland's legislation would put "conservation easements" on steroids in line with the Biden administration's "30x30" environmental plan. A 2021 executive order issued by President Joe Biden calls for 30 percent of the nation's land to be under government control by 2030.
     
• All for the good of the environment – of course.
      
• The immediate beneficiaries would be wealthy landowners who – while maintaining the benefits of ownership – can put the land in a conservation easement trust that radically reduces their tax burden without worrying about the land being purchased and developed in the future. The land is functionally removed from the market.
      
• According to American Stewards of Liberty, conservation easements are used by radical environmentalists and their allies as a tool to increase government control over private land. 
       
• Texas has 172 million acres of undeveloped land. Approximately 250,000 acres are developed each year, at that rate it would take nearly 700 years for Texas to run out of land.

Radical Environmentalists Push El Paso Further Left

• A “radical” environmental group is promoting a charter amendment that would leave the City of El Paso dependent on unreliable energy sources. Katy Marshall reports on the efforts of Sunrise El Paso’s charter amendment that would see the city limiting the use and availability of fossil fuels.
      

• Sunrise El Paso is a self-described “radical” activist organization and a branch of the National Sunrise Movement, which promotes far-left Green New Deal policies. The National Sunrise Movement receives funding from Democrat organizations, including political groups funded by leftist billionaire George Soros.
      
• An economic impact assessment of the proposal was commissioned by the El Paso Chamber of Commerce. It highlighted the potential risks of a “full-scale abolishment” of fossil fuel energy sources.
      
• The assessment reported that if citizens approve the proposed charter, the city will lose 170,000 jobs and $7.9 billion in profits by 2030, with the average El Paso household’s income shrinking by nearly half. The city would also be on track to lose 69 percent of its available energy by 2030 and 72 percent by 2045.
     

• Citizens in El Paso will vote on the proposal, also known as Proposition K, on May 6, with early voting starting on April 24.

Texas Judge Blocks FDA From Approving an Abortion-inducing Drug

• A federal district in Texas has halted the Food and Drug Administration from approving an abortion-inducing drug. Emily Wilkerson has the story.
     
• Mifepristone is an abortifacient drug that blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. The synthetic drug is used to halt nutrition and ultimately starve the unborn human to death. Once the baby has been starved, the FDA includes another drug, misoprostol, to induce cramping and contractions to rid the unborn human from the mother’s womb.
     

• Judge Kacsmaryk ruled that the FDA’s approval of the drug violated federal policies intended for drugs that are treating serious or life-threatening illnesses. According to Kacsmaryk, pregnancy is not an illness; therefore, the agency's regimen was inadequate. 
     

• The Biden administration has announced it will appeal the ruling.

Texas House Pushes New Corporate Welfare Program

• A new “economic incentive” scheme put forth by the Texas House to replace the state’s expired Chapter 313 program drew criticism from citizens during a public hearing yesterday. Sydnie Henry has the report.
       

• Chapter 313 allowed school districts to offer large tax breaks for 10 years to unreliable energy and other businesses—including the wind farms that famously failed Texans during the winter storm of 2021. The tax breaks came at no loss to the school districts. Instead, the state supplemented the lost revenue to the districts from sales taxes and other state-collected taxes.

      

• The Texas House Committee on Ways & Means heard public testimony on House Bill 5 by State Rep. Todd Hunter (R–Corpus Christi). Hunter claims the Texas Jobs and Security Act would “give Texas some tools to continue to attract new business in the state.” Hunter was adamant that his legislation was not Chapter 313.

      
• “Taxpayers keep being reminded that HB 5 is not Chapter 313, and I must concede they are right. It is worse. There is no sunset provision, no oversight, and the program wastes more money than Chapter 313s,” said Tim Hardin, the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.

Slaton Hires Legal Counsel Regarding Alleged Complaint

• While rumors and innuendo circle around the Texas Capitol, a Rockwall lawyer issued a statement announcing he had been retained by State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) "in a matter relating to a possible complaint."
      
• “We are aware of outrageous claims circulating online by second-tier media that make false claims against Representative Slaton,” stated defense lawyer Patrick Short. “As a result, he has been advised to forward all inquiries in this matter—including any that may relate to a possible complaint—to his legal counsel.”
      
• While rumors have swirled since the middle of last week, no one claiming to have firsthand knowledge has stepped forward with facts. It has been reported that a complaint has been made regarding an inappropriate relationship with an intern, though no sources have been named.

Accused Bus Driver Fired After Public Pressure From Moms

• A school bus driver in Elgin Independent School District has been fired following a mom’s complaints about his inappropriate “grooming” behavior toward her 11-year-old daughter. Erin Anderson has the story.
      
• District officials initially just transferred him to a different route, but more parents spoke up after the mom made her story public.
      
• Elgin ISD Superintendent Jana Rueter has now sent a message to parents whose children rode the driver’s bus, saying he had been terminated after reports that his behavior and actions made a student uncomfortable.
       
• “At this point it’s looking like they reacted to the community and social media concerns and not the parents,” said Amanda Kelley, an education advocate who was made aware of the Elgin situation by the mother of a young girl.

Y'All Answered

A new report shows Texas superintendents making extraordinary base salaries with lucrative benefits that are not available to teachers or many people working in the private sector. Base pay packages of more than $300,000 to upwards of a half-million are increasingly common. In contrast, the governor's salary is set at $153,750.

Yesterday, we asked readers if school superintendents' pay in Texas should be capped at no more than that of the governor. Just over 92 percent of readers said the salaries should be capped, while 7.93 percent oppose the idea.

Here is a sampling of the responses I received...

• “Rather than capping their pay, eliminate their position. Other than maintenance folks, if you ain’t teaching, you don’t need to be working in the public school system.” – Bob Davis
      

• “Not only should superintendent base salaries be capped, there should be an additional cap for TRS purposes. Basing a retirement annuity on these exorbitant salaries hurts the rest of TRS recipients. As a TRS expert, our legislators as well as school boards should be thinking outside the box to not only rein in salaries for superintendents, but to also help all our school employees when it comes to retirement benefits.” – Wes Brumit
      

• "I had a professor in one of my graduate school education courses who said education will not improve until none of the district's employees made a higher salary than the highest paid teacher.  Makes perfect sense to me. Too many administrators spend more time making useless demands on their teachers and staff in an effort to justify the bloated salaries they make, than they do actually trying to improve academic achievement." – Madeleine Myers
      

• “They are obviously overpaid bureaucrats, as evidenced by the condition of our public schools.” – Ken Bintliff
      

• “We shouldn't be in the business of deciding what a school district should pay any of its employees. The CITIZENS of that district should have a say in ALL of the administrative overhead they are suffering via property taxes to pay. All administrative positions, longevity, salary, perks, and benefits should be published and up for public comment and/or approval at least twice a year.” – Melynda B. Caudle
      

• “Yes, cap the superintendent's pay at 150% of the average teacher's pay in their district.  I think term limits would also be appropriate.” – Thomas Williams
     

• “If STUPID curriculum like CRT and gender pronouns are being taught anywhere, salaries should not only be capped, but be reduced drastically!” – Priscilla Love
      

• “They definitely should have pay limits.  The school systems receive a lot of funds from the state, so Texas has a right to put restrictions on those funds.” – Ashton Oravetz, III
     

• “If the company is not accomplishing its goals, they fire the CEO.  Schools across the nation are failing, but the superintendents are seeing increasing pay?  Frankly, I think the best course of action is to cap their pay at $0 and eliminate the public school system.” – Roger Taylor
     

• “Superintendents’ salaries should not only be capped, but the outrageous salaries should not be factored into their retirement annuities. TRS should not use that level of artificial income for calculating the retirement benefits.” – Laura Nunn
      

• “No, if you have a high-quality super, the school district should be able to pay more, but the pay should be voted on by the voters in the district. As it is now, the board makes the decision, often without regard to quality or performance.” – Martin Gibson
     

• “If we are going to cap pay for superintendents, then pay must be capped for every occupation to include athletes, politicians, and all entertainers. Then we can all sit back and wait for dictatorship to fully envelope the United States.” – Deanna Withers
      

• “Salaries are set and capped in every other area of government that exists on either taxation or tax dollars, except school boards and superintendents. School districts are not kingdoms, nor should they act like one.” – Rick Goncher
      

• “If it was a private company, I’d say good for them. But no public servant or any person being paid by taxpayer dollars should receive such an exorbitant pay.” – Frances Davis
     

• “I don’t believe the governor’s salary should be the cap for school superintendents; however, it should not be open-ended. Schools are not companies for profit.” – Kent Kirby 
     

• “School boards need to control spending everywhere, including superintendents’ salaries. THEY are the ones who need to be held accountable.” – Bob Schmidt
     

• “Texas school superintendents' pay should not only be capped, but commensurate withthe success of students at the schools in his/her district.” – Charles McCrod
     

• “I think superintendents' salary should be capped but at an appropriate amount for the size of the district, not based on the governor’s salary.” – Duane Murray
     

• “I think the pay and benefits of many school superintendents is outrageous. But, it is up to the voters in those school districts to put a stop to it. If voters would pay attention and vote out those who are authorizing these salaries, then it could be stopped. How can you be against price controls, against government over-regulation, and be for capping anyone's pay?” – Ken Hodges
      

• “Superintendent pay should be capped at twice the average pay of all teachers in their district.” – Leo Bricker
      

• “If superintendents are paid from property tax, then all property taxpayers should have a vote on salary increases. In fact, all government employees should be capped!” – Johnny Nail
         

• “If the taxpayers want to pay an individual an exorbitant amount for substandard performance, that is their choice.  But, it needs to be on the ballot so they can make the choice, not some backroom decision by his cronies.” – Rex Reeve
          

• “I would be our local school superintendent for HALF of what the current one makes--and I'd do a better job, too! Some of these clowns make more than the president of the United States!  And the quality of public education just keeps getting worse. Don't cut their pay, FIRE THEM!” – Steve Price
            

• “I can hear it now: ‘But if we pay too low, we risk hiring someone unqualified to administer our large district.’ Remember, this is not a private business. If that is the case, simply split your district into smaller ones, with a side benefit of greater voter accountability.” – Kevin Wade
     

• “It is completely ridiculous that a person that makes decisions for a single school district would be paid more than the person who makes decisions for our entire state. Also, I believe that the exorbitant pay lends to more opportunities for corruption.” – Mike Noble
     

• “Their pay should certainly be governed by what they produce.  Instead of pursuing a political agenda, they should be required to produce students who can at least read at grade level.” – Lloyd Smith

Directory of Your U.S. & Texas Lawmakers

This information is automatically inserted based on the mailing address you provide to us. If you'd like to update your contact information, please visit our subscriber portal.