The Texas Tribune: Lawmakers and Others Discuss Changes to Education Programs for Prisoners

Lawmakers will most likely cut that number significantly in the 2012-13 budget, and that could be just the beginning of big changes to come.

“The structure itself screams out for change, screams out for renovation and innovation,” said State Senator Florence Shapiro, Republican of Plano and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.

The Windham School District is financed by the Texas Education Agency and overseen by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In the 2009-10 school year, about 77,500 offenders participated in some type of Windham program. The school district operates much like a regular public school system, with a superintendent, principals and teachers at campuses across the state. It provides basic adult education, vocational training, life-skills programs and college-level courses.

Despite its sizable budget, a staff of more than 1,200 and a large number of students, Windham awarded just 5,287 G.E.D.’s in the last school year. “It’s really outrageous,” said Senator John Whitmire, Democrat of Houston and chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Texas could save money, and prisoners could get better educations, some lawmakers say, if programs were provided online. Such programs allow students to learn at their own pace, Ms. Shapiro said, and would be better for prisoners. “Putting them in desks and chairs and making them feel like they’re in a school surrounding makes them feel stupid,” she said.

Lawmakers also complain that the school system seems top-heavy, with some 60 principals. “It’s the structure that needs to change,” Ms. Shapiro said. She and Mr. Whitmire are calling for a review of the program.

But correctional-education experts say lawmakers’ ideas, particularly about online programs, show a lack of understanding about prison life. “I don’t know of a program anywhere in the country where they’re able to use the Internet for instructional purposes,” said Chris Tracy, a former Windham superintendent. “Security personnel,” he said, are “absolutely paranoid about Internet systems.”

Mr. Tracy said that using more technology would not replace teaching staff for a population in which learning disabilities are endemic and educational achievement is low. “You don’t just say: ‘Here’s a computer. Help yourself learn how to read and write,’ ” he said.

Eddy Turner, a Windham teacher, said the school district could use more technology and could probably do with fewer administrators. But he said lawmakers should not judge the success of Windham solely on outcomes like G.E.D. attainment. Mr. Turner teaches courses that help inmates develop skills like maintaining relationships, balancing a checkbook and keeping a job.

“If you take education out of the prison,” Mr. Turner said, “they will no longer be confronted about changing.”

Governor Presses Lawmakers in Albany to Pass His Agenda

 

The governor, speaking to several hundred people at Onondaga Community College outside Syracuse, cued a PowerPoint slide that listed nine legislators who have faced corruption charges in recent years and said New Yorkers had “good reason” not to trust their representatives in the state capital.

“This is a battle for the control of government,” Mr. Cuomo said, wagging his finger at an image of the State Capitol.

The governor’s speech laid down battle lines for the six weeks that remain before the Legislature is scheduled to leave Albany. He even declared June 20, the last day of the legislative session, to be “D-Day.”

Mr. Cuomo moved one by one through his top legislative priorities: a cap on local property taxes, ethics reform and the legalization of same-sex marriage.

“Tell your legislators it’s very simple: pass the bills or don’t come home,” he said. “Period.”

Mr. Cuomo alternated between attacking lawmakers for their inaction and offering civics lessons. When he cited data claiming that property-tax rates in Onondaga County are the 12th highest in the country, people in the audience could be heard gasping.

But the governor was at his most intense as he spoke about ethics. He implored New Yorkers to demand that lawmakers submit to an independent ethics commission — “self-policing is an oxymoron,” he said — and disclose their outside income and their clients.

“Ask them to answer the question,” Mr. Cuomo said. “And if they refuse to answer the question and disclose, well, then, they just answered the question.”

State Senator John A. DeFrancisco, a powerful Syracuse Republican whose district includes Onondaga, bristled at Mr. Cuomo’s criticism. “There are bad people in every profession, but there are a heck of a lot of good people to recognize,” Mr. DeFrancisco said by phone.

Mr. Cuomo’s speech was the beginning of what he calls the “People First Campaign.” He and his cabinet plan to hold events around the state in coming days in an effort to press his legislative agenda.

The governor is pressing his agenda in other ways, too. On Tuesday, he also released a video message making his case for a property-tax cap, and on Monday the state Democratic Party prepared to send out an automated telephone call in which Mr. Cuomo asked New Yorkers to call their legislators and urge them to support the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Mr. Cuomo’s campaign to enlist the public comes as all of his legislative priorities face significant roadblocks.

The Republican-controlled Senate has given no indication that it is prepared to legalize same-sex marriage, and Cuomo administration officials have said they believe neither the Senate nor the Democratic-controlled Assembly wants to enact a property tax cap. Both issues are now being debated on the airwaves. The Committee to Save New York is financing advertisements in favor of capping property taxes, while the National Organization for Marriage says it will spend $500,000 on television advertisements and lobbying to defeat same-sex marriage, as well as $1 million to finance primary challenges against Republicans who support same-sex marriage and to defend Democrats who oppose it.

The State Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, Republican of Long Island, responded to the governor on Tuesday with a reminder that, months ago, the Senate passed a bill that would impose a property tax cap. “While I applaud the governor for his continued leadership,” he said in a statement, “it’s important that he utilize the bully pulpit to challenge the Assembly to act.”

The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, issued a statement that linked the property tax cap issue to the expansion of rent regulations. “We continue to work with the governor and the Senate to cap property taxes and strengthen New York’s rent laws,” said Mr. Silver, a Manhattan Democrat. “Both issues are vitally important and philosophically the same the thing — keeping people in their homes, and keeping them affordable.”

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Mr. Cuomo redoubled his criticism. He accused legislative leaders of engaging in “Albany-speak” and treating the process as if it were a Ping-Pong game, hoping to avoid the blame for their own inaction.

“That game is over,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Asked what would happen if lawmakers did not enact his agenda by the end of the legislative session, he replied, “The people will hold them accountable.”