Bell’s solutions best for Texas education

Texas is faced with a choice — an opportunity to dramatically change the direction of this state. That choice is Chris Bell.

Yes, he is a Democrat, but I hope Texans can look beyond partisan divisions and consider the problems facing the state to see why Chris Bell would be the best person to sit at the helm of Texas leadership.

Texas needs a dramatic change in direction. Over the past eight years, our state has emerged as one of the worst in the nation in terms of education, health care, environment and leadership — or lack thereof.

According to a Boston College study that has become the national standard for measuring student dropout rates, nearly 40 percent of students in Texas public schools drop out before graduating. Teacher salaries in Texas public schools fall well below the national average. Moreover, the once-acclaimed, high stakes Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills standardized test (TAKS) — which ought to have led the nation in measuring the accountability of our school systems — has instead forced schools to narrow curricula and has greatly limited our teachers’ ability to teach.

According to a task force co-chaired by former Rice President Malcolm Gillis, Texas also ranks last in health insurance coverage. One in four Texans does not have health insurance — that is 10 percent worse than the national average. Also, more than one in five Texas children are uninsured — again 10 percent worse than the national average. A poorly educated and uninsured workforce creates a poor climate for businesses, resulting in few incentives for new businesses to come to our state. These failures are the result of poor leadership.

When Bell was member of the Houston City Council, Jay Aiyer, the Chief of Staff to former Mayor Lee Brown, noted that “Houston had no greater champion” than Chris Bell. Such was true in terms of the environment, public parks and recreation facilities. In Congress, Bell sought to promote ethical leadership and filed the first ethics complaint against Republican Rep. Tom DeLay.

As the father of two public school children, he witnessed firsthand Texas public schools’ nosedive. And as a husband and a son, he watched his loved ones battle diseases that could be potentially cured by way of stem cell research.

Thus, of the candidates, Bell recognizes most clearly the importance of improving the state, and he has the best solutions. On education, Bell proposes forming a bipartisan commission to evaluate how to fix public education. He favors reducing the importance of the TAKS test, arguing that it has produced bubble fillers rather than intelligent participants in society. He understands the importance of raising teachers’ salaries to the national average in order to create the necessary incentives to attract and retain the best educators. He favors expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program by partnering with businesses and using the free market to Texas’ advantage. Bell believes Texas can become a leader in stem cell research, a shift that could make Texas the Silicon Valley of the biotech industry.

Most importantly, Bell would invest in the people of Texas, not special interest companies like Accenture and the corporations promoting the Trans Texas Corridor, as is the current practice in the Governor’s office.

I know most people believe a Democrat cannot win in Texas. The fact of the matter is Chris Bell only needs one vote more than any other candidate to throw that misconception out the window. With an incumbent polling in the mid-30s, Bell only needs around 37 percent to win. Recent polls and advertising prove Bell is the only candidate capable of ousting our current leadership. Thus, I urge you to not throw away your vote on Nov. 7 and to vote for Bell.

Stephen Rooke is a junior and Hanszen College President.

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