Possible closure of the Texas Higher Education Board

Mr. Kenneth Ashworth has written a pretty impressive editorial for the Statesman about the possible closure of the Texas Higher Education Board that monitors colleges and universities throughout Texas. From right out of the gate, he explains how he feels about this new bill, what impact the board has had on Texas' colleges since its installation, and even goes so far as to explain what will likely happen if the board is removed.

As former commission of the board, it’s unlikely anyone would have a greater knowledge of the numerous “victories” the board has had, nor its structural importance to the money flow. I entered into this article knowing nothing about this topic, and am now aware that in the past, many institutions were crooked with obtaining funds for their schools.

It is also important to note that he is NOT currently the commissioner, but a former commissioner, this helps to relieve the feeling that “he’s just trying to get people to side with him because he would keep his job”, he’s writing this because he helped to establish the board, and doesn’t want to see it fail, it’s unlikely he receives any gain from their continuation.

It’s obvious that Mr. Ashworth’s audience is anyone that is not directly connected to the Texas school system, it’s also easy to tell that he is seeking support from the taxpayers, as he addresses them in one of his paragraphs “And, of course, there is always the need for more new buildings, whether the old ones are being fully utilized or not. That is another oversight that the board conducts on behalf of taxpayers.”

After reading Mr. Ashworth’s editorial, I seek to side with him. As both a taxpayer, and a student, I don’t want my money going to useless things, and I don’t want my education to be ruined either. This Higher Education Board seems to be the “check and balance” that nearly all organizations need in order to maintain proper and just functionality.

Congratulations Mr. Ashworth on this writing. I hope you can get your message out to more people, whether or not they would agree would you, I think this would at least get people to open their eyes, and see the facts more clearly.

Rolling power outages in early February has the government concerned.

Although I was not personally affected in any way by the February 2nd 2011 power outages across Texas, the Texas State government has different feelings.

In a new article by the Texas Tribune posted today, the Texas Senate continued it's hearings today looking to hear explanations as to why these power plants failed all across Texas.

David Campbell, chief executive of Luminant said that his company had 11 power-plant units go down, four powered by coal, seven by natural gas, and said this was due to faulty instrumentation.

However, John Ragan, who heads the Texas operations of NRG Energy, said that they lost only one coal unit and had some problems getting full production out of some smaller gas plants, but still ran at more than 90% capacity.

Sen. Mike Jackson, had some critical words for Luminant, who couldn't believe that some of their coal-plants were some of the newest around, yet still faltered. "The brand new stuff ought to be the best."

Sen. Troy Fraser, head-chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee had some warning words to the energy companies. He stated that all of the companies have a seat at ERCOT, who is the Texas grid operator, and that he has always been worred at ERCOT because the marketing participants are always designing what the companies should do next. He expected the companies to at least put the proper measures into place to prevent accidents. "I would prefer a free-market solution if we can do it, but guys, we're here -- we're governing.