Tensions are high between the Hays Educators Association and State Representative Jason Isaac. Esperanza Orosco, center at podium, HEA president, says the HEA does not support Isaac because he “is not a friend to education.” Isaac says his constituents can help educate him on being a better representative. He thinks party politics get in the way of positive working relationships. (Photo by Bruce Fisher)
by KIM HILSENBECK
Why would the Hays Educators Association, a teachers union with about 400 members, be gunning for its state representative? According to Esperanza Orosco, HEA president, “He voted against education every time. He is not a friend to education.”
It may come down to school funding or perhaps it’s just a straight party-line division. Either way, Orosco, a teacher at Camino Real Elementary School, says the HEA is working to oust him from office.
State Rep. Jason Isaac, a Republican and first-time legislator from Dripping Springs, believes the HEA allowed party politics to get in the way of what he says could have been a positive working relationship. “We’ve had some discussions,” Isaac said in a recent phone interview. “Ms. Orosco has made it clear the HEA wants me gone.”
The HEA — which is affiliated with the Texas State Teachers Association, a branch of the National Education Association — does not support Isaac in part, Orosco said, because he voted for Senate Bill 8 in 2011. The organization has been very vocal in its opposition to the bill which allows school districts the flexibility to reduce salaries, furlough staff and reduce the contract notification timeframe for teaching staff. Local school boards, however, can vote against these actions, as did Hays CISD.
Isaac said the HEA did not want to see any reductions in money spent per student. They also wanted the Legislature to use the state’s rainy day fund to cover the budget shortfalls left from federal stimulus money drying up. “That would not have been the responsible thing to do,” Isaac said, “especially with the big Medicaid bill we’ll have coming next year,” referring to the increase in Medicaid funding required by President Barack Obama’s new healthcare law.
At a rally at the state capitol last year, several HEA members tried to talk with Isaac in his office. Orosco claims Isaac locked his door and refused to talk to her group. Isaac says he was on the floor in a debate and got a call from a staffer who feared for her safety, so he told her to lock the door. Then he called Department of Public Safety officers stationed at the Capitol to clear the group from the hall outside his office.
“I’m trying to not play party politics,” Isaac said. “I have an open door policy, I will meet with everyone.” The HEA does not agree. “He’s not open to listening to anyone,” Orosco said.
It’s unclear whether all HEA members want Isaac voted out of office. Messages left for other Hays CISD teachers were not returned. For the election approaching in November, Orosco said the HEA supports state representative candidate John Adams, a Democrat, and a longtime school board member in the Dripping Springs ISD.
According to Adams, the real problem is that school districts in Texas are capped at the amount of property tax they can collect. He also said the payment system and formulas used by the state to fund public education – a state constitutional requirement – are an issue.
“The average Texan spends more on sales tax than on property taxes,” Adams said. “Why aren’t they madder about that? Because they nickel and dime us on sales tax, literally. But you get a bill for property taxes and it creates sticker shock.”
“Public education is a social obligation that we pay forward,” Adams said. “We have to have an educated population to keep a democratic society.”
Steve Thompson, president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said school districts need to pay well enough to attract and retain good teachers. “We shouldn’t be at the bottom of the list.”
Isaac said his support of SB 8 and other education measures was based on the best available data he had to make a decision. “I work for the people of District 45 and I want to hear from them. They can help educate me so I can be a better representative.”
