E-Interview: Sherrie Matula, HD-129
[This is the second in a continuing series of E-Interviews with Democratic candidates for Texas House and Texas Senate.]
Sherrie Matula (D-Houston) [website•blog•$$$•Educators For Matula] is running against Repulican John Davis in Texas House District 129 which encompasses the southern end of Harris County.
Q: Could you please tell us a little about yourself, including education, employment, and previous public/civic service?
A: Graduate of U of H, 25 years in education – CCISD and Pasadena ISD – retired in May 2006, on Clear Creek ISD board of trustees – two terms; currently on Middlebrook Community Association board, on Clear Lake Area Symphony Society board, just stepped down from TSTA Board of Directors – 6 years, charter member of St. Bernadette’s Catholic church, was on Bay Area Youth Basketball Association board, founded Clear Lake High School choir booster club, was on CLHS girls’ soccer booster club board, Girl Scout leader – 4 years, PTA Treasurer – 2 years, PTA member 25 years
Local Issues
Q: What do you see as the three or four most important issues to the voters in your district?
A: Public Education – rising costs and the testing along with the issues around HB 1; Environment – water, air, and ground pollution issues;
Health Insurance – Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare, employee cost;
Quality of Life – transportation, green space
Q: As a legislator, what would you do to ensure that these issues were properly addressed?
A: Work in coalitions with other representatives that I have known from extensive lobbying for years on education issues to address common issues;Â Work during off time with city governments in the area to make sure needs of the area are addressed.
Q: Do you believe that your opponent has adequately addressed these issues effectively?Â
A: Absolutely not. My opponent has never held a town hall meeting or truly listened for input from the constitutents. He works closely with the Speaker of the House on issues the Speaker wants to address that actually adversely affect our communities. The majority of voters in our area do not even know their state representative.
Statewide Issues: Education
Q: School finance remains a major issue on the minds of Texas voters as the ‘reform’ issues of the most recent special session start to make an impact on the state budget and local school districts. Do you think the legislation passed during the most recent special session adequately addresses concerns related to public school finance in Texas? Why or why not?
A: No, what actually happened is that in 2 years the ability for a local school board to raise needed funds will shut down when they have to go to the voters for even a penny increase on the tax rate. Tax has become such a “dirty†word to the extent that local funding of school districts will become impossible.
Q: Standardized testing is a cornerstone of public school education in Texas today. Do you believe too much or not enough emphasis is placed on standardized testing and why?
A: Far too much. Last year my students were subjected to 36 days of testing during the school year. The amount of testing has become oppressive. Teachers are becoming physically ill from the stress as are the students. Students are losing valuable instructional time because of testing, and the entire system is being bled dry because of the drain of valuable resources due to the testing.
Q: Merit-based teacher pay (tied most likely to standardized testing scores) is something Republicans in Texas have pushed for several years. Do you believe merit-based teacher pay is a good concept to institute in Texas? Why or why not?
A: No, students’ academic well-being is based on the ability of teachers to work in a collegial atmosphere to address the students’ needs. With merit-based teacher pay the system pits one teacher against another to outdo each other in the test results and leaves out many teachers because they do not “testâ€. Merit pay erodes the system and eventually collapses the structure needed to educate the children. I have seen it happen in Pasadena with much smaller amounts of money.
Q:Â What is your position on school vouchers?
A: There should not even be a discussion about school vouchers as long as the public schools have to grapple constantly with scarce funds and there is not an equality of accountability standards in the private schools.
Q: Since the Legislature deregulated tuition costs at the state’s public colleges and universities, tuition has skyrocketed at many institutions of higher education. Do you favor allowing tuition deregulation to continue? Why or why not?
A: No, what is happening right now is that the middle class is being squeezed out of a college education. The costs are too high and the students/parents are laying on large amounts of debt that either affect starting out or retirement.
Q: What are your thoughts on making higher education more accessible to more Texas youths?
A:Â The state of Texas should step in and assist with the funding for Texas youths in the area of higher education.
Q: The “top ten percent†rule has come under attack by Republicans in recent months. Do you favor the “top ten percent†rule? Why or why not?
A:Â Yes although I believe there needs to be some modifications since there are inequalities that exist between levels of education at different high schools across the state.
Q: What are some other ideas or thoughts you have about secondary and higher education in Texas?
A: Continue with the rigor but open and expand the “tech†areas to allow for training and education in areas that follow a more job training track beginning in secondary and finishing up in a trade school environment.
State Parks
Q: State Parks has become sort of the ‘sleeper’ issue of this election cycle. What is your assessment of the current situation of Texas’ state park system?
A:Â The funding for state parks needs to be as set out by the legislature needs to be restored to begin a major process of bringing back the infrastructure within the state park system.
Q: Do you favor legislation reallocating the Sporting Goods Tax so that all of the revenue generated from the tax goes to fund state parks, instead of a large portion of it going to the general fund?
A:Â Absolutely.
Q: What are your thoughts on the sale of public lands designated for state parks or natural preserves, such as those at Eagle Mountain Lake and in the Black Gap area, by the state instead of developing the land as parks or recreation areas?
A:Â No sale of public lands.
The Environment
Q:Â Coal power plants have become a major issue in this election cycle as TXU and other energy providers seek to build 17 new power plants, mostly in East and Central Texas. Obviously, this is a double-edged sword. These plants will provided needed energy and boost the economies of the areas in which they are constructed by providing more jobs and increasing the tax base. However, they will also cause a significant amount of pollution. In your view, how should the legislature work to balance the competing interests of need for electricity versus concern for the environment?
A:Â By making sure that any type of power plant is equipped with the latest technology and processes to make sure the environment is fully protected.
Q: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has been heavily criticized as not doing as much as possible to protect the environment in Texas. What are your thoughts on this agency and environmental regulation in Texas?
A: The Commission has become a toothless tiger. The tougher regulations need to be re-established and the fines and consequences should be as severe as needed.
Q: What kinds of incentives (tax breaks, etc.) would you support to increase the production of alternative fuels and/or increase the use of alternative sources of energy in Texas?
A: We really need to do extensive study first before committing to the tax breaks. There is not enough information about long term benefits yet.
Q: Water remains a major issue in Texas, as it has for over a century. Do you believe the state has an acceptable long-range plan with regard to both surface water and groundwater use as we head further into the 21st century?
A: No, we are depleting the aquifers without allowing for adequate recharging because of intense development. We have serious drought issues right now and we need to work diligently to make sure we develop a long-range plan for water usage for Texas
Q: The question of groundwater versus surface water is one that haunts rural and urban Texas. Urban areas frequently need more water, and look to man-made lakes—usually constructed in rural areas—for that water. What action should the Legislature take, if any, to balance the needs of urban residence with the needs of rural residents when it comes to water issues?
A: All of us need to work to bring the best minds together to really look into this competitive issue. Again, we must develop a long-range plan that balances both sides and that addresses what is best for Texas.
Transportation
Q: The Trans Texas Corridor is one of the key issues in this year’s election cycle. Regardless of whether the TTC will directly impact your district through construction within its boundaries, what is your position on the Trans Texas Corridor?
A: We should stop the TTC right away and do a full investigation into the entire process, the company issued the contract, and the actual needs of Texas – not some trumped up needs.
Q: What is your position on toll roads?
A: Toll roads are not either bad or good, it is just another way to fund road construction. However, each toll road needs to be looked at for long term benefits and reasons for building it.
Q: Do you believe there was adequate transparency in the bid process for the first parts of the Trans Texas Corridor?
A: Absolutely not.
Q: As with many issues, the Trans Texas Corridor elicits different feelings from urban voters than from rural voters. How does Texas develop a transportation policy for the next 50 years that keeps up with the demands of our state’s rapidly expanding urban and suburban populations while also respecting the property rights and lifestyles of rural Texans?
A: This is an area where I need much more information and study to commit to where we need to go. As a native Texan, however, I believe I at least know the areas of our state and the needs concerning transportation.
Taxation & Taxation Policy
Q: Do you believe the “tax relief†that has occurred as a result of the special session this past spring is adequate? Please explain.
A: Yes and actually we have gone overboard on the backs of small business and school districts.
Q: The concept of “property tax relief†and “tax relief†have been on the lips of Texas politicians for more than a decade. How can the legislature actually bring the people of Texas either property tax relief or general tax relief? Is this an impossible task in the present economic and budgetary environment in our state?
A: By not making taxes a dirty word. The idea is to spread out increases over years in smaller amounts that do not hit the taxpayers hard and do not deplete the public institutions.
Q: Texas’ general fund, funding for education, etc., are supported by a myriad of taxes: from ‘by the drink’ taxes to the ‘sporting goods tax’ to the sales tax. What is your opinion of the structure of taxation in Texas and how our state government is funded?
A: We must look at the entire structure and study the actual taxing burden and what are the all possibilities to make sure that taxes are applied evenly and with equity. Nothing and no one should be excluded from the discussion.
Q: Do you believe that Texas now needs an income tax? Why or why not?
A: I don’t have enough information about the impact. We are reaching a level of other taxes that might actually equal or exceed the impact of an income tax.
Health & Human Services
Q: From the Accenture contract debacle to being severely understaffed, health and human services in Texas appear to be in a crisis mode. Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?
A: Yes and my opponent is the major driver of the Accenture contract. We are dead last in the United State in this area and it is time to acknowledge and work (harking back to our Christian ethics) to make sure that the least of us are taken care of even though it costs those of us who have more.
Q: Do you favor allowing private sub-contractors to handle health and human services casework?
A: No, the state of Texas has a long history of bad decisions concerning privatization that is full of under the table deals. We need to get back to the fully staffed service centers that are staffed with public employees.
Q: Do you believe the current level of funding for the state’s health and human services are adequate? Please explain.
A: No – we should make every effort to fully fund including the $30 allotment from Texas that comes together with the $70 from the federal government. We are losing billions of dollars each year that should be going to Texas because we do not adequately fund our portion.
Social Issues
Q: The 2003 and 2005 sessions of the Texas legislature spent a significant amount of time and effort on what could aptly be called ‘social’ legislation, such as banning gay marriage, tightening restrictions on abortion, and other measures such as the ‘moment of silence’ in public schools legislation. Regardless of your personal beliefs on any of these issues, do you believe that the legislature should be spending so much of its time and effort on issues of this nature when other pressing issues like the budget and education must be addressed?
A: No – this reminds us of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.
Q: This November, voters in South Dakota will get to vote on a measure passed by their state legislature and signed by their governor that basically outlawed all abortion procedures in that state (which was put on the ballot by voter initiative after it was signed into law). It has been said that Texas will soon follow suit with similar legislation. Would you support a total ban on abortion in Texas?
A: No, absolutely not. While I was a freshman at the University of North Texas, two young women in my dormitory aborted themselves using coat hangers because a safer alternative was not available. One died and one was scarred for life. I will never close down that option.
Closing
Q: Other than some of the issues we’ve discussed so far, what are other issues that are of importance in your campaign, and what are your positions on those?
A:Â In all issues, the children of our state should be considered first and foremost because they are the future and where our future will be.
In our particular area, we are also being hit with rising costs of windstorm insurance that needs to be addressed by expanding the pool. Otherwise, many homeowners and businesses will not be insured.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: I want this chance to serve my community and show how true representation can be accomplished. We have not had adequate representation of our area in over 30 years.
Just For Fun
Q: During your time on the campaign trail, or in public office, what’s the funniest, craziest, or silliest thing that’s ever happened to you?
A. The funniest thing that happened was when I served on a school board. I received letters from students in other classrooms. Many times the students thought a school board was an actual chalkboard and would draw pictures about that.
Written by Vince Leibowitz
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From personal experience, this lady has go to be the most intelligent and well qualified candidate for a State Race in Texas.
She is just SUPER!