{"id":30033,"date":"2015-02-11T17:40:52","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T23:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=30033"},"modified":"2015-02-11T17:40:52","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T23:40:52","slug":"john-whitmire-school-for-deaf-suggestion-was-harmless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/11\/john-whitmire-school-for-deaf-suggestion-was-harmless\/","title":{"rendered":"John Whitmire: School for Deaf suggestion was harmless"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Whitmire: School for Deaf suggestion was harmless<\/strong><\/p>\n

February 10, 2015<\/p>\n

State Sen. John Whitmire said his inquiry Monday into whether the Texas School for the Deaf campus south of downtown Austin could downsize was meant to be a harmless one inspired by his desire to help the school pay for the millions of dollars in pressing maintenance needs \u2014 particularly amid promises of big tax cuts from the state\u2019s Republican leadership.<\/p>\n

The Texas Facilities Commission, which took over day-to-day maintenance of the school last year, has identified numerous urgent capital needs at its 67-acre campus that have caused it to close some buildings, including plumbing and sewer system failures and \u201ccompromised\u201d security and fire alarm systems. However, the agency said in a recent report, \u201cthere was not sufficient funding to allow these critical projects to proceed at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just heartbreaking to hear the conditions that our students are in,\u201d Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, told the American-Statesman, recalling testimony the day before to the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee from the school\u2019s Superintendent Claire Bugen, who described some of the maintenance issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just can\u2019t keep going down this path of dangerous buildings, violations of the fire code, dilapidated buildings,\u201d Whitmire continued. \u201cSo I\u2019m listening to her and I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Wow, there\u2019s got to be a better way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That prompted him to ask Bugen if the school could possibly operate on a smaller tract, noting it sits on some of the \u201cmost expensive land in Austin.\u201d Then came a lengthy discussion among committee members about the large sums of money that could be generated by selling off parts or all of the land where the school has operated for 159 years.<\/p>\n

The talk inspired a strong backlash Tuesday from parents and concerned members of the public, who said the campus should be left intact rather than sold to make a quick \u2014 if hefty \u2014 buck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is beyond belief and this is not as simple as moving the campus elsewhere,\u201d said Robert Giuntoli, a father of three children who attend the school. \u201cThe public needs to know what kind of school TSD is. It is one of the best in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitmire said he wants nothing but to keep it that way. But he noted that the tract is \u201csizable\u201d and that his Republican colleagues have proposed billions in tax cuts and spending on big-ticket items like border security and transportation while suggesting they\u2019ll leave billions more on the table to avoid exceeding a constitutional \u2014 although optional \u2014 spending limit. That doesn\u2019t leave much wiggle room in the budget for anything else, he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad if I got people involved because they ought to be talking to the state leadership about properly funding and upgrading the facilities,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d like to think I came out of the meeting the deaf\u2019s community\u2019s best friend and I will continue to raise that issue to get them the funding to upgrade their facilities. One idea would be to use some of their own very valuable land for their own purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOURCE:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.statesman.com\/news\/news\/state-regional-govt-politics\/whitmire-school-for-deaf-suggestion-was-harmless\/nj8H5\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Whitmire: School for Deaf suggestion was harmless February 10, 2015 State Sen. John Whitmire said his inquiry Monday into whether the Texas School for the Deaf campus south of downtown Austin could downsize was meant to be a harmless…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[23219,4621,21,14594,1164,23218,7931,17,23217,604,80],"class_list":["post-30033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-american-statesman","tag-article","tag-austin","tag-building","tag-claire-bugen","tag-john-whitmire","tag-robert-giuntoli","tag-texas","tag-texas-facilities-commission","tag-texas-school-for-the-deaf","tag-tsd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-7Op","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30106,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/19\/asl-interview-with-senator-whitmire-and-senator-watson\/","url_meta":{"origin":30033,"position":0},"title":"ASL Interview with Senator Whitmire and Senator Watson","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"ASL Interview with Senator Whitmire and Senator Watson by DeafNation - Joel Barish Texas Senator Watson on TSD Rumors With rumors of Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) being possibly sold, Joel Barish gets a talk with Senator Watson, who says TSD is a valued part of Austin and will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Deaf Nation watson interview","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Deaf-Nation-watson-interview.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30164,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/26\/talk-of-move-raises-alarm-at-tsd\/","url_meta":{"origin":30033,"position":1},"title":"Talk of move raises alarm at TSD","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Talk of move raises alarm at Texas School for the Deaf February 21, 2015 By Julie Chang - American-Statesman Staff \u201cA good number of deaf people, including myself, have moved to Austin specifically to attend our children at TSD, and many of us changed jobs, sold our homes, and left\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30014,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/10\/state-budget-writers-talk-about-selling-school-for-deaf-property\/","url_meta":{"origin":30033,"position":2},"title":"State budget writers talk about selling School for Deaf property","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"State budget writers talk about selling School for Deaf property February 9, 2015 By Kiah Collier \/ American-Statesman Staff Texas Senate budget writers on Monday discussed the possibility of downsizing or selling the 67-acre property south of downtown Austin where the School for the Deaf has operated for more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30103,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/19\/school-for-the-deaf-staff-students-react-to-potential-downsizing\/","url_meta":{"origin":30033,"position":3},"title":"School for the Deaf Staff, Students React to Potential Downsizing","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"School for the Deaf Staff, Students React to Potential Downsizing By BEN PHILPOTT February 10, 2015 The Texas School for the Deaf sits on 67 acres in between South 1st and South Congress. 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My friends, who live in Taft and are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33323,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2016\/04\/14\/tsdtfc-master-campus-facilities-planning-austin\/","url_meta":{"origin":30033,"position":5},"title":"TSD\/TFC Master Campus Facilities Planning – Austin","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"April 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"TSD\/TFC Master Campus Facilities Planning - PLEASE JOIN US! The Texas School for the Deaf and Texas Facilities Commission invite you to help plan the future. 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