This Week: The Future of Texas Education

This week on Texas Politics Today, we continue our examination of the major issues facing Texas today, and how they will be addressed -- or not -- by the Legislature when it comes back to town next month. Our focus this time is on education.

Our guests are State Representative Donna Howard and Eric Hartman. Representative Howard was a Eanes ISD school board member and former candidate for the State Board of Education before being elected to represent her northwest Travis Coutny district in 2006. Eric Hartman is the legislative director of the Texas AFT (American Federation of Teachers). They'll discuss the state of Texas education, and highlight issues the Legislature will be addressing in January.

Also: this week's big political stories and the community calendar.

Texas Politics Today air on Fridays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Central time on KOOP, Austin's community radio station. KOOP airs at 91.7 FM and streams live over the Web at www.koop.org. Texas Politics Today is co-hosted by Deece X and David Kobierowski.

What, Another Election? The Speaker's Race in Detail

Last week's elections were very important, and millions of us participated. But there's another election coming soon, one that will affect each and every Texan, and only 150 people can participate.

Unlike statewide officials, the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is elected by his colleagues. Nevertheless, the Speaker is one of the most powerful people in state government. Tom Craddick (pictured at left) has served as Speaker of the Texas House since 2003 -- the first Republican since Reconstruction to do so. Craddick's strong will and determined organization have made him a powerful Speaker; his governing style has also made him many enemies. And so it is that a lively, no-holds-barred Speaker's race is already underway.

This week on Texas Politics Today, we look at the crucial role of the Speaker in the Texas House of Representatives and examine the unfolding Speaker's race with two months to go until the 81st Texas Legislature convenes.

Former Speaker Pete Laney will talk about the role of the Speaker and what a Speaker's race looks like from the inside. Pete Laney (pictured at right) represented his West Texas district in the House for over 30 years and served as Speaker of that body from 1993-2003.

Former Speaker Laney then join Texas Monthly President and Editor Evan Smith and Austin American-Statesman political writer Laylan Copelin in an entertaining and absorbing analysis of the current Speaker's race.

Texas Politics Today airs every Friday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Central time on KOOP 91.7 FM, and streams live over the web at http://www.koop.org/. Tune in early this week to hear journalist Jeremy Scahill on privatization, US foreign policy, and the next presidential administration on People United at 1:00. Allan Campbell hosts, with a regular commentary by Rahul Mahajan ("Only in America").

Markos on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY

Join Markos Moulitsas Zúniga on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY for a lively discussion of Internet activism and the 2008 elections. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY airs from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT every Wednesday on KOOP, Austin’s community radio station. KOOP is located at 91.7 on the FM dial and also streams live over the Internet at http://www.koop.org/.

Markos Moulitsas is the founder and principal author of DailyKos.com, the widely-respected political blog with an average daily readership of over 750,000 people. He has written several books, including Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics and the forthcoming Taking On the System: Rules for Radical Change in the Digital Era. He also is a contributing columnist to Newsweek Magazine. He’ll be talking with us about the netroots phenomenon and how it’s transformed politics, and giving us his thoughts on the fall elections here in Texas.

The Real Deal on the REAL ID Act

Melissa Del Bosque of the Texas Observer, whose coverage of the border wall controversy along the Rio Grande has won national acclaim, will discuss the border wall battle on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY this Wednesday, July 2. The radio show airs from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT on KOOP radio, located at 91.7 on the FM dial. KOOP also streams live at http://www.koop.org/.

In 2005, Congress passed the REAL ID Act, which (among other provisions) directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to meet a 2008 year-end deadline for completing 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Act also gave DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff broad authority to waive property rights, environmental, labor and other laws in order to get the job done.

Del Bosque began writing about the border wall fracas last year as the Department of Homeland Security ran roughshod over local communities, longtime landowners, and even the University of Texas System. The Observer’s coverage has won widespread praise and can be viewed here, here and on the Observer’s blog.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case of Defenders of Wildlife vs. Chertoff, in effect legitimizing the huge grants of power given to DHS in the REAL ID Act. Del Bosque will discuss the Chertoff decision and its implications for the civil liberties of all Americans. She will also discuss yesterday’s action by a Brownsville federal judge encouraging DHS and the University of Texas-Pan American to work out an alternative to DHS’s plan to bisect the campus with a section of the wall.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is collaborating with another KOOP program, “Shades of Green,” in reporting on these issues this week. “Shades of Green,” the environmental talk magazine, airs on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. CDT on KOOP. ”Shades of Green” hosts Ken McKenzie-Grant and John Hoffner will have a representative of the national Defenders of Wildlife organization to discuss the Supreme Court decision as well as Sheila Dean, a nationally-known activist and blogger on REAL ID issues.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is the weekly radio show devoted to Texas state and local politics. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced by longtime Capitol insider Deece Eckstein, who shares hosting duties with Austin community leader David Kobierowski.

KOOP, “the little station that could,” is Austin’s only community-owned radio station. It shares the FM 91.7 radio frequency with KVRX, the University of Texas student radio. It also streams live over the Web at http://www.koop.org/. KOOP is on the air on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Welcome to Texas Politics Today!

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is a radio program on KOOP, Austin's community radio station. As described on its website,

KOOP is a community radio station owned and operated by its members. Any member of the community can apply to produce a radio program, and KOOP provides facilities and training. KOOP has about 60 different locally-produced programs airing every week, in time slots of 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes. Each of these programs is produced by an individual member or by a collective of members. KOOP provides a diverse array of programming, emphasizing programs that deal with local issues and/or serve communities which are under-served by the mainstream media.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY will address a vacuum in radio programing. It will be the only weekly radio program in Texas that focuses on Texas state and local politics. We believe that, just as war is too important to be left to the generals, politics is too important to be left to the politicians. Our goals are to inform, entertain and inspire our listeners.

This blog will be a part of the TEXAS POLITICS TODAY experience. We will eventually set up a website, www.texaspoliticstoday.net, but for now stay tuned to this blog. We will post information about coming shows. and -- once we master the technology -- podcasts of previous episodes. We also want this blog, and eventually the website, to contain links to other websites that are referenced on the show.

You can leave comments on this site, or email us at TexasPoliticsToday at gmail.

This is your radio show. Well, not really, but you know what we mean. We challenge you to challenge us. Suggest topics you want covered. Identify guests from whom you want to hear. Criticize us for what we do wrong, and praise us for what we do right. Most of all, INTERACT!