AN OVERHAUL FOR STATE SCHOOLS
Gov. Rick Perry approved new protections and more money for state schools residents.
$48 million: Cost of emergency package to generally improve the schools
$418 million: Cost of community living options for residents
$112 million: Cost of improvements required by the Justice Department.
By JANET ELLIOTT and TERRI LANGFORD Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
June 11, 2009, 9:03PM
ov. Rick Perry signed legislation Thursday meant to overhaul Texas’ troubled state schools, where dozens of individuals with mental disabilities have died preventable deaths or been the victims of abuse over the last several years.
“Our current system had some serious shortcomings. They were exposed,” said Perry, who had declared improvements for the state schools an emergency issue for lawmakers this past session.
As families and supporters of the 13-facility system watched, Perry printed his signature with his left hand. His right arm was in a sling because of a broken collarbone suffered in a bicycle fall Tuesday night.
The $48 million bill is the Legislature’s response to a federal investigation that found deadly lapses in health care and widespread abuse and neglect. It also renames the state school system. They will now be called “state-supported living centers” to reflect that the vast majority of residents are adults.
New protections include video surveillance in common areas, an effort to eliminate problems such as the fights between residents at Corpus Christi State School that police say staffers organized.
Employees will face enhanced criminal background checks, random drug testing and receive more on-the-job training. An Office of Independent Ombudsman will protect client rights. The law also creates state investigations of abuse and neglect complaints involving residents living in privately run facilities.
Community living options
Perry previously signed off on a settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice in its investigation of abuse and neglect at the facilities. That $112 million pact will add 1,160 new employees, many of whom will be direct care workers, as well as people who will monitor conditions at the facilities.
The settlement and the reform legislation together represent new spending of about $150 million over the next two years. Additionally, the state is spending $418 million in the next two years to create community living options, such as group homes or home-assisted care, for Texans with physical and mental disabilities.
About 8,000 people, including some now living in state schools, are expected to be able to live in less restrictive settings.
“Whether these Texans live in a state facility or in therapeutic community settings, we are obligated by basic human decency to provide them with a safe setting in which to live, learn and grow,” Perry said.
The governor praised conscientious state school employees, who “deal with daily challenges that most of us couldn’t imagine.” But he said that “bad actors” will be prosecuted; the new law increases penalties for employees who harm residents or fail to report abuse or neglect.
Recent problems
In December, the Justice Department announced that 53 of the 114 deaths of state school residents over a one-year period could have been prevented. The department also determined that restraints were used too often — some 10,143 times on 751 residents during the first nine months of 2008 alone.
Also documented: Some 200 staff members were fired in one 12-month period. Also, despite plans to move more residents out of the state schools, only 164 residents were placed in a community-based care facility in a 12-month period.
In March, video images allegedly showed Corpus Christi State School staff members forcing mentally disabled residents into fights for entertainment.
But critics who claim the state school system is outmoded say the settlement is deja vu all over again.
“We’re back,” complained Beth Mitchell, managing attorney for Advocacy Inc., a nonprofit group that works to protect the legal rights of disabled Texans. “It’s all the same stuff.”
Mitchell was referring to a series of pacts that ended a 1974 lawsuit that charged — like the recent Justice Department report did — that conditions within the system were not acceptable.
Monitors were called, better reporting of abuse was requested, she said, and now it seems the state is back where it was in the 1990s, when the suit was settled for the third time.
Critic says law is vague
Mitchell said the new pact is too vague in pinpointing exact timetables and plans for moving residents into the community. Also, the settlement is light on what type of qualifications the monitors should possess.
“There are no benchmarks or standards for what the monitors are supposed to follow to make sure the state schools have adequate treatment,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell also pointed to the fact that it does nothing to remedy the retention problems state schools have with its direct care staff, who guide residents in their daily activities.
In the past two years, 376 state school workers were fired for abuse and neglect, and 70 percent of those workers were entry-level aides, whose starting salary is about $20,000 a year.
Lawmakers did not approve a proposed pay raise for these staffers.
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