State schools move step closer to reform
March 10, 2009
The proposal, designated a legislative emergency by Gov. Rick Perry, comes after the U.S. Department of Justice reported that the institutions known as state schools fail to protect residents from harm.
Written by Corrie MacLaggan, The Austin American Statesman
The Texas Senate approved a plan Monday to establish an independent ombudsman's office to regularly audit the 13 troubled state institutions for people with mental disabilities.
The proposal, designated a legislative emergency by Gov. Rick Perry, comes after the U.S. Department of Justice reported that the institutions known as state schools fail to protect residents from harm.
The measure also strengthens staff background checks and adds video surveillance and an abuse and neglect hot line. It was the first substantive legislation to pass either chamber this session, and the vote was 30-0.
"The abuse and neglect that has occurred in our state schools is inexcusable," the bill's author, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, told senators. "These are people with serious disabilities. They need our oversight, and they need our compassion."
But Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, told Nelson that the bill fails to address chronic problems plaguing the 5,000-resident state school system: staffing shortages, turnover and training. The turnover rate among direct-care workers last year was 52 percent — and 74 percent at Austin State School.
The federal report found that "residents have suffered significant injuries from inadequate supervision, neglect and possible abuse" and that in about a year, 53 died from preventable conditions that are "often the result of lapses in care."
"We're not even beginning to touch the real issue," Shapleigh said. He later added: "These individuals have been killed by a lack of care."
Nelson said she agrees with the needs Shapleigh identified but that those would be addressed in the budget process.
Video surveillance is the major expense in the proposal, estimated to cost the state $15.4 million in 2010 and 2011.
The bill would change the name of state schools, which are residences, to "state developmental centers." That change is expected to cost $650,000. The bill also requires random drug tests for staff and independent reviews of deaths at state schools. There is a similar measure in the House.
The bill does not propose closing or consolidating state schools, a topic of other pending legislation.
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