 |
| Tweet by Beto O'Rourke on December 13, 2021, from Amarillo, Texas |
Beto O'Rourke famously visited all 250-something Texas counties when he ran for U.S. Senator against Ted Cruz a few years ago, so he's always been one to attend to the rural. More evidence of this can be found in his recent visits to the Texas panhandle, like the one to Amarillo, above. Now running for Texas governor, he has published this guest column today in the Marshall (Texas) News Messenger. In it, O'Rourke touches on so many issues important to rural America, as well as the interdependence of rural and urban. Emphasis below is mine:
I was grateful to spend more time behind the pine curtain last week, where we met with folks to talk about the big things that can move this state forward, like making sure we have world-class schools, that we create the best jobs in America right in East Texas, and that we expand healthcare access so that every Texan can be well enough to live up to their full potential.
In Marshall, I spoke with a man in the telecommunications industry that expressed major concerns about broadband access in Harrison County because all three of those things — jobs, education, and healthcare — depend on reliable internet access, yet nearly a third of the county’s residents lack the most basic level of broadband.
An even bigger concern, he said, was that network service in the region could soon become even more inaccessible.
East Texas households could soon see their phone and internet bills go up anywhere between $25-$175 per month because state leaders have defunded the Texas Universal Service Fund, a state-administered fund designed to keep telecommunications costs affordable in hard-to-reach areas in counties like Greg, Rusk, Harrison, and the rest of rural Texas.
While the state legislature passed a bipartisan bill earlier this year to force the Public Utility Commission to fix the problems with the fund, Gov. Abbott vetoed the bill in June, leaving the fund’s fate up to the results of an appellate court hearing that took place last week on December 15.
The crisis with the Universal Service Fund is part and parcel of a broader trend of state leaders turning their backs on rural Texans.
For instance, Texas ranks last in the nation for rural access to health care. Because state leaders have stubbornly refused to expand Medicaid — leaving $100 billion of federal health care support on the table — Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country. More rural hospitals have closed in Texas than anywhere else in the country, and more have closed in East Texas than in any other part of the state.
East Texas suffers from some of the highest rates of substance abuse and suicide in the state, at least in part because of how hard it is to see a doctor or a therapist in these communities. In Rusk County, there’s only one mental health provider per every 4,875 people, a rate nearly five times lower than the rest of the state. While local leaders are doing their best to combat these trends, they say the state government isn’t doing nearly enough to help turn things around.
It’s a total lack of investment in the East Texas communities that provide the food, the fuel, and the fiber that power the rest of the state. (emphasis added)
Just look at the way our schools are funded. Texas places too heavy a burden on local taxpayers to fund our public education system, paying on average just 40 percent of what it costs a local school district to educate our kids. That makes it nearly impossible for rural East Texas districts with a smaller tax base to fund the educational and workforce development programs needed to make East Texas economically competitive. Without a greater share of state funding, districts like Bloomburg ISD can only pay their average teacher $10,000 less than the state average. How can we expect Bloomburg to be able to recruit and retain teachers if they have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet?
None of this is right, and it doesn’t have to be this way.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from my time in East Texas, it’s that rural communities already know how to address these challenges. They don’t need anyone to “fix” anything for them; they just want a governor to partner with them and meet them halfway in making the investments needed to guarantee affordable internet and utility bills, life-saving health care access, equitable school funding, and economic opportunity.
We can start by fully funding the Universal Service Fund and guaranteeing affordable broadband access, fully funding our schools and paying teachers truly competitive salaries, and expanding Medicaid to keep rural hospitals open and ensure every Texan is well enough to live up to their full potential. That’s how we’ll give young people a reason to stay, raise a family, start businesses, and create new jobs in these places.
That’s the only way that rural communities — and, in turn, cities like Marshall — will thrive.
This column by O'Rourke also appeared today in the San Antonio Express News.
Meanwhile, a headline in the Dallas Morning News last week proclaimed, "Rural Texas could gain thousands of jobs if it expands digital economy, report says." Here's the lede:
Texas stands to gain more jobs than any other state if it expands the use of online tools and digital services in rural areas, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that was commissioned by Amazon.
The state could add as many as 23,433 jobs in rural areas over the next three years, according to the report. That would add up to about $6,657 million more in annual sales and about $963 million more in annual wages.
Here is coverage of O'Rourke's visit to Lubbock, as reference in the screenshot above.
No comments:
Post a Comment