Dear friend,

Governor Rick Perry’s budget proposal, the “Texas Budget Compact,” has one redeeming quality.

He is finally admitting that those in control of the Legislature — including him — have been using smoke-and-mirror budget tricks for years.

Just to cite one example, state Republicans are trying to rewrite history with what the Houston Chronicle called “Enron math,” but the bottom line is that Texas students will get less this year than last — $600 less each, according to one calculation.

I’ve said this before and will continue to do so: Giving all Texas children a good education, at all levels, is key to the long-term success of the state. Hard facts, real data and bona fide experts support this conclusion. See for example, the University of Pennsylvania and National Center for Public Policy Study, which found that while the goal of university excellence for some is worthy, it fails if we limit opportunity for all.

We fail to provide opportunity for all when state leadership fails basic math.

We must stop delaying payments and diverting dedicated funds, and find new sources of revenue to balance the state budget. That is a bipartisan idea, by the way.

Although there are many things to be proud of in Texas, the state needs improvement. After a decade under Perry’s leadership, Texas still has one of the lowest high school graduation rates, the highest number of citizens without health insurance, and the worst environment of any state with the highest rates of carcinogens released into the air and toxic chemicals released into the water.

Speaking of the environment …

Earth Day is this weekend, and it’s a good time to think about the future. We all want a healthy economy that boosts everybody’s standard of living, and that means we cannot sacrifice some communities for the sake of a dollar. We all deserve clean air and water, whether we’re in Plano, the Woodlands, Galveston or El Paso.

For example, in our community, we fought long and hard to keep Asarco, the copper smelter and refiner, from re-opening.

We’re also pro-active, working to take the lead on renewable energy sources. Texas is an energy leader, and I want us to remain so, and El Paso, of course, is the Sun City. In the last legislative session, I authored a bill to allow residential and small business customers of El Paso Electric Company to meter their solar energy and feed it back into the system.

Energy issues touch upon our economy and our health, and we also must think about how we protect precious open spaces. Last session, I passed resolutions to allow for a city-county regional parks authority and further supporting the protection of Castner Range.

Looking ahead to the next session, I’ve established advisory committees for the environment, green jobs, and renewable energy. We will be pushing hard in the next session to make progress on issues ranging from construction design to incentives, particularly for solar.

One of the issues the environment committee is focused on involves both open space and water — protection and sustenance for the Rio Bosque Park in El Paso’s Mission Valley.

Water is key to our future in many ways, and the state is not as well prepared as it ought to be.

Texas has a plan, but like so much else, the Legislature has failed to follow through. As the Houston Chronicle reports, “the Legislature approved a $53 billion water plan 15 years ago but has not found a way to finance it.”

It looks like the governor’s budget ideas, whether the issue is education or the environment or any of numerous other state needs, are just more of the same.

The future is upon us, and while we respect our history we must embrace change. Each generation remakes itself, standing on the shoulders of the giants before them, and the new Texas must be a place of smart public investment that reaches everyone and creates the framework for opportunity for all.

We can’t afford any more Enron math.

Other items of note

• The District 29 Citizens Legislative Town Hall meetings continue with visits to the East Side and the University of Texas at El Paso The meetings are opportunities to participate in community dialogue, build connections, and learn from one another, as well as to focus on the legislative process. Click here for the complete schedule.

• There are plenty of opportunities to celebrate Earth Day, among them the Party for the Planet hosted by the El Paso Zoo Saturday and Sunday. If you have an event you’d like mentioned, please share it through our Facebook page.

• Tax day was this week. For some, it’s an article of faith that immigrants drain the economy. But it’s quite the opposite, as this piece explains.

• I didn’t know him well, but Ramon Arroyos, who passed last week, spent much of his life fighting for justice and dignity, and his achievements will be remembered. It is a great loss for the El Paso community. Click here to read more about him.

• Thanks to the El Paso Times for agreeing with the comments that I made at the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee hearing last week regarding the border not being “a war zone.“ We all support smart, focused spending that supports smart, focused policies that support our community.

I invite you to follow me on Facebook and Twitter and to stay in touch with events and issues through the website.

Sincerely,