Tom Leppert On The Issues
Education
Keeping Dallas, and our nation, competitive in a global workforce is a priority for our community. I look at these challenges through various perspectives – as a business leader who has hired countless individuals and created thousands of jobs, as mayor here in Dallas and, finally, as a product of our public education system.
I attended public schools and I've seen the challenges teachers and parents face to provide an education for tomorrow's workforce. My high school was built for 2,000 kids but was overcrowded by double its original design and housed 4,000 students. After high school, I worked various jobs, even as janitor in a medical office, to pay for a higher education.
We live in a competitive world. Our students today will need to compete with students from China, South Korea and other countries throughout the world, countries that are affording substantially more in class time and producing more engineers, scientists and mathematicians. And the reality is that we are not keeping up. Businesses understand that the greatest threat to our economy in the next decade or two is the lack of a well trained, competitive and educated work force.
With these experiences and the many challenges facing young adults in mind, I have worked to help give Dallas students the first step toward a rewarding future. Historically, the City Council has turned its back on education, citing that it was the domain of the independent school districts. While that is organizationally correct, it ignores the importance of public education to this city's future success along with our ability to attract new employers and to maintain or build a strong tax force. In truth, for Dallas and any other city, the public education system is the most important issue facing us. And, the public education system, here and elsewhere, needs to improve substantially.
In Dallas, we understand this and have taken steps to aid students and foster a stronger education system. We have implemented an early reading program to better prepare young children for their upcoming and crucial early education years. Our goal was to reach 10,000 kids and we have exceeded that number by 30,000 in 2 years. I have led efforts to establish a unique scholarship program to reduce dropouts. It encourages students to finish high school by giving them a scholarship as freshmen and sophomores rather than just seniors. I believe this scholarship program is so important that I donate my entire mayoral salary to help see it succeed. I have also helped create an intern program that introduces young adults to the doors that an education can open. With the help of many businesses throughout our community, we are showing these children that preparing today will make success in the future much easier.
These programs have improved education for many young people in our community. They have provided new options and aspirations for our most important resource. And, importantly, they have come without additional burdens to our taxpayers.
As Mayor, I have seen Dallas move in the right direction, but there is still much to be done. For example, by some estimates, seventy percent of Dallas students moving on to college need remedial work in core subjects. And recently, we saw that most of the public school high schools fall below minimum standards.
Our workforce is now competing on a global scale and falling behind is not an option. Through my experience as an executive in the private sector and now as mayor, I know that the way to help anyone reach their full potential is to give them a solid foundation of knowledge. In the end, the only way to elevate an individual or a community is through education. I understand that to give an upper hand to tomorrow's work force we must give them the tools of success today.
Health Care
Decisions about health care are the most important personal decisions an individual or family will make. Health care reform should focus on increasing choices in determining what will be the best care for you and your family, truly reducing the overall costs in the system and ensuring our system continues to foster high quality care and new innovations. True reform puts patients and doctors in command of making decisions and removes insurance companies and the government from deciding what is in your best interest.
The recently passed health care bill was the typical Washington approach to a major problem that, unfortunately, disregards patients, taxpayers and businesses and ends with a massive expansion of government. This bill will run up our national debt and put enormous burdens on state and local budgets. It also fails to adopt common sense, economically oriented solutions like letting individuals buy health care across state lines, allowing small businesses to pool together to lower costs and addressing frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits. And, perhaps most importantly, it fails to take a real business approach to reducing costs, like moving to bundled payment programs or shifting to an outcome based payment system.
Washington had their chance to solve this problem and once again they failed to listen and, therefore, failed to deliver. From my experience as an executive and as Mayor, I know the private sector is more efficient and effective in allocating such a scarce resource.
Instead of using an individual approach, Washington politicians have shifted the nation toward government centered health care. AT&T, a Dallas based company, has set aside $1 billion to prepare for the new costs of the bill. And a local small businessman told me that this bill will increase his costs by over $700,000 a year and he has no way to recover this unless he reduces his payroll.
Taking funds from private companies to pay for government mandates impacts us all. That reduces jobs, cutting edge research and development and limits the growth of our communities. On top of that, the legislation could cost Texas taxpayers, already facing enormous budget hurdles, $24.3 billion between 2014 and 2023 according to Texas State Department of Health and Human Services.
Prior to this health care bill, the federal government was already running 60% of the health care in this country and more was just added. It is estimated that the IRS alone will add upwards of 16,000 new bureaucrats to handle the implications of this bill.
This bill is not in the best interest of Texas or our nation. The challenges of health care are real for citizens of Dallas, Texas and our nation. Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation of 6.1 million (25.7%) residents without health insurance. Reform is needed, but Washington's answer of more government is not the solution. It is critical that we reduce the spiraling costs for individuals and businesses if we are to see our economy grow and prosper. A reform package that addresses key issues like pre-existing conditions, portability of coverage (e.g. allowing an individual to move their insurance when they change jobs), allows more competition in the purchasing of health insurance, provides real economic incentives to reward outcomes rather than just more costly services and is without new federal programs at costs that we cannot afford should be our collective objective.
Public Safety
Thomas Jefferson said, "The first role of government is to protect its people."
Before ever being in the race for Mayor, it was clear that the people of Dallas had made public safety their number one priority. East, west, south or north, everyone had fighting crime as their first priority.
After being elected mayor of Dallas, I was determined to improve public safety and make Dallas a better place to live and work. So we set the priorities and we worked to find ways to lower crime throughout the city.
To accomplish this mission, we have invested heavily in public safety and built strong partnerships with local businesses, neighborhoods and law enforcement. We have increased our police force by nearly 20 percent. Police officers have been given better equipment and resources to carry out their mission. This has reduced crime by double digits, numbers that any city would be proud of, and it has made Dallas a safer place to live.
These goals have been accomplished by finding creative solutions and without raising taxes or adding additional costs to the taxpayer. Not only has it made the city better for the current residents but also makes Dallas more attractive to companies looking for a new home. Our work is not done, but we have made great strides at a fast pace.
A vital service of any city is public safety. The security and well-being of individuals in a community is a cornerstone in the foundation of a successful city. We knew that when we took office, we went to work to get it done and have produced real results for our citizens.
