UM Women to promote public education

140 churchwomen set
’06 legislative priorities
at Jan. 29-31 assembly

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
Promoting quality public education and curbing pollution from power plants top legislative priorities for Texas United Methodist Women in 2006.
That’s the outcome of the 19th annual UMW Legislative Event. Some 140 churchwomen from across Texas —including 36 from Southwest Texas—attended the Jan. 29-31 gathering in Austin.
United Methodist Women convene each year to hear presentations and talk about topics that make up their legislative agenda. The women take information back to their communities.
The goal, organizers said, was to rally support for issues on the agenda and encourage people back home to contact state lawmakers about legislation.
Other legislative priorities for UMW members include:
> Curbing air pollution—especially as it relates to children’s health.
> Restructuring the state revenue system—including consideration of an income tax.
> Improving healthcare—especially for children.
Population change was one key topic during the three-day event. Texas State Demographer Steve Murdock discussed how shifting ethnic mix, age trends and income patterns might affect Texas’ future.
Texas ranks 49th among the United States in education level, he said. That statistic is tied to the demographic makeup of the state.
Texas’ minority populations historically haven’t achieved the education levels of the state’s white majority, Murdock said. Without higher education, the income of minority residents suffers.
The white majority population is becoming the minority, he noted. If current trends continue, Texans as a whole would be less educated, earn less and occupy more lower-end jobs than they do today.
United Methodist Women want to counter that trend, said Sue Sidney, Southwest Texas Conference UMW president.
“Fifty percent of Anglos graduate from college but only 12 percent of Hispanics,” she said. “If we keep that education rate over time, as Hispanics become the majority, we’ll see the education level go even lower, which means lower income.
“Texas is already behind in education and will be really behind, and that’s a direct correlation to income.”
Texas United Methodist Women have long championed education for all children,” said Sidney, a member of First UMC, Cedar Park.
“To get the education rate up to the Anglo rate is right down our path,” she said. “That’s what we’ve been pushing for for years. It’s who United Methodist Women are.”