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Prior to 2003, tuition for public colleges and universities in Texas was set by |
the state legislature. |
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Following a legislative decision in 2003 to reduce state funding to higher education, which source of university revenue began to increase most rapidly? |
Student tuition and fees |
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Why must the Texas legislature maintain a balanced budget? |
It is required by the Texas Constitution |
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Given the budge structure and constitutional limitations upon spending and taxing, legislators seeking to balance the budget are left with |
few choices as to how to balance the budget |
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Federal money is an important part of the Texas budget, but monies that Texas receives from the federal government |
often come with strings attached |
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Federal funds appropriated in Texas generally are |
concentrated on a few state agencies |
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Which phrase best characterizes Texas’s reputation in terms of taxes and services? |
low service, low tax |
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Texas spending on a per capita basis is |
much lower than the national average |
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Compared to other states, which statement regarding revenue sources for the state of Texas is true? |
Texas has no income tax but high sales tax |
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Which is the single largest source of tax revenue for the state of Texas? |
sales |
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According to our text, what determines the amount of tax revenue generated from oil and natural gas produced in Texas? |
market price and the amount produced |
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Overall, the tax system in Texas is generally considered to be regressive, which means that |
the tax burden consumes a greater percentage of income received by lower-income individuals |
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Who pays the greatest portion of their income in property taxes? |
poor homeowners and renters |
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What is the argument commonly used by supporters of a state income tax? |
It is a fairer and more reliable source of revenue |
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If Texas instituted a progressive income tax |
low-income Texans would pay a lower tax rate than wealthy Texans |
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Texas will not implement a statewide income tax in the immediate future because |
the voters would not approve the measure |
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Next to revenue generated by state taxes, the second largest source of state revenue comes from |
the federal government |
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Federal matching funds are |
awarded to states that agree to fund a federal program on behalf of their own citizens. |
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Which statement regarding state-federal spending in Texas is true? |
Texas spends less on state-federal programs than most states do. |
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Which statement concerning matching funds in Texas is true? |
Texas has historically participated in matching funds at a relatively low rate |
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Authorized by voters in 1991, the Texas state lottery generates a sizeable sum for the state budget. |
The lottery is played by large numbers of people from all social classes |
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The permanent School Fund (PSF) was created in |
1854 |
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The main purpose of the Permanent School Fund (PSF) is to |
fund primary and secondary schools in the state. |
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Which of the following agencies is responsible for managing the Permanent School Fund? |
the Texas Board of Education |
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The funds generated by the Permanent School Fund are distributed to school districts across the state |
based on attendance rates |
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The Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) is commonly known as the |
Rainy Day Fund |
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The Permanent University Fund (PUF) was established in 1876 with a land grant of 1 million acres. It contributes to the support of |
the University of Texas and Texas A & M university systems |
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The National University Fund (NRUF) was established through a constitutional amendment to provide a source of funding for |
universities seeking to achieve national prominence as research institutions. |
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One significant component of the budget process that is relatively unique to Texas is |
the constitutional mandate that Texas legislators write a budget every two years |
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Which of the following is at the heart of the budget process in Texas? |
The Texas comptroller |
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The Texas Constitution specifies that state payments for assistance to needy children and their caretakers shall not exceed ____ percent of the states’ budget in any biennium. |
1 |
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The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) is chaired by the |
lieutenant governor |
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The purpose of the Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE) is to |
provide a detailed forecast of total revenues that the state is expected to take in |
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Who prepares the BRE? |
the comptroller |
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The process of drafting a bill is referred to as |
markup |
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Appropriations bills work their ways through both the House and the senate simultaneously. When there is disagreement on two versions of a bill, the bill is reconciled by |
a conference committee |
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Who certifies the state budget of Texas? |
the comptroller |
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In Texas, the governor’s line item veto power is |
very powerful because the governor can use it to limit expenditures |
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_____ monitors state agencies to ensure that they comply with the state budget. |
The LBB, in conjuction with the State Auditor’s Office. |
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Nationally, what two factors caused the bubble in the real estate market? |
low interest rates and loose credit standards. |
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When compared to the rest of the nation, the real estate collapse in Texas was |
less severe |
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the Texas legislature increased____ to help compensate for lower property tax revenues in the 2012-2013 budget cycle. |
state corporate franchise taxes and cigarette taxes |
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To address the budget shortfall in the 2012-2013 budget the most common tactic used by the legislature was |
spending cuts |
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From an overall standpoint, which statement is true? |
The Texas economy is closely tied to the national economy. |
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Which of the following statements regarding public policy in Texas is true? |
The policies of the national government influence Texas, but, for the most part, large segments of public policy, such as education, infrastructure, and legal matters, are state and local matters. |
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Which ideology reflected the public agenda in Texas during the first decade of the twenty-first century? |
conservative ideology |
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Under the Gilmer-Aikin laws |
the State Board of Education was established and became the policy-making body for public education in Texas |
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The three main issues that have shaped education policy in Texas during the last fifty years are |
funding, desegregation, and education excellence |
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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
validated the Texas state-imposed racial segregation in public schools |
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The legal doctrine at issue in the Plessy v. Ferguson case is the |
separate but equal doctrine |
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Under the separate but equal doctrine in the 1920s and 1930s, the amount of money that the state of Texas spent on black students was _____ the amount spent on white students in public schools. |
lower than |
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The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson in |
Brown v. Board of Education |
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In the Brown v. Board of Education case, segregated school districts were ordered to |
desegregate their schools "with all deliberate speed." |
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By the late 1960s, de facto segregation |
was still a problem in urban public schools with a large minority population |
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Among the most important findings of the 1983 report were |
test scores were declining and functional illiteracy was increasing |
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The high school graduation rates in Texas are |
among the lowest of all fifty states |
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Dropout rates in Texas are |
highest among minorities |
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The most persistent social problem facing Texas is |
poverty |
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The percentage of Texans living in poverty is approximately |
15 percent. |
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The generally accepted standard by which poverty is measured in the United States is the |
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty index |
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Which statement is true regarding poverty in Texas? |
In Texas, the poverty rate among children is much higher than in the rest of the United States. |
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The origins of modern welfare policy lie in |
President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. |
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The ____ transformed the way in which the United states Handled poverty and implemented welfare policy |
1935 Social Security Act |
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In the 1960s, welfare policy in Texas reflected |
a policy of minimizing the cost to Texas while maximizing the use of federal dollars |
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In 1965, Congress created he Medicaid program, a state-federal program, to |
provide health care for the poor |
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The most important welfare reform legislation since the New Deal was |
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which created block-grant funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) |
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The primary purpose of TANF was to |
make families self-sufficient by ending the cycle of dependency on government benefits. |
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Welfare reforms are measured along which two dimensions? |
The number of people on welfare and the success of getting people into the workforce |
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Since its creation, Medicaid has |
grown large and complex, serving a variety of special interest groups. |
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Federal money for Medicaid programs |
is accompanied by federal rules and regulations, which states must comply with to maintain federal funding of the program |
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The single most important issue confronting Texas policy makers with regard to Medicaid is |
the cost |
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Which statement is true? |
Texas leads the nation in the percentage of residents who lack health insurance coverage |
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In March 2010, Congress passed ____, substantially altering the nation’s health care system. |
The affordable Care Act |
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Which statement regarding the Affordable Care Act is true? |
Congress was sharply split along party lines |
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In legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court ruled that |
the tax penalizing people who failed to purchase medical insurance was constitutional |
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Most of the water used in Texas comes from |
aquifers |
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Which statement regarding water policy in Texas is true? |
Water rights are a complicated matter balancing private property considerations and the public good. |
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Why are Texas counties important? |
They provide the main form of government in rural areas |
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Which of the following is not a function of county government in Texas? |
administering water districts |
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What is the main difference between a special district and a county? |
A special district provides only one specific service whiten a geographic region |
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Which of the following statements about counties in Texas is incorrect? |
All counties have approximately the same number of people |
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In Texas, what is the name of the officer who presides over the county commissioners court? |
county judge |
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The job serving legal papers at the precinct level of a county goes to the _____. |
constable |
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The chief law-enforcement officer in county governments is the |
sheriff |
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Which of the following is not provided by a special district? |
city police |
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A home-rule charter |
specifies the number of members serving on the city’s governing body |
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What is the main difference between a home-rule city and a general-law city? |
A general-law city is chartered for localities with a population of fewer than 5,000 persons. |
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Which of the following is not a key difference between the may-council and the council-manager forms of local government? |
In the council-manager system, local politics is viewed as a full-time job, unlike a mayor-council system |
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The mayor-council form of government is most common in |
smaller general-law cities |
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What is an at-large election? |
an election in which voters elect officials from the entire geographical area, rather than from a smaller district within the area |
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The commissioner form of city government was developed as a response to the |
hurricane at Galveston in 1900. |
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What was the effect of Dallas’s shifting from an at-large to a single-member district system in 1991? |
The change was responsible for the election of a significant number of African American and Hispanic council members |
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Which of the following is the most common from of local government in Texas? |
special districts |
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A school district is |
a special district |
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School boars can do all of the following except |
draft standardized evaluation exams |
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Flood control is managed through special districts because |
flooding is seldom contained in a single city or county |
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In Texas, who creates special districts? |
Texas voters in the areas that will be covered |
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The chief financial officer for a city is called the |
city controller |
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How are most special districts in Texas administered? |
They are run by a board elected by residents within the district. |
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What are the main sources of revenue for special districts in Texas? |
property taxes and user fees. |
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