The bill to address the financial and administrative problems at Texas Southern University was unnecessarily blocked in the House this week by some of my fellow Houston lawmakers (for more details, please see the Houston Chronicle article below). By blocking the TSU bill that had passed unanimously out of the Senate and unanimously out of the House Higher Education Committee, there is a renewed possibility that the Governor may appoint a conservator for TSU.

Despite this development, I have not given up the efforts to address the issues at Texas Southern University and prevent the appointment of a conservator for the university.

I am doing everything in my power to maintain the historic independence of Texas Southern University. I have offered a rider for the state budget that would create a rehab plan for TSU.

Offering a rider to the budget is like offering an amendment to any normal bill, except that a rider to the budget creates a requirement on how money must be spent. The TSU rider I proposed says that, out of the funds appropriated to TSU by the state, the Board of Regents must work with the State Auditor, consultants and experts, and other state agencies to develop and implement a rehab plan. The rehab plan must address finance and accounting, human resources, management information systems, planning and communications, student financial aid, contract and grant management, and other appropriate areas of administration of TSU.

The rehab plan must also address issues raised by the Deloitte & Touche LLP audit, which was transmitted to the Board of Regents of Texas Southern University on May 9, 2007 and was discussed in the May 23 Houston Chronicle article on TSU.

Finally, the rider I offered requires that strict benchmarks be set in place to guarantee that the university improves its financial and administrative standing. Progress reports would have to be made every four months to the legislative audit committee, the state auditor, and certain members of the Legislature. These reports hold the Governor and his appointees accountable and ensure the state of Texas is being held responsible for its stewardship of its university and meeting the benchmarks set forth by the rehab plan.

I am doing everything I can to ensure the TSU accountability rider makes it onto the budget. I will update you as soon as I know the progress of the rider, along with any other developments relating to Texas Southern University.

Sincerely,

Garnet Coleman

New TSU board meets as lawmakers debate its future

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE and KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Texas Southern University's new governing board started the process of rebuilding the troubled school Tuesday while state lawmakers remained at odds over how to proceed.

With the legislative session nearing an end, a compromise bill that would stave off Gov. Rick Perry's call for conservatorship at TSU unraveled in the House. Two Houston Democrats responded Tuesday with separate proposals requiring stricter oversight and greater transparency at the state's largest historically black university.

But their last-minute effort may not address the governor's concerns and thus return conservatorship to the table. Perry also could appoint four more regents to fill out the nine-member board.

"The Legislature has refused to act to fix the problems at TSU," Perry spokesman Robert Black said. "The governor has taken every conceivable approach to solve the problem. He needs legislation to act further."

Perry had supported a bill that would allow him to replace a state agency's regents with a smaller, reform-minded board in times of crisis. But some black lawmakers were reluctant to cede too much control over the board to the governor, leading to the omission of the bill from the House's calendar after the Senate passed it.

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, who helped write the bill, said it is a mistake not to pass it and accused another Houston Democrat, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, of standing in the way.

"It is my belief that you have to have something all of us can live by," said Coleman, whose district includes the campus. "Why would other members intervene in a process meant to protect and save the university?"

The bill, however, failed to address specific fiscal and academic issues at TSU, said Turner, who is a member of the committee that places items on the House's agenda.

"We cannot continue to treat Texas Southern as if it is a community-based institution," he said. "It is a state-run agency. We can collectively work together in the best interest of TSU, without using the term 'mine.' It is ours."

After the bill's demise, Coleman and Turner proposed additional strings to the university's funding. Both lawmakers called for rehabilitation plans and progress reports, but diverged on the details.

Adding to the sense of urgency was the release this week of an outside audit, which concluded that the university's spending practices are rife with problems, ranging from bookkeeping errors to inadequate oversight of public funds.

In a 28-page report, auditors found that administrators sometimes violated purchasing policies, resulting in payments to vendors without proper documentation. TSU also failed to provide receipts and balance sheets for the two years under scrutiny.

Without the information, the auditor Deloitte & Touche could not finish its work or form an opinion about the university's financial well-being.

The previous regents requested the outside review in February after a spending scandal involving the university's former president and internal audits questioning expenses.

The former president, Priscilla Slade, now faces criminal charges stemming from the use of more than $260,000 in school money to furnish and landscape her home. A Harris County jury recently sentenced Quintin Wiggins, the university's former chief financial officer, to 10 years in prison for his role in the matter.

While Deloitte & Touche scolded the university's administration for lack of internal controls, it did not single out Slade or any other individual. Instead auditors suggested the problems were systemic.

Some university employees questioned the need for tighter controls, telling auditors that "this is how it has always been done," according to the report.

"It speaks volumes that a reputable firm like Deloitte & Touche cannot successfully complete an audit because things are such a mess," Black, the governor's spokesman, said. "What they have been able to uncover appears to be a systemic lack of internal controls of the school's finances. This is tremendously damning evidence that a Band-Aid will not fix."

Not all lawmakers, however, view the audit that way. Coleman said it did not tell legislators anything they did not already know.

"It made clear that controls were weak," he said. "You had to have chaos and lack of internal controls to steal. The system was set up to steal."

To address the audit and other financial problems, the new regents on Tuesday approved the hiring of a consultant who would develop a long-range plan for TSU. Former state Rep. Glenn Lewis, who is the board's chairman, said he has talked to retired Xerox Corp. executive Kerney Laday about the job.

The regents also agreed to reinstate J. Timothy Boddie Jr. as interim president for an undetermined period. His contract expired last month amid Perry's push to oust the previous board.

"For now, we want to maintain some continuity," Lewis said.