Can you imagine paying for a few items with your credit card only to discover that your card expired 99 years ago? Or perhaps you can picture a gentleman in his 70s picking up his monthly Social Security check only to find out that he has been dead for the past 24 years?
       These are just two examples of the havoc that the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem has in store for us as we enter the new millenium. But it doesn't end there. Anything associated with Social Security, pensions, Medicare, retirement benefits, tax codes, tax payments, tax refunds, driver's licenses, voter registration and other items of concern will be affected by the Y2K problem.
       But to understand the consequences of this problem, we must understand exactly what the problem is.
       It all started over 30 years ago as a clever cost-saving measure. Essentially, businesses, governments, and software developers decided to write the date in computer programs as two digits rather than four. For example, 1975 was written as "75," the 19 being understood by the

Bo Armstrong, President of Bryan/College Station Eagle Forum, is a computer scientist, and will keep us updated on Y2K in future articles in the Torch.

computer system. In order to calculate the age of someone, the computer simply took the current date and subtracted the person's birth year. (Example: to determine the age of a person born in 1950, the computer would subtract "50" from "98," yielding an age of 48.)
       The Y2K problem will appear when the computer reaches midnight on December 31, 1999. It will then automatically set the date to "00." We will understand this to mean the year 20"00," but the computer will interpret it as the year 19"00."
       As a result, on January 1, 2000, a person born in 1930 would have an age of "00" minus "30" (or -30 years old). Given that you can't have a negative age, many computer systems will equate a negative age as unborn or simply take the absolute value and return an age of "30." In either case, the computer would be wrong since the person's actual age is 70. This example shows how detrimental the Y2K problem can be to programs such as Social Security, but it doesn't end there. Having correctly stored dates in all computers is very important for a number of reasons.
       For one, dates are used extensively to determine if a person should/should not receive items such as Social Security, pensions, Medicare, retirement benefits and many other types of payments. Dates are also used in industry to control manufacturing processes, maintenance schedules, and machine operations.
       Banking and financial institutions will also be affected because numbers such as interest, due dates, delinquent accounts, bonuses, commissions, mortgages, bills, loans and stocks are reliant on dates.
       Even our national security will be affected. In the military, tracking time and correct navigation is absolutely essential. If you launch a missile on December 31, 1999, it will use a star chart from 1900 that will throw it way off course!
       The Y2K problem, however, is not all doom and gloom. There are a number of interesting and exciting opportunities that Y2K presents to us. In the next few months, we'll discover why Y2K is so hard to fix and just how well private industry and governmental organizations are prepared for this oncoming electronic siege. We will also explore different ways to prepare and take advantage of the effects of Y2K.
       Until then, keep an eye on your credit cards with the expiration date of 2000 or later. All credit card companies have finally claimed Y2K compliance, but you never know…. You may find that your card expired 99 years ago.

       Governor George Bush campaigned on a promise to abolish the regulatory authority of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). But SB1 (the 1995 Education Code) greatly increased the power of the TEA. Because of SB1, the TEA/Commissioner of Education and the State Board of Education (SBOE) are entirely separate entities. Pitted against each other, they often have power struggles. The controversy over School-to-Work (STW) has played a large part in these education power struggles.
       Legislative action on STW that passed during Governor Bush's tenure has contributed to the problems in public education by continuing to splinter education authority. Accountability to the citizens of Texas and a philosophy of open government on education policy has been lost. The Governor's appointed Chairman of the SBOE has condescendingly referred to the concerns of many citizens about STW as the "boogeyman that's not there." The citizens of Texas want and need accountability for education policy, including STW.
       Governor Bush's STW staff has said STW "eclipses every other issue" and "touches on virtually every issue in our society." This is true. STW has an enormous impact that cannot be ignored. The following Legislative recommendations address many of the problems with STW:

1.        Take the Federal Mandates Out of the Code SB1 requires the TEA to "prescribe requirements for Career and Technology education in public schools as necessary to comply with federal law." The TEA must also make sure "the state complies with requirements for supplemental federal career and technology education funding." One such optional and supplemental program is the federal STW Opportunities Act (STWO), which requires STW programs (state and local) to meet all of the requirements listed in the Act. The legislature should amend the Education Code to remove mandated compliance with optional federal programs.
          SB1 requires Texas assessments to "meet federal requirements for measurement of student progress" and requires Texas students to demonstrate exemplary performance in comparison to national and international standards. These provisions force a focus on and comparison to national standards and require compliance with federal regulations for testing. The legislature should delete these programs.

2.       Invest Education Authority in Elected Officials SB1 gave the Commissioner of Education authority to enter federal contracts without approval of the SBOE. This bypass of elected officials increases the power of the TEA and has the capacity to greatly increase the regulatory authority of the TEA. The legislature should require the SBOE to review and approve agreements between the federal government and the TEA Commissioner.
          Governor Bush's Welfare Reform Bill (HB 1863) gave authority for STW programs to his advisory committee (TCWEC). The legislature should give the SBOE authority over STW progams. They should require SBOE approval of all TCWEC policies or strategic plans relating to programs for which the board has authority (e.g., curriculum, assessment, and certification of academic or work skills).

3.       Preserve the Academic Mission of the Schools New education goals in SB1 force the schools to make family membership, wage earning, and "high-skill, high-wage jobs" the specific goals of the schools. The legislature should eliminate these non-academic goals.
          SB1 requires the curriculum to "prepare and enable all students to continue to learn in postsecondary, educational, training, or employment settings." The Governor has called this a "strong statutory mandate." SB1 also requires the curriculum to contain skills "necessary to problem solve, (and) think critically." These are undefined and subjective terms. The legislature should ensure that curriculum is knowledge-based by amending this wording to require the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to be knowledge-based: a coherent sequence of grade-level factual knowledge.
          SB1 requires assessment to be "primarily-performance based." It is clear that the words "primarily-performance-based" were the impetus for experimental, subjective, expensive testing that shifts the focus from factual academic knowledge to subjective applications and behavior; funding a national assessment and certificate of initial mastery through the New Standards Project; and professional development that focused on teaching methods associated with Outcome-Based Education (OBE). The legislature should ensure that assessment is knowledge-based by replacing the words "primarily performance-based" with the words "knowledge-based."

4.       Ensure Local Control HB 1863 and Texas' STW federal grant application require STW promotional activities and marketing campaigns. The legislature should stop the publicly funded STW advertising campaign by prohibiting, through statute, the use of state money for advertising or promoting STW policies or programs.
          HB1863 created a new bureaucracy, the Texas Skills Standards Board (TSSB). The TSSB is supposed to validate nationally established skill standards and to review standards developed by other states and nations and enter into agreements for mutual recognition of credentials. This is not local control-it is a requirement to implement national skill standards and certificates. The legislature should abolish the appointed TSSB.
          The meaning of "skill standards and certification system" initially came from a report entitled "America's Choice" by Marc Tucker. Since the publication of this report, its recommendations have been federally legislated in Goals 2000 (Title V) and the STW Opportunities Act of 1994. The Governor's advisory board has mandated the development of a skills standards and certification system. The legislature should prohibit the development of such a state system.

5.       Ensure Parental and Student Rights and Preserve Privacy The legislature should ensure that parents give permission for and have total access to all STW components including, aptitude testing, assessment of interpersonal and personal qualities, instruction in "positive work attitudes." They should also require parental approval of four-year education plans and student course selections. The legislature should require schools to obtain parent and student permission before using personal information to track a student from school to work.

FAMOUS AMERICAN QUOTE
      "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor."
      President George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789