[The following article appears in the January 1995 edition of
_Public_Sector_Quality_Report_, pages 3 and 4.]

                        TEXAS PERFORMANCE REVIEW
                       PRESENTS THIRD MAJOR REPORT

     Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts John Sharp and his band
of merry management watchdogs and penny pinchers are at it once
again. Their just-released third Texas Performance Review (TPR)
report brims with more than 400 recommendations for streamlining
state government to the Texas-sized tune of $2.1 billion over two
years, and $4.6 billion over the remainder of the decade. You
might recall the initial TPR was conducted in 1991, when Texas
faced serious budget shortfalls and the legislature decided it
was time to "challenge and question basic assumptions" underlying
state government. The TPR was described as a comprehensive review
of all programs, services and spending, with an eye toward
streamlining, cost-cutting and improving government's
organization and management.
     The first two TPR reports, Breaking the Mold (1991) and
Against the Grain (1993), led to legislative measures and
administrative changes that have saved state taxpayers more than
$6 million, according to Comptroller estimates. Those early
reports also became a model in 1993 for the U.S. federal
government's National Performance Review, to which Sharp was a
key advisor.
     The latest major TPR, Gaining Ground: Progress and Reform In
Texas Government, calls for changes big and small in such areas
as workforce training, education, health and human services,
state employment, public safety and more. Specifically, Gaining
Ground recommends the following:
     * Freeze state employee numbers at 1994 levels (primarily
through attrition), which TPR staffers say would trim an
estimated 11,000 positions by the end of fiscal 1997, saving $444
million in salaries and benefits. Prison guards, state troopers
and criminal investigators would be exempt. Delayering of middle
management is a likely target. Employee-related costs are about
25 percent of the state's budget.
     * Consolidate scattered, duplicative and often ineffective
workforce training programs into a single agency, as opposed to
the 14 which currently offer some form of training or assistance.
     * Provide students with greater access to technical/
vocational school graduation and placement data, to improve the
system's responsiveness to market needs and drive down student
loan defaults, especially those at proprietary vocational schools
(e.g., cosmetology schools, where 51 percent of student loans are
in default).
     * Create "Educate Texas," a network of adult learning labs
(complete with child care facilities) designed to help welfare
recipients earn their General Educational Development (GED)
certificates. The report says this could be done, using existing
state and local funding and federal matching funds, with no
impact on the state's general fund.
     * Change a state education funding mechanism so schools
don't have to borrow to finance operations during the first two
months of a school year, reducing the schools' interest costs and
freeing more money for instruction.
     * Educate state agencies and school districts on the
mechanism for claiming reimbursement for Medicaid program
administration (the so-called Medicaid "administrative match"),
then use those dollars (an estimated $32 million for 1994-95) to
fund school-based clinics to improve health care delivery to
children.
     * Extend the state's "Lone Star card" electronic benefits
transfer system for food stamps to other programs, including
child support collections, Medicaid and unemployment insurance.
     * Promote volume purchasing of medical goods and services
through creation of a six-person Health Care Purchasing Office.
TRP says the office would cost $ 1 million to staff and could
save $68 million in fiscal year 1996-97.
     * Consolidate employee health insurance with one provider
(as opposed to the current three), saving an estimated $89
million in the 1996-97 biennium.
     * Abolish the office of State Treasurer (262 full-time
employees, $11.2 million budget) and roll its function into the
Comptroller's office (this would require a constitutional
amendment).
     * Implement one new tax, a sales tax on items purchased in
prison commissaries by inmates.
     "The ground Texas has gained since 1991, while impressive,
resembles a quick weight-loss diet," states the executive summary
of Gaining Ground. "The fat in state government isn't just
sitting on the surface. It's marbled deep down through the
structure of public policy, eating away at government's
effectiveness... Too many outmoded patterns have been left in
place. It's time for a permanent lifestyle change."
     Gaining Ground is a two-volume report, Volume I (the
executive summary) is $2 and Volume 2 (a 686-page compilation of
the recommendations) is $8. Volume 2 is a veritable management
analyst's playground, with lots of highly detailed background and
supporting rationale for each recommendation.
     Suffice to say, from education reform to on-line citizen
access to state information, there are plenty of ideas and policy
innovations here of interest to change-minded people state and
local government.

CONTACT: Texas Performance Review, (800) 232-8927 or (512)
475-0332 

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