State Guard or State Reserve: Another Way to Get Tuition Reimbursement

[sanantone]

Worst funded, that's probably true, yes, I'll agree with that. How many child abuse reports have you filed? My most recent filing was last month on an urgent case. They did an awesome job for which I give them credit and high praise. You won't be reading about how professional they were because the case is confidential.

Statewide Intake is not CPS. They take reports by fax, mail, phone, and e-reports for CPS, APS, RCL, and DCL.

[dfrecore]

California's problems stem from different issues. Besides, California has county CPS agencies. Texas does not have county CPS agencies. Because the Texas legislature only meets every other year, it does not always know when it is going to have a budget shortfall or how much it is going to be. By the time they get to something, they have to make drastic budget cuts. Emergency funding had to be put together while the legislature was not in session after a court ruled that our foster care system was unconstitutional. The state had children sleeping in hotels and CPS offices because they didn't have anywhere to put them. Texas' spending on child protective services is low in comparison to other states. I'm sure there are plenty of other states that have their legislatures meet every year, and they run perfectly fine.

I don't think people quite understand how bad things have gotten with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. It just might be the worst state-operated child protective services agency in the country. In one two-month period last year, over 3,000 children with open cases were not seen. Almost 700 of those cases were documented as being urgent. In other words, the children were potentially in imminent danger of being injured or dying from abuse or neglect. Bringing up California does not change the fact that Texas has horribly mismanaged its child protective services agency, and it's going to cost Texas taxpayers hundreds of millions to correct the problem because the state waited until the last minute to address the problem.

Sorry, I was not saying that Texas doesn't have a problem, just pointing out that how often a state legislature meets is not always the problem.

And, with CPS - counties do a terrible job here. We hear horror stories regularly. They especially love to take kids from parents who aren't victimizing their kids (think homeschoolers) while missing the truly terrible crimes being committed. It's unbelievable sometimes what happens. I know it's a damn near impossible job, but there seem to be people who have their priorities screwed up pretty regularly.

Anyway, not trying to say that TX doesn't have problems at all, I'm sure they do. But I don't think how often the legislature meets is the issue, as much as legislators not thinking it's a priority. No matter what state you're in, it seems like there is such waste, fraud and abuse, while things that truly need fixing aren't given the priority they need to.

[clep3705]

Statewide Intake is not CPS. They take reports by fax, mail, phone, and e-reports for CPS, APS, RCL, and DCL.

Quite true. I'm not going to go into any details of any case. I've seen good workers in bad situations. We have general consensus here that there are political, legislative, administrative, and organizational problems with CPS agencies nationwide. But when CPS problems are being discussed, I'm going to defend the caseworkers and investigators. We have good people dedicated to helping children who aren't getting the funding and support they need. It's going to be more difficult to get funding for caseworkers and investigators if they are lumped in with all of the bad. The public is more willing to fund good workers than bad workers. I'm proposing we distinguish between the good and the bad and provide respect and support to those in the system who diligently strive to do the right thing for the kids.

[High_Order1]

[bjcheung77]

My thoughts exactly! That GIF is priceless!

[sanantone]

Quite true. I'm not going to go into any details of any case. I've seen good workers in bad situations. We have general consensus here that there are political, legislative, administrative, and organizational problems with CPS agencies nationwide. But when CPS problems are being discussed, I'm going to defend the caseworkers and investigators. We have good people dedicated to helping children who aren't getting the funding and support they need. It's going to be more difficult to get funding for caseworkers and investigators if they are lumped in with all of the bad. The public is more willing to fund good workers than bad workers. I'm proposing we distinguish between the good and the bad and provide respect and support to those in the system who diligently strive to do the right thing for the kids.

I didn't say anything about the caseworkers. As a matter of fact, all of my criticism has been of the state legislature. Trust me, I know more than most about what goes on behind the scenes.

[sanantone]

Sorry, I was not saying that Texas doesn't have a problem, just pointing out that how often a state legislature meets is not always the problem.

And, with CPS - counties do a terrible job here. We hear horror stories regularly. They especially love to take kids from parents who aren't victimizing their kids (think homeschoolers) while missing the truly terrible crimes being committed. It's unbelievable sometimes what happens. I know it's a damn near impossible job, but there seem to be people who have their priorities screwed up pretty regularly.

Anyway, not trying to say that TX doesn't have problems at all, I'm sure they do. But I don't think how often the legislature meets is the issue, as much as legislators not thinking it's a priority. No matter what state you're in, it seems like there is such waste, fraud and abuse, while things that truly need fixing aren't given the priority they need to.

I get what you're saying. I just don't think it's a good idea to react to things a year and a half later. If the legislature had just finished their session before the Dallas police shootings, it would be about a year and a half later before the state would vote on funding for bulletproof vests. Last year, a judge was pressuring the state to do something about the foster care system, but there wasn't much they could do without the legislature to overhaul the system.

[High_Order1]

Again, I'm not sure if they really know what I'm talking about, but I did explain that the state guard or state reserve is not the same as the national guard or U.S. reserve. TESC says that state guard members qualify for MDCP, no fees except for the graduation fee, and a tuition rate of $250 per credit hour.

I was excited by this, so I emailed my counselor, who has really been a great deal of help. She contacted the TESU Office of Military and Veterans’ Education, who said this wasn't possible.

What key words, or how are you phrasing this to get the results you're getting from them? I could do eight months to a year in the State Guard if it meant a reduction in fees, and especially if I could get out from under the residency waiver...

[sanantone]

I was excited by this, so I emailed my counselor, who has really been a great deal of help. She contacted the TESU Office of Military and Veterans’ Education, who said this wasn't possible.

What key words, or how are you phrasing this to get the results you're getting from them? I could do eight months to a year in the State Guard if it meant a reduction in fees, and especially if I could get out from under the residency waiver...

I emailed the military department because they're supposed to know better. But, like I said, TESU still didn't seem to fully understand that state guards are not the National Guard. I believe TESU requires you to use a certain system or supply certain paperwork depending on the branch. You won't have this as a state guard member. With Excelsior, they explained to me that all I needed to do was email a copy of my ID and orders. In Texas, state guard members are given a Texas Military Department ID because they do activities on base.

Edit: The associate director of the Office of Military and Veteran Education was the one who responded to my ticket. I just emailed her to see what she says about the documents that need to be uploaded. If they require JST or CCAF transcripts, then it's not going to be possible.

[sanantone]

This is the response I received.

They won't have to upload any document into the application. If they are Army National Guard/Reserves and have a GoArmyEd account, they will apply via GoArmyEd. If they are part-time Guard or Reserve and do not have a GoArmyEd account, they will apply via our website. We don't require any form to be uploaded. I believe they can provide their training history if they do not have a JST. They can submit anything that shows their official military training.

Under MDCP, 24 credits need to be completed in residence. I believe TECEPs still count toward the residency requirement for military students. You'll have to verify this.