An Austin American Statesman Editorial shows how the legislature has waited too long to fix another problem.

The $48 million that Texas lawmakers added to the budget for the 13 state schools that house Texans with mental disabilities won’t pull the troubled system out of the hole it’s in. The hole is too deep.

[…]

As with the Texas Youth Commission, the state agency for juvenile offenders, the state schools have staffing and oversight problems. The Youth Commission found itself in a sex abuse scandal earlier this year, and its management was gutted after a series of investigations. It is now under the direction of a conservator appointed by the governor, though its travails are far from over.

Problems in the state schools appear more systemic: low pay, chronic staff turnover and stressful jobs caring for the state’s most vulnerable youths and adults, those with mental retardation.

The latest census data shows Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured residents. The Dallas Morning News is reporting that based on the three-year average from 2004 to 2006, Texas had an uninsured population rate of 24 percent. New Mexico and Louisiana had the next-highest rates, each topping 20 percent.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that a solid majority of the State Board of Education is against the idea of adding “intelligent design” to the state curriculum, “even though several members say they are creationists and have serious doubts about Charles Darwin’s theory that humans evolved from lower life forms.”

Interviews with 11 of the 15 members of the board – including seven Republicans and four Democrats – found little support for requiring that intelligent design be taught in biology and other science classes. Only one board member said she was open to the idea of placing the theory into the curriculum standards.