Austin United Methodists Call on Churches Throughout Texas to Speak Out Against Budget Injustice

AUSTIN, TX — Leaders of University United Methodist Church of Austin have sent a letter to more than 350 Texas United Methodist churches urging pastors and church members alike to take action to help prevent the deep cuts to education, social services, and other state programs that legislators are considering in the face of a $27 billion state budget shortfall.

Reverend John Elford, Senior Pastor of UUMC, said he and church leaders sent the letter to all the churches in the Southwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, a regional denominational body similar to a diocese. Elford said UUMC felt compelled to alert other United Methodists to the “grave injustice” lawmakers are preparing to do in adopting a budget that cuts services to the neediest Texans.

“The United Methodist tradition preaches a theology of abundance and grace. We simply cannot stand by and watch as lawmakers embrace a narrative of scarcity and fear that produces suffering for millions of Texans,” Elford said. "The long-term costs of making these massive cuts would be enormous because of the damage they will cause to the future of Texas and Texans."

Associate Pastor Susan Sprague said UUMC has a special responsibility to issue the call to action because it has close ties to the Capitol and is keeping close tabs on the state budget situation. “We know sometimes the details of the legislative session aren’t communicated as broadly outside Austin, and we want to be sure every church in the Southwest Texas Annual Conference understands what’s at stake for Texas in the proposed budget,” Sprague said.

The letter includes information about the budget shortfall, the proposed cuts, and strategies for church members to express their views on the budget to lawmakers.

UUMC is historically known for its social activism and leadership on social justice issues. The church is located at the corner of 24th and Guadalupe Streets adjacent to the University of Texas.

The full text of the letter follows.

Dear Colleagues in Ministry,

Along with University UMC leaders, I write to you today to urge you to speak out as United Methodists against the grave injustice the Texas Legislature is preparing to inflict on millions of Texans through a series of desperate budget cuts. As a United Methodist church in the state’s Capitol, with deep connections to state government, we feel a calling to observe the activities of the Legislature and report them to our sisters and brothers who share our concerns for the welfare of Texas.  As I’ve listened to stories from parishioners on the impact of these cuts, I was moved to write this letter and underwrite its cost.  

As you know, Texas is facing an historic budget shortfall, precipitated not only by the global economic downturn but also by tax cuts and other funding decisions the Texas Legislature made in recent years that are now proving unsustainable. In the face of this shortfall, lawmakers propose to cut vital services and programs. Just a few examples of the cuts being proposed include:

•    A nearly $10 billion cut to local school districts that would eliminates funding for teacher incentive pay, high school completion programs, technology, and pre-kindergarten grants, and could cost more than 100,000 public school teacher jobs and another 140,000 private-sector jobs.
•    Ten percent payment cuts for nursing homes, doctors and hospitals in the state’s Medicaid program, resulting in loss of health care for millions of children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
•    Ten percent cuts to community college and state universities, complete de-funding of four community colleges, and a dramatic reduction in student financial aid.  
•    Eleven percent cut in the adult prison system (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)—coupled with a 21 percent cut in community supervision funding that would eliminate much of the recent progress made in funding treatment initiatives and other alternatives to incarceration.
•    Child abuse prevention would be cut by 84 percent, and paid prison chaplains would be completely eliminated.

Lawmakers would have us believe that these draconian cuts are made necessary by scarcity of resources—but in fact the cuts simply perpetuate longstanding inequities in our state. Texas ranks 46th out of the 50 states in per capita tax revenue, and 47th in per capita tax expenditures. We don’t spend much on meeting even basic human needs, because those of us who are blessed with abundant resources have not been asked to share that abundance for the common good.

University United Methodist Church stands ready to provide additional information to any churches inside or outside of our annual conference who wish it. We also can provide resources to help your church be an effective advocate, such as providing volunteers to help escort your members to the Capitol for legislative visits.

I urge you to call on members of your congregation and visit your state representatives.  They need to hear your voice, the voice of their constituents, calling for a courageous budget strategy that includes, among other things, using the “Rainy Day Fund,” and raising additional revenue.  And they need to hear our support that we will cheer them on in the face of critics whose only vision for our state is more cuts.  

As United Methodists, you and I live out of a tradition of abundance.  God’s inexhaustible gifts, God’s boundless love, God’s enduring vision for humanity far exceed our imagination.  May you and I be part of a new wave that calls us away from scarcity thinking, and back to the inexhaustible gifts of God, the rich blessings of God that we know first hand as citizens of this great state and the sacred obligation of caring for our most vulnerable, for the ones who will be most hurt by these projected cuts.

With Peace and Hope,
John Elford
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