Bailes addresses Dayton Rotarians last Thursday and announced some important legislation that he authored and was signed by the governor.

Bailes addresses Dayton Rotarians last Thursday and announced some important legislation that he authored and was signed by the governor.

t was a full house for Rotarians as they listened to their special guest State Representative Ernest Bailes on his accomplishments in the last session of the legislature.

t was a full house for Rotarians as they listened to their special guest State Representative Ernest Bailes on his accomplishments in the last session of the legislature.

Rep. Bailes confirms progress with Dayton train issue

Fresh off his first session as state representative, Rep. Ernest Bailes was back in the district to update his constituents on his votes, bills he authored, successes and challenges working within the politics at the capital.

Last Thursday, Bailes spent most of his day in Dayton meeting with Rotarians at noon and educators shortly after and then a drop-in at the Dayton community meeting later that night.

The freshman representative's biggest announcement came with confirmation that progress had been made on the headache at the railroad crossing on US 90 in Dayton.

Bailes said there had been several meetings with officials from BNSF, CMC, Union Pacific and other stakeholders in Austin at the capital to iron out the issue.

"I can't discuss it in full detail but because it's still in negotiations phase, however, I can say with full confidence that UP is at the table, which they have not been before, and willing to work with us," he said.

Bailes also confirmed that TxDOT officials from Beaumont and Austin at the state level were in on the negotiations realizing that the public safety issue and growth coming from new developments and SH 99 resonating with officials.

"They have all agreed to a concept that will move the railroad crossing further to the west on US Highway 90," Bailes told Rotarians.

Bailes said it not only made sense for them operationally inside the rail yard, but also will alleviate the congestion at the current crossing.

He told Rotarians that TxDOT is now in the process of developing a cost estimate for an overpass that would go over the new US 90 location and would be fairly close to the SH 99 area south of Dayton.

Bailes also said that Union Pacific was considering double-tracking into Houston, including through Dayton making it a north-south line. UP would have to acquire some private land that they do not own but no acquisitions have been made to date.

"The overpass will have to be wider than it is on most because of their traffic flows," he said.

Bailes used Plum Grove, a once small logging community, as an example of the shocking growth coming to the county.

"Their population at the last census was 660 or 670 and now their platted for 17,500 half-acre lots and that's growth," he said.

Not all of those have homes on them yet, but the growth has been nothing short of exponential.

The Dayton development River Ranch promises to be a little slower with homes being built first on 150 lots on the northwest corner of the property close to SH 146. According to a spokesperson from River Ranch, homes won't be built on that property for another 12 to 18 months.

Another of topics of interest, particularly for educators, was the idea of a consumption tax for public education instead of property taxes.

"The problem with that is that in Shepherd, Texas, for example, where I live, if my wife buys groceries at the Cleveland Walmart, she's actually taking away from Shepherd ISD and giving money to Cleveland ISD with a consumption tax," he said. "The only way to make funding equitable for all students across the state of Texas is to use a Robin Hood system, but we can't go back to a system we have already deemed as not fair."

That was only one of the issues with having to deal with funding education, a huge piece of the pie in the state's budget.

"We're trying to find out how we can get a meaningful fix for school funding," he said.

School choice and vouchers remain at the center of the debate, particularly with the Lt. Governor telling lawmakers that he would not pass any measure that effects school funding without them.

Bailes discussed how many private schools wouldn't be willing to accept special needs students, particularly knowing that they might lose money with their care and education.

Having closed enrollment is not comparing apples to apples, he said.

"Public schools are tied with those strings where they have to," the freshman representative said.

Bailes also announced that negotiations with TxDOT may bring a turning lane on 146 coming in from Hardin into Liberty.

"I've met with TxDOT and they have done the traffic studies on addressing a turning lane there and that will be another help to Liberty," he said.

Bailes also addressed the $1,000 pay increase for teachers across the state.

"No one knows yet how that will be funded and probably won't know until we return for the session and hear if it will be an unfunded mandate on school districts or not," he said.

Another proposal for half a billion to help fix the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) and showing that educators across the state are facing nearly doubling insurance.

"We were only able to put in about two-thirds of that, but teachers will probably face a near doubling of their insurance. If we could have come up with the money to fix the insurance mess, teachers would have been able to keep more money in their pockets and that would have probably exceeded the $1,000 pay raise," he said.

Bailes said the legislature will return to Austin in July and face 20 charges from the governor to address.

"We have a lot of issues to settle, some of these have already been addressed, others much more important than another, but they all must be addressed," he said.

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Rep. Bailes confirms progress with Dayton train issue - Chron.com