TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2009 (copyright 2009 Texas AFT)   Eve of Special Session: The Missing Agenda   Tomorrow the Texas legislature meets for a special session called by Gov. Rick Perry.  The agenda has been narrowly defined by the governor. It is limited to increasing highway and toll-road funding and extending the expiration date for certain state agencies under the "sunset" process that otherwise would force them to shut down next year. The extension for those agencies also involves a revised schedule for sunset review of others, including the Texas Education Agency (which would switch from a 2012 to a 2013 expiration date).   We'll be keeping a close eye on the two big highway bills, just in case Gov. Perry tries to pull a fast one and seeks to tap into public pension accounts--including the Texas Teacher Retirement System--as a funding source. Last year Perry said this idea was part of his legislative program for 2009.   But the agenda for this session is most notable for what it does not include. Not on the agenda:   --real school-finance reform to ease the budget squeeze on school districts and fully fund the state's obligations; --real accountability reform to correct the obsessive and counterproductive focus on state achievement testing; --expansion of children's health insurance; --expansion of access to high-quality pre-kindergarten programs; and      --expansion of unemployment compensation to help Texans thrown out of work in the current recession, which is the worst in nearly 30 years.   A common thread links all these non-agenda items for the special session. Gov. Rick Perry stood in the way of progress on every one of these issues during the regular session that ended June 1. He threatened to veto children's health-care expansion and improvements in unemployment compensation. He actually did veto the main pre-k expansion bill of the session. He blocked key provisions of HB 3, the accountability bill, that would have helped to de-emphasize standardized testing as the be-all, end-all of school and student performance ratings. He joined legislative leaders in clamping down on state revenue, artificially limiting the amount available for school-finance reform to a small fraction of what was needed.   The governor nonetheless declared the regular session a success. And thus far he shows no sign of opening his call of the special session to revisit any of the big, neglected priorities of the 81st legislative session.