Former US representative and Texas state representative. Did not complete ATPE survey. Nothing about education on FB. From website: "Education ? The State?s Most Important Job Texas should have the best public school system in the nation. Instead, we are 43rd in per pupil expenditure. Our objective must be to change the priorities of the legislature to put public school funding first. Educating our next generation and our workforce is the single most important responsibility of state government. In fact, the Texas Constitution refers to it as ?the duty of the legislature?. After decades of neglect, the legislature finally made a small attempt at reforming and improving our school finance system in 2019, but the impact of the COVID pandemic has more than wiped out any gains that might otherwise have been made. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress ? considered the ?gold standard? for determining educational quality, Dallas performed below average compared to other urban districts, to Texas in general and to the overall U.S. average before the pandemic hit. Even more concerning, DISD ? and all of Texas ? has failed to close the significant performance gaps between students of color and white students or between economically disadvantaged students and their peers. Neither the state nor the district have provided sufficient programs and services to level the playing field. Then in 2020, DISD average daily attendance dropped by over 15,000 students and still has not recovered. Worse yet, studies indicate that the necessarily hurried switch to virtual education was of limited success in educating many of the students who did attend. Despite the urgency, the Governor Abbott and Republican legislators tried to hold back the federal aid that Democrats in Congress provided, until a massive political backlash forced them to release the funding. While that will help Texas schools develop and offer appropriate programs and services over the next few years, it will run out and the state must step in to continue them. Testing can be valuable when it is used as a diagnostic tool to help teachers learn where their students? needs are. This is particularly true in Texas, which has an extremely high mobility rate and large percentages of disadvantaged and English language learner students. When state tests were first adopted in 1984, they were given at the beginning of the year to provide background on students new to the school and district and to evaluate the impact of the ?summer slide? caused by ten weeks with no ongoing education. This also prevented wasting time on ?teaching to the test? and evaluated real learning, rather than cramming. What we must do: Fix the school finance system to provide school districts like DISD with sufficient funding for programs that assure all of our students receive an appropriate education. Provide sufficient revenue to provide salaries that attract and retain the best and brightest as teachers. Eliminate the high-stakes testing system that grinds the joy out of learning, wastes precious time on ?teaching to the test? and demoralizes our educators. State funding for English language learners (ELL) (10% more, 15% in dual language programs) is still drastically below the 40% that numerous studies have indicated is minimally necessary to provide appropriate education programs and services for ELL students. Funding for special education students is still based on the outmoded ?instructional arrangements? weights adopted in 1984 and is totally inadequate for providing appropriate services and assistance to special needs students in the modern primarily mainstreamed environment. HB3 improperly eliminated the Cost of Education Index, which recognized that it costs more to employ educational personnel of all types in communities like Dallas than in many other parts of the state. It should have instead been updated and a replacement is sorely needed to adequately fund Dallas schools. Index the basic allotment to cover property value growth, helping schools meet inflation and new mandates and preventing the continued shifting of the burden onto local property taxes. Raise teacher pay: Average teacher salaries in Texas are more than $7 thousand below the national average, according to the National Education Association. Texas must adopt a plan to raise pay at least to that level over the next five years. Competitive wages in Dallas are well above average in Texas and districts like DISD with high concentrations of disadvantage students must pay even more to compete with wealthier suburban districts. The state must reinstate an updated cost of education index to provide DISD and similar districts with sufficient funding to pay those wages. Eliminate high-stakes testing: Move testing back to the beginning of the school year!! Stop using test scores as a bludgeon. Stop basing salaries on test scores. Survey responses: WHAT IS BROKEN? a. Texas is 43rd in per pupil expenditures among the states. This represents a failure, by every measure, to adequately fund public education. Texas should be first in per pupil expenditures with a dramatic increase in the state share of public education funding that puts Texas on a rapid trajectory to have the best public school system in the nation in five years. Most of those who say public education is ?broken? are the ones who broke it. b. Public education is treated by the legislature as just one of many items of business instead of as the first responsibility of state government. The consensus objective should be that Texas have the best public school system in the United States. This consensus must be created during the campaign season by asking every candidate if they agree, supporting those who do and designating for defeat those who do not. On the first day of the session the house and senate rules should be changed to provide that public education funding come to the floor first, before any other matter is considered. Education funding, and every education proposal, will then be measured against the standard of whether it is moving the state toward having the best public schools in the nation, rather than competing with other state budget items. Consideration of all other state business will proceed only after public education is fully funded and any debates about the need for revenues will center on expenditure for other state business, rather than on expenditures for public education. c. Texas teacher salaries are in the bottom half of the nation. The average teacher salary in Texas is $54,121, ranking us at 27th in the nation, compared to states of comparable economic status and population, including New York at $85,889 and California at $83,509. The average entry-level teacher salary is worse. Teachers are leaving the profession en masse. We should institute an across-the-board pay raise for all teachers and move Texas to the top five in the nation in average teacher salaries and in average entry-level teacher salaries. This must be accompanied by an increase in the state contribution for teacher health insurance, which has been $75 and has not been increased since 2002. The one-time Covid-related extra contribution to the teacher?s health insurance system does not solve the problem. PRIORITIES: a. Dramatically increasing state funding for public education across the board (see above) to a level placing Texas on a trajectory to have the best public schools in the nation within five years. b. Dramatically increasing Texas public school teachers? salaries, including entry-level salaries, so that Texas? salaries are in the top five nationally. c. Eliminating A through F grading of schools and eliminating burdensome student testing so it is generally limited to entry-level testing of student to provide the teacher with a clear picture of the educational level of the teacher?s students. FUNDING: See answer to #1 and #2 above. FINDING THE MONEY: Texas has a $12 billion revenue surplus projected by the state comptroller for 2023 and a $12 billion reserve ?rainy day? fund, for a total of $24 billion in available revenues over and above funding needed to maintain current levels of state spending. This should be utilized to put Texas on a trajectory to have the best public school system in the nation. VOUCHERS/CHARTERS: Under no circumstances would I do either. I am opposed to private school vouchers, tax credits, or scholarships and I am opposed to expanding charter schools. EVALUATING PUBLIC SCHOOLS: One-time entry level testing at the beginning of the school year. IGCs: I will support ending the use of IGC committees. A-F CAMPUS EVALUATION: A ? F grading of campuses is ineffective, devoid of logic, and another scheme to make public schools appear to be failing, leaving the impression that only privatization (charters, vouchers, etc), can succeed. We should institute A ? F grading of the Texas Legislature, not public schools. ATTRACTING/RETAINING TEACHERS: As stated above, a) Dramatically increase teacher salaries to a level comparable with other states of the comparable populations and economic strength so that Texas? average salaries, and average entry-level salaries, are among the top five in the nation. b) Increase the state contribution to teacher benefits, including a major increase in the contribution to the health insurance program, COLAs: The cost-of-living increase should occur annually, adjusted upward according to annual increases in the cost of living. TRS CARE: I support a major cash infusion into the TRS-Care health insurance program to put it on sound actuarial footing and remove the need for annual debates on the matter. TRS RETIREMENT: I support keeping TRS (and all other state retirement plans) as a defined benefit plan. I oppose changing it to a 401K or hybrid plan, proposals which are a rehash of privatization rhetoric that never meets expectations. Teachers should be able to teach with the knowledge that a defined benefit plan is in the future that does not require individual account management, interaction with money managers, etc. REPRESENTING ALL CONSTITUENTS: My job is to be a leader. I am a product of the public school system, my wife is a former Dallas Independent School District elementary teacher, and my son is a school principal. I know our 5.5 million public school students are our future, and our future is best served with a robust public school system that is the best in the nation. My constituents agree with this and any that don?t will hopefully learn from me as I advocate this policy. My political party, the Democratic Party, agrees with this and when Democrats stray from this principal, I will do my best to bring them back to our commitment to public education. I will likewise be a strong public education advocate among members of both parties serving in the Texas Legislature. My record indicates I will lead the effort for excellence in public education. I served five terms in the Texas House and seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and during that time compiled a voting record which was 100% supportive of the legislative goals and priorities of the public education advocacy community. While serving in the Texas House, and on its Education Committee, I was twice named one of the Ten Best Legislators in Texas by Texas Monthly, principally because of my work on public school finance. RESOURCES FOR INFORMATION ON PUBLIC EDUCATION: a. Center for Public Policy Priorities, now renamed Every Texan. b. Texas State Teachers Association and American Federal of Teachers c. Paul Colbert, education expert and former member of the Texas House. d. Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and staff, Dallas Independent School District e. Texans for Public Education. OTHER COMMENTS: a. Class size limits. The current class size limit of 22 for preschool through the fourth grade is constantly bypassed with waivers by the Commissioner of Education. Actual class sizes for higher grades are now unlimited. I support a hard and fast class size limit of 22 students in all elementary grades, not averaged across the campus or district. b. School takeovers. I will oppose permitting the takeover of campuses by the state education commissioner. c. I will oppose new measures, and support repeal of existing measures, which seek to reward school districts with more funding if they become partners with charter schools.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=487825649398041
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TEXAS EDUCATION REFORM Page 1 Education ? The State?s Most Important Job Texas should have the best public school system in the nation. Instead, we are 43rd in per pupil expenditure. Our objective must be to change the priorities of the legislature to put public school funding first. Educating our next generation and our workforce is the single most important responsibility of state government. In fact, the Texas Constitution refers to it as ?the duty of the legislature?. After decades of neglect, the legislature finally made a small attempt at reforming and improving our school finance system in 2019, but the impact of the COVID pandemic has more than wiped out any gains that might otherwise have been made. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress ? considered the ?gold standard? for determining educational quality, Dallas performed below average compared to other urban districts, to Texas in general and to the overall U.S. average before the pandemic hit. Even more concerning, DISD ? and all of Texas ? has failed to close the significant performance gaps between students of color and white students or between economically disadvantaged students and their peers. Neither the state nor the district have provided sufficient programs and services to level the playing field. Then in 2020, DISD average daily attendance dropped by over 15,000 students and still has not recovered. Worse yet, studies indicate that the necessarily hurried switch to virtual education was of limited success in educating many of the students who did attend. Despite the urgency, the Governor Abbott and Republican legislators tried to hold back the federal aid that Democrats in Congress provided, until a massive political backlash forced them to release the funding. While that will help Texas schools develop and offer appropriate programs and services over the next few years, it will run out and the state must step in to continue them. Testing can be valuable when it is used as a diagnostic tool to help teachers learn where their students? needs are. This is particularly true in Texas, which has an extremely high mobility rate and large percentages of disadvantaged and English language learner students. When state tests were first adopted in 1984, they were given at the beginning of the year to provide background on students new to the school and district and to evaluate the impact of the ?summer slide? caused by ten weeks with no ongoing education. This also prevented wasting time on ?teaching to the test? and evaluated real learning, rather than cramming. When I previously served in the Legislature, state formula funding for community colleges, together with a low state-regulated tuition, was expected to cover all of a college?s operating costs, with local property taxes only neeNded to provide facilities. Now, the Republicans have shifted much of the cost to property taxes, with the state and a much higher tuition about equally covering the remainder. Not only has tuition soared, Texas provides very little financial aid for community college students. While we pay a college tax rate of about 12? cents in Dallas, one third of property in Texas pays no college taxes. Eliminating the freeloaders would raise enough to make tuition free while reducing our property tax rates. Woodrow Wilson High School Geneva Heights Elementary TEXAS EDUCATION REFORM Page 2 What we must do: ? Fix the school finance system to provide school districts like DISD with sufficient funding for programs that assure all of our students receive an appropriate education. ? Provide sufficient revenue to provide salaries that attract and retain the best and brightest as teachers. ? Eliminate the high-stakes testing system that grinds the joy out of learning, wastes precious time on ?teaching to the test? and demoralizes our educators. ? Properly fund community colleges to meet our education and workforce training needs and make them tuition free. Fixing the school finance system ? State funding for English language learners (ELL) (10% more, 15% in dual language programs) is still drastically below the 40% that numerous studies have indicated is minimally necessary to provide appropriate education programs and services for ELL students. ? Funding for special education students is still based on the outmoded ?instructional arrangements? weights adopted in 1984 and is totally inadequate for providing appropriate services and assistance to special needs students in the modern primarily mainstreamed environment. ? HB3 improperly eliminated the Cost of Education Index, which recognized that it costs more to employ educational personnel of all types in communities like Dallas than in many other parts of the state. It should have instead been updated and a replacement is sorely needed to adequately fund Dallas schools. ? Index the basic allotment to cover property value growth, helping schools meet inflation and new mandates and preventing the continued shifting of the burden onto local property taxes. Raise teacher pay ? Average teacher salaries in Texas are more than $7 thousand below the national average, according to the National Education Association. Texas must adopt a plan to raise pay at least to that level over the next five years. ? Competitive wages in Dallas are well above average in Texas and districts like DISD with high concentrations of disadvantage students must pay even more to compete with wealthier suburban districts. The state must reinstate an updated cost of education index to provide DISD and similar districts with sufficient funding to pay those wages. Eliminate high-stakes testing ? Move testing back to the beginning of the school year!! ? Stop using test scores as a bludgeon. ? Stop basing salaries on test scores. Properly fund community colleges ? Restore state funding at least sufficient to cover operating costs. ? Require all property in Texas to help pay for community colleges. ? Make community colleges tuition free. ? Adjust the funding formulas to properly fund the higher costs of educating disadvantaged and non-traditional students.
2025
Voted AGAINST Vouchers (SB 2)
Voted for the amendment to remove vouchers from HB 1 making it purely a school finance bill (special session 4 - 2023)
Voted For the Herrero amendment to prohibit money from HB1 to be used to fund vouchers/ESAs (regular session 2023)
Voted AGAINST HB 3708 -$1500 Allotment per UIL Activity for each non enrolled student to allow them to participate in UIL activities
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