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Priorities
The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) puts out a list of priorities decided upon by representatives to the state convention. These should be every Republican legislator's top list of priorities and they will be mine. To learn more about them, visit the RPT website.The following are my top priorities.
EDUCATION
Republicans are very divided on the school voucher bill that was passed without voter approval. In my opinion, Abbott pressured legislators to pass it. My top priority is education reform and this includes repealing the voucher bill. For starters, I don't trust the legislature to not start requiring private and homeschool families to be subject to state mandated curriculum and testing. I also feel that the families who would benefit the most from getting their children out of low performing schools, won't be able to afford the extra funds to pay for private school. My youngest received a partial scholarship to attend Bishop Lynch his senior year. We still had to come up with $900 a month to cover the cost. That was a brutal year even though we were making a modest income. If parents are working two - three jobs just to make ends meet, how are they going to afford the extra funds for private school?!
I also feel state testing needs to be eliminated. School districts should go back to a classical education, keeping politics out of the classroom (with the exception of history and government classes). We also need to get back to teaching with pencil, pen, paper, and textbooks. Research has proven that writing notes vs typing them, leads to better retention. School districts should create their curriculum and then give unit and end of course exams to determine mastery.
While the legislature can't eliminate organizations such as TASA and TASB, we can eliminate taxpayer funded lobbying. If superintendents and school board members want to join these organizations, they need to do so on their own dime. We can, however, eliminate either the TEA or SBOE or possibly even both! Return the power to the ISDs. Remember the I stands for INDEPENDENT.
In 2013, 2014, and 2023, I ran for school board in Richardson. My husband and I raised two gifted boys and I was a special education sub so we knew first hand the schools were not meeting the needs of our special populations. Through those first runs, even though I didn't win, change was evoked. Audits of the gifted and talented program and special education programs were done. RISD now has gifted services for secondary level students! (Pre-AP and AP courses are not G/T!) I would like to take it a step farther now at the legislative level and require school districts to offer G/T magnet schools (in districts large enough to have enough students) that require testing to be admitted, or for smaller districts to have specific classes for G/T students to attend all day every day. The Texas education code actually states that gifted students should be clustered together for learning. Because of my advocacy, I was awarded Parent of the Year by the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented (TAGT).
Priority ONE will be education reform.
I also feel state testing needs to be eliminated. School districts should go back to a classical education, keeping politics out of the classroom (with the exception of history and government classes). We also need to get back to teaching with pencil, pen, paper, and textbooks. Research has proven that writing notes vs typing them, leads to better retention. School districts should create their curriculum and then give unit and end of course exams to determine mastery.
While the legislature can't eliminate organizations such as TASA and TASB, we can eliminate taxpayer funded lobbying. If superintendents and school board members want to join these organizations, they need to do so on their own dime. We can, however, eliminate either the TEA or SBOE or possibly even both! Return the power to the ISDs. Remember the I stands for INDEPENDENT.
In 2013, 2014, and 2023, I ran for school board in Richardson. My husband and I raised two gifted boys and I was a special education sub so we knew first hand the schools were not meeting the needs of our special populations. Through those first runs, even though I didn't win, change was evoked. Audits of the gifted and talented program and special education programs were done. RISD now has gifted services for secondary level students! (Pre-AP and AP courses are not G/T!) I would like to take it a step farther now at the legislative level and require school districts to offer G/T magnet schools (in districts large enough to have enough students) that require testing to be admitted, or for smaller districts to have specific classes for G/T students to attend all day every day. The Texas education code actually states that gifted students should be clustered together for learning. Because of my advocacy, I was awarded Parent of the Year by the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented (TAGT).
Priority ONE will be education reform.
TERM LIMITS
A growing issue in Texas politics is that our legislators become complacent when they are in office too long. Another issue is that since we don't pay our legislators (they only get $7500 while in session, plus per diem and this has been their same pay since the 1970s!). This is not or should not be a volunteer job because while they are not in session, they should be holding office hours and meeting with constituents. This will also allow younger candidates the opportunity to run. As it is now, our representatives make exorbitant salaries sitting on boards or are independently wealthy and don't need to work. Paying them a modest salary would open up the candidate pool and could encourage more people to run. Priority TWO will be term limits and establishing a modest salary for legislators.
AUDIT THE BUDGET
President Trump started the year off with a bang and created the DOGE committee to uncover wasteful spending within the government. I feel every state should do this along with municipalities to determine the wasteful government spending. I also think bond issuance has gotten out of control and we need to have a way for cities and school districts to set aside funds for capital improvement projects to eliminate unnecessary interest payments on these exorbitant bonds. Tax payers are not an open wallet and government needs to learn to live within it's means. Priority THREE will be to examine and audit the budget.
