Today, thirty-nine Democrats in the Texas House sent a letter to Governor Greg Abbott urging him to call an immediate Special Session due to the "urgent need to address school finance and improve funding for all of our school districts around the great State of Texas." Within hours, Governor Abbott issued his response -- see here.
Meanwhile, this tweet by Brad Johnson, Senior Writer for The Texan News, showed the most up-to-date list of Abbott's media buy to defeat voucher opponent Republicans. Note, Gary VanDeaver, HD 1 (NE Texas) is at the top of the list. But, we promise you that the attacks to mobilize voters against VanDeaver won't be about school vouchers, it will be made-up falsehoods:
Johnson's Tweet:
"Tentative $ details of this #txlege buy (broadcast/cable mix) per Abbott’s camp:
-$120k in #HD1
-$216k #HD12
-$200k in #HD29
-$110k in #HD30
-$93k in #HD33
-$90k in #HD44
-$60k in #HD58
-$42k in #HD64
-$190k in #HD91
-$41k in #HD97
More to come, as well."
The Democrat's timing is within a week of the start of early voting on May 20, in the hotly contested, fabulously funded GOP runoff primaries where the Governor is taking some bad shots at rural Republicans and their cherished local schools. Is this a sign of a shift in Texas politics where the base of both political parties in Texas come together? We shall see!
Former Republican State Representative, David Simpson said:
"I believe the Governor has succeeded in weaponizing public education funding. He has targeted rural Texans, who are largely Republicans. Their legislators, like my friend Gary VanDeaver, helped shoot down the Governor's misguided voucher plans. While holding school funding hostage the Governor has taken $6 million from Pennsylvania-based Jeff Yass, to advance the voucher cause.”
Andy Griffith, a stellar high school government teacher in NE Texas, and one of the leading debate coaches in the country, is one of many great teachers who are being forced to leave public education in the midst of the long-standing political football game on education funding. Today, Griffith said,
"In Texas, the relentless surge in population has placed an unbearable burden on our public education system and those who dedicate their lives to it. Citizens are asked relentlessly to pass bonds and raise property taxes to build new facilities, only to witness them become outdated before they're even completed due to unsustainable growth. Inside classrooms, teachers contend with ballooning class sizes and taking on numerous additional responsibilities without consideration or fair compensation. The stagnation of pay, combined with soaring housing costs, makes teaching nearly unsustainable. All Texans, rural, suburban and urban — kids, parents and teachers — deserve so much better and can use the education crisis to build for another day. Education is not a partisan issue.”
Here's what you can do, pals.
Get out and vote in runoff primaries, especially for GOP runoff candidates State Reps VanDeaver and Burns. We wrote about these races here. We are also now supporting Butch Carmack for Bastrop County Commissioner, Precinct 1, map here.
Click on Roy and Trigger above to be taken to our Facebook page. Please share our candidate election videos and memes OR just share our home page.
Join the League of Independent Voters on Twitter Spaces, moved to Wednesday nights at 8 pm. Use this link.
Early voting is May 20-24. Election Day will slip by a lot of people. It's on May 28 the day after Memorial Day. Let's not fall and not be able to get up!
Contact us to volunteer at 512.697.8809 or email us at info@indytexans.org.
Comments