World-Class Schools

I will fully fund public schools and fully support teachers, students, and parents.

Public education is about the future of our kids and the future of our economy—because if we want the best jobs in America to be right here in Texas, we need the best schools in America to be right here in Texas.

But when I talk to teachers across the state, they tell me they lack the resources and flexibility they need to fully unlock a lifelong love of learning in the students in their classroom. Greg Abbott has underfunded Texas schools by $4,000 per student compared to the national average, and Texas’ hyper-focus on standardized testing has tied the hands of educators, forcing them to teach to a test instead of teaching to the children in front of them.

I will fully fund public schools.

Texas teachers are doing the most they can with the limited resources they have, but they’re burnt out, helping to explain why one-third leave the profession by their fifth year. Our teachers are underpaid by about $7,500 compared to those in other states, and educators who retired after 2004 haven’t received a single cost of living adjustment on their retirement benefits.

As governor, I will fully fund public schools and fully support teachers, students, and parents.

We will put more money into our kids’ classrooms and reject any effort to take your public tax dollars out of your schools. We will recruit and retain the best and brightest educators by raising teacher pay, strengthening health care and retirement benefits, and treating teachers with the respect they deserve. And we will finally end this state’s over-reliance on high-stakes standardized testing so that we can focus on measures that better inform instruction, address student learning gaps, and provide appropriate feedback to educators.