Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) holds a press briefing to advocate for the passage of school choice in the Texas Capitol.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon I want to thank everybody for taking time to be with us here today
00:04especially the legislators who are gathered behind me as well as the
00:09lieutenant governor and the speaker. As I think the lieutenant governor will
00:14remember the last time that we had a joint press conference with the
00:20lieutenant governor the speaker and myself was near the end of the 2019
00:25general session when we were on the eve of passing game-changing reforms to the
00:34property tax system in the state of Texas and it was a very productive
00:38press conference like this as well as a an extraordinarily productive session.
00:43Same is true at this moment in time. I think it's the first time we three
00:48have gathered for a press conference since then. We're gathered today for this
00:53because we are on the cusp of another type of game-changing piece of
01:00legislation. As you probably know the Texas Senate has passed out of their
01:06entire chamber school choice in the state of Texas. Next week the Texas House
01:12Education Committee is expected to pass out of their committee school choice for
01:19the first time in the history of Texas. Then in a few weeks after that it will
01:24be headed to the floor of the Texas House of Representatives. At this time we
01:29wanted to acknowledge how much Texas has taken a step forward for educating
01:37children in our state. School choice is so important for parents. It is essential
01:45for students. I'll talk to parents across the state every single day. Many
01:51of them have three or more kids and they all tell me pretty much the same thing
01:55and that is one of their kids goes to a public school another goes to a private
01:59school another one is home school and they say that the pathway each has taken
02:02is the best for that child. No one knows better than a parent the power and the
02:08importance of school choice for children. But as governor as much as I prioritize
02:16parents as much as we must prioritize our students as governor also prioritize
02:23something else and that is to ensure that our state will be number one in
02:31whatever area or subject field that we could be categorized. On that side of
02:38this room there are many trophies. Those trophies go to the state that ranks
02:44number one in the United States for the most economic development projects in
02:48any particular year. Texas has won that award for 13 years in a row. We rank
02:55number one for economic development number one for jobs number one for so
03:00many things. It's time that Texas ranks number one for educating our students in
03:09this state. There is a clear pathway to achieve that goal. A marker of that
03:15pathway is if you look at the state that's ranked number one right now for
03:19education. It's Florida. Florida also ranks number one for the largest school
03:26choice program in the United States. If we are going to achieve our goal of
03:31being ranked the best state in America for educating our students it starts
03:35this session by passing school choice. The stakes have never been higher. As we
03:44speak right now Texas ranks number one for four of the most important subject
03:50areas for the future of the United States for the future of the entire
03:53world. One is space, another is artificial intelligence, a third is
03:59semiconductors, and the fourth is power that powers the other three. If we're
04:05going to remain number one in all those areas and more we have to do a better
04:10job of making sure our children get a better education and that starts with
04:17school choice. Like I said earlier the large step was taken toward that goal
04:23when the Senate once again passed school choice out of their chamber. I'm proud of the
04:31leadership that's been shown by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in this
04:34area as well as so many others. I turn the mic over to him. Thank you governor. I
04:39think the Bible says on the seventh day he rested. We passed school choice six
04:44times the Senate is now resting. We are waiting for the House. I want to share
04:51with you that I think we're on the cusp of actually the greatest session in
04:57Texas history. I've never had a better working relationship with a speaker. We're
05:03aligned in so many issues. I know as this first year it's taken him a few extra
05:09weeks to get his feet on the ground and get set up but I expect to see a flurry
05:13of great bills including school choice to come out of the Texas House. He has
05:18been with us from day one on that issue. For the media in here, just to help you
05:23get the facts straight, let's remember this. Texas is funding education at one
05:30of the highest levels ever, now more than 50%. We have put more money into school
05:35security than ever before. Teacher pay in 2019, the average the average in 2019
05:43across the state was $54,000. At the end of this session it will be $69,000. Plus
05:51incentives for teachers who really excel at a much higher level. Put this in
05:55perspective, we have 5.5 million kids in K through 12 public education. 5.5 with a
06:03budget, state budget of about $84 billion. Got those numbers? 5.5, 84
06:10billion. School choice, despite the fact that will be the largest launch of
06:16school choice in the history of the world, a billion dollars and a hundred
06:19thousand students, I just want you to paint the picture. Five and a half
06:23million kids, a hundred thousand. Eighty four billion, a billion. So anyone who
06:30says that we are undermining education, that is simply a total lie. What we are
06:37doing in our K through 12 public schools, it's funding them more than ever
06:40before. Recapture is almost disappeared. We've cut school taxes, M&O taxes, by 40%.
06:46We're doing everything we can to have a robust public education system because
06:50that's where most students will go. But every parent deserves a choice. I've been
06:54working with Be An Angel for almost 40 years with children with disabilities
06:58and I can tell you that not every public school has the experienced teachers to
07:04deal with a child who has a severe disability. Are we going to deny a parent
07:09who has a child with a disability the right to go to a school that can help
07:14their child? Of course we would not do that. We have children who are in failing
07:18schools, have been failing year after year after year. Are we going to deny
07:22that parent the right to take their child to a school that can give them the
07:26American dream? That's what we're talking here. Every one of you in this room
07:31behind that camera or microphone, you've excelled in something in your life
07:34because you had a great education and because your parents got you a great
07:37education. If they're in a school that's a failure, they have no chance and that's
07:45what school choice is about. It's universal. It's for students with
07:49disabilities, students in failing schools and I believe that for all of these
07:54members behind us, this will be a bill when they pass it in the House that will
08:01be part of their legacy in life because they will change lives. So I'm proud of
08:05Brandon Creighton, Brad Buckley working together, the governor, the speaker. I'm
08:08glad the governor from Arizona here, Doug Ducey, who's been a champion on this and
08:12has a great story. But media, you have to help tell the truth in this story. School
08:19choice is only going to make our schools more competitive and better for every
08:22child in Texas. Thank you. Now, Speaker Dustin Burroughs. Thank you. I'll say
08:29this. We have had a great working relationship, the House has with the
08:34Senate and governor, especially on these education issues. I've appreciated
08:39Governor Ducey being here so that members can hear his perspective from
08:43Arizona. We can fully fund public education and do school choice at the
08:51same time. Let me repeat that. We can fully fund public education and provide
08:56meaningful opportunities in competition through school choice at the same time,
09:01which is why the House has been committed to passing both SB2 and HB3
09:07in tandem. Chairman Buckley has been working hard with his committee. It's
09:12been a great committee. They've stayed up till 630 in the morning working on these
09:15issues and he's been working with his Senate counterparts, Chairman Creighton,
09:20to make sure we have it right. I expect early next week the House Public
09:26Education Committee will pass out both bills, a school finance bill and a
09:33universal comprehensive school choice bill from the Pub Ed Committee and it'll
09:38be on the floor very soon thereafter and pass. We have appreciated the working
09:43relationship. We are excited to continue to get that on the governor's desk and
09:47become law and thank you all for the opportunity to do that.
09:51Gentlemen, thank you very much. During my entire service as governor, I had the
09:57opportunity to be good friends with the governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, and he
10:04and I have talked long before today with my admiration for him and his
10:09leadership to get school choice passed in Arizona and I thought nothing could
10:16be better than maybe having somebody with the frontline experience to be here
10:21and to share his thoughts about what happened in Arizona. So I turn Mike over
10:26to the immediate past governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey. Thank you, Governor
10:30Abbott. It's great to be here in Texas with you and Lieutenant Governor Patrick
10:34and Speaker Burroughs and there's very few things that Arizona is going to beat
10:39Texas on or be first on, but I'm here to be fully supportive of what you and your
10:47chambers are trying to do here with universal school choice. This is the
10:52biggest issue at the state level across the country and K-12 education has been
10:58flatlining in this nation since 1982. In this nation, we very rarely solve a
11:08problem. We innovate out of a problem and the innovation here is universal school
11:15choice. Arizona took all of eight years to pass this in our state. We were the
11:20first state to get it done. Thirteen other states have since followed suit,
11:25but no state even close to as big, as impactful, and as consequential as Texas
11:32has passed it yet. And when Texas passes this, it changes everything for every
11:38child in this state and across the nation. I tell the story often on how it
11:43took us eight years to get this done. How my partner in accomplishing this
11:47was a lady named Janelle Wood. Janelle Wood led the Black Mothers Forum and she
11:54was not happy with me on a number of issues, but she wanted to find a way to
11:58work together. And I said, Janelle, that idea is school choice. Janelle Wood sat
12:04next to Angela Ducey, the first lady at my last State of the State, and I said
12:09from the podium, 50 years ago, politicians stood in the schoolhouse
12:14door and wouldn't let minorities in. Today, politicians stand in the
12:20schoolhouse door and won't let minorities out. These kids are trapped in
12:26failing public schools and it's time to set these families free. Janelle Wood led
12:31the standing ovation. She rallied the African-American pastors to whip the
12:36votes. Not one of them a Republican. They were doing it because their children
12:42needed this opportunity. This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue
12:48and a civil rights issue. It should be available to every child in our nation.
12:53If you live in the suburbs or the right zip code, you have access to an excellent
12:58education. If you can access a Catholic school, a Christian school, a Hebrew
13:03school, you have access to that opportunity and an excellent education.
13:08Every child in our nation, if we believe in equality of opportunity, should have
13:14access to an excellent education and that's what this bill will do. Thank you
13:19Governor Ducey. Thank the other members up here. Listen, we're going to get this
13:25across the finish line and when we do, Texans will see that when it comes to
13:31education, it's not one or the other. It's not either public schools or school
13:37choice. We can do both at the very same time. We're going to fully fund public
13:42education while at the same time ensure that parents and children are going to
13:47have the opportunity to find the school that's best for them. We'll take a few
13:51questions. So as you know, there's more than enough co-authors in the
14:01Texas House who remain committed to ensure that legislation is going to pass.
14:06I have every reason to think there will be even more than that in favor of it
14:11when school choice hits the House floor. Go ahead. Yeah, I do want to go ahead
14:19and confirm what he said. There will be more votes on the House floor for
14:24school choice when it passes than there are co-authors.
14:28Governor, I wanted to ask you about costs. We talked about this last week and Democrats are out saying today that Arizona, don't Arizona want Texas and they're going to, what they say is budget deficits have, this program ran up the costs. I know there are others who say not true. So, A, what are people supposed to believe?
14:52And then number two, going back to my question last week as far as costs, the legislative budget board said in the year 2030, the cost of development is about $4 billion. And so, by any, that's a potential April. My question today is, that means, you said last week, budget has to stay, you know, we're budgeting it this way, whatever the state and the board will do it. But how is that going to work for parents?
15:20And so, are people going to be kicked out of the program? How is that going to work so that the state fits, you know, stays in budget but tries to expand the program?
16:20That number is going to grow larger in future years. The number can only grow as large as much as the Texas legislature decides to appropriate to it. And so, unless and until we get to future sessions, only then will a determination be made about whether or not it's going to increase or decrease.
16:43And that gets back to the last part of your question. Are parents going to be kicked out? I appreciate your optimism because you're assuming that it will be fully subscribed. This, when it passes, will be the first year ever we've had school choice. And it looks like it could be up to, for what, 70, 80, how many thousand?
17:06Close to 100,000.
17:08Close to 100,000.
17:10Depends on how they, what bucket they fall into, 80 to 100,000.
17:12Here's what nobody knows. How many people are actually going to participate in it? Is it going to be 100,000? We don't know that. And we won't know that until we get into the system. After we learn how many will subscribe to it, we can calibrate at that time just as we have with regard to charter schools.
17:32Right now, it would be guesswork to assume that it would be more, let's say, an oversubscription, and what would happen to those if it is oversubscribed, and what the cost would be. But again, the cost is going to be limited to only what the Texas legislature appropriates to it, with no automatic increase in future years. Hold on a second, because I mentioned that the Arizona governor can respond to any cost in Arizona.
18:00So school choice has been wildly popular in the state of Arizona, and it's also been a winner in the state of Arizona, not only for parents, but both for the budget and financially.
18:12When I came into office in 2015, we had a $1 billion deficit. We put more money per capita into K-12 education than any other state in the nation over the next eight years. We also got our teachers a 20% pay raise during that time, while we expanded school choice.
18:34I left the current governor, Katie Hobbs, a $2.5 billion surplus. That's with school choice. Any budget challenges that they're facing today is because of irresponsible spending that's happened since 2023. So they need to not spend as much as they are spending, and just allow the state to grow and use the revenues appropriately.
18:57I want to ask about low-income families. You guys have talked about this a lot in terms of, how do you get people in low-income areas where there aren't many private schools, to potentially put them right now? What happens to those families? A lot of them can't afford to take that transportation. I know in Arizona, I've read a story where there's still a lot of low-income families who can't participate in the USA because they don't have the money for transportation. They don't have all the money for all the other costs.
19:23So what happens to those families? Is this a wait-and-see way for competition to get to their school district? Or do you help their school districts now in some way that makes it a good education, even if you're in the south side of San Antonio or in the mid-north?
19:53And our charter schools are bursting at the seams. There are thousands of people on the wait list. When you're a parent, and you have a child in a failing school with no hope, you will do what it takes to get them to that school so they have hope. They find a way, and there will be schools. There are Catholic schools, Christian schools, Jewish schools, you name the schools, and private schools all around Texas, whether they're in the suburbs or the urban areas.
20:22And more will open. More will open. So look, you know the best problem we could have is we're oversubscribed, and people can't wait to get their kids to those schools. And you know what? The great state of Texas will figure that out.
20:36So you mentioned two areas of the state that have low-income families. One is south San Antonio. The other is the 5th Ward in Houston. I've actually pulled up on a map both of those areas to see how many private schools are nearby at a rate that is less than what's being provided in school choice.
20:58And within about a 10 to 15-mile radius, there are many private schools that are available to them, both in south San Antonio as well as in the 5th Ward in Houston, Texas.
21:13I would just point out this. School choice, by definition, requires a choice between two things. And you talk about public education, and we are committed to fully funding it and having a robust public education system that is there as a good choice for many students as well. And I do believe those private schools are available throughout a lot of the state.
21:35I want to address, too, because you did invoke Arizona. Half of the kids that are in our school choice program are below the average working wage. So this is access to all. Many of these schools provide a scholarship over and above what the state provides. So there's a way to close the gap, and it's for everyone in the state.
21:59You've been dying to ask a question.
22:01Luis, do you believe that your plan helps support families?
22:06Help what?
22:07Support families?
22:09For poor families.
22:12School choice already exists for the wealthy. This ensures school choice for people of all means, including those of low income means. We wanted to make sure that parents of low income are going to have the same opportunity that the wealthy have, so that those parents are going to be able to choose a school that may be better for their child.
22:35Two more questions.
22:38Representative Eddie Morales today, who represents the biggest district in Texas and the country, and he also said that private schools are scarce. So you're saying that we will have availability for our students in this district that represents 11 counties that all have border towns?
22:59I'll give you several examples. I think Alpine is in that district. Pull up Alpine and see the number of private schools there. Look further out west near the Pecos area for the private schools there. And so there already exist options that are available. But when school choice passes, it may mean that there will be more schools that decide to open up and provide that opportunity in locations across his district as well as across the state.
23:27I'll pass to the district attorney. You just recently announced that they offered a briefing of the yield to the 2019 Walgreens shooter to avoid the death penalty. Do you have a comment on that?
23:37No. First, I've heard about it. And I think the guy does deserve the death penalty, to be honest. A heinous shooting like that is what capital punishment is for.
23:50Thank you, Governor.
23:51Thank you, guys.
23:52Thanks, everyone.
23:57What do you make of that?
24:01Well, it's beyond reprehensible. It's a crime. It's a crime that the Department of Justice has made clear they're going to investigate and prosecute.
24:11Thank you, guys. That's it.