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“Superintendent” PAC’s Super Election

Read the headline one more time, with sarcasm dripping from each syllable, and you'll get a sense for how I feel about this.  For six years, in every eligible election, the Texas Parent PAC has gone to the mattresses to defeat proponents of school choice.  They repeat...

Margins Tax Repeal Emerges on First Day of Bill Filing

The Texas Legislature is set to convene on January 8, and today, incumbent legislators are able to begin pre-filing legislation.  Right out of the gate, we've got our first bill to repeal the franchise (or "gross margins") tax, SB 113 by Senator Craig Estes (R-Wichita...

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Straus’ Session: Spend, Spend, Spend

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has a simple plan for the coming legislative session: spend more, on a lot. Tax relief? Nowhere in his plans. WOAI radio reported that House Speaker Joe Straus told the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce that the legislature should spend...

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Patricia Harless is Scared of You

State Rep. Patricia Harless is scared of you. Well, at least not in the way she should be. The Republican from Spring is scared of having grassroots conservatives like yourself in control of the speaker’s dais. Given the electoral fate of those who’ve stood by Speaker...

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Time for Townhalls

With the general election now behind us, Texas is now only two months away from the start of the 83rd Legislative Session—the tone of which will be determined by the very first vote cast in state’s lower chamber. Will Republicans uphold the party platform and conduct...

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Few But Important State Races To Watch

With only days remaining until the election, few competitive state races exist in Texas. But while few in number, they do have significant implications for the 83rd Legislature. Arguably the most watched state-level race resides in Tarrant County. State Rep. Mark...

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Even More Money For Education Needed?

Texas schools are failing to educate kids, so they need more money, right? Of course not, but that isn’t stopping a school finance expert claiming that school districts need $8 billion more per year than what the state has already appropriated. Mind you, expert Lynn...

A Little Debt Context

Yesterday, Comptroller Susan Combs released another earth-shattering report, this one focused on education debt.  The statistics within are just as incredible as you might imagine.  Public school districts in Texas are responsible for 33% of Texas' local debt, the...

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Bad Company

Incumbent House Speaker Joe Straus has some interesting people raising money for him. Signing a Joe Straus fundraising letter circulating this week is Kenny Jastrow, the disgraced former CEO of Temple-Inland and board member of Guaranty Bank who presided over “one of...

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