Lege Foes Spar on Schools

Candidates for Texas House Districts 48 and 50 debated education issues Tuesday night in a forum organized by a slew of local PTA and teacher groups. All four candidates – Democrats Mark Strama and Kelly White facing incumbent Republicans Jack Stick and Todd Baxter, respectively – declared public education their passion and top priority, although Strama and White pointed out that the last Legislature didn't actually do much on education last session, since the Republican leadership was too preoccupied with slicing Texas' congressional districts to ribbons. Baxter, for his part, agreed that spending three special sessions on redistricting and only one on school finance was shameful indeed.

Other contentious issues included UT's Top 10% plan, which all agreed should be modified, ranging from Strama's suggestion to merely cap the number of Top 10-ers to Stick's curt, "Let's just get rid of it. It doesn't work." On the issue of vouchers, Strama and White both opposed what Strama called a "dumb" idea, while the Republicans dodged the question by saying that the state's broken school finance system needs to be taken care of first; both referenced their opposition to one particular "virtual voucher" bill last session.

Issues of character also came up, with White reiterating her call for Baxter to return (or donate to charity) the money he received from Texans for a Republican Majority – funds at issue in the recent TRMPAC indictments – and Baxter questioning White's ethics based on mistakes the rookie candidate made filing her campaign finance reports. Stick, looking remarkably tan, also pointed out that while he was in Austin last session, fighting for the good people of Texas, his opponent was not even in the state of Texas – he was at the time living in Washington, D.C. Git a rope.

The forum will be repeatedly broadcast on Channel 22 in the coming weeks.