By Sen. Donna Campbell
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – With every passing day, the 84th Legislature seems to creep closer and closer, and there’s a lot of work to be done in the interim. Last year we had success cutting the margins tax, investing in water and highway infrastructure, and enacting measures to protect the sanctity of life. Now, I look forward to building on this success next session.
Senate hearings continue to take place. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of hearing testimony on the progress of implementing HB 5 as a member of the Senate Education Committee. As you may recall, we passed HB 5 last year to streamline standardized testing and make high school graduation tracks more flexible while still emphasizing rigor.
These changes were well-received and will save the state millions of dollars.
Two weeks ago, I joined Greg Abbott at IDEA Carver Academy in San Antonio, an open-enrollment, tuition-free public charter school, as he laid out his plans to provide teachers and principals with more resources to improve reading and math scores in grades K through 3. These grades are critical because studies show that if a student has fallen behind in reading by third grade, he or she is four times more likely to drop out of high school.
Many folks have come up to me and asked about Common Core. I am proud to say that Texas does not participate in the Common Core curriculum and we passed state legislation to prevent Common Core from being taught in our schools.
This was the right decision as the national Common Core standards have proven to be confusing and intrusive while giving teachers little flexibility to teach best practices.
As a result, we are seeing other states follow Texas’ lead and opt out of the misguided and overreaching federal curriculum.
HONORING THE TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD
Last month I had the opportunity to spend the day with the Texas Air National Guard at Lackland Air Force Base. We participated in some very informative discussions about drones, cyberterrorism, and flight training.
I also got to spend a few minutes in their F-16 flight simulator. Texas is fortunate to have a guard unit with such a full spectrum of capabilities, and I want to thank these fine men and women for everything they do to keep Texans safe.
5TH CIRCUIT RULES IN FAVOR OF ABORTION RESTRICTIONS
A number of court rulings have been handed down recently regarding the constitutionality of HB 2, the bill I co-authored last session to strengthen medical standards at abortion facilities and protect our tiniest and most vulnerable Texans.
In a 3-0 decision, the 5th Circuit ruled two of these measures were constitutional and that the state does have a vested interest in providing for the safety of our citizens.
As Planned Parenthood and abortion providers continue to file challenges against the law, I am confident that the State will continue to prevail on the merits of these arguments.
God bless Texas,
