It’s hard not to see the late-breaking addition of the Public Education Committee chair Dan Huberty’s just-filed HB 21 to the committee's agenda Tuesday as a bit of a chess move against both voucher advocates and the Senate (see below). The runs have been released using the funding scheme in the bill, and there will no doubt be a lot of discussion of this in committee once people have had a chance to read the bill and digest the runs. All this takes place in the context of little consensus on what to do to address the public education finance system, declared dismal but barely constitutional by the Texas Supreme Court last year. Note: Harold Dutton's HB94 got bumped from the agenda.
| category | column-1 |
|---|---|
| Creating a school voucher program | 13% |
| Expanding the number of charter schools | 7% |
| Increasing the pay of public school teachers | 13% |
| Increasing funding for the public school system | 20% |
| Providing more incentives for individuals to choose teaching as a profession | 8% |
| Reducing the number of standardized tests students must take | 21% |
| Increasing opportunities for online learning | 4% |
| Grading individual schools on an A-F scale | 7% |
| Expanding state-funded, pre-kindergarten programs | 7% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creating a school voucher program | 5% | 9% | 21% |
| Expanding the number of charter schools | 2% | 9% | 10% |
| Increasing the pay of public school teachers | 16% | 19% | 9% |
| Increasing funding for the public school system | 32% | 7% | 14% |
| Providing more incentives for individuals to choose teaching as a profession | 10% | 7% | 6% |
| Reducing the number of standardized tests students must take | 18% | 27% | 21% |
| Increasing opportunities for online learning | 4% | 6% | 4% |
| Grading individual schools on an A-F scale | 5% | 6% | 9% |
| Expanding state-funded, pre-kindergarten programs | 8% | 9% | 5% |
[[nid: 19629]]
The (now other) headliner at the Capitol Tuesday is the meeting of the Senate State Affairs Committee to take up SB 6, Senator Lois Kolkhorst’s bill that would require school districts, state agencies, and political subdivisions to develop policies that would govern access to bathrooms based on “biological sex” as defined by their birth certificate, among other related policies. Josh Blank and I wrote recently about the tangle of (largely unformed or at least fluid) public opinion in this area, subject as it is to many attitudinal cross-currents. Last month’s UT/Texas Tribune Poll found underlying attitudes about gender similar to those discussed in that piece, with the addition of a new item that suggested that most Texans aren’t thinking it’s important for the legislature to make a priority of the subject.
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Their birth gender | 33% | 41% | 76% |
| Their gender identity | 51% | 35% | 11% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 16% | 24% | 13% |
| category | Democrat | Republican | Tea Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| Their birth gender | 31% | 77% | 76% |
| Their gender identity | 55% | 14% | 9% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 13% | 9% | 15% |
| category | Urban | Suburban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Their birth gender | 49% | 54% | 62% |
| Their gender identity | 37% | 31% | 20% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 14% | 15% | 18% |
| category | The Bible is the word of God, to be taken literally | The Bible is the word of God, not to be taken literally | The Bible is a book written by men |
|---|---|---|---|
| Their birth gender | 75% | 57% | 25% |
| Their gender identity | 14% | 26% | 61% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 11% | 16% | 14% |
| category | Democrat | Independent | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very important | 24% | 11% | 27% |
| Somewhat important | 13% | 12% | 17% |
| Not very important | 10% | 16% | 14% |
| Not at all important | 40% | 46% | 35% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 12% | 16% | 8% |
| category | Democrat | Republican | Tea Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very important | 22% | 31% | 23% |
| Somewhat important | 11% | 20% | 16% |
| Not very important | 11% | 13% | 15% |
| Not at all important | 44% | 31% | 40% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 11% | 6% | 6% |
| category | Urban | Suburban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very important | 26% | 21% | 28% |
| Somewhat important | 17% | 15% | 11% |
| Not very important | 9% | 15% | 12% |
| Not at all important | 37% | 40% | 32% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 10% | 9% | 16% |
| category | The Bible is the word of God, to be taken literally | The Bible is the word of God, not to be taken literally | The Bible is a book written by men |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very important | 42% | 19% | 11% |
| Somewhat important | 12% | 19% | 8% |
| Not very important | 10% | 16% | 13% |
| Not at all important | 24% | 37% | 61% |
| Don't know/No opinion | 13% | 8% | 8% |