EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION DEBATE IN GOVERNOR’S RACE

  

Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott announced his plans for education this week, emphasizing  the importance of early grades and setting ambitious goal of achieving the highest high school graduation rate in the nation and a ranking among the top 10 states in math and reading performance in the next decade.

Abbott said pre-K programs should be integrated with those grades calling for $118 million in funding to pay $1500 per student per year to school districts that choose to implement a rigorous ‘gold standard’.  The plan also called for a strategy to steer parents of four year old eligible for Head Start program to state funded pre-K programs because he said research shows the gains made in Head Start are short-lived.    

Abbott’s Democratic opponent State Senator Wendy Davis of Ft. Worth qas quick to contrast Abbott’s plan with cuts of more than $5.4 billon to public education in the 2011 legislative session, including nearly  $200 million for pre-K programs.

The cuts in public education sparked a lawsuit by more than 600 Texas school districts, claiming the Legislature is not adequately  funding public education.