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Public education is the most important business of state government because investments we make in students now will determine the economic future of our state. Texas ranks at the bottom of all states in the percentage of adults with high school diplomas and 45th in SAT scores. That is unacceptable. We need to hold our teachers, schools, and students accountable, but accountability must start at the top. We need a new Governor.

With new leadership, Texas can improve student achievement, increase high school graduation rates, and reduce the barriers to higher education.

• +   Improving achievement in public schools.

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  • Texas families and students should have the opportunity to attend voluntary summer enrichment programs. Teachers know that summer learning loss in early grade levels can hurt the performance and long-term prospects of students. In Houston, we pioneered an effective program of Summer Opportunity Sessions that provided four weeks of hands-on science and math for elementary school students. The program dramatically improved performance at a low cost per student. A Brookings Institution report (PDF) provides further support for the approach.
  • We should expand access to pre-K programs for Texas children. The Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition has outlined one pathway to do so. In Oklahoma, which expanded pre-K to increase student performance, these early childhood programs have been shown particularly effective in improving the performance of Hispanic students, who make up the majority of Texas' preschool population. We must revisit the pre-K expansion strategies contained in HB 130 which passed the Texas House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support, but was vetoed by Governor Perry last year.
  • Improving the performance of public education requires us to attract and retain great educators. This requires competitive compensation and recruitment. We must also ensure that teachers have the skills, including motivational and interpersonal skills, before they are retained with job security. Master teachers and principals ought to be incentivized to work in schools with the biggest challenges.
  • We must close the digital divide. We can provide broadband access and computer skills to all students at significantly lower costs by using new technologies. A large percentage of jobs, even hourly jobs, require some computer proficiency. Better broadband access can also help smaller schools in rural areas offer a larger variety of courses through distance learning tools.
  • Over the next decade, the demand for scientists and engineers is expected to grow five times faster than other occupations, yet Texas lags behind many other states and countries in math and science education. A 25% increase in engineering degrees alone would add $4.7 billion and 50,000 jobs to the Texas economy in 15 years. We need to implement recommendations from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas.
  • We must seek to replicate the best practices from high-performing schools, including charter schools.
  • We must take aggressive action against diploma mills that offer a high school diploma with little education.

  
  
  




• +   Reducing dropout rates.

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  • When a student drops out of school, it must be treated as an emergency, not just another statistic. In Houston we launched Expectation Graduation to cut the dropout rate. For example, each fall, my wife Andrea and I led thousands of volunteers to go to the homes of high school students who have not returned to school. Approximately 8,800 students have returned to school as a result, and this initiative has been replicated in communities across Texas.
  • There should be multiple pathways to high school graduation. Students who must work should be matched with jobs close to school. As Governor, I would help local school officials work with local employers to create effective job banks for those students who have to work, with some requirement that the student stay in school. There also should be flexible hours for classes, like those provided by community colleges, for students who must work.
  • There must be pathways to bring students who have dropped out but wish to return to school back up to grade level. Following the influx of students during Hurricane Katrina, in Houston we found that a combination of tutoring and summer schools was effective.

  
  
  




• +   Reducing barriers to higher education.

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  An educated workforce is critical in today's economy, but today too many families cannot afford to send their children to college because of prohibitive costs and skyrocketing tuition. College tuition in Texas public colleges has risen more than 82% since 2003, far faster than financial aid and family incomes. I will work to make both two year and four year programs more affordable. Texas students should have an opportunity to pay little or no tuition with a public service commitment after school.
  
  




• +   Supporting more Tier One Universities.

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  Universities with excellent research and graduate programs are magnets for job creation, but currently Texas only has two public national academic research universities. Texas' world leadership in geosciences and petroleum engineering helped us retain leadership in traditional energy. For example, Massachusetts graduate programs and research has attracted both IT and biotech clusters. Several universities across the state have the potential to achieve excellence in research and graduate programs. Greater state investment in research and graduate programs should pay for itself in the long run by keeping more of our talented students in the state and allowing Texas to compete more effectively for peer-reviewed federal grants from organizations such as the National Institutes for Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy.
  
  A recent report by Dr. Ray Perryman highlights the losses Texas is experiencing because we do not have more Tier I schools. Texas ranks third to the last of the ten most populous states in number of residents per Tier I school. New York and Pennsylvania which have smaller populations than Texas, have more Tier I schools, and Massachusetts has the same number as Texas. Lack of more Tier I schools negatively impacts our state. The lack of Tier I schools contributes to a "brain drain" because an estimated 10,000 Texans leave the state each year to attend major universities in other states, while only 4,000 out of state students come to Texas schools. Texas also misses out on the significant economic benefits that are generated by the research, spin-off enterprises, and enhanced competitiveness in locating emerging technology clusters.