Texas lawmakers file a slew of new bills proposing education funding changes, school choice
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath tells CBS News Texas he opposes changing a model of how schools are funded in the state. The European Union Ambassador to the United States says Texas could soon benefit from additional sales of liquified natural gas to the E.U. Plus, the longest-serving elected official in Dallas County, Commissioner John Wiley Price discusses his 40 years of public service. Jack Fink covers these stories in the latest episode of Eye On Politics. (Original air date: November 17, 2024.)
School funding issues
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath opposes a proposal to change how public schools are funded. In preparation for the next state legislative session, some lawmakers want the state to pay for schools based on how many students are enrolled in a district, instead of daily attendance, which is current policy. Under this scenario, school districts would get more money than now because when students are absent from school, the districts would still get paid.
Commissioner Morath disagrees with the proposal and said he believes changing state policy would hurt students. "We generally see the benefit of an attendance-based funding model being pretty significant," said Morath. "I think if you would switch to a model that the kid shows up one day and you get the whole money for the whole year, bad things happen as a result of that. So, I would not be in favor of switching away from attendance to enrollment because it's ultimately harmful for students."
Morath said funding for school districts in Texas is at an all-time high. Some school districts have experienced budget problems. Morath explained that's because the districts received extra money from the federal government during COVID and that now, that federal funding has gone away. Some districts also said they counted on more funding from the state but didn't receive it.
Watch Jack's full interview with TEA Commissioner Mike Morath:
Energy Boost
The Texas oil and gas industry could soon get a boost, if there's an increase in exports of liquified natural gas produced here in the state.
The European Union Ambassador to the United States, Jovita Neliupsiene, raised that possibility in an exclusive interview with Jack during a recent visit to Fort Worth. "What Europe is right now experiencing at the moment is huge pressure because of not only the energy prices but because of the weaponization of energy."
Neliupsiene blames Russia for weaponizing energy against Europe. "After Russia invaded Ukraine, there was a joint decision by 27 member states to phase out of Russian gas and oil." She said the E.U. has been buying $65 billion worth of liquified natural gas or LNG from the U.S., including Texas, which is a 70% increase of what it used to be.
The Texas Comptroller's Office says in 2023, Texas exported more than one point three billion cubic feet of LNG, worth more than $9 billion dollars, and about one third of LNG exports from the U.S.
When asked if she expects the EU to buy more LNG from Texas, Neliupsiene said, "Hopefully we will phase out Russian LNG as well. So that gives huge possibilities for states like Texas to export even more."
She said the EU is committed to supporting Ukraine against Russia. "For us, it's an existential threat," said Neliupsiene.
The EU reportedly relies on American fighter jets like the F-35 produced by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth. "Actually, more than half of what we spend on defense is spent here in the U.S. and in Texas." The ambassador said the E.U.'s trade with and investment in Texas add up to nearly 270,000 jobs and more than $300 billion a year.
"I was told that everything was bigger in Texas so I can tell that our trade cooperation with Texas is the biggest out of all the states," said Neliupsiene.
When asked about the potential for tariffs imposed by the new Trump administration on foreign goods, Neliupsiene said they want to focus on the positive relationship between the EU and U.S. and that they may buy more energy goods produced in Texas.
Watch Jack's full interview with Ambassador Neliupsiene:
Texans heading to Trump administration
Texans will be working with President-elect Donald Trump's second administration.
Trump tapped John Ratcliffe to serve as his CIA Director. Ratcliffe served as the Director of National Intelligence during the latter part of President Trump's first term. Before that, Ratcliffe was a Congressman for the 4th District in North Texas and served as a United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas which includes Collin and Denton counties. He was also Mayor of Heath.
The President-elect also named Elon Musk, a new Texas resident and majority owner of Tesla, X and Space X to work with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy within a newly created Department of Government Efficiency. This department is more like a commission and will work outside the government and advise the White House how the federal government can be structurally reformed.
Other Texans often mentioned for potential cabinet posts are Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Race for Senate Majority Leader
A race that received national attention involved Texas Senator John Cornyn and his campaigning among Republican Senators to become their next Senate Majority Leader. But he lost a chance after coming in as the runner-up.
A majority of the 53 Republican Senators who will serve in the next Congress selected Senator John Thune of South Dakota over Cornyn.
A third candidate, Senator Rick Scott of Florida didn't make it out of the first round of voting.
In a move that raised some eyebrows, Senator Ted Cruz announced he was voting for Senator Scott over Cornyn in the first round. No word if he voted for Cornyn in the second round of voting. Cornyn is up for re-election in 2026.
Race for Texas House Speaker
Now to an update on the race for Texas House Speaker, where the current Speaker, Dade Phelan is hoping to stay on the job. He faces a challenge from fellow Republican Representative David Cook of Mansfield.
In a briefing Thursday on the platform X, Texas GOP Chair Abraham George, who Jack spoke with last week, said only Representative Cook has committed to passing the party's platform, which would exclude Democrats from serving as committee chairs in the Texas House next year among other issues. George said Speaker Phelan hasn't made any public statements about the party's priorities. "I believe Texas needs to hear from him on where he stands on this. We don't know where he stands, we don't know where we stand with him on this."
Two Democratic State Representatives have joined the Speaker's race: Ana Maria Ramos and John Bryant, both of Dallas. Because the Democrats are in the minority in the Legislature, neither is likely to win.
John Wiley Price: 40 years in elected office in Dallas County
JWP: Those three letters have become synonymous with long-time Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price. When he was first elected in 1984, he broke barriers and since then, he has set a new bar for public service in the county. He discussed his four decades in office in an exclusive interview with Steve Pickett.
Watch Steve Pickett's story on John Wiley Price:
