Texas governor race: Beto O'Rourke makes push for education reform at town hall in El Paso

Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke discussed his vision for education reform Sunday at a town hall meeting at the El Paso Community Foundation as part of his ongoing “People of Texas” state tour.

O’Rourke, who will face Gov. Greg Abbott in November, took exception to teacher pay and the pressure put on teachers and students by standardized tests, which he pointed to causing mass exodus of teachers across the country.

To that end, the El Paso native called for increasing teacher salaries by at least $7,500 a year, which he said gets them up to the national average, and replacing the STAR test with “something that’s more diagnostic in nature.”

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“If we’re willing to do this, I know that we can turn around our system of public ed in Texas,” O’Rourke said. “My bet is that if we make public ed the number one priority…we’re going to have a much better outcome and Texas will lead the nation in public ed.”

In addition to education, O’Rourke laid out his biggest priorities for his campaign, including the creation of high-paying jobs, which he said unify all Texans.

“We want to make sure that the best jobs that are being created in America are found right here in the state of Texas,” O’Rourke said, noting that four in 10 Texans are not earning a living wage and are forced to work multiple jobs, utilize public assistance or sleep in shelters. “You want to know that you’re essential …That’s what we all crave, that is just human nature.”

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O’Rourke said the lack of union representation in the state, as well as the absence of universal access to daycare and pre-kindergarten programs and a continually lagging minimum wage, has stifled job growth in the state.

“We’ve got to do better,” O’Rourke said.

Second on the candidate’s list of priorities is improving public education in the state, which he said is emblematic of a strong democracy during when a time when that democracy has been “under attack.”

Finally, O’Rourke turned his attention to health care, saying Texas is the least insured state in the nation.

“We have folks dying of diabetes, of the flu, of curable cancers, in the Year of our Lord 2022 — in the wealthiest, most powerful country that the world has ever known,” O’Rourke said, adding that Texas is the ninth largest economy on the planet. “How can this be?”

One audience member asked about his support for legalizing marijuana in the state, particularly considering that New Mexico is preparing to launch recreational cannabis sales later this week.

While O’Rourke made clear that is not “advocating anybody use marijuana,” he noted that the state is losing out on billions of dollars in revenue, spending billions to incarcerate cannabis users and putting young people at risk by allowing the black market to run rampant.

O’Rourke was also asked his opinion on current efforts across the state to ban books and curtail the teaching of difficult topics, such as Critical Race Theory (CRT).

O’Rourke voiced his belief that young people can both handle the truth of the country’s foundation and have a right to learn it.

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“[I] think our kids in middle school … are strong enough to learn the true story of this country,” O’Rourke said. “I don’t think we have to lose those foundational stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves in the mix. I think we have always strived for freedom and justice and liberty, imperfectly always, and I feel like by and large we have made progress, up until recent years when you began to roll back so many of these freedoms.”

O'Rourke was introduced by El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and Jessica Garcia, whose husband Guillermo Garcia died from wounds suffered in the Aug. 3, 2019, Walmart massacre.

“It’s amazing to connect with people who, for so long, have been written off or taken for granted,” O’Rourke said of his statewide tour. “And I think we feel that sometimes in El Paso. Although we are a big, proud community — nearly a million people live in the county over which Judge Samaniego presides – we are so often left out of the conversation. [We’re] so far from the centers of power and politics that decisions are made about us, without us far too often.”

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Beto O'Rourke pushes education reform at El Paso town hall