Fully Fund Public Education

Texas is not broke. Our resources are being purposely mismanaged.

We can fully fund public education without raising taxes on middle-class Texans.

Texas runs one of the biggest economies on the planet. We have billions sitting in the Rainy Day Fund. And yet Texas spends almost $5,000 less per student than the national average, our teachers earn thousands less than their peers in other states, and school districts across the state are cutting programs and closing campuses just to balance their budgets.

That is not an accident. It's a choice. Austin has spent years starving our public schools, then pointing at the damage as proof that public schools don't work.

I'm running to make a different choice. Here's my plan.

1. End Vouchers. Keep Tax Dollars Nonprofit.

In 2025, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 2 and sent $1 billion in public money to a new voucher program for private school and homeschooling. More than 200,000 students applied for roughly 90,000 slots, and nearly 8 in 10 applicants planned to use the money for private school tuition.

And $1 billion is just year one. Voucher programs grow. Every one of those dollars flows to schools that don't have to accept every child and don't answer to an elected school board.

My plan: Immediately end the voucher program, and pass a Texas Constitutional Amendment forbidding the use of public tax dollars for services that operate for profit. If alternate educational institutions want to operate in Texas, that should be permitted. But to access public tax dollars, they must be nonprofit.

2. Pay Teachers What They Deserve.

According to the National Education Association's 2026 estimates, the average Texas teacher earns about $68,000. That's $8,551 below the national average of $76,552, and it ranks Texas 29th in the country. The 2025 raises helped. They did not close the gap.

Here's the part that should make every parent angry: Texas pays new teachers competitively, then falls further behind the longer they stay. We lose our best people right when they get GOOD at the job.

My plan: Bring teacher salaries up to 10% above the national average(roughly $84,000 at today's numbers) to attract, retain, and respect the educators who shape our future.

3. Provide Fair Healthcare for Educators.

Texas school employees and retirees are covered through TRS plans that are separate from the plans offered to other State of Texas employees. Too many educators hand over a real chunk of every paycheck for coverage that still leaves them staring down high deductibles.

I work in hospital administration. I see the bills. A teacher who can't afford her own healthcare is a teacher who's looking for another job.

My plan: Allow educators, both current and retired, to access the same healthcare plan as other State of Texas employees.

4. Support All Educational Staff.

The average K-12 support staff salary in Texas was $33,481 in 2024-25, almost $3,000 below the national average. These are the people who drive our kids to school, keep them fed, help them learn to read, and keep the building running.

My plan: Examine and fairly fund the salaries of paraprofessionals, librarians, bus drivers, and all other educational support staff. Our schools can't thrive without them.

5. End Unfunded Mandates.

In 2023, the Legislature required an armed security officer on every campus in Texas, then funded only a fraction of the real cost. Districts had to cover the rest with local dollars. You know where local dollars come from? Your property taxes.

That's the playbook. Austin takes the credit, and your ISD gets the bill.

My plan: If the Texas Legislature passes a bill that increases costs for local districts, the state must attach the funding. This backdoor method of kneecapping our ISDs has gone on for too long. It needs to stop.

How We Pay For It

Texas is not broke. We don't need to raise taxes on working families to fund our schools. We need to stop wasting the money we already have.

  • Redirect voucher dollars back to the public schools that serve every child.
  • Put the Rainy Day Fund to work. Texas has one of the largest reserve funds in the nation. Our kids are not a rainy day expense.
  • Legalize and tax cannabis, with revenue dedicated to public education. Read my cannabis plan.
  • Review corporate tax breaks and abatements that hand billions to companies while our schools go without.
  • Fight for every federal dollar Texas is owed, including Title I funding for the students who need it most.

Our kids only get one shot at third grade. They can't wait for Austin to get its priorities straight.

Our Community. Our Future. Our Fight.