At RedState Gathering in Atlanta on Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sat down with PJ Media to talk about education. Abbott, who was a featured speaker at the conservative confab, weighed in on Common Core, the role of the federal government in education, and the effects of illegal immigration on Texas schools. As an added bonus, Governor Abbott also threw in some great parenting advice!
Asked if there have been any negative consequences as a result of his state’s decision not to adopt the Common Core standards, Abbott clarified that Texas has gone beyond “not adopting” the nearly national standards for English language arts and math for K-12 schools.
“We have formally rejected it,” Abbott said. “We passed a law prohibiting Common Core in the state of Texas. That’s how emphatic we feel about it.”
Some of the ramifications of that decision have been troubling, however, he said. “The administration pretends there are no consequences, but the reality is, there are strings attached to the funding that comes from the federal government that affect your ability to control your own curriculum.” He added that Texas is at loggerheads with the Department of Education over some of the ways the state structures its education system. “Which is why — one of the many reasons — we need to have a president to rein in the Department of Education and cut any strings that are attached to funding that come from the feds.”
The Texas governor said he would be fine with eliminating the Department of Education. “I see no reason for it in the United States Constitution. It is something that is better conducted at the state and local level. If there is going to be a Department of Education it must not have any strings attached to any of the funding that is provided to the states that mandate curriculum at the state level.”
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