#TXLEGE: Campbrell and Watson outline the 86th

"A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
But a faithful ambassador brings health."
Proverbs 13:17

We attended this afternoon's Trib event with Donna Campbell and Kirk Watson.

The TL,DR version is that untying the school finance/property tax knot is going to be the primary focus this next session.

Watson correctly pointed out that state formulas have pushed education funding down the local level in recent years, while Campbell correctly pointed out that any increase in state funding needs to be tied to performance metrics.

The recent election and health care were also discussed.



Highlights:

• Bonnen's a St. Ed's alum.

• High Turnout Election:
• Campbell correctly explains Trump factor.
• Campbell also correctly explains bad economic messaging.

• Watson cites school finance and infrastructure as longstanding challenges.
• Public wants "better priorities."
• Note: Kirk Watson isn't wrong that these are longstanding challenges the public wants addressed, but Kirk Watson's preferred solution (pouring more money into the status quo) won't fix them,

• Watson: More "early childhood translation education in traditional public schools."
• Cynical interpretation: Brainwashing them younger and younger
• Non-cyncial interpretation: Misguided idea that history has shown to be ineffective at promoting lasting academic gains.

• Campbell: "Depends what we're going to do with it" re: More state-level education funding.
• Have a conversation about "funding good performance."

• 30 minutes in before Evan brings up rollback.

Bottom Line: School finance needs to be dealt with eventually.  Now is as good a time as any.  It'll be interesting to see how conservatives approach what is shaping up to be a "must pass" bill....