Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan withdrew last week from seeking another term leading that chamber. After three rounds of voting on Saturday, Dec. 7, state Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, emerged as the preference of most House Republicans. However, his opponent, state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R- Lubbock, claims to have enough support from both Republicans and Democrats to clear the 76-vote threshold.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Cook acknowledged the race for speaker wasn’t yet over.
“I’ll continue working between now and Jan. 14 to earn (the vote) of every member of the Texas Republican caucus — as well as any Democrat,” Cook said.
Phelan, R-Beaumont, narrowly won reelection to his seat in the May primary, needing to prevail in a runoff to return to Austin. He was opposed by fellow Republicans who blamed him for the failure of several priorities in the last session, including the push to institute school vouchers.
Among Phelan’s opponents were Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was impeached by the House but survived a conviction trial in the Senate. Paxton blasted Burrows, who voted to impeach him, as “Dade 2.0.”
“Burrows is a betrayal of the conservative movement,” Paxton said Friday. “Voters will remember.”
Voucher push spurs call for accountability
AUSTIN — Education savings accounts, popularly known as school vouchers, are again a top priority for Gov. Greg Abbott in the upcoming session after a similar push failed in 2023. This time, however, the primary loss of several voucher opponents last March has even those opposing vouchers conceding passage of a measure is likely.
That means lawmakers will pass a bill to send public tax dollars to private schools, according to the Texas Standard.
At a recent visit to the private religious school Kingdom Life Academy in Tyler, Abbott said, “We are assuring that students who may have fallen through the cracks in their public school, they’re going to have a new chance, a new opportunity to be able … to learn, to achieve, to succeed.”
Dallas school board member Dan Micciche recently said since vouchers are a likely possibility, it is vital private and home schools that receive taxpayer money be held to the same accountability standards as public schools, including State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness testing.
“Any school or educational entity that receives public funds should be held to the same accountability standards for student outcomes, fiscal performance, open records and meetings act, and student services,” he said.
Public school administrators are also pushing for teacher pay raises, something that fell by the wayside in the last session when a voucher bill failed to pass.
Lawmakers mull ban of social-media for teens
Texas lawmakers could consider banning social media from minors in the upcoming session, The Texas Tribune reported.
A bill filed by state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, would prohibit minors from creating accounts on social-media sites and add age verification for new users.
Other online measures would attack use of artificial intelligence to make pornographic images using people’s likenesses and would boost funding for internet crime units in law enforcement agencies.
“Social media is the most dangerous thing our kids have legal access to in Texas,” Patterson said.
Several national organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers and the American Psychological Association, have criticized social media companies for being a “root cause” of a nationwide youth mental health crisis. Studies indicate 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 use social media, with more than a third saying they use it “almost constantly.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TikTok in October, saying the company allows its algorithms to affect minors. That suit is set to go to court in the coming months.
High risk for another deep freeze in Texas
The top meteorologist for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said winter could bring a higher risk of extreme cold temperatures than experienced during the February 2021 storm.
Chris Coleman with ERCOT said a bevy of weather variables such as ocean currents, atmospheric patterns and soil moisture appear very similar to the 2021 conditions that spawned Winter Storm Uri, the Houston Chronicle reported.
“The more I look at this winter, the more cold potential I see,” Coleman said. “This is like a tornado watch. Doesn’t mean a tornado is going to happen. It means conditions are there.”
ERCOT is emphasizing any potential rotating outages because winter storms would be only hours long rather than multiple days because of improvements to the Texas grid, such as weatherproofing of power plants and more backup power sources.
“I always point to the weatherization program as probably being one of the most statistically significant changes that have been made, that has markedly changed the risk profile of the ERCOT grid, in particular during the winter seasons,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told the board Tuesday.
TEA target 100 teachers in certification cheating scheme
More than 100 Texas teachers are being investigated by the Texas Education Agency in connection with a teaching certification cheating scheme. The vast majority of educators on a list released last week by TEA are employed by North Texas or Houston-area school districts.
Five people have been charged with felonies in connection with the scheme, allegedly organized by a Houston-area basketball coach, the Austin American- Statesman reported.
School districts have had difficulties filling teacher vacancies since the pandemic, and the number of uncertified teachers hired has risen considerably. Statewide, 34.6% of teachers hired during the 2023-24 school year didn’t have a teaching certificate, nearly three times the rate in 2019-20.
Patrick vows to go after THC sold at dispensaries
AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said banning THC products will be a top priority next session, threatening the livelihood of dozens of stores across the state selling products with higher levels of the main compound in cannabis, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Hemp was legalized in Texas in 2019. That has led to a proliferation of products containing higher levels of THC, which produces a high like cannabis, which is still illegal in Texas.
“ Retailers exploited the agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible,” Patrick said.
Hemp producers are regulated by the Texas Department of State Health Services, and industry groups say there are far too few producers for the booming market.
“Such a ban would hand this multibillion-dollar industry over to the illicit market, abandoning all opportunity to properly regulate the industry.” said Heather Fazio, co-founder of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy.
Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@ texaspress.com
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