Molina: Allred shows his support for public education

Published 4:00 am Friday, September 27, 2024

Ovidia Molina

As educators who feel deeply about strengthening the public schools that play critical roles in preparing Texas children for the future, the Texas State Teachers Association is supporting Democrat Colin Allred over Republican Ted Cruz for the U.S. Senate.

Allred’s mother was a teacher who instilled in her son the importance of public schools and taught him to respect the hard work and dedication of educators. The upbringing he received at home and in Dallas public schools provided the foundation for the extraordinary success Allred has achieved as a professional athlete, civil rights attorney and member of Congress.



But Allred knows that teachers need more support and classrooms need more resources to give all students the tools to find their own opportunities and turn them into success. That is an important part of Allred’s Senate campaign and a critical difference between him and his opponent.

Allred remembers his single mom taking extra jobs to supplement her teacher salary and make financial ends meet. So, he understands how critical higher pay is for today’s underpaid Texas teachers, who on average are paid more than $9,000 less than the national average, according to the National Education Association’s latest rankings of each state’s financial commitment to public education. One-third of TSTA’s teacher-members have had to take extra jobs during the school year to meet family budgets, Sam Houston State University researchers found in a survey last spring.

The NEA report also found that Texas spends more than $5,000 less per student in average daily attendance than the national average, ranking us 46th among the states and the District of Columbia.

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Allred has advocated for more investments in public education so that every student — no matter race, background or family income — can attend quality public schools. He has worked to lower the cost of childcare and expand access to pre-kindergarten to give more kids a good start on their educations. And for older children and adults, he has worked to expand access to community colleges, lower the cost of higher education and strengthen job training programs.

In contrast, the main interest that Cruz has shown in public education during almost two terms in the Senate has been how to privatize it with a national program of school vouchers. Cruz also strongly supports Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign to create a taxpayer-funded voucher system for private schools in Texas. This plan would cost our underfunded public schools a billion dollars within a very few years, the Legislative Budget Board has estimated, with the loss continuing to grow. Meanwhile, most Texas children would continue to attend public schools, weakened institutions that would find it increasingly difficult to prepare students for productive futures.

Allred also has made a priority of keeping our schools and communities safe. Following the deaths of 19 children and two teachers in an elementary school in Uvalde in 2022, he worked with Republican John Cornyn, Texas’ other U.S. senator, to pass the first meaningful gun safety legislation in Congress in almost 30 years.

The new law includes enhanced background check periods for gun buyers younger than 21. It also includes tighter prohibitions on gun ownership by convicted domestic violence offenders and money to help states keep guns from people considered a threat to themselves or others.

Cruz voted against the bill, as he has other sensible gun safety measures, while Allred put the safety of school children, educators and other members of the public above the interests of the gun lobby. And he did so in a legislative body where bipartisanship is difficult to accomplish.

Cruz is an ideologue who has spent much of his time in the Senate ignoring the real needs of his Texas constituents. He spends so much time cozying up to Donald Trump and promoting right-wing priorities that he doesn’t have time for school kids, educators and other everyday Texans.

Allred is a policymaker who will work in a bipartisan fashion in the Senate on education and other issues of critical importance to all Texans — Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.