Testimony of Chris Patterson before the SBOE

When Government Lobbies Itself: Why Texas Should Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying

Texas local governments use taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists to influence state legislation—creating conflicts of interest, distorting democratic accountability, and undermining the interests of Texas taxpayers. Key points: Taxpayer-funded lobbying expenditures more than doubled from the 85th to the 89th Legislature, now reaching as high as $111.5 million. Taxpayer-funded lobbyists consistently opposed legislation involving property...

Meeting Texas Workforce Needs with ESAs

Texas is unique because of its unparalleled dedication to CTE training. Our state, alone, gives schools $3.2 billion as a CTE allotment (three times more than the Federal Government gives to all 50 states), but schools are only required to spend 55% or $1,76 billion of hte allotment on CTE, incentivizing schools to offer cheap...

Signing Up for Educational Freedom is Easy

Like all parents, my wife and I consider the formation of our children as one of our primary responsibilities. With two in college and two in elementary school, we’ve worked multiple jobs and sacrificed for more than 15 years (and will continue for the next 12) to send our kids to Catholic classical schools. The...