HB 3211 Testimony Before the Texas House Committee on Higher Education

April 3, 2023

Erin Davis Valdez

Erin Davis Valdez is an education policy director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She has been passionate about the transformational power of education all her life, having been given the gift of being homeschooled. She taught for over a decade in Austin-area schools and served as an assistant principal at a charter school in Lewisville. These experiences have given her the opportunity to see first-hand how students can thrive when they have excellent options.

My name is Erin Valdez, and I’m an education policy director at Texas Public Policy Foundation. We support HB 3211, which would permit Texas State Technical College to open a campus in Denton County.

View Full Publication

Sam Westrop’s Testimony Before the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs | Sharia Finance in Texas

The Sharia Finance Industry in Texas Testimony of Sam Westrop Senior Fellow, Defeating Islamist Radicalization Texas Public Policy Foundation Chairman Hefner, Vice Chairman Lopez, and members of the Committee, Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. My name is Sam Westrop. I am the director of Islamist Watch at the Middle East...

July 30, 2026

Higher Education

Who Teaches the Teachers?

Every state requires public school teachers to be “certified,” and most of that certification runs through a university school of education. New research by TPPF’s Kate Bierly asks a simple question: is that credential actually worth anything? The answer, backed by decades of data, is no. Teacher training used to happen in “normal schools.” The practical, two-year...

July 23, 2026

Public Safety

Chuck DeVore’s Testimony Before the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs | Protecting Texas Critical Infrastructure

Protecting Texas Critical Infrastructure Testimony of Chuck DeVore Senior Fellow, Chief National Initiatives Officer Texas Public Policy Foundation Chairman, members of the committee: thank you for the opportunity to testify. Texas’s electric grid, energy facilities, water systems, ports, and other critical infrastructure underpin our economy and national security. Disruptions cascade fast—as Winter Storm Uri and...

July 30, 2026

Erin Davis Valdez

Related content

Sam Westrop’s Testimony Before the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs | Sharia Finance in Texas

Who Teaches the Teachers?

Chuck DeVore’s Testimony Before the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs | Protecting Texas Critical Infrastructure