Beto O'Rourke makes push for education reform at town hall in El Paso
Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke discussed his vision for education reform Sunday at a town hall meeting at the El Paso Community Foundation as part of his ongoing “People of Texas” state tour.
O’Rourke, who will face Gov. Greg Abbott in November, took exception to teacher pay and the pressure put on teachers and students by standardized tests, which he pointed to causing mass exodus of teachers across the country.
To that end, the El Paso native called for increasing teacher salaries by at least $7,500 a year, which he said gets them up to the national average and replacing the STAR test with “something that’s more diagnostic in nature.”
“If we’re willing to do this, I know that we can turn around our system of public ed in Texas,” O’Rourke said. “My bet is that if we make public ed the number one priority…we’re going to have a much better outcome and Texas will lead the nation in public ed.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-governor-race-beto-orourke-220856576.html