February 15, 2017      7:23 PM

Texas House shifts pre-k funding out of Abbott's high-quality grant strategy

When Gov. Abbott said “Let’s do this right. Or don’t do it at all,” House appropriators may have taken him quite literally

Gov. Greg Abbott chastised both chambers for failing to fully fund grants for quality pre-k in their respective budgets in his State of the State, and it appears the House did something about it – just not what Abbott would want.

Money set aside of the governor’s high-quality pre-k initiative disappeared from the budget bill pattern, leaving advocates to wonder whether the House was funding early childhood education at all this session beyond regular appropriations.

In his State of the State speech, Abbott said 80 percent of Texas voters support funding for high-quality pre-k education. The goal is to put children, regardless of background, on the path to do reading and math at grade level by the end of third grade.

“You brought high quality standards to a Pre-K system that desperately needed meaningful improvement,” Abbott said. “So, I’m perplexed by the budgets submitted by the House and Senate. They nod in the direction of Pre-K, but they turn a blind eye to the goal of achieving high-quality Pre-K.”

Abbott went on to say that Texas spends about $1.5 billion on “unaccountable” pre-k each session. The goal is create set high standards and weed out what doesn’t work, he said.

“It’s to ensure that Pre-K works rather than wastes taxpayer money,” Abbott said. “Let’s do this right. Or don’t do it at all.”

One might wonder if the House took Abbott literally.

By Kimberly Reeves

Copyright February 15, 2017, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved