Focus solely on education at Sulphur Springs District 2 candidate forum

All six candidates – lone Democrat Kristen Washington and Republicans Doug Roszhart, Heath Hyde, Brent Money, Jill Dutton and Krista Schild –looking to fill the State House seat previously held by Bryan Slaton presented their arguments at a forum in Sulphur Springs on why they’re deserving of the public’s vote come Nov. 7.

The forum – held last Wednesday at Sulphur Springs Middle School – was hosted by the Hopkins-Rains Retired School Personnel and with vouchers, public education funding and teacher retirement issues in mind, the organizers stuck to a topic near and dear to their hearts – schools.

That’s understandable with about 25 independent school districts throughout Hopkins, Hunt and Van Zandt counties. Current educators, retired educators and the general public were invited to attend the forum.

With Gov. Greg Abbott focused on vouchers, or Education Savings Accounts, many of the questions were focused on that issue. Superintendents in the three counties that make up District 2 have expressed concerns about vouchers because they say private schools don’t have the same levels of financial transparency and student academic accountability as public schools, as well as the likelihood that already insufficient funding for public schools will be transferred to private schools.

Two of the candidates, Heath Hyde and Kristen Washington, said they supported the superintendents and stated they were against vouchers. Both raised concerned about private schools discriminating against special needs students and Washington pointed out that vouchers will specifically target poor students.

Jill Dutton, Doug Roszhart and Krista Schild all support Education Savings Accounts but believe the private schools should be held to the same level of financial accountability as public schools. Brent Money said he supports Education Savings Accounts and believes private schools will be held accountable by the parents.

All the candidates agreed the current A-F school accountability system needs to be abolished and all agreed that teachers should receive a pay raise, but Money and Schild said current funding should be redistributed to pay for those raises.

A related education issue concerns Proposition 9 on the November ballot. The moderator briefly explained that Proposition 9 will authorize a cost-of-living adjustment for public school retirees. The public is generally not aware most retired school employees do not receive Social Security and have not received a COLA in 20 years. The cost of living adjustment has already been funded and will not cost taxpayers any money if approved so attendees were encouraged to “vote for Proposition 9.”

The six candidates are vying to fill Slaton’s unexpired term after he was expelled from the Texas Legislature in May when the House Investigative Committee determined he had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old staffer.

Whoever emerges victorious on Nov. 7 will likely face a primary and possibly a general election opponent next year.

Requests for mail-in ballots must be submitted by Oct. 27 and the ballots must be either postmarked or returned by Nov. 7. Early voting begins next Monday and runs through Nov. 3.