Fort Worth, Texas. Photo: Alyssa Haywoode

“It is easy to identify hot-button issues at the Texas Capitol — just look for the fights. For the second session in a row, big battles are brewing around pre-K. In recent days, the rhetoric around pre-K funding has heated up, with the major political players proposing vastly different funding proposals or perhaps no funding at all.”

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“Parents and taxpayers understand that higher quality pre-K in turn maximizes every dollar that is spent on further education, all the way up through college. When we put ourselves first, we prepare ourselves for the future. When we put Texas first, we ensure that in years to come, we will have educated and productive citizens ready to help expand our economy.

“The Texas Legislature has a clear choice to make with respect to allocating $236 million to the High Quality Pre-K Grant Program. The choice it makes will determine whether Texans will remember the 2017 Texas Legislature for its divisions, arguments and neglect — or as the year it started putting Texas first.”

“Commentary: Don’t mess with Texas’ future; fund high quality pre-K,” by Bob Sanborn and Steve Jones, Special to the American-Statesman, February 22, 2017