O'Rourke: 'We’ll increase funding for public education'

Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. representative and Democratic candidate for governor of Texas, said in a recent candidate survey conducted by Public Schools First McKinney that if elected, he will prioritize increasing funding for public schools.

This is something he has been saying for months, but he has also been saying he doesn't plan to increase property taxes, and much of public school funding comes from property taxes.

"Inspired by all the work that Port Arthur is doing to educate, train and certify high school students for high-skill jobs," O'Rourke said in a March 9 Facebook post. "As governor, I’ll be their partner. We’ll increase funding for public education, technical training and trade programs so we are able to build America’s most skilled workforce right here in Texas."

In the candidate survey, O'Rourke said if elected he would be "fully funding our public schools," adding that Texas public schools are underfunded. "As governor, I will oppose any effort to take public funding out of our schools, provide our teachers a raise, strengthen their health care and retirement benefits, and treat them with the respect they deserve... We can do this by making public education a top priority in the biennial budget and bringing in new sources of bipartisan, commonsense state revenue, like legalizing and taxing marijuana and expanding Medicaid."

He noted that he does not support tuition tax credits or "opportunity" scholarships that would subsidize private education.  

Nationwide, approximately 48% of public schools budgets typically come from state funding, which is comprised of revenue from income and sales taxes, according to Education Week.  Another 44% of public school funding comes from local property taxes. The last 8% is usually funded federally.   

In Texas, the state provides approximately 40% of public school funding, according to O'Rourke's website. His website states that he wants to increase taxes on "wealthy corporations," which he says would lower property taxes for others. 

"When I’m governor, the state government will pay what it owes our families in school funding," O'Rourke said, which he believes can be done through an expansion of Medicaid and by legalizing and taxing marijuana.           

Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has said he supports a school choice or voucher program that would allow parents to use some taxpayer dollars to send their students to private schools, the Texas Tribune reported.

"We can fully fund public schools while also giving parents a choice about which school is right for their child," Abbott said at a campaign event earlier this year, according to the Texas Tribune. "Empowering parents means giving them the choice to send their children to any public school, charter school or private school with state funding following the student.”