1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,080 The only Democratic State Representative from Collin County, Mahela Plisa, 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 recently became the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus. 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,880 Before Democrats selected Plisa to fill that role, we spoke 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,160 with her about her top priority, public schools. 5 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,200 Public education is going to be our biggest fight going 6 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,520 into the next legislative session. 7 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:24,480 We know that education savings accounts or vouchers are going 8 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,120 to be a top priority for the governor. 9 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:30,720 And so as a recapture district, it is going to 10 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,920 be crucial for districts like mine to make sure that 11 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,040 we are keeping our money in our districts. 12 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,520 And so I have set um our first legislative priorities 13 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:46,400 to be about tax parancy, transparency around taxation, making sure 14 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,280 that the monies that we are sending back to Austin 15 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:51,760 stay in public education. 16 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,800 But that initially, most of the money that we pay 17 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,080 in our poverty taxes, if they are public education dollars, 18 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,160 that they stay in our district. 19 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,120 You brought up school choice, Governor Abbott has said he's 20 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:04,640 got the votes for it. 21 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,760 And so how do you and other Democrats try to 22 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:08,720 block it? 23 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,880 Look, you know, we don't know what the votes are 24 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:12,160 until the bill is up. 25 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:13,760 We don't even know what this bill is gonna look 26 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:14,080 like. 27 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,120 There's been a couple of bills proposed, but you know, 28 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,920 I have some of my colleagues that are saying that 29 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,680 the bills that were proposed last session were irresponsible financially, 30 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:24,880 and they were bad bills. 31 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:26,720 These are bad voucher bills, right? 32 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,120 So thank God the bipartisan coalition stood together and defeated 33 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:32,640 this voucher scam. 34 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,520 We need to make sure that what these bills look 35 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:40,320 like are universal, making sure that the constitutional requirements that 36 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:44,000 the state of Texas has to educate five million children 37 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:46,960 is implemented, and that's what I'm looking for. 38 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:49,120 And so we have to be really careful when we're 39 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,920 talking about these vouchers, these ESAs, schools' choice, right? 40 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,720 We have to look at what other states have implemented 41 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:58,880 and what it's done to their budgets. 42 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:02,600 We're getting reports every day of how it's blown these 43 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:03,960 states' budgets. 44 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,400 And we cannot risk the Texas miracle. 45 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,880 The governor and supporters of school choice have said that 46 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,800 the funding is not going to come directly from schools, 47 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,680 it's going to come from the general fund, not the 48 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,480 found the school foundation program. 49 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,200 So you're you're shaking your head, you don't buy it. 50 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:25,400 No, I I don't. 51 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:26,200 I don't. 52 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,240 You look, we know how public schools are funded, we 53 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,960 know how schools are funded in this state. 54 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,520 We are talking about taking money from taxpayers and sending 55 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:37,800 it to private schools. 56 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:39,320 That's what ESAs are. 57 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,400 That's what vouchers are. 58 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,840 And so we need to make sure that we create 59 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,960 accountabilities for Texas taxpayers and for their money. 60 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,520 We're talking about five million children here. 61 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,400 We're talking about the future workforce of America. 62 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,360 These are very serious decisions that we're making. 63 00:02:58,360 --> 00:02:59,640 Teacher pay raises. 64 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:00,200 Yes. 65 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,640 Um, I know everybody says they support this. 66 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:07,160 Um, do you think that the legislature should set aside 67 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:12,440 money specifically for these school districts for teacher 68 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:13,160 pay raises? 69 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,640 In other words, saying we're giving you X amount of 70 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:16,280 dollars. 71 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,040 This has to be spent on raising teacher salaries. 72 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,600 I think that we've had this conversation last session as 73 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:22,920 well. 74 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:25,400 And my for me, my answer is yes. 75 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,080 It's very, very important that our teachers feel respected within 76 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,640 the profession, that they can stay and afford to be 77 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:32,680 in the profession. 78 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,880 I had multiple teachers coming into my office last session 79 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,160 who had second or third jobs, and that's just really 80 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:43,800 unacceptable for for t teachers in Texas, right? 81 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,480 And so I think that there' should be something that 82 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,200 were doing to make sure that we are letting teachers 83 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,400 know we're hearing you and we're, you know, we're making 84 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:53,360 this a priority.