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A minority of the GOP caucus in the Texas House has banded together with all the chamber's Democrats to advance measures critics say amount to an end-run attempt to abolish the death penalty. Today's One Click Survey asks if the death penalty should be abolished.

Here is the Texas Minute for Monday, April 3, 2023

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Paxton Declares Victory in Transparency Lawsuit Against Biden

After a year of legal wrangling, the federal government has finally complied with a request for records of correspondence between the Biden administration and the National School Boards Association. Darrell Frost has the report [[link removed]].

More than a year ago, the National School Boards Association asked that the Department of Justice declare parents to be domestic terrorists. The Biden administration's DOJ responded by announcing an initiative to combat parents opposed to the administration’s education agenda.

The state of Texas and 13 other states sued the federal government in March 2022 for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for records of communications between the NSBA and the DOJ.

The NSBA later apologized for sending the letter, but nearly half of the state-level school board associations have dropped their membership with the national group due to the letter.

"In recent years, it has become clearer than ever that we must push back against the Left’s attempts to take over our schools and indoctrinate our children. Parents recognize that, and I stand with every concerned mother and father across America who works to better their child’s education. Joe Biden and officials in his Administration see it differently. They chose to label parents as 'domestic terrorists' because they want parents to fear getting more involved in their children’s schooling. Worse, they tried to cover it up. But I’m proud to say that thanks to our efforts, they were unsuccessful." – Attorney General Ken Paxton [[link removed]] Texas Senate Moves To Ban 'Ranked Choice' Voting

Leftists across the nation have been pushing "ranked-choice" voting, a method that has been criticized as counterintuitive and confusing. In response, the Texas Senate approved a ban [[link removed]] on the voting method.

Ranked-choice voting, also called preferential voting, allows voters to rank candidates for an elected office [[link removed]] in order of preference, eliminating the need for a runoff election in the event no one receives a majority. Advocates claim it increases voter participation, costs less, and provides more immediate results.

Opponents, however, say it suppresses participation and disenfranchises voters through “ballot exhaustion,” which refers to ballots being thrown out when a voter fails to rank all candidates and his first choice is eliminated. They also argue it is inherently confusing, reduces trust in the electoral process, and allows candidates who are not supported by a majority of voters to win elections by denying head-to-head comparison of top vote-getters.

Senate Bill 921 by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) prohibits the use of ranked-choice voting [[link removed]]. It passed the state’s upper chamber last week by a vote of 21-9, receiving the approval of all 19 Republicans and two Democrats.

Similar legislation by State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park) has been left pending in the Texas House.

Human Smuggling Round-up

Even as Texas lawmakers debate potential solutions to Biden’s border crisis, law enforcement officers in Kinney County are capturing Americans taking part in the smuggling of illegal aliens into the U.S. Sydnie Henry has the story [[link removed]].

Kinney County—situated between the two legal ports of entry—continues to see large numbers of human smuggling operations.

A few examples from recent days... A woman from Marshall, Texas, was taken into custody after she was discovered smuggling nine illegal aliens. Two brothers from Montgomery County (aided by a sister and a girlfriend) were arrested for smuggling eight illegal aliens. A felon from Del Rio, Texas, was busted with six illegal aliens in his truck. Two men from Denton County were caught smuggling seven illegal aliens. A Houston woman led law enforcement in a chase with nine illegal aliens in the car. Navasota Teacher Busted for Distributing Child Porn

Another Texas teacher has been charged with possessing and distributing child pornography after he was caught downloading and sharing child porn via online chat groups. Erin Anderson reports [[link removed]] on the arrest of Daniel Byrd, 29, a teacher in the Navasota Independent School District.

According to federal prosecutors [[link removed]], Byrd used the Kik and Telegram messaging apps to view and download pornographic images of children, and shared the images in online chat groups.

Byrd taught science at Navasota High School. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. Navasota school officials say they placed Byrd on administrative leave when they learned of the charges, and do not believe any district students were victimized.

Other Texas educators caught possessing and distributing child porn include an athletic trainer from Belton, an orchestra director from Belton, two teachers from the DFW metroplex, and a teacher from Valentine ISD.

Superintendent Salaries Continue to Soar

School superintendent salaries continue to soar in Texas [[link removed]], with the highest-paid top administrator’s salary once again topping half a million dollars.

Newly released Texas Education Agency data for the 2022-23 school year shows five superintendents with salaries above $400,000, and another 72 earning $300,000 or more. In the 2021-22 school year, only 60 superintendents scored salaries at or above $300,000.

Texas’ highest paid school superintendent, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD’s Mark Henry, pulls down a base salary of $521,000. Base salary.

Administrators’ lucrative salaries are supplemented by benefits like insurance; pension contributions; and allowances for cars, phones, and housing. They often include hefty retention bonuses as well.

James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation recently noted that the state’s third-highest paid superintendent is Ysleta ISD’s Xavier De La Torre. He receives a salary of $442,000, while just 51 percent of the district’s 36,000 students can read at or above grade level.

“Superintendents are getting rich at taxpayer expense. It’s obscene, and it’s driving property tax bills through the roof,” Quintero told Texas Scorecard [[link removed]]. “It’s well past time for the Texas Legislature to rein in these supersized superintendent salaries and bring commonsense back to public service.”

Superintendent salaries are set by the local school boards.

Quote-Unquote

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."

– Mark Twain​

Number of the Day

$153,750

Annual salary of the governor of Texas.

[Source: Ballotpedia [[link removed]]]

Today In History

On April 3, 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas Democrats could not exclude African Americans from voting in their primary.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

Legal critics say the Republican leadership of the Texas House is quietly allowing Democrats to move legislation [[link removed]] that, in effect, would abolish the death penalty.

Should Texas keep or abolish the death penalty?

Abolish the death penalty now. [[link removed]]

... or ...

Keep the death penalty in place. [[link removed]]

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!

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