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Good morning,

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. In today's One Click Survey, we want to know what you think of his strategy.

This is the Texas Minute for Monday, February 3, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Greg Abbott Pushes for Action on School Choice, Property Taxes

• Using the warehouse of an Austin oil company as the backdrop for his State of the State address last night, Gov. Greg Abbott outlined seven emergency priorities for lawmakers to tackle immediately. Brandon Waltens has the full report.
   
• During the first 60 days of a legislative session, lawmakers are barred from passing legislation except for those the governor has designated as emergency items. Abbott’s decision to deliver his address less than three weeks into the session reflects a faster pace than in some past years.
     
• To no one's surprise, the governor named school choice among his top issues for lawmakers to address. School choice was Abbott’s top priority in 2023, but it was killed in the Texas House. That resulted in Abbott campaigning against the GOP opponents—winnowing his opposition in the majority party.
        
• He is also calling for a $750 million boost in merit pay for government school teachers.
      
• The governor wants to see DEI and other leftist indoctrination programs removed from the schools. "The State of Texas recognizes only two genders – male and female. Any educator who tells students that boys can be girls should be fired on the spot." 
       
• Abbott is also prioritizing $10 billion in property tax relief that would be taken from the state's $24 billion surplus. 
       
• The governor wants legislation requiring judges to deny bail for violent offenders and also in those cases against children involving capital murder or sexual offenses.
       
• Abbott's other priorities include funding water infrastructure and creating a cyber command focused on foreign cybersecurity threats.

RELATED NEWS

• Abbott’s directive follows the rise of DeepSeek, a free artificial intelligence tool based in China that has alarmed national security experts and financial analysts due to heavy U.S. tech sector investments in AI. Critics warn these applications pose a significant risk of data harvesting and foreign influence.
       
• This isn’t the first time Abbott has moved to restrict Chinese tech influence in Texas. In 2022, he signed an executive order banning TikTok from all state devices and networks. The Texas Legislature later codified that ban into law, citing security threats posed by the popular app’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Facilities Designated for Deportation Operations

• As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues sweeping arrests of criminal illegal aliens throughout the country, Will Biagini reports the agency has utilized the J.J. Pickle Federal Building in downtown Austin as a detainment center.
       
• Meanwhile, Mexico has reportedly almost finished preparations for a tent complex in Juarez, across the border from El Paso.
      
• According to Juarez officials, the new tent complex is meant to serve as a temporary holding facility with a capacity of up to 2,500 deportees from the U.S.

RELATED NEWS

Texas Students’ Test Scores Shrink as Spending Grows

• A new analysis comparing students’ standardized test scores to education spending finds Texans are failing to get a quality return on their investment. Erin Anderson reports that reading and math scores are steadily declining even as taxpayer-funded school spending increases.
      
• Last week, the National Center for Education Statistics released 2024 scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as “The Nation’s Report Card.”
      
• In Texas, 4th grade reading scores dropped two points, from 214 to 212 (on a scale of 0 to 500). Only 28 percent of Texas 4th grade students scored as “proficient” or better in reading.
       
• Performance trends over time show the percentage of Texas 4th graders who read at or above a “basic” level was the same in 2024 as in 1992: just 57 percent. During the same time, state spending on education has wildly increased.
       
• Analysts found that while education spending in Texas grew 48 percent (or 35 percent, when accounting for inflation) from 2013 to 2024, 4th graders’ reading scores fell through the decade and “continue to decline even as spending increased.”

RELATED NEWS

• Among those who cosponsored the first iteration of the legislation are Texas Republicans Chip Roy, Jodey Arrington, and Keith Self.

Texas Joins Fight Against Taxpayer-funded Gender Mutilation Surgeries for Criminals

• Alongside 23 other states, Texas is attempting to stop a mandate forcing taxpayers to fund the surgeries. Valerie Muñoz has the story.
      
• At issue is a lawsuit brought by a prison inmate in Indiana who demanded a taxpayer-funded “gender transition” surgery. The case is on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Texas and 23 other states are supporting Indiana against the inmate.
          
• “This is a fight to uphold common sense, defend biological reality, and ensure that public funds are used responsibly,” said Brady Gray of the Texas Family Project.
      

• Both President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott have issued directives for government agencies to reject gender ideology. Likewise, Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed numerous lawsuits opposing gender ideology, including suits against doctors who have prescribed dangerous puberty-blocking drugs to children.

Quote-Unquote

"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."

– Thomas Jefferson​

Today In History

On Feb. 3, 1959, Texas-born musicians Buddy Holly and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a plane crash in Iowa along with Richie Valens. They had played a show the previous night in Clear Lake, Texas.

One Click Survey

On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China that would take effect on Tuesday. He specifically cited those countries' unwillingness to address the flow of illegal aliens and narcotics into the United States. Canada and Mexico immediately responded by threatening their own tariffs on American products.

Do you agree with President Trump's use of tariffs to drive international policy?

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