Good morning,

Our strength as Americans has never been found in diversity; it has been in unity. I end the week reflecting on those who would have us disassociate with each other.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, June 6, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Republicans Urge Abbott to Veto ‘Biden-Style’ Loan Repayments

• A coalition of 34 Republican lawmakers is urging Gov. Greg Abbott to veto a Democrat-authored bill that would expand state-funded student loan repayment programs—this time, specifically for school counselors and mental health professionals. Brandon Waltens has the story.
     
• Legislation that was authored by State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) would broaden eligibility for Texas’ loan repayment assistance program to include school counselors, marriage and family therapists, and other behavioral health professionals. It drew fierce opposition from conservatives when it reached the House floor, especially in light of social transitioning in public schools—a practice whereby school counselors and staff assist children in adopting a new gender identity without parental knowledge or consent.
       
• A majority of Republicans opposed the measure in the House, while only eight of the Senate's 20 Republicans voted no.

Why Didn't Lawmakers Just Abolish the Lottery?

• Although lawmakers sent a measure abolishing the Texas Lottery Commission to Gov. Greg Abbott, they stopped short of entirely ending the gambling enterprise. As Luca Cacciatore reports, many observers have been left wondering why.
    
• A potential reason? The Texas Lottery is a very lucrative business for its vendors, most notably International Game Technology PLC, or IGT. Texas was IGT's third-largest market in 2024. Only the entire countries of Canada and Italy had larger market shares for IGT. The next closest U.S. state for IGT revenues was New Jersey, which has had expansive casino gambling since 1976.
      
• IGT's contract to continue running the Texas Lottery was last renewed in 2010, with commissioners agreeing to one of the largest contracts ever awarded in the state up to that point, worth $1 billion.
      
• Reform legislation adopted by the lawmakers was crafted alongside the lottery's "stakeholders" (Austin-speak for vendors) and protected IGT's contract with the state. The IGT contract was set to expire on August 31, 2026, but has been extended for two more years.

UT-Austin Picks National Security Scholar as Provost Finalist

• Regents overseeing the University of Texas are expected to approve the appointment of William Inboden as the sole finalist for the open provost position at the main Austin campus. As Adam Cahn explains, the provost is the Chief Academic Officer of UT-Austin, second in command to the president, and supervises several critical aspects of university operations. 
    
• Inboden is the current director of the Alexander Hamilton School of Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, a reform effort launched by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Before that, Inboden had served as the director of the Clements Center, a national security think tank at UT-Austin.
        
• He previously worked in several national security positions in the George W. Bush administration.

Houston City Council Approves $7 Billion ‘Balanced’ Budget

• Joseph Trimmer reports that Houston City Council members this week approved a $7 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2026, pulling money from the city's reserve accounts to cover a $107 million shortfall.
    
• Despite a structural deficit, the budget meets the city's legal definition of "balanced," as revenues and other available resources, including reserves, are sufficient to cover planned expenditures.
       
• Among other things, the new budget includes a pay raise for officers in the Houston Police Department.

Houston ISD Teacher Accused of Locking Special Needs Students in Cabinet

• A special needs teacher in the Houston Independent School District has been recommended for termination after allegedly locking several special needs students inside a cabinet. While the teacher has been placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation, the individual has not yet been publicly identified.
    
• The incident took place at Moreno Elementary School and came to light in late May. It has sparked outrage among parents and renewed scrutiny of the district’s troubled special education system.

RELATED EDUCATION NEWS

Dallas Police Pause Enforcement of Prostitution Ordinance

• In response to action from a municipal court judge who has repeatedly ruled against the city’s prostitution ordinance, the Dallas Police Department has paused its enforcement. Travis Morgan and Robert Montoya have more on the story.
    
• DPD cited a May 21 ruling by Dallas Municipal Court Judge Jay Robinson, regarding a case involving Sabrina Gabriella German and Journi Randolph. Research shows both have an extensive history of violating various prostitution laws. Similarly, Judge Robinson has targeted the city’s anti-prostitution ordinance as unconstitutional.
      
• The Dallas City Council appoints municipal court judges and controls the nominating process through the city council’s judicial nominating commission. Mayor Eric Johnson did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s questions about the issue. 
      
• As courts debate this issue, sex trafficking remains a real threat. Tami Brown Rodriguez of Jaco Booyens Ministries said prostitution "often serves as a gateway to trafficking."

This Sunday on REAL TEXANS

Friday Reflection
E Pluribus Unum

“E pluribus unum.” No concept has been more uniquely American than the national motto first suggested in 1776 by our founding fathers. It is rooted deeply in a Christian view of our culture that has, sadly, been shoved aside in favor of the European tribalism favored by tyrants.

There is a reason 20th-century dictators ranging from Adolf Hitler to Joseph Stalin railed against “the others” in their societies. By creating division, it is easier to exercise dictatorial control.

In our American culture of the 21st Century, the same dictatorial impulses have done the same thing but with a twist. With a faux fervor that belies history and reality, we’ve become fixated on hyphens and modifiers in a way that would have baffled our founding fathers.

Consider men like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Rush. They could not have been more different in their views of the world and even what motivated their participation in the cause of independence.

In writing to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul emphasized the need for unity in the faith. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Just as the early church was built by a wildly diverse people who came together under Christ, so too was our nation built by people whose differences were unified in political liberty and self-governance.

Such notions are antithetical to the whims of the ruling elite. They need us to be divided against ourselves.

This is why we are told to celebrate that which makes us different. We must make ourselves the “other,” who is opposed, hated, or feared… And we must view all the others likewise.

Our culture encourages dressing this up in that most delicious of self-centered sins. The algorithms of modern life have us find what most differentiates us from our neighbors, and wave it as a point of “pride.”

Not coincidentally, Holy Scripture has a lot to say about the results of pride… and none of it is good. “Pride goes before destruction,” begins the line from Proverbs 16. It is so much easier, the tyrants know, to control people who have destroyed themselves.

Strength is found not in diversity. Strength is found in unity.

If we are to reclaim our republic, we must rejuvenate a culture that celebrates our founding principles. From many, we can be one people when we are united in liberty. E pluribus unum.

Quote-Unquote

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

– Benjamin Franklin