Good morning!

There is a lot of interest in education policy. Today’s One Click Survey gauges your thoughts on how lawmakers should approach the issue in the coming legislative session.

Here is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

County Bans Automatic Deduction Of Union Dues

• North Texas’ Collin County will no longer deduct union dues from employees’ paychecks, implementing a grassroots GOP policy goal that Republicans at the state level have failed to deliver. Erin Anderson has the details.
     
• Texas is one of only a handful of states that collects union dues from the paychecks of its public employees. Collin County officials say employees are free to participate in outside associations, but the county will no longer act as a dues collection agency.
     
• The county’s new policy aligns with the Republican Party of Texas platform, which calls for the state to “prohibit governmental entities from collecting dues for labor unions through deductions from public employee paychecks.”
      
• “We aren’t stopping anyone from contributing to those organizations that provide valuable representation,” said Collin County Commissioner Darrell Hale. “Those that feel they are getting their money’s worth can go ahead and donate.”

38 Counties Declare Border Invasion

• Waller County became the 38th county to declare an invasion at the southern border with Mexico, and urged Gov. Greg Abbott to take decisive action. Sydnie Henry reports this happened just as new numbers from the federal government show that the 2022-2023 fiscal year is on track to see 2 million illegal border crossers.
      
• The National Border Patrol Council says this flood of illegals could be stopped… if President Joe Biden chose to do so.
      
• Texas counties that have declared an invasion include: Kinney, Goliad, Terrell, Parker, Wise, Edwards, Atascosa, Presidio, Tyler, Live Oak, Rockwall, Johnson, Wilson, Hardin, Chambers, Ellis, Orange, Liberty, Throckmorton, Madison, Jasper, Van Zandt, Wichita, Clay, Jack, Hunt, Montague, Hood, Wharton, Burnet, Collin, McMullen, Hamilton, Lavaca, Ector, Leon, Navarro, and now Waller.

A SCORECARD INVESTIGATION: Targeting Kids

Texas Scorecard’s investigative team has released a series of reports on the burgeoning industry developed around targeting young children for “sex change” procedures. As Dr. Andre Van Mol said in the first report, “Fad medicine is bad medicine, and gender anxious people deserve better than the rush to transition.”

The other articles in the series include:

• Deep State War On Childhood Innocence
  Forces within state agencies are determined to shield these risky procedures and those who conduct them.
     
• Politicized Practitioners Putting Ideology Over Medical Needs
  “Transgenderism is an ideology, and gender dysphoria is a diagnosis,” explains Dr. Andre Van Mol.
       
• Activist Lawyers Protecting Practitioners From Accountability
  Exposing the law firms fighting for gender mutilation and hormone manipulation of children.
     

• Who Is Protecting Children?
  Grassroots efforts to protect children have led to finger-pointing by lawmakers, the governor’s mansion, and the attorney general’s office.

Tinderholt Wants Legislature to Focus on GOP Priorities

• As his campaign for speaker of the Texas House gets underway, State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R–Arlington) wants the GOP-dominated chamber to focus on the GOP’s legislative priorities. Brandon Waltens has the report.
      
• In an an interview on The Salcedo Storm last week, Tinderholt said he believes the Texas GOP’s eight legislative priorities should be adopted by the Legislature. “I think it’s important that every Republican go down to Austin and not try to create their own priorities, but to do what the Republican Party has asked us and what Texas voters have asked for us to do.”
     
• Listen to the interview on the Texas Scorecard website or your favorite podcasting platform.

Yes, Every Vote Matters

• Proving that every vote matters, a November special election for mayor of a small North Texas town ended in a tie, sending the candidates to a December rematch. Elisa Beasley and Chad Major are competing in the special runoff to serve as the next mayor of Pilot Point in Denton County.
      

• The mayor’s seat has been vacant since June. Former Mayor Matt McIlravy, who was elected in May, resigned a month later after Dallas police arrested him for online solicitation of a minor under the age of 14, a second-degree felony.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

For a variety of reasons, and from a variety of perspectives, education is front-and-center in the public debate.

As we approach the start of the 2023 legislative session, which of these comes closest to how you think Texas lawmakers should approach education policy?

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