What a wonderful gathering. No, it is not true that I am auctioning tickets to the University of Texas – Ohio State game. My prediction is that Texas will win. But I forgot, you would not be interested. I have a room full of Aggies!


Actually, I have a room full of the best of Texas.


I want to offer thanks for my family for their constant support and spirited kitchen table discussions. I also have thanks to the elected officials in attendance and their teamwork spirit. And, of course, many thanks to my campaign hosts for making this evening possible.


District 55 is the finest area to represent in the State House.


Often I marvel at the wealth of our infrastructure:

• The premier military installation in America.
• The interstate highway.
• The pristine waters of two Corps of Engineer lakes.
• A commercial passenger airport.
• A veteran’s hospital, cemetery, and nursing home.
• Two community colleges, an upper division bachelor’s degree University, a medical school, cardiovascular research center, and the Texas Bioscience Institute.
• World-class non-profit hospitals and medical facilities.
• Corporate headquarters for national and international businesses.
• Eight fine independent school districts, flourishing private and parochial schools, and a full degree-granting private university.
• The announcement of a new ethanol plant (yes, Bell County is going green).

We are also the corporate home to the Texas favorite Houston Astros.


Sometime in the halls of the Capitol, I have to shade my eyes when I hear of water rationing in Dallas County or the need for new hospital beds in East Texas or the closing of a military installation in San Antonio. For a Heart of Texas county with rural roots – we are blessed.  


I believe our character as Central Texans has been forged by the work ethic and faith of our forefathers – through their vision and work.


And now, the best of us is called out to meet the needs of our generation and the next. How we handle our challenges will define us as a people. We are honored to be aided by our friends and neighbors in the military, with their enduring traits of duty, honor, and country.


Today’s soldiers are also renowned for their professional ability and education levels. The average soldier at Fort Hood is likely married, with an associate’s degree and a laptop, and significantly contributes to our educated local workforce.


With bulldozers moving on IH-35 and 600 acres of land offered for the new Texas A&M – Central Texas campus, the future is bright not only for us – but for our children and grandchildren.


I believe we are a Central Texas people united in a kinship of ideals. We believe that it is not only government that needs to meet the challenges at hand, but we – as groups of citizens – must take up responsibility.


Central Texans are civically engaged, active in faith-based organizations, and put our shoulder to the wheel on community needs. Our Texas work ethic and can-do spirit is alive and well here in District 55.


We know that our young people are 25% of our population and 100% of our hope for the future.


Believing that our beloved Texas can be no better than the quality of her public schools, I recall my encounter with a father and son at a local cafeteria. Noticing the child’s tee-shirt “I am a super reader” – I congratulated him. I received a big toothy, confident grin with “Thanks, I read a lot.”


“He is the best reader in his room. He makes A’s,” the father proudly offered. I noticed the father’s worn out boots and dust covered jeans as father and son looked at food offerings at the cafeteria and ordered one plate of food. The service hostess questioned whether he meant two plates, but was corrected.


“No, one plate – we’ll share,” the father said.


I saw a dad with empty pockets and a child full of dreams. I saw a “super reader” share a plate of meatloaf – knowing full well that this child will achieve an educational level beyond his dad’s and that this child will be able to buy food for his entire family.


Why? Because somewhere in this child’s life a Bell County teacher took notice, encouraged, taught, persevered, and taught again. The result: a “super reader” for life.


A “super reader” is an achieving student. An achieving student graduates high school. The graduate goes onto higher education. The scholar with the degree then becomes a contributing part of the Texas workforce and is civilly engaged.


A free system of public education is Texas’ greatest constitutional responsibility.


I am grateful that Governor Perry had the foresight and (an odd word) grace to reach across deep divisions to form a coalition to solve the school finance crisis. Many of you in this room agreed that the education of Texas’ next generation was worth consensus. I thank you: educators, business men and women, parents, taxpayers. Texans are at our best when we come together.


Not long ago, at a Southern Regional Education Board Conference in Atlanta, I found an empty seat between two men. The man on my left introduced himself as the Educational Director for the Gates Foundation in Seattle; the man to my right was the Executive Director for the Walton Family Foundation.


Both men’s work is intensely focused on classroom excellence and accountability. They were well aware of the watershed education bills that Texas recently passed that encouraged improved graduation rates, funded new high school initiatives, and gave every teacher in Texas a significant pay raise.


I was able to share with them the innovations of Bell County: building on the structure of K-12, our phenomenal distance learning courses at Central Texas College, our middle college designation at Temple College, and legislation making Texas friendlier to military families.


These men were impressed by how we, as Central Texans, are leveraging our educational assets. They recognized that we are, as our own Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley says, “Keeping the main thing the main thing.”


Now, I believe that the service and sacrifice of our friends and neighbors in the “war on terror” keeps us focused and gives us added resolve. I know that while soldiers are away – we work to have the best teachers in America standing before their children. My friends, it is one good thing we can do while we pray and keep the light on.


Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, little girls in the emerging democracy of Afghanistan are free to choose their own books and become “super readers”.


At the end of the day – I am accountable to you – the taxpayer and voter.


The next school finance debate will focus on the means of preserving the property tax cuts: appraisal revision (I welcome the Governor’s taskforce), revenue caps, and property tax roll back rates.


However, I think we may all agree on the end goal: keep the courts out of running our schools and continue to reduce property taxes.


These education bills are historic legislation – providing a structure for financing our schools and a road map for current and future reduction in school property taxes. Under HB 1, schools will be able to share information so that they can transform their internal structure to make it more efficient and effective. My training from 10 years on the Appropriations Committee taught me to always ask the essential question, “How much does it cost?”


I will continue to ask that question with the taxpayer in mind as I work to fine tune these bills for continuous improvement.


I am the only chairman of a substantial committee (I am chairman of the House Committee on Public Health) that House Speaker Tom Craddick allows to also sit on the Education Committee. I am grateful for the opportunity. The principles on which I act upon on all legislation are three-fold:

• To improve education and health outcomes (the proof is in the pudding)
• To increase efficiency (a better mousetrap)
• To reduce costs over time (is it possible?)

We can do these things, even the last one.


Improved graduation rates save money. Management of chronic disease saves money. Medical liability reform saves money.


We are entering a time of political competition – a contest that will determine the shape and course of our Texas government.


As happen in Texas politics, important issue debates may become blurred by animated politics. One candidate for Governor is now promising to reduce the speed limit to 54.95!


In the midst of the whirlwind, I will proceed in quiet confidence and partnership with you as we educate our next generation. Not unlike Lake Woebegone – we want all our children to be above average.


Do I see a shining city on a hill? You bet I do! I believe in all the assets of this great District 55:

• From the classroom to the boardroom;
• From bench research to the patient’s bedside;
• From high school onto college;
• From military service to civilian service;

 
All of these assets will come together in an unmatched, successful experiment in helping to form our next generation of Central Texas children.


I know the public trust that you have placed in me. I take it personally and seriously. I cannot do this job without the helping hand of the Almighty. So I say in closing, God Bless you dear people of District 55 and beyond; God Bless this great Texas; and, God Bless America.