Freshman Democrat says “true choice” includes having strong public schools as an option.
DALLAS — North Texas Representative-elect Aicha Davis, D-DeSoto, is one of 32 new freshmen in the Texas House.
And she joined us on Inside Texas Politics to discuss her priorities for her first legislative session.
The Democrat served two terms on the State Board of Education, worked as a teacher, has a master’s degree in Education Administration and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy and Administration.
So, it is no secret what her number one priority will be in the Texas Legislature.
“If we had stronger state laws for public education, the state board could do even more. So, that’s why I was so interested in this position once it came available,” she said.
The Representative-elect tells us she wants to focus on supporting the teacher pipeline in Texas: hiring more teachers, preparing more folks to become teachers and making people excited to join the profession.
The biggest battle over education in the Texas House will be over school choice and a voucher program.
Republicans say they finally have the votes to pass it.
But Davis argues the state needs to focus on fully funding public education before deciding to send those dollars anywhere else.
“If there’s gonna be a true choice, we’ve got to have strong public schools as a choice,” the Democrat told us. “So, that should be the topic that we talk about more than anything else.”
Davis also contends that it’s not a parental choice if private schools can still pick and choose which students attend. In other words, she says parents can’t just get their kids into any institution they want because they have a voucher from the state.
Republicans have argued the state can fully fund public schools and a voucher program.
Davis says her definition of fully funded public schools includes teachers getting paid adequately with access to pay raises that aren’t dependent on standardized testing scores, giving teachers all of the resources they need, and giving public schools the ability to invest in their infrastructure, resources and new buildings.
Then, she argues, you have to figure out how much that would cost for the more than 1,200 public school districts in Texas and the hundreds of public charter schools that already exist.
Davis says there simply wouldn’t be many dollars left for anything else.
“Until we realistically talk about what a fully funded public school is, then we’re going to see those numbers are a lot more than what I think the idea is to be able to have both a system of fully funded schools and a voucher system,” she said.
Beyond education, the Representative-elect says her constituents in District 109, which includes DeSoto, Lancaster, Cedar Hill and parts of Dallas, are telling her to also look at business ownership and the HUB (historically underutilized business) Program, which helps small businesses do business with the state.
“To figure out how more small businesses can get resources. That’s the heart of Texas’ economy. So, figuring that out. Housing. Development. How do we make our area just amazing? There’s so much potential,” Davis told us.
The first day of the 89th Texas Legislative Session convenes at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025.