PRIORITIES
FIGHT FOR OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Every Texan has the right to a good public education, but our public schools are under assault. Since 2011, the State Legislature has devastated our public schools with massive funding cuts. Meg will fight to reverse these cuts and work to rebuild our public education system. It's time we have someone fighting for our children in the Texas Senate.
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Teacher Pay
Competitive compensation, exemplary training, and support for Texas teachers has to be a priority in our legislature. Teachers begin their careers with lower wages than most other professionals with four-year degrees. The longer they teach, the wider the pay gap becomes. Inflation outpaces teachers' salaries year after year, and high turnover is an epidemic, especially in our rural and low-income communities. If we want world-class schools, we need world-class teachers. We have to pay and support them accordingly. Furthermore, we must support teachers’ right to organize and collective bargaining.
Teacher Retirement System
In order to attract and retrain world-class teachers, they must be able to count on their retirement plan, including affordable healthcare. Thousands of retired teachers across the state are experiencing significant cost of living increases due to the rising cost of their health insurance. Compounding the problem, the State Legislature is actively stealing their pension funds from the TRS. We must ensure teachers receive proper cost of living increases to their pensions.
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School Accountability and Standardized Testing
We must let teachers be teachers, not testers. Standardized testing is expensive, stifles creativity, harms the self-confidence of many students, takes money away from already struggling schools, and, given the fact the tests are administered before the school year is even over thus meaning there’s no way for teachers to teach all of the content, it purposely sets students, teachers, and schools up to fail. There are better ways to ensure our schools are high quality. We must reinsert local control to our school districts and increase funding. When we let teachers be teachers and give them the resources they need, we will be on the path to a greater education system.
HEALTHCARE FOR ALL TEXANS
Health is freedom. Rising costs and limited access to quality healthcare is harming our health, and so too our freedom to live the life we choose. Meg will fight for affordable, accessible healthcare for all. She is committed to fully funding our Medicaid program, creating and expanding access to healthcare in rural communities, building up our mental health and addiction services, supporting women's health, and filling any gaps in services for our veterans.
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Restore Funding to Family Planning Clinics
The 2011 state-sponsored closure of women’s health clinics left 150,000 Texans without access to critical family planning services. This includes access to contraceptives, cancer screenings, testing and treatment for STDs, and much more. These clinics also served low-income and rural women who need, but cannot afford, pre and postnatal care. The path forward must include access to reproductive healthcare for women.
Reverse Cuts to Therapeutic Services for Medically-fragile Children
In 2015, the Texas Legislature led an effort to cut reimbursement rates to physical, occupational, and speech therapy for disabled children who receive Medicaid benefits by $350 million. As a result, children who depend on these services to learn how to do things, like swallow and breathe, no longer have access to these services. This was the result of an overzealous partisan assault which left disabled and medically-fragile children at risk. Sadly, however, there is not currently enough support in the Senate to reverse this devastating decrease in funding. Meg is a champion for our disabled children and will fight for the future and freedom they deserve.
PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT, FAMILIES OVER POLITICS
Common-Sense Gun Safety
Extensive background checks and improving mental health services statewide will make Texas safer. When weapons of war are marketed and sold to civilians, they will be used by some to kill people ruthlessly. Meg will work to find common-sense solutions to the gun violence epidemic, including: expanding background checks, increasing access to mental health services in schools, closing the boyfriend loophole, exploring further application of the “red flag law” to give our community a recourse when expressing concern about an individual's well-being, and strengthening our school marshal program.
This is a critical time for Texas. Our State Legislature is more interested in political theater and welfare for billionaires and corporations than they are in finding real solutions for everyday Texans. It’s time to put our families first. Meg will work against harmful partisanship and corruption, and build a Legislature that elevates our families, our freedom, and our future.
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Property Taxes and School Finance Reform
While our State Legislature continues to shrink its constitutional responsibility to provide funding for public education, they are intentionally deflecting the blame onto overburdened localities. The State Legislature is not paying their fair share. It’s time for our leaders to be honest with Texans and acknowledge that true property tax relief is only possible when the Legislature fulfills its constitutional duty to adequately fund public education.​ Meg is committed to comprehensive school finance reform that will provide the property tax relief we need.
EXPAND TEXAS' ECONOMY
Texas has the 2nd largest economy in the nation and the 10th largest economy in the world. And yet, far too many Texans have to work two or more jobs to make ends meet, far too many Texans struggle to find affordable housing, and too many of our roads, waterways, and public transportation system are in a state of decay, overuse, or simple non-existence. The basis of a strong economy is affordability, sustainable development, and ensuring a good quality of life.
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Local Control & Small Businesses
We must cultivate healthy partnerships with local governments in support of economic development. We cannot allow the State Legislature to blame local governments for rising costs, which the Legislature itself caused, so they can enact legislation that devastate local communities and businesses. We also must ensure that local businesses are able to compete in our economy without being steamrolled by big business.
Home Affordability
Meg will support school finance reform and work to close loopholes used by corporations to avoid paying local property taxes to encourage lower property taxes and keep our homes affordable.
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An Inclusive Economy for All
Meg will work to build a culture of diversity, inclusivity, and tolerance to help attract more businesses to Texas. A strong public education system must be in place to help businesses grow by attracting and creating top talent.
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Strong Unions, Strong Texas
Unions built the backbone of our modern way of life. If we want to build a strong foundation for our future, we need strong unions today. Meg supports unions, will fight against anti-union laws, and will advocate for growth of Americans unions.
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Protect Texas Water
If our environment goes, then so too does our way of life. Our water supply and quality will make or break Texas, which is why we must protect our water supply and surrounding environment. We must build up our wind and solar infrastructure, institute a set of best practices for sustainable development, and ensure our environment is well protected.
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Transportation Infrastructure
Central Texas Traffic is a nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be this way. A viable system of transportation would make a big difference in quality of life and economic development. Meg is committed to ensuring that the billions of dollars approved by voters through Prop 1 in 2013 and Prop 7 in 2015 are used for their intended purposes. She will work to create a provision for a well-funded State Highway Fund to expand and maintain our highway system without relying heavily on our over-inflated toll road system. She will also advocate for the creation of a Texas high-speed rail system along with more local light rail and bus systems.