The Education Lobby Dances with Joy

The chairman of the Texas House Public Education Committee, Rep. Kent Grusendorf, was defeated in the Republican primary in Arlington on Tuesday. Rep. Grusendorf lost to Dr. Diane Patrick in a highly-contested race in Tarrant County. The contest drew plenty of media coverage and money, as those opposing the recent school finance and education reform proposals in the Legislature tried to paint the race as a referendum on how the majority Republican House has handled the issue.

Rep. Grusendorf has been a big supporter of some controversial education policy proposals such as public school choice, incentive pay for teachers, and basing funding methods for certain education programs on hard dollar figures instead of weighted amounts, all things that made for big confrontations between him and most of the public education lobby.

He faced a candidate with a strong education background in Dr. Diane Patrick. She is a university professor, former school teacher, former member of the Arlington School Board, and former member of the State Board of Education. Dr. Patrick emphasized the Legislature’s failure to fix school finance after five special sessions on the topic in the last three years. While her specifics regarding major policy positions were somewhat lacking, she emphasized her experience and her desire for strong local control of education. And frankly, she wanted everyone to know that she was not the incumbent.

Dr. Patrick was the main recipient of funds from a new political action committee formed in 2005 named Texas Parent PAC. The group was organized in reaction to the Legislature’s inability to approve a new school finance plan while property taxes have soared (along with home values) in the last few years and the state share of education dollars has shrunk. Critics of the group have charged that its members are more concerned with supporting the local education administrations and less concerned with needed statewide education reforms.

All of the major education lobby associations gave to Dr Patrick’s campaign to the tune of over $20,000; Mike Moses and Jim Nelson, former Texas Education Agency commissioners, donated $500 a piece; Bill Grusendorf, uncle to Kent Grusendorf, gave her $100; Dallas public education advocate Albert Huddleston donated $10,000; but the big contributor by far was grocery store chain HEB chief executive Charles Butt with over $125,000 -- more than half of which was donated in early March, making one wonder if a late February poll spelled doom for Grusendorf.

Rep. Grusendorf was certainly not lacking in money. He received contributions from about every major statewide association PAC (at least ones who tend to lean towards more conservative government) and several big name Republican donors. He also got help from Governor Rick Perry’s political fund and former Governor Bill Clements ($200).

The Dallas Morning News quoted University of Texas-Arlington professor Allan Saxe with his analysis on the impact of school finance in the Grusendorf-Patrick race: “Grusendorf was caught in a political meat grinder, in that the Legislature couldn't come up with a plan. Some of it was unfair because some of it wasn't his fault. He became a very convenient target because of his chairmanship. [Her message] was plain and direct, and his was more difficult and complex. He had to explain why the crisis wasn't fixed.”

Rep. Grusendorf mentioned after the race that he was not able to get enough of the “hard-core Republicans out to vote” and that his loss might have been due to many voters “who don't normally vote in our primary.” Looking at the Republican primary election results for the district through 1996 , the 20,000 votes in this race was about double the highest previous total, but Grusendorf received almost 9,000 votes in 2000 when George W. Bush was seeking the Republican Presidential nomination.

It’s curious that Grusendorf and his consultants did not expect a high turnout -- or maybe they did and figured 9,000 would be about his best showing? -- considering his opponent’s experience and strategy and the high turnout in mid-February for the special election of a House seat in West Austin, an area where school finance and property taxes have been a huge issue for a few years.

The main question before the legislature and everyone interested in the upcoming special session(s) seems to be how this loss will impact Speaker Tom Craddick’s aggressiveness to push education reforms. Usually, Craddick relentlessly pursues his goals and let’s the results take care of themselves. It’s possible that the loss of one of his top supporters may change that approach. But ironically, it may further embolden Rep. Grusendorf to achieve his goals since this will be his swan song.

By all means, do not expect Speaker Craddick to invite any of the teachers’ and public education groups over for a nice dinner any time soon; but, do expect many of his fellow Republicans in the House to start whispering in his ear “Well, my school district superintendent(s) think . . . ,” a little more frequently than they have been.


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