In an appearance Wednesday morning, Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus addressed the press and 83rd Texas Legislature, offering few specifics on their goals but indicating that taxes may go down. Dewhurst was the only one of the three who named specifics, the Texas Tribune reports, saying lawmakers may lower business and property taxes.
“In Texas, we know money does the most good when it stays in the hands of those who’ve earned it,” Perry said.
When asked if the Legislature would restore public education funds, Perry questioned the question itself, saying education spending has been more than adequate.
“We’ve had public education funding growing at three times the public education enrollment. So you’ve had a 70 percent increase of funding from 2002 to 2012. You’ve had a 23 percent increase in enrollment growth,” he said, according to the Tribune. “I think under any scenario over the last decade, the funding that we have seen in the state of Texas for public education has been pretty phenomenal….I’m not sure there’s any state in the nation that’s had that type of [growth], certainly not any big state. We’re getting the job done in public education.”