Democrats won several statewide offices in Texas, including the governor's race, the attorney general's office and control of the state House. The results could bring a shift in K-12 education priorities, including state takeovers of districts, religion in classrooms and who oversees public schools.
Gina Hinojosa, a former Austin ISD school board president, became the first Democrat to win the governor's seat since 1990. She campaigned on saving Texas public schools and pledged to remove Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath on her first day in office and to end state takeovers of districts. In her victory speech, she said, "We are taking our children's education back from a government that has failed them."
The story reports that Hinojosa cannot make these changes alone in the upcoming legislative session, because several of the issues she opposed are written into state law. Changing them would require the Legislature. Democratic Lt. Gov. Vikki Goodwin will oversee the Senate, and Democrats hold a House majority. Republicans still hold a majority in the Senate, where they can approve or reject Hinojosa's appointees and affect Democratic priority bills.