Dept of Ed Denies Tx Ed Comm of $830 Million

Senator John Cornyn released this on the denial of the Department of Education to the request by the State of Texas:

WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education announced it has denied an application from Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott for $830 million from the Ed Jobs Fund:

“As Texas children and teachers work their way into the school year, it’s unacceptable that they won’t have access to the full range of federal resources available to them,” Sen. Cornyn said. “It is unfathomable why Texas Democrats would unanimously support the politically charged Doggett Amendment, which unfairly hamstrings the efforts of educators statewide and sends critical Texas taxpayer dollars that should be used in Texas classrooms to schools in California and New York.”

Background:

In the coming days Sens. Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will introduce legislation stripping the Doggett Amendment language and Texas-related provisions from the Education Jobs fund.

On August 6, members of the Texas Republican Congressional Delegation joined Sens. John Cornyn and Hutchison in writing to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging her to remove language from the state bailout bill that would penalize Texas and bar the State from accessing important federal education dollars that every other state will be able to access to support their schools and teachers.