Andy Hopper - State Representative, R-Decatur Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, at least we don't need no education department. Cory
to our next guest anyway, seven p. Fifty two, our
time here in Houston's Morning News. You know, the President
Trump getting ready to get rid of the National Education Association.
Our next guest would like to get rid of the
Texas Education Association, a state representative, Andy Hopper, the Republican
for dedicator. Welcome to the show, sir. You think we

(00:24):
could live to live just fine without the tea Huh.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, you know you hit it right. I mean, President
Trump is doing great things at the federal level, trying
to clear out a lot of the craft and bureaucracy
that has accumulated over decades, and here in Texas we
should do the same thing. We should actually consider the
fact that over the last century we've put a lot
of things in place that are no longer necessary. You know,
we've said that parents should have the right to determine

(00:51):
what the best educational options are for their kids, and
in that competitive environment, it makes sense right that we
should also unbridal education to be able to operate at
the local level under the control of citizens. As close
as you know, the level of government can be to
the people you know, we Republicans believe in local controls.

(01:12):
So let's just let's just like make it a competitive
environment and let schools operate the way that people in
their area want them to operate. And if parents don't
like it, they can move their kids. So that's kind
of what I'm all about.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I'm kind of guessing that maybe your average text and
probably doesn't even know what the tea does. In all practicality.
What do they do?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, they accumulate over five hundred and seventy million dollars
every biennium. That's half of the amount of money we
want to allocate the school choice. The over one hundred
million dollars every single year is allocated to a Star test.
And you know, here's the funny thing about the Star Test.
This is a this is a test that is given
to every kid. And so what ends up happening is

(01:51):
that every year, you know, parents tell me that, you know,
the teachers are teaching to the test. The teachers complain
about this test and accounts learned a big school district
tell me that they have never had a military recruiter,
they've never had a college recruiter, they've never had a
potential employer ever reach out to the school and ask
can I see the Star test? So part of this

(02:12):
bill is to get rid of the Star tests, which
is basically an anchor I think on the entire education system. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, the Star Test, of course, was supposed to tell
us how much kids were or were not learning, And
the only thing we've learned from it is how little
they've learned, because the test scores generally have not gone
up all that much. So, as you say, I mean
we there really has been kind of a national movement,
hasn't there to get back to the basics, you know, reading, writing, arithmetic,
do away with all these programs that have nothing to

(02:40):
do with the basic education.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's exactly right. You know. One of the things that
I observed, you know, running for office twice in a
period of you know, four years, is that you know,
as you drive to the countryside in Texas, you see
these signs out sometimes pastures, sometimes in private land this says,
you know, like former side like Sandy Creek School, you know,
or whatever, and you see dozens of these and what

(03:03):
when you look into the history of it is in
the you know, thirties and forties, there was a kind
of a period a kind of a fad of consolidation
of schools across the state, where you know, these former
you know, one room school houses were consolidated into bigger districts.
And I think that the TA, you know, the cap
center of bat was in the THA was graded in

(03:25):
nineteen forty nine, and I think that what we've seen
is that maybe centralization of government at every level is
a bad idea. You know, the more decentralized, the more
close to the people government can be. You know, the
more chance people can have is to first of all,
determine if it's doing well and if it's not doing well.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
You know.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Brent Money is a joint author of this. He's a
wrap out of East Texas, and he had a really
great analogy. He said, Hey, he says, you know, I
don't want government to tell me what the best tex
Mex restaurant in town is. I just want to tell
me if it's safe. You know, I can determine what
the right atmosphere is and whether or not they have
the best salsa, and so same thing goes for schools.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, I'll tell you what, it's been very difficult to
get school choice through. I'm imagining that this is not
going to be any easier, is it. No, But you know,
it's it's interesting. I have wanted to start the conversation.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
I you know, I think that part of the reason
that I went to Austin is that I think that
there are so many issues that just need us to
basically highlight and bring a conversation to it. And I'm
not going to be afraid to bring in a bill
like this. But what's amazing to me is that how
much support there is. I mean, I've had no one
called me and say, hey, this is a terrible idea,
but I've had dozens and dozens of people call our office,

(04:39):
call me and say, hey, you know I'm in public education.
Thank you for starting this conversation.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
So maybe, yeah, maybe it won't be that tough at all.
It turns out, stay representative. Good to talk to you, sir,
Thank you for your time. That is Adie Hopper joining us.