Wendy Davis On Education: 'We Texans Have A Different Way Of Doing Things'
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| Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis makes an election day visit to her campaign phone bank at Wendy Davis campaign headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. (Max Faulkner/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT via Getty Images) | Fort Worth Star-Telegram via Getty Images |
AUSTIN, Texas -- Fresh from winning the Democratic nomination in the Texas governor's race, state Sen. Wendy Davis outlined her education platform at the SXSWedu conference on Wednesday, drawing a stark contrast with her Republican opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott.
"I've laid out a detailed platform … I've been talking about it already to a great extent," Davis told reporters. "Greg Abbott in contrast to that is still defending indefensible cuts to our public school system. With his words he says that education is a priority, but with his actions he shows that it's not." Abbott's campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.
Davis on Tuesday trounced Reynaldo Madrigal by 60 percentage points in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, becoming the first female nominee since the 1990s. Abbott sailed to victory in the GOP primary.
Following a speech at SXSWedu Wednesday in which she attacked the state's massive education cuts and class size increases. Davis promised to fight for Texas children like she did when she filibustered $5 billion in education cuts in 2011. She said those cuts, combined with high expectations for teachers, led to 11,000 lost teaching positions through layoffs and attrition.
Texas is one of just four states not implementing Common Core State Standards, a set