Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

"As a mother to two young children, striving for a good education is a passion that I share with them each day. I'm dedicated to an education system that works for students, parents, teacher groups, and of course the often-forgotten taxpayers." --- Lois

*As the former Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, Lois has a strong knowledge about how we are funding our state's public schools, community colleges, public universities and health-related institutions.

*She worked in 2009 with the Texas Retired Teacher Association to pass HB 1259, adding safeguards to protect the multi-billion dollar Teacher Retirement System fund. The bill slams the door on insider deals, and helps avoid conflicts of interest by requiring that the Attorney General approve the hiring of any outside legal counsel being considered to oversee fiduciary and ethics decisions at the pension fund.

*Working with retired teachers back in 2007, Lois helped deliver the first pension increase to members of the Teacher Retirement System since 2001. She has been a constant supporter of and has been honored by the Texas Retired Teacher Association.

*She pushed in the most recent budget for an additional $4,146,456 (5% increase) for Sam Houston State University in the state's higher education funding formula. Additionally she wrote a special budget provision in 2009 to also secure an additional $4 million for Sam Houston State University institutional enhancement fund.

*Lois helped provide a $5.6 million increase in state dollars for Blinn College. She helped see that base funding for Blinn College will total more than $46,747,000 for the next two-year budget cycle. An increase of over 13-percent for Blinn.

*To help address high college tuition costs, pushed for a major new tuition transparency law, eventually passing House Bill 2504 which requires that all online syllabus course information be available online, before students enroll. The bill was signed by Governor Perry in June, 2009. It's a new policy to give more purchasing information to students, potential students, parents and taxpayers. The bill helps student loans stretch further.

*She's increased money to the K-12 classroom and supported teacher pay raises. She's helped local schools with existing debt allotments that save local taxpayer dollars when debt is issued to build new schools. The College of Education at Sam Houston State University has given her their "Friend to Education Award" for her statewide efforts.

*To help middle-class families, she's sponsored and helped pass legislation to expand the funding, availability and quality of preschool in Texas. The United Way of Texas presented Lois with their Friend of Children Award for her consistent work with early childhood development.

*She's consistently fought for more money for junior colleges. Locally she has been a longtime friend to Blinn Junior College and has worked to increase their amount of state funding. She also passed legislation to expand the college's service area. Lois worked to ensure Blinn received additional funds to oversee the historic Washington-on-the-Brazos Star of the Republic Museum.

*At the university level, she represents Sam Houston State University where she's worked to increase funding and protect the institution's rich heritage. With the help of thousands of SHSU alumni in 2007, she passed HB 1418 to ensure that dangerous historical revisionists can never remove Sam Houston from the school's official name.

*To help more young people earn a college degree, she has supported the Texas Grant scholarship program. She's pushed for more financial aid and a doubling of work-study programs. With her involvement, Texas created the Texas Competitive Knowledge Fund, a new way to fund research universities.

*On her watch, Higher Education Group insurance funding has been increased. For her leadership, the Texas Association of College Teachers chose Lois to receive their 2007 Legislator of the Year Award.

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