DALLAS — North Texas Representative-elect Brent Money, R-Greenville, is one of 32 new freshmen in the Texas House.
And he joined us on Inside Texas Politics to discuss his priorities for his first legislative session.
The Republican thinks there are enough votes to pass something called school choice, but he says the exact wording of the legislation will be key.
“I think it needs to be absolutely universal. We have to put parents back completely in charge of their own education,” he said.
Money does say the school choice bill should be completely separate from any public school funding legislation.
And he tells us that he thinks the bill should include some deregulation of public schools.
“Right now we have this heavily regulated public school environment that really nobody likes. But it’s necessary when you have a government-run monopoly to make sure that there’s a lot of regulations in place,” Money argued. “If we open up to competition, then we should be able to strip away a lot of these crippling regulations.”
In the past, rural Republicans have teamed up with Democrats to defeat school choice legislation.
Representative-elect Money says in every single community in his Texas House District 2, except for the city of Greenville, the local school district is the largest employer. His district also includes Sulphur Springs and Canton, so he says he’s heard from rural Republicans as well, and he understands their concerns. But he also says the majority still supports school choice.
“I polled it during my campaign, very neutral question, and it’s about 60-40 in favor of school choice even in my very rural district. Even though people, I would say by and large, aren’t disappointed with their own school, but they see the value of giving parents options,” he relayed to us.
Money tells us that over the next two years, he’ll also be focusing on the state’s abortion law.
He says while people may think Texas ended abortion, it still exists, but it’s happening inside of a home now, instead of a clinic.
Money says abortion is murder and should be treated as such.
“There would be punishment for a woman,” Money said. “It’s as simple as saying we’re gonna give equal protection… we’re going to say that if you kill a baby, then we’re gonna call that murder.”
The Representative-elect doesn’t think there will be an appetite to legalize gambling in Texas, something he opposes and views as a net economic loss for the state.
But he does think there will be a push during the legislative session to end the Texas Lottery, which is due for review by the state’s Sunset Advisory Commission.
“There are a lot of people saying, hey, let’s take a look at the lottery. Are there the votes there? I don’t know. But I think the lottery needs to, there needs to be at least some reform. There will be a push to get rid of it. It probably will survive.”
The first day of the 89th Texas Legislative Session convenes at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025.