Gilbert Garcia reported from the Texas House District 117 campaign forums about differences on public education issues between incumbent John V. Garza (a Republican) and challenger Philip Cortez (a Democrat). “Class Dismissed at Garza-Cortez Forums”, Gilbert Garcia, Plaza de Armas, September 29, 2012.
Cortez:
“Our community is asking for more investment in our schools,” Cortez said. “To me, we’re going backwards as a state anytime we’re taking money away from our children and the classrooms.”
Garza:
“I will never be assumptive to think that we can automatically continue to pay increases in education that aren’t warranted by efficiency and success,” Garza said, after launching into an endorsement of private-school vouchers, an approach that Cortez argued would “take money away from school districts that they don’t have.”
For more coverage of the District 117 race, see “Philip Cortez Hopes to Unseat John Garza in HD-117”, Reeve Hamilton, Texas Tribune, October 10, 2012, and “Garza tries to hold on in Texas House District 117”, John W. Gonzalez, San Antonio Express-News, October 15, 2012.
