Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison Lines Up Education First In Campaign Priorities
Darren Meritz, El Paso Times
EL PASO -- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison called education the top priority in her bid to become Texas governor while at a campaign stop in El Paso on Wednesday.
Hutchison spoke to school administrators and students during a morning presentation at the El Paso Independent School District administrative offices.
Texas, she said, will not have a successful future unless high-school dropout rates improve and more high-school students go on to finish college.
"I will never be a governor that says status quo is good enough," she said. "I think it is so important that we have an overall education system that says at a minimum we are going to graduate our young people from high school."
Statewide, 78 percent of students graduated from high school within four years during the 2007-08 school year. In the El Paso region, 72 percent graduated in four years, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Hutchison praised El Paso school district administrators for implementing programs designed to identify students at risk of dropping out and providing them with alternative learning methods.