Texas Lt. Gov. vows: We’ll give up funding before bowing to Obama’s transgender mandate
Don't mess with Texas. The state has had an independent streak since the days when it was an independent nation in
1845, and they don't appear ready to cotton to new
federal guidelines that
all public schools must allow biological males who say they are transgender to
use the girls' showers and locker rooms.
In a defiant press conference, Texas Lt. Gov.
Dan Patrick said today the state would refuse federal funding before putting
its children at risk.
"We will not be blackmailed by the
president's 30 pieces of silver," Lt. Gov. Patrick said.
He said the policy, if adopted, “will be the
end of public education.”
“People will pull their kids out” of unsafe
schools, he said. “Homeschooling will explode. Private schools will increase.
School choice will pass.”
“I believe it is the biggest issue facing
America since prayer was taken out of schools,” Lt. Gov. Patrick added.
He added that, if necessary, the state of
Texas will make up the roughly $10 billion a year it gets from the federal
government rather than compromise student safety.
The majority of federal funding, he said, goes
to provide free breakfast and lunch to underprivileged students. “He's taking
money from the poorest of the poor,” he said.
Responding to his comments, White House
spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Patrick as nothing more than a “right-wing
radio host.”
But pro-family leaders say the lieutenant
governor's example is one to follow.
“Parents should demand that school boards not
sacrifice the safety of the children out of fear of losing federal funding,
which on average only amounts to about nine cents of every educational dollar.
It is also time for the Republican leadership in Congress to act and rein in
this administration,” said Family Research CouncilPresident
Tony Perkins. “The president's decree should be resisted with every legal and
moral instrument we have available to us in this country.”
