Michael Myers

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Survey Responses

RESPONSES TO THE 2026 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

1. If elected, what are your top priorities for Texas public education?

Please describe any specific goals or legislative initiatives you would pursue to strengthen the state’s public education system.

Full funding of public schools. NO public funds for priviate schools. Full funding for mandates for public schools  Finds ways to increase certified teachers and stop the loss of those we have.

2. Public Education Funding:

The 89th Legislature passed an $8 billion school funding bill, HB 2. However, despite years of unanswered “inflationary challenges, a large majority of that funding was earmarked to specific programs and did not supply districts with significant flexible funding, leaving the majority of Texas students in districts with deficit budgets and other significant funding challenges. Do you believe Texas public schools should receive additional funding? If so, how should the state pay for it, and should that funding be earmarked at the state level or provide districts with flexible dollars?

Yes schools should be fully funded. Texas schools are ranked 47 in the nation.  Historically texas politicians have consistically allowed our schools to slip into disrepar. Schools in my district are struggling with budget cuts. Increased hiring of untrained teachers and getting bonds passed for a growing population.  We must address the issue of ;bonds for school improvements and building new schools.

3. ESA Vouchers:

Education savings accounts (ESAs) redirect public funds to private or home schools. How do you believe Texas should fund public schools, traditional and charter, alongside ESA vouchers? How should ESA spending be held accountable to taxpayers?

Public schools should be funded by local property taxes with the state kicking in the rest. We need to get away from state funding by attendance. Its very hard to budget schools based on average dailey attendance.

4. Teacher Recruitment and Retention:

Under HB 2, passed in 2025, all educators in core content courses (math, English, science, and social studies) must be certified by 2030. While this is a good start, more can and should be done to ensure high-quality teachers continue to enter the classroom. What are your suggestions to improve the quality of the new teacher pipeline?

We need to offer more incentivies to students who elect to attend college for a teaching degree. Increased schlorships for teachers would help. Incentivies that really matter should be provided to help keep teachers  employed. Too many are leaving after a couple of years.  Raising pay to at least 75,000 per year would help retain teachers.

5. Educator Pay and Benefits:

The 89th Legislature passed legislation creating a new mechanism to provide only classroom teachers with tiered raises based on early years of service and their district’s student enrollment. While the raises were significant, they did not apply to all campus educators, and the program created a significant negative funding stream at the district level due to unfunded increased costs for non-salary compensation tied to payroll, such as TRS retirement contributions. Do you support a state-funded across-the-board pay raise for all Texas educators? How would you ensure that compensation keeps pace with inflation and remains competitive with other professions?

A teacher is a teacher. It should not matter how big a disrtict is.  Teachers work 50-60 hr weeks. The work does not stop when they leave the classroom. My wife is a teaher.  Her hours  continue long after she leaves for the day.  We also need to do something about the teacher retirement fund.  It is underfunded and insufficent for retired teahers.

6. Educator Health Care:

The high cost of health insurance for active and retired educators continues to reduce take-home pay, with educators shouldering the vast majority of their ever-increasing heath care costs. How would you address the affordability and sustainability of educator health care, particularly the TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care programs?

We need to rethink teacher insurance funding. We should seriously consider allowing districts to combine their employees together and shop  insurance coverage based on the combined number of employees across several districts.  We should also allow educatiors to elect medicare coverage as it fits their individual family needs.  I believe this program needs another look. Its way to expensive for the level of care, deductibles and monthly cost.

7. Retirement Security:

Do you believe the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) should remain a defined-benefit pension plan for all current and future members? If not, what is your plan to provide a secure retirement for Texas educators, particularly considering that state law has been set up such that most districts do not participate in Social Security?

That is the problem. I think we needed to get rid of the teaher retirement fund and allow districts to join social security. At least cost of living increases would be paid every year. I suspect the retirement pay would also increase over the teacher retirement fund

8. Accountability and Assessment Reform:

The Legislature has passed a new “through-year” multi-test model under HB 8. What role should standardized testing play in evaluating students, teachers, and schools? Should test results continue to determine A–F accountability ratings or teacher pay?

Teacher pay should not be tied to student test results. There are many varaibles the affect testing that the teacher has no control over.  Let the principals weed out poor teachers in their evaluations.  Good teachers are punished by poor student performance.

9. Parental Rights and Community Voice:

Recent legislative debates have focused on “parental rights” in education. In your view, what is the appropriate balance between accommodating the often conflicting wishes of individual parents while maintaining policies that reflect the broader community’s educational priorities and still providing consistency and an appropriate level of professional deference to educators?

There has to be a balance between parents and teachers as to whats best for the students. Disruptive students can ruin the learning ability of a whole classroom.  Teachers should be able to speak out about disruptive students., and make referrals for ADHD testing without fearing lawsuits. Parential rights stop when whole classes are disrupted by a single student.

10. School Safety:

HB 3 (2023) imposed new school safety requirements but did not fully fund them. Although the 89th Legislature increased the School Safety Allotment, many districts continue to face substantial unfunded staffing and facility costs associated with school safety laws. How would you make schools safer and ensure the state provides adequate funding to meet safety mandates?

State mandates for school safety should be fully funded.  There is a rainy day fund with billions of dollars in it.  Should legalized  gambling be approved, I think these tax receipts should be directed to the local school districts and used as they determine their own needs.

11. Curriculum and Local Control:

What do you believe is the proper role of the State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and local school districts in setting curriculum standards and selecting instructional materials?

I think that uniform curriculum is ok for Texas schools. However local districts should be able to tweak the materials and how they are presented.  I do not think the state should tell local teachers how to teach, but should fund instructional materials.  How these materials are chosen should be by committies consisting  of experienced teachers from local school districts.

12. Educator Rights and Professional Associations:

State law allows educators and other public employees to voluntarily join professional associations such as ATPE and have membership dues deducted from their paychecks at no cost to taxpayers. Do you support or oppose allowing public employees to continue exercising this right? Why or why not?

Yes, teachers should be able to join unions to protect them against far right wing parents and administrators. The best way to fund these unions is by payroll deductions.   The union protections shoudl be provided in some form for non dues paying  teachers.