Glenn Rogers

Status

Incumbent

Party

Republican

Occupation

Veterinarian/Rancher

Address

1832 Grassy Ridge Rd, Graford, TX, 76449

Additional Information

First elected to the Texas House in 2020. Current term expires Jan. 2023.

Rogers won a May 24 runoff in the 2022 Republican primary for Texas House District 60.

Endorsed in the 2022 Republican primary election by Texas Parent PAC, a pro-public education organization that advocates for adequate and equitable funding of public schools, local control, teacher quality, and the prevention of private school vouchers. He also received the same group's endorsement in the 2020 election.

Endorsed by the editorial board of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram in the May 2022 Republican primary runoff election.

Rogers participated in a nonpartisan candidate forum hosted by the education-focused nonprofit organization Raise Your Hand Texas prior to the 2022 primary election. Watch video of that event here.

Candidate Survey Responses

RESPONSES TO THE 2022 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

1. If elected, what will be your top priorities for public education?

1) Reduce onerous administrative requirements and increase teaching opportunities.
2) Eliminate STAAR test.
3) Prevent vouchers

2. What are your recommendations for funding public education, including securing the necessary revenue to sustain the improvements made by House Bill 3 in 2019? Do you believe additional funding is needed?

The state should pay for at least 50% of the cost of public education. Local property tax for public schools must be reduced. Increased state spending must be accompanied by increased economic efficiency and innovative strategies to decrease costs.

3. How would you address the challenge of rising health care costs facing Texas educators and ensure that active and retired educators have access to affordable health care?

We need a better long term plan for TRS, with benefits based on actual healthcare costs.

4. Do you believe the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) should be maintained as a traditional defined benefit pension plan for all future, current, and retired educators, or do you support converting TRS to a defined contribution plan that is more like a 401(k) plan, in which future benefits are not guaranteed?

I support keeping TRS as a defined benefit plan. I have talked to many teachers, both active and retired, and they almost unanimously prefer the defined benefit plan. Teachers seem to be more risk averse and schools are not corporations.

5. What do you feel is the proper role of standardized testing in the Texas public education system? For instance, should student test scores be used for teacher pay, school accountability ratings, evaluating teachers, measuring student progress, etc.?

We need to stop designing programs geared toward the average. Improvement in a lower socio economic school in an inner city school should be just as important as lofty accomplishments in a wealthy school.
Evaluations need to look at a collection of students work and how they evolve over time rather than one test point in time. By reducing assessment and accountability to a single standardized test we are basing everything about the individual student and school on one point in time rather than the whole learning experience. This is an event we are training our children to dread.

Teaching to a standardized test has made our public school students less ready for college because of the decrease in productive learning and teaching time this practice creates.

No private schools (which have the advantage of cherry picking the best students) use standardized testing, like the STAAR test. Universities do not care about STAAR test results.

6. Would you vote to create any type of voucher, tax credit, scholarship, education savings account, or other program aimed at paying for students, including any subpopulation of students, to attend non-public K-12 schools, such as private or home schools?

I am opposed to vouchers (and synonyms for vouchers).

The message to those that support vouchers: “Once you accept vouchers (state money), it’s only a matter of time before you’ll have the STAAR test required in home and private schools. Is that what you want?”

7. State law allows educators and other public employees to voluntarily choose to join professional associations such as ATPE and have membership dues deducted from their paychecks at no cost to taxpayers. Do you support or oppose letting all public employees continue to exercise this right?

Support

8. What role, if any, should charter schools have in the public education system, and do you feel the number of charter schools operating in Texas should be reduced or expanded?

I would only consider supporting a charter school when there is a well defined need to augment a low performing public school.

I believe local school boards should determine whether a charter school can be established within their district and have jurisdiction over the public charter school. This is the model in some other states.

The number of charter schools operating in Texas should be reduced.

9. How much freedom should school districts have to make decisions during disease outbreaks, such as requiring face coverings and immunizations or transitioning to remote instruction?

Our elected school boards need to have as much local control as possible, but it should not come at the expense of parental rights. Parents are responsible for their children, and must have the ability to make medical decisions for their children. It is important that we let data and not politics guide decision-making. In disease outbreaks or where other safety concerns are present, remote learning should be an option, but that should be a discussion between the parent, student, and teacher. It is also critical that we do all we can to protect our teachers in the classroom. Their safety and health is of the utmost importance and we should also consider their needs.

10. What do you believe is the proper role of virtual education within the public education system? Do you believe full-time virtual education should be expanded, and if so, under what circumstances?

Virtual education is a remarkable tool for augmenting in-person learning. It should never be used as a substitute for in-person learning.

In-person learning is unequivocally superior and our students deserve the in-person learning experience.. With that said, virtual education provides an alternative in many temporary scenarios (pandemics, travel, etc.). We need to continue to have optional virtual education in appropriate circumstances, but never let it take the place of the traditional personal-interaction teaching model.

11. What do you feel should be the state’s role (versus the role of school districts or individual educators) in decisions about public school curriculum and instructional materials?

I am a strong supporter of more local control of governmental entities and school districts. However, there is a difference in local control and "outta control." Punitive measures against a small number of failing public schools that are "outta control" should not apply to the overwhelming number of local school districts that are doing an exceptional job and perform admirably for the local community.

There needs to be more local control and ability to make local decisions on school boards. Community standards differ and there should be more flexibility to adapt curricula and criteria that match local community standards. The standard in Austin may not fit Gordon, Texas.

12. The COVID-19 pandemic and additional instructional support needed to remediate students’ learning losses have placed additional strain on public schools’ staffing needs. How would you work to ensure classrooms are appropriately staffed, teachers’ workloads are manageable, and planning time is not sacrificed amid these challenges?

I would support ongoing "hold harmless" attendance requirements. Overhead expenses continue despite reduced attendance from medical or weather situations.

There needs to be more flexibility in crisis situations where regulations regarding teacher certification and student:teacher ratios be relaxed as determined necessary by the local district.

Additional Comments from Candidate on Survey

COMMENTS SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THE 2022 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

Stop state overreach (this is not conservative). Develop an accreditation system like we have for colleges and universities that does not directly pit school versus school. Public universities are not graded by the state and neither should public K-12 schools be graded by the state.

I do not support the current A-F grading system. It is clear that this is largely a measure of the socioeconomic status of the student population. A school district with 80% on free and reduced lunch should not be compared to a wealthy district. The state has created a game of “winners and losers” with lots of wasted energy going toward “playing the game” rather than teaching children.

Grading schools, primarily on test scores, harms real estate values in certain areas, further contributing to the cycle of poverty.

This is fundamentally unfair. Group comparisons of students in the same socioeconomic class would be more fair, if the A-F system continues.

Glenn Rogers

Texas House District 60

Status

Party

Occupation

Address

Additional Information

Related Blog Posts

House Vote #1 - 2021: VOUCHERS

House Vote #2 - 2021: SPECIAL EDUCATION

House Vote #3 - 2021: COMPENSATION

House Vote #4 - 2021: CIVICS AND CURRICULUM

House Vote #5 - 2021: CIVICS AND CURRICULUM

House Vote #6 - 2021: HOME-SCHOOL UIL

House Vote #7 - 2021: CHARTER SCHOOLS

House Vote #8 - 2021: RETIREMENT

House Vote #9 - 2021: VIRTUAL SCHOOLS

House Vote #10 - 2021: VIRTUAL SCHOOLS

House Vote #11 - 2021: ACCOUNTABILITY

House Vote #12 - 2021: TESTING/ACCELERATED INSTRUCTION

House Vote #13 - 2021: ACCELERATED INSTRUCTION

Candidate Survey Responses

Additional Comments from Candidate on Survey