The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 29, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Well, howdy folks. Today is Wednesday, July 29th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texan's senior editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Governor Greg Abbott appointed 21 educators to the new Texas Classroom Commission, a teacher-led initiative he announced earlier this month with the goal of gathering, quote, exemplary public school educators from across Texas to develop practical, practical, classroom-informed recommendations. Abbott said in a Wednesday morning press release, quote, Texas teachers have the talent, understanding, and expertise to ensure that every Texas students succeeds. That's why educators must be at the center of the conversation, end quote.

Starting point is 00:00:51 The TCC is expected to build on the work of prior interim work groups like the teacher vacancy task force and the Texas Commission on Special Education funding. The press release stated, quote, those efforts resulted in an increased special education funding, raised teacher compensation, expanded the teacher incentive allotment, and restored discipline in Texas classrooms. For the chair of the TCC, Abbott chose Courtney Boswell McDonald, a former math teacher who previously worked on the Texas Senate Education Committee and served as executive director for Texans for Education Reform, the Texas Institute for Education Reform, and Texas Aspires.

Starting point is 00:01:32 McDonald is also currently chairing the State Board for Educator Certification, which oversees all aspects of the preparation, certification, and standards of conduct of public school educators. McDonald is joined on the TCC by three additional State Board for Educator Certification members who will simultaneously serve on both boards. In other news, 11 individuals were indicted by a grand jury in Del Rio for their alleged role in a smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of seven illegal aliens locked in a shipping container in May. The indictment, which was handed down last week, charged the 11 defendants with orchestrating a human smuggling operation, during which they allegedly used shipping containers on cargo trains

Starting point is 00:02:17 to transport illegal aliens into various locations in the U.S. from Mexico. The operation began in the spring of 2023 and continued through the spring of 26. During the second week of of May, the illegal aliens were being transported in a sealed shipping container that had no ventilation, per a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. After the train arrived in San Antonio from Del Rio, the defendants allegedly fled the scene when they discovered the aliens in peril. When the train arrived in Laredo on May 10th, a worker at the Union Pacific Rail Yard found their bodies when he saw a leg sticking out from the shipping container, according to the press release. six of them, one of whom was a minor, was found dead in the container. Another deceased individual who had been smuggled on the same train was found along the train tracks back in San Antonio. Last but not least, with tax revenue falling below expectations, Dallas mayor Eric Johnson called on city leaders to cut spending, avoid raising taxes, and hike fees in the next annual budget. In a letter to the city manager included in a Friday evening press release, Johnson asked,

Starting point is 00:03:28 city staff to prepare a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that preserves police funding, shrink spending for non-core services, and raises more revenue from fees rather than from taxes. Like other major Texas cities, Dallas faces a shrinking tax base that could force its council to weigh those tradeoffs, according to city projections and census data. Johnson wrote in a letter to city manager Kimberly Tolbert, quote, At the end of the day, the city's budget has gotten too big, and while some Some of this growth has been necessary to efficiently deliver core services, much of it has been growth for the sake of growth, or adding new non-core services.

Starting point is 00:04:08 The letter outlined six priorities, maintaining public safety, refraining from a tax increase, refocusing city funds on core services, right-sizing city operations, finding new revenue outside taxes, and reducing the cost of regionalism, or hiking fees for non-residents to use city services, such as the zoo. Johnson's directive also signals likely points of friction in the city council's upcoming budget debates. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan.news to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 29, 2026

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