Month: April 2025

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Today marks President Donald Trump’s 95^th day in office, while the Texas Legislature has knocked out 102 of the constitutionally allotted 140 days in the regular odd-year session. Here’s the list:

Winner: Education Savings Accounts Come Just in Time

When the always-eloquent Senate Education Chairman Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, rose in the Texas Senate Chamber to concur with the version of Senate Bill 2 that had passed the House, he noted that the Texas Education Freedom Act will transform education in our state—expanding options and restoring hope for thousands of children in our state. After overcoming three decades of resistance from education bureaucrats who repeatedly made it clear they care more about their jobs than their students, the bill now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature.

Loser: Too Many Texas Public Schools

Those bureaucrats were working down to the wire to keep the truth from Texas parents about how poorly many of our public schools are performing. Yesterday, after overcoming a lawsuit from more than 100 school districts, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) released school ratings for 2022-23 school year which revealed that one in five Texas public school students attend a school that is rated D or F. These ratings are particularly galling for those who spent the last 102 days watching the school choice battle at the Capitol and hearing teachers’ unions and their Democrat water-carriers insist that letting parents choose the best school for their child would destroy public education in Texas.

Looking at the ratings, you have to wonder how much worse it could get. Despite state spending that hovers close to $100 billion, the number of F-rated schools increased from 4.5% to 7.6 percent in 2022-23. TEA says it evaluated 8,539 public schools; 19.3% received an A, 33.6% got a B, 24.7% a C, and 14.8% received D’s. So the flip talking point is that only one in five students goes to an A-rated school.

The school districts that had sued to stop release of the ratings had charged that TEA had changed the rating system in the five years  since the last A-F school grades were last released. But after the 15th Court of Appeals ruled TEA could inform parents about how their kids’ schools were performing, the ratings showed both the scores the school would have received using the old ratings as well as the new rating system. Many grades dropped a few points with the new standards, but some schools scored higher with the new criteria. You can view the available ratings here. TEA still cannot release the ratings for the 2023-24 school year because school officials have filed a separate lawsuit. In other education news, California is considering allowing community college students to sleep in their cars because housing is so expensive.

Loser: Federal Regulation

Those who insist that Elon Musk is over-doing it with his war on waste, inefficiency and over-regulation should take a look at the report that came out last week from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which found that federal regulations cost $1.2 trillion annually, about the same as Americans pay in federal income tax. According to the report:

US households pay on average $16,016 annually in a hidden regulatory tax, which consumes 16 percent of income and 21 percent of household expenses.

These household outlays exceed expenditures on health care, food, transportation, entertainment, apparel, services, and savings. Only the costs of housing, which stand at $25,436 annually, exceed regulation.

Winner: J.K. Rowling and Texas Stand Up for Women

J.K. Rowling, author of the beloved Harry Potter series, has been brutally besieged for years because she refused to bend the knee to those who insist that men who declare themselves to be women actually are women. In addition to death threats, cancellation and hate attacks—Scotland passed a law targeting her that would make it illegal to “stir up a hate crime.” Several of the actors in the Harry Potter movies denounced her—rendering those films unwatchable now for those of who care about facts and science.

But Rowling finally won the war when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom declared this week that there are only two biological sexes—an important ruling, for the British were the first to perform sex change operations and then became the first to halt them after research showed that they were hurting patients instead of helping them.

Meanwhile, Axios reports that Texas legislators have filed more legislation reining in men who say they are women than any other state, as if that’s a bad thing. In all, 120 bills have been filed here, twice as many as Missouri, which is in second place. Texas legislators have already passed laws that prohibit boys from playing in women’s sports. New proposals seek to ensure women’s privacy is protected in public restrooms and locker facilities, and it would prohibit individuals from changing the sex on their birth certificates or other official documents, as well as making sure teachers can’t be fired for using the wrong pronouns. There’s a nationwide Trans legislation tracker here.

Winner: U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo

Another week has passed, and as far as anyone can tell, the national strategy of the Democrats is to focus on poor gang members who beat up their wives and, of course, men who say they are women. The New York Times asked several old Democrats how the party got its momentum back after big losses in the 1980’s. They have lots of theories, but Laredo Congressman Henry Cuellar gets specific when he made it clear what Democrats should not be talking about. He noted that the South Texas border communities he represents don’t care about Kilmer Abrago Garcia, who Trump deported: “With all due respect, when you’re talking about bringing somebody—and I know there were due process questions—that was in Maryland, and now El Salvador. I don’t know if that’s the right issue that Democrats should be focusing on right now.”

Winner: No Bike Lanes Bill

Anyone who doubts the importance of Sen. Paul Bettencourt’s legislation to halt bike lanes in Texas cities needs to visit Portland, Oregon and talk to business owners there who were driven out of the downtown core of that formerly beautiful city when bike lanes virtually stopped all car traffic from moving.

Portland is known as the one of the worst sites of the Black Lives Matters riots in 2020, which destroyed many parts of the downtown, but residents with a longer memory will tell you that the bicyclists, who are a loud and powerful lobby, did as much or more damage to Portland by closing down traffic lanes and making bike lanes and bicycle travel the priority. Similar efforts are underway in the Austin now, where traffic is stifled by more and more encroaching bicycle lanes, most often with no bikes in them. Blue cities have always been anti-car for no good reason other than they don’t like them. Bettencourt is right to fight back.

Winner: Houston May John Whitmire

Speaking of blue cities, Houston Democrats are up in arms because Houston Mayor John Whitmire attended a fundraising event for U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston. Democrats accused Whitmire of undermining the “values and mission of the Democrat Party…” which, as noted above, appear to be the fight for men who think they are women and keeping violent gang members in the country. Whitmire served as a Democrat in the Texas House for 10 years and the Texas Senate for 40 years—literally 50 years in the Legislature—where he was always a tireless voice for his party. Since he has been mayor he has also been attacked for standing in support of the Jewish community and making sure the Houston Police Department cooperates with ICE in arresting illegal aliens. Most folks think he is focused on “values and mission.”

Winner: COVID “Lab Leak” Website

The left-wing media went nuts when the Trump administration took down all the COVID information websites and replaced them with a big blaring headline that reads COVID LAB LEAK, detailing the origins of the virus. Years of lies about COVID, the denials, the intolerance of dissent, along with the loss of freedom and lives, all had a traumatic impact on most every American. Changing the websites and setting the record straight will help Americans remember never to go so far off course again.

Loser: Joe Biden’s $300K Speaking Tour

Each week we wonder how long we will be able to keep former President Joe Biden on the Losers List—but here he is again. Granted, there is some humility in Biden’s thinking that he would get $300,000 to make a speech—former President Barack Obama gets $400,000, but the word is that bookings are not going that well. In his first official public speech since the election, the New York Post reports that he referred to black children as “colored kids,” which charitably can be called anachronistic if not offensive. This speech should not be confused with Biden’s recent trip to Harvard after Trump announced he was withdrawing federal funds to the Ivy League school. While there, Biden reportedly referred to Ukraine as Iraq, dropped his ice cream bar and departed suddenly—but then, they weren’t paying him.

Winner: Hail to the Chief

President Trump has weighed in on the school mascot controversy in Massapequa, New York, where the state government is demanding that Massapequa High School stop using a “Chief” as their mascot. It’s part of the Empire State’s overall Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies.

The school board in this old suburban town with an ancient Native American name argued in a federal lawsuit that they are victims of government overreach and that their First Amendment rights are being violated. Their state representative has proposed a legal carve out for Massapequa, but they should get rid of the whole law.

Trump called the change “ridiculous” and an affront to our great Indian population. He asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon “to fight for the people of Massapequa on this very important issue,” adding “LONG LIVE THE MASSAPEQUA CHIEFS!”

Have a great weekend!

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

Sign up to receive this in your inbox every week at www.texaspolicy.com/9thandCongress.

Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Lots of ups and downs this week, but here’s who made the list:

WINNER: President Donald Trump – Texas Majority Doesn’t Doubt Him
Seconds after, President Donald Trump announced he was putting his reciprocal tariffs on a 90-day pause, the Dow quickly soared to 40,000 points, the S&P index went up by more than 9%, and the sun began to break through the clouds. When he clarified that he was adding 145% tariffs on China, the clouds returned as the market trended down again.

Almost 65% of Americans are in the stock market, most because they have to be, since companies rarely offer pensions anymore. Pundits have been saying for weeks that Wall Street doesn’t like uncertainty. Nobody does, but uncertainty is one of Trump’s strategic negotiating tools—and it seems to be working. The White House reports there are dozens of countries at the table and Trump and his team are negotiating new deals now while increasing the pressure on China. Even with the whiplash trading, the week is still a win for the President because he has changed the conversation about trade, not only in America, but across the world. Inflation is also down and his “big beautiful budget bill” passed the U.S. House this week.

For the record, the pollsters over at the University of Texas Politics Project found that here in Texas, the President’s GOP base —the conservative majority —are steadfast in their belief in him. The survey, which was conducted in late February, found that 68% of Texans, including 48% of Republicans, thought Trump’s new tariffs would increase prices. But if you dig into those numbers, you can see that over two-thirds of Texas Republicans believe the president is right, and tariffs will help the U.S. economy in the long run.

President Trump also had several legal wins this week. The Supreme Court allowed Trump to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged criminals, he got a green-light on his firing of 16,000 probationary workers, and a federal judge said this morning that illegals must register with the government.

WINNER: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Insists on Competent Elections
Sometimes it’s the little things. Gov. Greg Abbott has been the target of threats from the Democrats who run the U.S. House and the Texas Democrat Party, both of whom whined that he delayed in calling a special election to replace former U.S. Congressman and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who died on March 5. Democrats charged that Abbott didn’t call the election in order to bolster the Republican majority in the House, which is now at five.

But, as Abbott points out, it is never a good idea to rush for an election in Harris County — the poster child for election incompetence. Among Harris County’s elections’ golden hits are the time they decided, during COVID-19, that it would be OK to keep the polls open all night and allow drive-through voting. Poll workers would simply walk out to the car and hand out ballots. Forget those silly ideas about secret ballots, or prohibitions against consulting with others about how you should vote. It was the worst idea since Texas’ old drive-in margarita stands.

In 2022, Harris County provided more examples of chronic ineptitude. They had voting machines that didn’t work, they failed to have voters registered, resulting in thousands more people voting than were registered, voters had to wait in long lines and then, they ran out of ballots. If that wasn’t enough, after the polls finally closed, it took them more than 24 hours to count the votes.

Abbott called the Special Election for Congressional District 18 this week, to be held Nov. 4. Democrats will have a vacant seat in the U.S. House until then, but that’s on Harris County. Sen. Paul Bettencourt has spent years passing election integrity laws to get Harris County on track. It is time that county election officials follow his lead.

WINNER: A-F Grades for Texas Schools

When former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush began public school reforms in Florida back in the 2000s, he frequently said that nothing had made a bigger difference in getting parents and communities engaged in education than giving the schools a grade — A-F — just like students get, based on how the school performs. Schools where students could read and do math got a better grade than schools where most children were failing to learn basic skills. Passing an A-F accountability ranking made sense to Texas conservative lawmakers back then, but efforts to get it passed were thwarted year after year by Texas teacher unions, which insisted that it wasn’t fair to hold a school accountable for performance. The unions said that students who got poor grades would be traumatized and predicted that all the wealthy schools would get good grades and all the poor schools would get bad grades.

Democrats and the teachers unions aggressively fought the A-F legislation over several sessions, but it finally passed in 2017 and the first A-F accountability rankings were released in 2018. Everybody, especially parents, loved them, and guess what? All the A-rated schools weren’t in wealthy districts and all the failing schools weren’t in poor districts.

In deep blue Democrat districts throughout the state, when a local school got an A, everyone showed up for the photo op, including lawmakers who’d fought tooth and nail against A-F.

However, a new day had not dawned. After COVID-19, the accountability rankings were dropped for a while, because schools were in such disarray. Then, as the Texas Education Agency (TEA) prepared to release the latest list, over 100 Texas school districts took them to Court to stop it. But this week a judge at the 15th Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the TEA and the A-F grades for schools should be coming out in the next couple weeks. If this report card is anything like what we saw in 2018, there will be surprises. Take a look. They will be posted here.

WINNER: University of Austin Wants Smart Kids

The very smart and always innovative people at the newly established University of Austin came up with a novel idea this week — they will automatically admit any student who scores 1460+ on the SAT, 33+ on the ACT, or 105+ on the CLT. Students will not get extra points if they write an essay explaining how a minuscule amount of indigenous DNA or their racial or gender identity gives them special insight into how the world works. They also won’t be able to cut the line by reporting how they spent their summer tracking threatened bird life at the shore or joining two dozen extra-curricular clubs their senior year.

If you open the UATX website, the words “DARE TO THINK” booms across the home page. In making their announcement on merit-based admissions, university officials said, “We care about two things: Intelligence and courage.”

UATX leaders called the current college admissions system “broken,” saying it rewards manipulation, not merit and too often comes down to identity group and connections. They don’t care about any of that. They just want to recruit smart kids.

LOSER: Men in Women’s Sports
There are a surprising number of people who advocate allowing men to participate in women’s sports, who frequently insist that men who think they are women represent only an infinitesimal percentage of the population. That may be true, but their impact on sports is not insignificant.

A United Nations report last year found that as of March, 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions lost more than 800 medals in 29 different sports. That was a year ago. Now it feels like we are seeing it every day. Just this week there was the inspiring fencer who refused to compete against a man and the disc golfer who followed her lead and walked off the course rather than play against a man. In England, the two finalists in the Ultimate Pool Women’s Pro-Series were men. Many female athletes, including tennis great Marina Navratilova, are outspoken in the fight to keep men out of women’s sports, but South Carolina Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley, an icon in women’s sports, is not among them. Staley insists that men who say they are women should be allowed to compete in women’s games.

It’s petty on my part, but I admit Staley’s position was one reason I cheered on Sunday night when UConn walloped South Carolina in the national championship game.

LOSER: Democrats in Texas
The Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee announced this week that they will target U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, who represents McAllen and Hidalgo County, in next year’s mid-term elections. De La Cruz defeated her Democrat opponent by 15 points last year, but Democrats seem to believe De La Cruz will be easier to beat without Trump on the ballot. De La Cruz supports Trump’s immigration policies — which remain enormously popular in South Texas. Meanwhile, almost every Democrat in the U.S. House this week voted against the SAVE Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, which will require voters show proof of citizenship before they can register. More than 80% of Americans support the requirement. With that record, what do Democrats think they can run on that will defeat De La Cruz?

WINNER: Nick Saban Nominated for Sports Emmy
Well, maybe he’s a winner. Nick Saban stunned the sports world when it was announced this week that he has been nominated for a Sports Emmy for his work on College Game Day after only a year on the show. Saban seemed to easily make the leap from coach to commentator, and College Game Day had its best year ever with Saban in the mix. Will keep you posted on the award.

LOSER: Buying College Sports
The Wall Street Journal published a story this week in which a financial analyst asserts that even though Florida defeated University of Houston on Monday to claim the NCAA national basketball championship title, if the teams were for sale, Florida’s value would be about $121 million, about a third as much as Duke is worth ($370 million). The fact that UofH beat Duke to get into the championship game is not a factor, either.

The analyst, Ryan Brewer, a finance professor at Indiana University, says he came up with his numbers by studying revenues and cash flows and making a financial projection about the team’s sustainability. He insists it’s no different than analyzing any other business. According to his data, UofH is valued at $81 million, far less than several Texas teams including the University of Texas, which didn’t make the tournament this year. Brewer puts UT’s valuation at $153 million. Texas Tech is at $102 million and Texas A&M is at $95 million. Brewer doesn’t explain why his list of women’s team valuations has national champion UConn at the top at $95 million and South Carolina, last year’s national champion, in the number two spot with $86 million.

What is very concerning about this analysis is the glib discussion of selling college athletic teams. This is a terrible idea. The current monetization of college sports, including new NIL rules, the transfer portal and the increasing domination of rich schools over poorer ones is not sustainable. It will funnel all the revenue to a few schools and dramatically narrow the field of competition to the universities that can afford to buy the best players. Because football and men’s basketball bring in more than 90% of the sports funding for universities, the impact will result in no funding for other sports like soccer and tennis and certainly women’s sports.

Happily, the Masters Tournament will be on this weekend, and we’ll undoubtedly have lots of glorious shots from the magnificent Augusta Golf Course to take our minds off the turbulent week.

Have a great weekend!

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

Sign up to receive this in your inbox every week at www.texaspolicy.com/9thandCongress.

Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. With less than 60 days to go in the Legislative Session and two Texas teams in the Final Four tournaments this weekend, the already-hectic pace is approaching light speed. Here’s who made the list:

Winner: Texas Parents, Texas Kids

Every step on the road to Education Savings Accounts for Texas is a big win for parental rights and Texas students. The Texas Senate passed Education Savings Accounts early in the session and the Texas House Education Committee passed the bill out this week, so it’s on to the House floor for a full vote. If you know anyone who is still weighing the facts, give them this checklist put together by TPPF.

Loser: The Tesla Takedown

Progressives may be gloating that they managed to defeat Elon Musk’s candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court this week, but in terms of swaying public opinion their way, the whole notion of torching perfectly good cars is just not selling with the American people. Last weekend’s national demonstrations against Tesla dealerships drew hundreds, not even thousands, in a country of nearly 375 million people. In terms of pressing priorities, making Elon Musk a tiny bit less rich is just not high on the list of normal people.

Sure, there are reports that Tesla sales have plummeted since Musk took over DOGE and started cutting spending for the Trump administration, but that doesn’t mean anything either. Teslas were always a virtue-signaling luxury item that primarily appealed to progressive tastes. It wouldn’t take many self-righteous lefties to cause sales to dip.

Compare that to the way Americans toppled Bud Light from the top of the beer charts. Folks simply decided to buy a beer that didn’t have a man pretending to be a woman in the commercials. No marches were needed.

The tepid Tesla Takedown is one more sign that what used to be called the “protest movement,” is over in this country. The anti-Israel, pro-Hamas marches that have been happening since Israel was attacked in 2023 have had no impact on American support for Israel, which remains at almost 80%. Instead, the demonstrations have provided a wake-up call to anti-Semitism on American campuses.

Progressives hold protest marches all the time, because they don’t seem to know what else to do. They are gatherings of the same frequently misinformed people who apparently do not work and don’t have anything better to do. They can’t even be bothered to come up with an original chant. How many times do we have to hear “Hey hey, ho ho INSERT WHAT YOU DON’T LIKE HERE, Has Got to Go.” Note to the left: Nobody is paying attention.

Winner: Ted Cruz on Trump’s Third Term

There’s no way to know if President Trump is serious when he says he is considering a third term, but Texas Sen. Ted Cruz minced no words last week when asked about it, telling NBC News: “The 22nd Amendment is clear and unequivocal.”

America went through one of its darkest and most stagnant periods in recent history under former President Joe Biden and Trump’s engagement with the country, his high energy and focus are such a stark contrast that it is easy for some to say that they never want him to leave. But when asked, almost 70 percent of Americans believe, like Cruz, that the Constitution has served us well on this and we should stick with it. Here’s the 22^nd Amendment:

“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”

Loser: Cory Booker and Everyone Who Had to Listen to Him

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, used to be a kind of good guy. When I lived in New Jersey decades ago, he was elected mayor of Newark at least in part because he supported school choice. But Mayor Booker is not the same guy as Sen. Booker, who decided on Monday that it was time for his “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” moment, so he decided to break the U.S. Senate’s filibuster record. Sen. Booker wasn’t fighting for any principle or policy—he just wanted to prove that he could talk for 25 hours straight.

In yet another sign of how bad things are in the Democrat party, Booker is now seen by some as the leading contender for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2028 as a result of the stunt. Go figure.

Winner: Tilman Fertitta

President Trump nominated Houstonian Tilman Fertitta to be his ambassador to Italy, and his confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C., this week was a hit. Introduced by both Texas U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, Fertitta is expected to be easily confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Fertitta, who owns the Houston Rockets, has a lot to celebrate this week. He chairs the Board of Regents at the University of Houston, which made it to the Final Four and is playing for the national championship this weekend.

Loser: Equality Texas Anti-DEI Poll

Equality Texas, the group that is fighting to let men play women’s sports and put drag shows for kids in public libraries, among other things, released an astonishing poll this week.

According to its data, 52% of LGBTQ students surveyed at Texas colleges and universities said they considered leaving whatever Texas institution they attended after Texas’ anti-DEI law passed in 2023. Even worse, according to Equality Texas, 78% said they’d considered leaving the Lone Star State entirely.

Equality Texas reports that it only surveyed 23 students and they provided no information on how that 23 was selected. So let’s do the math: 78% of 23 means that 18 of the 1.6 million Texas college students are thinking of leaving Texas because of DEI. What about faculty? There have been frequent warnings that Texas DEI law will drive away potential faculty members. However, the Equality Texas survey reached out to 21 faculty and staff members and found that 25% of them said they had “considered” leaving Texas—so that’s 5.25 people.

Winner: Men’s Final Four in San Antonio

The University of Houston is the only Texas team that made it all the way to the NCAA Men’s Final Four in San Antonio. The Cougars play Duke at 8 p.m. Saturday. For many fans, the fact that all four No. 1 seeds—Florida and Auburn are the other two teams—made it to the Final Four is one more sign that dramatic changes in college sports have pushed many schools out of the real competition. More than a few people wonder if the NIL, the portal and big money schools getting all the good players has resulted in an NCAA tournament with few upsets and no Cinderella teams. If you have not read TPPF board member Cody Campbell’s cutting-edge analysis on the current threats to college sports, read it here now.

UPDATE! The University of Houston defeated Duke in the Final Four game last night. After being down by 9 points with 3 minutes to go, they pulled off what the Houston Chronicle called “a comeback for the ages.” They will play Florida for the national championship on Monday. 

Winner: Texas Women in the Final Four

The Longhorns will play in the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa on Friday night going up against their nemesis, South Carolina, at 6 p.m. The Longhorns beat another Texas team, TCU to get the ticket to Tampa. Texas famously ended South Carolina’s 57 game winning streak in February, but the Gamecocks got a revenge win over Texas in the SEC Championship tournament last month. The University of Connecticut and UCLA are also playing on Friday.

The women’s championship game is on Sunday night and the men’s game is on Monday. Let’s root for both Texas teams to come home with trophies.

Have a great weekend!

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

Sign up to receive this in your inbox every week at www.texaspolicy.com/9thandCongress.

Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.