The Week in Quotes (April 16 – 22)

Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes.

Texas state Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, on the likely failure of private school voucher legislation in the Texas Legislature this year.

“Rural Republicans, I think, really are kind of the pivot point in this whole discussion. I believe that anything that pulls anything from public school system rather than improving it is not good policy.”

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Dan Quinn, communications director for the Texas Freedom Network, on this week’s debate on science standards at the State Board of Education.

“This is just another battle in a long history of the culture wars for the Board of Education. Will they go with the culture wars, or will they go with their own teachers and scientists?”

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TFN President Kathy Miller, on the proposed revisions to state science standards that will be voted on by the State Board of Education this week.

“I’m very hopeful that for the first time in a long long time, the state board of education members will actually listen to the teachers and experts who have done their homework in reviewing the science curriculum standards and have made recommendations.”

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TFN President Kathy Miller, on House Bill 2899, which is being presented by its supporters as a compromise version of the Texas Senate’s bathroom bill.

“It’s appalling to suggest they have found a so called middle ground on discrimination, we either treat everyone in Texas equally or we don’t. There is no middle ground on that.”

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A panel of federal judges, ruling that Texas House redistricting maps in 2011 violated the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, the third time this year that a federal court has found the Republican-dominated Legislature intentionally diluted minority voting strength.

“The impact of the plan was certainly to reduce minority voting opportunity statewide, resulting in even less proportional representation for minority voters.”