Carole Strayhorn Quotations

I am so pleased and proud of all my sons.

I respect what he's got to do, he is still my good friend. He's got to do what he's got to do. My focus is Texas.

We have better than $8 billion in funds available.

We've got to be honest. We've got to say out loud we need more dollars for education and we also need more of the education dollars going directly into the classroom with the teachers.

Under this governor, it is us against them. The sad fact is the governor has so politically fractured our state ... the only way to bring Texas back together and get things done is to have independent leadership.

The governor's tax increase plan does not work.

As the state's chief fiscal officer, I am committed to making sure tax dollars are spent wisely and in absolute accordance with the law. If during my audit I find that Cassidy & Associates inappropriately used tax dollars, I will immediately suspend all future payments and take the necessary steps to make sure these dollars are returned to the state.

I shall die a Texas independent. I think that this governor has so politically fractured this state that the only way to get something done is to set aside the partisan politics.

It would be wrong to use this session to only cut property taxes when Texas needs long-term solutions for our fundamental priorities.

After nine legislative sessions full of name-calling, our school funding is in crisis, property taxes are up and judges are having to do our governor's job. We all know that unless we set politics aside we'll never fix what's broke.

As a mama and a grandma, I appreciate, understand and absolutely believe in the sanctity of life. But I recognize that there are those tough situations where heartbreaking decisions have to be made.

A leader does not let nine sessions go by and now a tenth without a long term fix with cutting property tax and money going into educate for our teacher and for our classrooms.

This governor likes to talk about a pay-for-performance plan. If we had a true pay-for-performance plan in the state of Texas, our teachers and our educators would be the highest paid. This governor would be the lowest paid. In fact, Rick Perry would owe us money back.

I want to debate him anytime, anyplace, anywhere. He ought to be here today to let the people hear where we are in education.