- As Lt. Governor, Dan Patrick has made sure school formulas are fully funded, including funding for the 80,000 new students who enter Texas schools every year.
- When he was Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Dan Patrick successfully led the charge to reduce the number of STAAR tests from 15 to 5.
- As Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Dan Patrick also passed legislation to provide cameras in the classrooms of special education students to reduce the opportunity for physical abuse in the classroom.
- Governor Patrick is concerned that teachers currently only receive about one-third (32%) of all funding that goes to public schools. He has proposed redirecting public school funds to increase teachers’ salaries.
- After Hurricane Harvey, Lt. Governor Patrick was one of the first public officials to insist that school districts not lose funding because of students who were displaced by the storm. School districts that gained displaced students will also receive additional funding for those students.
- Over the last two legislative sessions, Lt. Governor Patrick has increased funding for retired teachers’ healthcare by over a billion dollars.
- In 2017, Lt. Governor Patrick and the Texas Senate finally established a School Finance Commission — the first since the 1980’s — to review the state’s public school funding system.
- Governor Patrick took the lead in establishing the A-F grading system for school districts and individual campuses.
- As Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Dan Patrick passed Senate Bill 2 which modernized state regulations regarding charter schools — leading to the closure of dozens of poorly performing charter schools around the state and opening the door for high performing charters.
- As Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Dan Patrick passed legislation to ban the Common Core curriculum in Texas schools.