Stafford will challenge Estes for senate seat

Published Sunday, February 17, 2008

By Staff

Denton School Board President Charles Stafford is running against incumbent Craig Estes for District 30 in the State Senate. The district includes Wise County.

"I've grown weary of the legislature's continuing saga of failure in the area of education. They didn't really change the (school finance) system. They bought down the tax rate, which is good, but it will start going right back up," Stafford said.

Stafford said he "had a real problem" with the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test. "It doesn't perform well as an accountability instrument," he said.

He suggested the state implement a test at the beginning of the school year and another at the end of the year as a way to better measure a child's progress.

On the topic of immigration, Stafford said the federal government has "failed miserably." He said it is up to the state to push for new immigration policies.

Stafford said other issues he would like to see addressed are transportation and economic development, two things that are tied together, he said. "Toll roads don't play in rural areas," he said.

Another area that needs attention is water, he said, especially with the development of the Barnett Shale within the district. "If it is ignored, it will have a tremendous impact on our future," he said.

On the issue of law enforcement, Stafford, who is a founder of the Denton County Children's Advocacy Center, said he would like to see "severe enhancements in punishments" for people convicted of crimes against children.

Estes, who was first elected in 2001, filed for re-election in December.

According to a press release from Estes, he "worked to restore the promise made to taxpayers to use the proceeds from the sales tax revenue on sporting goods for state and local parks, supported a $14 billion school property tax rate reduction and continued to control the growth in state spending to be consistent with growth in population and inflation."

"Overall, I passed more than 50 pieces of legislation including increasing penalties for producing meth in the presence of a minor, keeping more tax revenue from portable drilling rigs in our counties and recovering more funds from overweight trucks doing damage to our county roads," Estes said in the press release. "However, I do not measure my success by the number of new laws I pass, but by being a guardian against legislation that I believe is wrong for our communities or in violation of our common-sense conservative values."

Estes said he will continue to work towards preservation of natural resources and the pursuit of renewable energies that promote the use of bio-fuels and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

"While the Texas economy remains strong, our future prosperity requires that we continue our efforts to reduce taxes on personal and commercial property," Estes said.

Senate District 30 includes Archer, Baylor, Clay, Collin (part), Cooke, Denton (part), Grayson, Jack, Montague, Palo Pinto, Parker, Shackelford, Stephens, Throckmorton, Wichita, Wilbarger, Wise and Young counties.