Texas Governor Candidate Tom Pauken Discusses Education Reform And Abbott’s Intervention in Airline Merger [AUDIO]

On the Tuesday edition of The Chad Hasty Show, Texas governor candidate Tom Pauken spoke with Chad Hasty about his plans for education reform and his thoughts on his opponent, Texas attorney general Greg Abbott.

With the 2013-2014 Texas school year now in full swing, Pauken discussed a few of his ideas for education reform if elected to governor. Some of the changes he'd like to see include putting more focus on career-based education as opposed to trying to force all students into a 4-year university, and returning school district control to the local level, Pauken explained that it was obvious that the "one-size-fits-all" approach to education in the state simply is not working, and that's its time for a change.

"When I was chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, I was surprised coming back into government that we have this elitist mentality guiding our education policy in Texas that everybody's going to go to a 4-year university. I call it a top-down, one size fits all approach to education, teaching to the test, test learning instead of content learning and an almost a degradation of vocational education."

Pauken also spoke about opponent Greg Abbott's efforts to intervene in a merger between American Airlines and US Airways. Pauken said that, if Abbott succeeds in breaking up the merger, it could kill a large number of jobs in Texas. He added that he also finds it troubling that Abbott would take the same side as national attorney general Eric Holder. Pauken then said he would love to debate these issues with Abbott, and is looking forward to their first debate.

For more information on Tom Pauken and his campaign for Texas Governor, visit his website at tompaukenfortexas.com, or visit him on Facebook or Twitter.

Listen to the full interview with Tom Pauken here: