Schieffer warns of Texas decline, says Valley is key to campaign

McALLEN - Texas is in danger of becoming a third-world state, warned Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer during a campaign stop Thursday in the Rio Grande Valley.

The former ambassador to Australia and Japan pointed to high school dropout rates of 40 percent to 60 percent in low-income areas as a troubling sign for the state's economic prospects.

"Those kids are going to fall behind," Schieffer said. "If they don't even have a high-school education, there is no way they will be able to compete in a globalized world."

According to the Texas Education Agency, the class of 2007 had a dropout rate of 13.5 percent in the Valley.

Drawing on his observations of the education system in Japan during his ambassadorship, Schieffer said education should emphasize early childhood development.

"If we learned anything in the last few years, it's that a modern globalized economy is based on knowledge," he added.

Schieffer promised to make the Valley an essential part of his bid for the governorship.

"I want to put South Texas at the table like it used to be," he said. "I think in recent years it has been taken for granted. There are a lot of issues here that are important."

Schieffer discussed the need to establish an interstate corridor to connect the Valley to the rest of the nation. And he went on to say that illegal immigration and drug trafficking will decline only when Texas and the United States view Mexico as a partner.

"The (border) wall in my judgment is a disaster," Schieffer added.

He expressed support for a system where illegal immigrants could pay for a green card and become legal, tax-paying workers.

Schieffer characterized the political process in Austin as partisan, bitter and petty. A personal friend of former President George W. Bush, Schieffer said the Democratic Party should be a large tent, and the political process should focus on policy instead of narrow ideological battles.

"I think we ought to ... represent the middle ground in the country and the state, not the extremes," he said.

Spence Kimball covers general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956)683-4423.