This Week in Texas Politics: U.S. border battle, migrant buses to D.C and teacher shortages

TEXAS - There are some big topics happening in Texas this week: The border battle, migrant buses to D.C. that have lots of open seats and the growing trend of teacher shortages in local schools.

FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski and a panel of political analysts discuss those issues in more in "This Week in Texas Politics."

KOSKI: Here we are back in the LBJ Penthouse talking about This Week in Texas Politics. And the hot topic in Texas politics right now, that continues to be the border crisis. But there's also other issues like Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke making news by getting covered and then making his. The former head of Planned Parenthood, a top campaign manager. There were several state legislative hearings on issues like the abuse of temporary paper, vehicle tags, a growing teacher shortage and as more electric cars hit the road. How will the state replace lost gas tax revenue? We'll talk about those. But first, let's get our headlines, and we'll start with Steven Tyler in Box four Dallas. What's your headline? 

DIAL: Borders and Busses.

KOSKI: Greg Groogan with Fox 26 Houston. What is your headline? 

GROOGAN: Title 42. Is the word invasion hyperbole? 

KOSKI: Patrick Svitek with Texas Tribune. Patrick, what is your headline? 

SVITEK: I agree with everyone so far. Title 42 Fallout continues. 

KOSKI: And political consultant Mark Wiggins, what's your headline? 

WIGGINS: There's no substitute for Texas teachers. 

KOSKI: And let's get off the board right now and talk about the border, Patrick. Title 42, is there a valid replacement for right now or does it stay? 

SVITEK: Right now, the Biden administration, it sounds like they are pressing forward with their plan to rescind this policy in late May, but they're trying to reassure folks, including some in their party, that they have a plan to deal with the anticipated even greater influx of migrants once this policy is ended. 

DIAL: Piggybacking of what Patrick said, the Biden administration has to come up with a plan, and they have to come up with a plan that actually has some bipartisan support. 

GROOGAN: I was just thinking about the repercussions. We're talking about all of the infrastructure in south Texas and major cities being swarmed. We're talking about public schools with thousands more students. We're talking about the health care safety net. I think it turns out what could be a single digit race in November into a double digit loss for four for Beto. 

WIGGINS: So you've seen already Beto sort of threading the needle on this and saying that the administration has to have a plan if they're going to do away with Title 42. 

KOSKI: Patrick, a couple of hearings that took place talking about the National Guard. There are two big issues that caught my attention was, one, the lack of death benefits for state deployment on this current deployment and all other state deployments, and then also the lack of flotation devices. 

SVITEK: The revelations like those continue to fuel this narrative. I think that this mission was hastily put together, not fully thought through. 

KOSKI: Mark, I know that you are monitoring the education topics that were brought up during committee hearings and one discussion that you and I had. The teacher shortage that's already here and is growing. What's your concern? Is this the sleeper issue of the session? That's coming up. 

WIGGINS: The teacher shortage will be the number one public education issue next session. And, you know, it comes at a very dicey time when you're talking about public education, the way public education is being discussed right now. 

KOSKI: So even another hearing took place that you monitored. I know it dealt with temporary vehicle tags and also electric cars and their impact on the gas tax. Greg, I know that that's also an issue that's there in the Houston area. How big do those play out in the coming session? 

GROOGAN: I don't know how we can map the genome, but we can't figure out how to do a better job with these paper plates. That's crazy. 

DIAL: Now, they're also considering adding things like QR codes, different colors and a company sticker that may go in the car when you have a temp tag. And so, I mean, this is a huge issue. It's been attached to dozens, if not hundreds of violent crimes. 

KOSKI: Another transportation issue but linked to the border, Governor Greg Abbott's busses of migrants to Washington, D.C. Not a lot of people are riding these busses, as few as ten going up there. And now the White House is joking about it. Patrick, is it time to hit the brakes on this program? 

SVITEK: I don't know if it's time to end it, but I think that, you know, whatever initial momentum there was behind this plan, I think has receded a little bit. 

WIGGINS: And now you've got Democrats accusing the governor of incentivizing illegal immigration by offering these rides, which is really an expert level Troll. 

GROOGAN: Folks aren't taking these free busses out of Texas. They're staying here. Now, there are 233,000 apprehensions or encounters in the month of March. That's twice the population of Beaumont, Texas, in a month. 

DIAL: I really think that he keeps it going. I think he will continue to move money around to make sure that in his terms, keeping the border his number one priority. 

KOSKI: All right. Let's wrap up this week with our one word for the Week. Mark, we'll start with you. Your word for the week. 

WIGGINS: It's-the-interim. 

KOSKI: Patrick, your word. 

SVITEK: Busses. 

KOSKI: Steven, your word. 

DIAL: He took my Word. Border. 

KOSKI: And Greg, your word for the week. 

GROOGAN: I'll extend on that, Border-less. 

KOSKI: And with that, we're wrapping up another week in Texas politics.