Education, Job Creation and Fiscal Responsibility Key to Continued Success in Texas

Gov. Perry Visits Receptor Logic in Abilene to Share His Vision for Texas Future

ABILENE – Gov. Rick Perry today highlighted the importance of strengthening our state’s education, maintaining a focus on job creation efforts, and upholding principles of fiscal responsibility as the keys to continuing Texas’ success. He spoke at Receptor Logic, a company working to develop therapies for cancer and infectious disease.

“Entrepreneurs know they can succeed in Texas on their own merits, without being taxed, regulated and frivolously sued out of existence,” said Gov. Perry. “They also know that our workforce is getting stronger by the day because we have improved the quality of public education by emphasizing accountability, teacher incentive pay and mastery of the basic subjects. ”

To ensure Texas continues providing a strong education to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive workplace, Gov. Perry most recently announced a proposed expansion of the state’s Virtual School Network. The expansion will improve access to high quality, online courses for high school students, especially those in rural schools and those educated at home. The proposal will also provide resources to recapture students who have dropped out of school.

“By expanding and leveraging the Texas Virtual Schools Network we can keep more young Texans engaged in their education and make that future workforce even stronger,” said Gov. Perry. “As we work to raise the quality of a Texas education even higher, we are also working to lock in some wise limits on spending to keep Texas strong in the days to come.”

Gov. Perry also focused on fiscal responsibility by reiterating the need for Texas to amend its constitution with two key provisions: requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to approve tax increases and limiting spending growth to the combined growth rates of Texas’ population and inflation. Both amendments will ensure the continued fiscal discipline that allowed Texas to balance its budget in 2009 while setting aside billions for its Rainy Day fund and cutting taxes for more than 40,000 small businesses.

The governor pledged to keep working until every Texan who wants a job has a job and noted that Texas’ adherence to low taxes, fair laws and predictable regulations will lead the state to continued economic success. Texas economist Ray Perryman recently noted that Texas is the “last in and first out” when it comes to the current economic downturn, pointing to the job growth that Texas has experienced in three of the past six months and the fact that the state’s unemployment rate has remained two points below the national average.

“The story of hardworking innovators coming together to attract the best and brightest is played out again and again all across Texas as people take advantage of the job-friendly climate we’ve created and risk their capital in pursuit of a vision,” said Gov. Perry. “The fact is, even though no one is immune to the effects of the economic downturn, Texas is better off than just about every other state, thanks to years of disciplined conservative leadership at every level.”

Other education initiatives proposed by Gov. Perry include doubling the number of Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (T-STEM) academies in an effort to educate more Texas students in the subjects required of an increasingly high tech economy and workplace, and expanding the UTeach Program to five more higher education institutions in an effort to recruit university students earning math and science degrees into teaching.

Located within the Abilene Life Sciences Accelerator, a facility designed to give early stage life science companies laboratory space and access to major research equipment, Receptor Logic has developed an integrated diagnostic and therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease. Led by chief scientist Jon Weidanz, a faculty member of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy, Receptor Logic is a portfolio company of Emergent Technologies, Inc. and received a $2 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) in 2008 for development and commercialization of its technology.