FIRST ON FOX: Texas Senate candidate James Talarico once criticized the Texas public school system for focusing too heavily on academics while arguing that social-emotional learning should receive greater attention, and also declaring that Texas schools were "not built" for "poor students" or "students of color.""I was trapped in a system that was focused purely on academics, reading, writing, arithmetic.And there wasn't time to talk about social-emotional learning," Talarico said in a 2020 discussion with Texas Rising — a progressive youth activist group."All the things that we all know on this call are more important than whether or not you memorize the quadratic equation," he continued.'FAKE' MODERATE TALARICO'S TEXAS SURGE TESTS PAXTON IN FIGHT TO HOLD CRUCIAL GOP SENATE SEATTexas Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during a "Talarico for Texas: Frontera Tour" campaign news conference at the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection - World Trade Bridge on July 14, 2026 in Laredo, Texas.(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)Talarico made the comments while serving in the Texas House of Representatives, representing the 52nd District, after working as a public school teacher for just two years.
His time working in education became a central point in his work in the legislature and now in his Senate campaign.In the unearthed discussion, Talarico said that he felt like he wasn’t able to have "the really important conversations" with his students that "would allow them to live a fulfilling life." He said that he was, instead, forced to focus on teaching the school curriculum rather than "social-emotional" lessons.He also used the discussion to slam the Texas public school system as "not built" for "poor students" and "students of color.""Our public education system, particularly here in Texas, is not built for poor students," Talarico said."It's not built for students of color.
"UNEARTHED CLIP SHOWS TALARICO CALLING PARENTS 'ABUSIVE' FOR DENYING CHILDREN'S GENDER IDENTITYTe...