{"id":2590161,"date":"2026-04-13T12:43:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-great-texas-hope-says-he-doesnt-want-police-protecting-schools\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:46:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:46:27","slug":"democrats-great-texas-hope-says-he-doesnt-want-police-protecting-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-great-texas-hope-says-he-doesnt-want-police-protecting-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats&#8217; Great Texas Hope Says He Doesn&#8217;t Want Police Protecting Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-great-texas-hope-says-he-doesnt-want-police-protecting-schools%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2590161&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece reports that Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico faced backlash over a resurfaced 2019 interview in which he defended a bill aiming to require schools to maintain at least four <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/graphic-sexual-content-assigned-to-texas-students-dissenting-parents-harassed-with-anti-christiandks\/\" title=\"Graphic Sexual Content Assigned To ... Students; Dissenting Parents Harassed With Anti...Christian\u2026\u2018D**ks\u2019\u00a0\">mental health professionals<\/a> for every one police officer on campus. Talarico, described as a Presbyterian seminarian and former middle school teacher, introduced HB 1467 in 2019, proposing a four-to-one ratio for districts with more than 5,000 students, arguing that campuses should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/off-duty-alaska-pilot-who-tried-to-shut-off-plane-engines-mid-flight-says-he-took-psychedelic-mushrooms\/\" title=\"Alaska pilot on break attempted to halt plane engines mid...flight after consuming magic mushrooms.\">prioritize mental health support<\/a> over militarizing school environments. The article notes that the bill did not advance out of commitee.<\/p>\n<p>Background details include Talarico\u2019s 2021 efforts to preserve funding cuts to the Austin Police Department after a grassroots movement sought to restore funding, and his public posts opposing Prop A in 2021. Opponents characterized him as opposing law enforcement, while his spokesperson contended that his proposals would actually bolster police safety by adding mental health professionals to prevent tragedies like the robb Elementary mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The article presents the debate within a broader discussion of school safety, policing, and mental health resources, and includes responses from political opponents and DCNF (daily Caller News Foundation) branding and attribution.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Democrat Texas state Rep. James Talarico faced backlash Friday over a resurfaced 2019 interview in which he defended a bill requiring schools to maintain at least four mental health professionals for every one police officer on campus.<\/p>\n<p>Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and former middle school teacher, defeated Democratic Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett in the March 3 Democratic primary for the seat currently held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-742203969\/state-rep-james-talarico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">appearance<\/a> on the Trey Blocker Show, Talarico defended the legislation he introduced, arguing that having police officers on site to protect schools was accepting a &ldquo;culture of violence.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So you know, obviously we&rsquo;re all concerned about school safety and recent school shootings, and that concern in some ways has been channeled unproductively toward militarizing schools and toward kind of leaning into a culture of violence and adding more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/public-radio-reporter-arrested-for-firebombing-police-cars\/\" title=\"Public Radio \u201cReporter\u201d Arrested For Firebombing ... Cars\">law enforcement officials<\/a> into campuses,&rdquo; Talarico told Blocker.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And so our bill would mandate that for every one law enforcement official a school district places into a school, you have to have four mental health care professionals, whether that&rsquo;s a counselor or a social worker or a clinical psychologist,&rdquo; Talarico said.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The idea is that when students walk through the hallways of their school they should see far more counselors than they do cops.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Talarico introduced <a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/billlookup\/Text.aspx?LegSess=86R&amp;Bill=HB1467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HB 1467<\/a> in 2019, a bill that would have mandated a four-to-one ratio for schools or districts with more than 5,000 students, in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Talarico also supported other efforts to limit police. The bill did not advance out of committee.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, Talarico <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jamestalarico\/status\/1455582599875792900\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">worked<\/a> to preserve funding cuts to the Austin Police Department after a grassroots group put an initiative on the ballot for the November 2021 election to restore the funding.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud to stand with one of the largest coalitions in Austin history to oppose Prop A. It&rsquo;s not too late to join us,&rdquo; Talarico <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jamestalarico\/status\/1455584698223235077\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">posted<\/a> on Nov. 2, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The proposition failed, securing a little more than 31 percent of the vote, the Dallas Express <a href=\"https:\/\/dallasexpress.com\/state\/prison-is-violence-talaricos-radical-takes-on-criminal-justice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a scary combination of two of James Talarico&rsquo;s favorite things &ndash; defunding the police and pushing his woke agenda on kids,&rdquo; Republican National Committee spokesperson Zach Kraft told the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Texans will have the same answer for Talarico at the ballot box that he had for police, &lsquo;we don&rsquo;t want you here.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a flat out lie: James opposes defunding the police, and has a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >proven track record voting<\/a> to send billions of dollars to support law enforcement. James&rsquo; proposed legislation supports the police by adding desperately needed mental health officials to help prevent tragic events like the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas,&rdquo; Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis told the DCNF.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;While John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, and the billionaires who prop them up play politics with school shootings by presenting a false choice between funding law enforcement and funding mental health resources for kids, James will continue standing up against both political parties to fix this broken, corrupt political system.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/union-membership-plummets-to-record-low\/\" title=\"Union Membership Plummets to Record Low\">legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Democratic state representative James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and former middle school teacher, drew backlash after a resurfaced 2019 interview in which he defended a bill that would require schools to employ four mental health professionals for every one police officer on campus. He argued that having officers on site to protect schools perpetuates a \u201cculture of violence\u201d and said the bill would mandate four mental health staff (counselors, social workers, or psychologists) for every on-site law enforcement officer. The piece notes that Talarico defeated Jasmine Crockett in the March 3 Democratic primary for a seat linked to Republican Sen. John Cornyn.<\/p>\n<p>The article recalls Talarico\u2019s 2019 HB 1467, which would have set a four-to-one ratio for districts with more than 5,000 students but did not advance out of committee. It also covers his 2021 efforts to oppose Prop A, which aimed to restore funding for the Austin Police Department; the proposition failed with just over 31% support. Talarico and his campaign spokespeople argued that his proposals would bolster police funding by adding necessary mental health resources to help prevent tragedies, while critics depicted him as opposing police funding. The DCNF piece includes quotes and responses from both sides<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2590162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7611.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3685,53072,40246,77684,74740],"class_list":["post-2590161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-democrats","tag-educationpolicy","tag-lawenforcement","tag-schoolsafety","tag-texaspolitics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7611.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2590161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2590165,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590161\/revisions\/2590165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2590162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2590161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2590161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2590161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}