ROCK CAVE — Republican State Senate candidate Jack Reger criticized school closures, state education funding decisions and what he described as a lack of responsiveness from elected officials during campaign remarks outside Rock Cave Elementary School.
Reger, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Bill Hamilton (R-Upshur) and former Sen. Robert Karnes in the Republican primary for the District 11 Senate seat, spoke outside the elementary school, which is scheduled to close at the end of the current school year.
“Regrettably, we have a legislature that doesn’t listen to its constituents,” Reger said. “It doesn’t seek their advice or their opinion on what’s best for communities, for students, for teachers, for parents.”
Reger said the school’s closure has left families uncertain about future educational arrangements.
“Parents are left scrambling, trying to decide what they need to do,” he said.
Without naming Hamilton directly, Reger criticized the incumbent senator’s support for legislation related to state employee insurance premiums and education funding.
“He didn’t listen to AFT or the education association when he co-sponsored a bill to raise insurance premiums not just on teachers but on all state employees,” Reger said. “Additionally, the same senator voted to cut $315 million from the state education budget.”
Reger also criticized another unnamed opponent, over comments regarding public education spending.
“He criticizes the cost of public education by inflating the numbers,” Reger said. “But he doesn’t address the services that make public education somewhat more expensive.”
Reger pointed to services such as speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy as examples of programs schools provide for students and families.
“What’s the cost to our families that can’t afford to homeschool?” he said. “What’s the cost to our families that cannot afford private school?”
While calling for changes in education policy, Reger also said schools should move away from what he described as “woke policies” and instead emphasize “Christian conservative values.”
“We need to protect our faith. We need to protect our families. And we need to protect the Constitution of the United States of America,” he said.
The Republican Primary for the District 11 Senate seat is scheduled for May 12.
