Texas state senator attends town hall in Addison, addresses outburst at Richardson students

The 85th Texas legislative session is nearing the halfway mark and several North Texas legislators, including State Senator Don Huffines, took the opportunity to address their constituents in Addison, Saturday morning. 

The town hall was a much calmer scene than when the Republican Senator when on a school-choice rant at Richardson ISD students earlier in the week. Senator Huffines, a staunch supporter of vouchers and school-choice, got testy with about 50 Richardson students and teachers in Austin on Monday, during the Texas PTA Rally Day. Huffines addressed the elephant in the room on Saturday, "I have apologized to everyone in that meeting, I've apologized in writing. My demeanor and tone was uncalled for."

Organizers put the gathering at Humperdinks together so legislators and constituents could discuss issues important to them. Topics ranged from adoption, to the budget, to border security, property taxes and ethics, but public education remained one of the hottest topics.

FOX 4 spoke with Lynn Davenport, who was at the senator’s town hall meeting on Saturday, “I want our legislators to focus on how helping us to fix what's wrong with public schools rather than setting up an alternative system through charters and taking the money and having it follow the child elsewhere.”
Meredyth Childress, the first vice president of Richardson ISD’s Parent Teacher Association, says she appreciates Huffines sending her daughter a written letter of apology, but says he never apologized for calling the adults that day “liberal PTA activists”.