Promises about Education on Abbott-O-Meter

Free-of-charge tutoring for students preparing for mandated end-of-course exams would cost $7.6 million statewide.

The annual cost of awarding 10 innovation grants ro encourage blended instruction would be $8 million.

Districts that avail themselves of specialists in innovative digital instruction will be eligible for state aid to cover training costs

"In addition to incentivizing higher graduation rates, the criteria for performance-based funding should also include metrics to ensure quality of instruction; for instance, universities may receive funding based on the percentage of graduates who are employed within six months of graduating."

"After students choose a program or major, they will choose a morning or evening schedule instead of picking individual courses."

"Allowing credits to transfer more freely enables aspiring students to take advantage of junior and community college cost savings."

Public colleges and universities should be required to give college credit to high-school students scoring 3 or better on AP exams, potentially saving students and parents tuition money.

College credit for courses taken via EdX, a collaboration providing online Massive Open Collaborative Courses, would help reduce higher education costs.

A fund already created by lawmakers would need about $363 million to cover tuition costs currently absorbed by institutions of higher education.

Lawmakers should appropriate $200 million, a $40 million increase, to the Texas Competitive Knowledge Fund, which was created to bolster research at several universities.

On the stump, Abbott called the 2001 tuition law "flawed" and said he would not veto a bill to repeal it. But he did not outline how he would suggest fixing it.

"We must ensure that Texas' four-year public universities claim five of the top ten spots in future rankings" of public universities by U.S. News.