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Governor Rick Perry
A champion of educational opportunity, Governor Perry has worked to improve standards, strengthen the curriculum and increase public school funding by $6 billion. Governor Perry also has worked to make Texas colleges and universities more accessible, passing the $300 million TEXAS Grant Scholarship Program, and increased higher education funding by $3 billion.
Governor Perry has focused on the state's health-care needs, working to insure more than 500,000 children through the Children's Health Insurance Program while improving nursing home and border health care.
A strong fiscal conservative, Governor Perry has held the line against new income, sales and nursing home taxes; protected the state's Rainy Day fund; signed a balanced state budget; and, used his line-item veto authority to trim more than $500 million in proposed new spending from the state budget.
The Houston Chronicle editorialized, "Perry has an essential ability to work effectively across party lines." Now that the 78th Texas Legislature is in session, Governor Perry will build bipartisan consensus to balance the budget on the foundation of fiscal responsibility, to increase economic security for Texas citizens, and to improve public education.
Before becoming governor, Lieutenant Governor Perry worked with legislators of both parties to pass a balanced state budget that included record tax cuts, record teacher pay raises, and a historic school funding increase.
He earned high marks as the president of the Senate for his bipartisan leadership. The El Paso Times editorialized, "Promises made, promises kept. That is the slogan by which Texas Lt. Governor Rick Perry should be remembered."
Rick Perry was first elected to statewide office in 1990, serving as Texas Commissioner of Agriculture for two terms. From 1985 to 1991, he represented a rural West Texas district in the Texas House of Representatives.
A fifth generation Texan, Governor Perry hails from the rolling plains of West Texas, where farming, ranching and public service run in his family. His father, Ray Perry, served as a Haskell County Commissioner, school board member and a World War II tailgunner.
Between 1972 and 1977, Governor Perry served in the United States Air Force flying C-130 tactical airlift aircraft in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Governor Perry is a 1972 graduate of Texas A&M University where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, a junior and senior yell leader, and an animal science major.
The younger of Ray and Amelia Perry's two children, Governor Perry was active in scouting and earned the high distinction of Eagle Scout. He first met Anita Thigpen at a piano recital during their elementary school years. They married in 1982.
Governor Perry is a lifetime member of American Legion Post #75. Rick and Anita Perry are the proud parents of two children - Griffin, 19, and Sydney, 16. The Perrys are members of Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin.
