ACC's state senator Larry Taylor will chair the Education Committee.
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I found this an interesting look at power in the chamber:
There had been speculation among Capitol observers that the higher education committee, chaired by Seliger, who has been an occasional critic of Patrick's, might be folded into the education committee. Not only did it survive, however, but Seliger, who sponsored a fundraiser for Patrick and contributed to his campaign, retained his chairmanship.
And there's this about Taylor:
Who Patrick would pick to chair Education, the committee he headed as a state senator, was a subject of much discussion heading into the session.
Taylor, a sophomore, served on the committee he will now lead during the 2013 legislative session. Before elected to the Senate in 2012, he spent 10 years in the House.
During his time in the lower chamber, he was perhaps best known for leading the charge, along with tort reform groups, to overhaul the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, a state-funded insurance pool that has paid out millions in damages for hurricane-related lawsuits. The fight became a proxy battle between Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and later resulted in top trial lawyer and Democratic donor Steve Mostyn pouring money into an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Taylor's bid for Senate in 2012.
In his first year as a senator, Taylor carried two education bills, both co-sponsored with Patrick. One was a so-called "parent trigger" bill, which requires the state to convert failing campuses to charter schools if enough parents petition. The other was legislation similar to House Bill 5, which ultimately became law, making changes to curriculum requirements and reducing the number of state standardized tests for high school students.
