Former Democratic Texas Gov. Mark White dies at 77

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former Texas Gov. Mark White, a Democrat who championed public education reforms that included the landmark "no-pass, no-play" policy for high school athletes during his single term in office, has died.

White's education reforms included pay raises and competency tests for teachers, class size limits for elementary schools and the creation of the state's high school basic skills graduation test.

In a 2011 interview with The Associated Press, White said he tried to model his education platform on what his mother, a former first-grade teacher, talked about she experienced in the classroom.

White appointed Dallas billionaire Ross Perot — who ran for president as an independent in 1992 — to lead a special panel on education that developed some of the key changes.

The no-pass, no-play initiative, which barred students from playing school sports if they were failing a class, was a politically tricky and unpopular move in a state crazy about its high school football.

A state district judge blocked the provision before the state Supreme Court ruled it was a legitimate function of the state's goal to provide quality education.

White considered himself the symbolic leader of new breed of Texan who embraced the emerging era of high technology and warned the state's residents they would not find their future at the bottom of an oil well.

Plunging oil prices walloped the state economy, and drug smuggling on the border led White to implore the federal government to help control the border with Mexico.

Despite the struggling state economy, White pushed for and won the big tax increases he needed to pay for education and roads, breaking a campaign pledge not to raise taxes.

After returning to private law practice, White made a last stab at public office by running for governor again in the 1990 Democratic primary but was defeated by Ann Richards, who went on to become governor.