The horror! Son of the return of school vOUCHers, part two

Putting the hurt on public education, Texas-style

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Like a bad penny or some sort of undesirable, recurring health condition, it’s baaaaack!

News came down the legislative pike that the lege’s budget writers are proposing $1 billion to implement a school voucher program in the next biennium.

“School choice” is what the voucher program is called and was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities in the last session, and although those measures failed, you knew it’d be back.

The problem is, at its core, any system of diverting taxpayer money to private (for profit) schools, whether it’s marketed as “school choice,” or with “education savings accounts” is a scam, and it’s wrong.

The state constitution, which Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, etc., swore to uphold, contains a pretty cut-and-dry case for public schools. Article 7, section 1, calls for the support and maintenance of a system of public, free schools, and section 2 lays out the funding apparatus for a permanent school fund.

Nowhere within the state constitution is there any mention about private schools or school choice.

The issue has been engineered by school choice proponents, or those in charge of doing their marketing, as yet another right-wing/left-wing issue, so as to draw up support from browbeaten taxpayers. The problem with that is, advocating for the destruction of constitutionally mandated public education (and I’m not being hyperbolic here) is anything but a conservative take.

Schools in rural areas, such as ours, are typically the backbone of our communities, and need state funding in order to thrive.

A bill revealed on Friday, in the senate, aims to create an education savings account program, and would, if passed, provide families with a $10,000 per-year, per-student allotment of taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s tuition at an accredited private school, as well as additional expenses, such as textbooks.

One of the perks offered in this setup is that participants in the program would not be required to take the same standardized tests that public school pupils suffer through.

That factor, along with a litany of culture war nonsense, is often trotted out by voucher fanboys in order to make them more attractive.

Although it looks like there’s better odds than ever for vouchers to pass in this session, not all Republican lawmakers are on board with Abbott’s priority.

Sen. Robert Nichols has long stood steadfast against vouchers and for the values of rural Texans, in general, during his service. Rep. Trent Ashby, aside from one misstep in a special session called to vote on a voucher bill in the House during November of the last legislative year, has been an opponent of vouchers. Hopefully, he’ll show support for public education in the coming regular session.

Again, lots of clever marketing smoke and mirrors have gone into drumming up voucher support, and although favor for vouchers still does not poll well, a lot of money is going toward the cause.

West Texas billionaire GOP megadonors Tim Dunn and the brothers Farris and Dan Wilks have poured millions into candidates who are in favor of vouchers. Their monies have also gone toward school board candidates and creating situations such as fights over library books in Granbury.

Sure, there are problems aplenty with the state’s public education system, ranging from overall funding, to teacher pay and safety, but instead of diverting money to public schools, the state could put that money toward our public schools, where it should go.

As the old saying goes, follow the money. Abbott’s priorities should be with the 30.5 million souls that comprise this great state, and not just to a few billionaire buddies.

 

school vouchers, Greg Abbott, Texas legislature