Texas is in a war to not only save our public schools, but fully fund public schools. We need Texas to say NO to vouchers.
- Vouchers are bad for students with disabilities - students with disabilities have zero protections under federal law with private schools and private schools are fighting to keep it that way if they get vouchers passed. They don’t employ certified teachers nor do they have to provide due process in case of disagreement about student services. Parents have legal rights and recourse in public schools that they do not have in private schools. They do not need to accept and retain students with disabilities, including those with 504s and IEPs.
- Vouchers are expensive, the state has already chose to fund and give money to charter schools. Money for vouchers will come straight out of neighborhood public school funding. Funding yet a 3rd system will only serve to make the first two weaker. Texas is currently near the bottom of school funding per student. This will exacerbate the issue.
- Parents already have school choice: Texas parents already have the choice of where to send their child within public schools themselves. We have magnet schools, fine art academies, college-preparatory and early-college high school, Montessori, dual language, and community schools as well as a full range of programs and services.
- Vouchers eliminate the transparency and pubic accountability. Because private schools are not held to the same regulations and laws for accountability that public schools are held. In Arizona the people receiving vouchers primarily came from wealthy zip codes, where wealthy families used vouchers to subsidize their private spending.
- Vouchers give choices to private schools and not parents. While public schools must admit all students, private schools do not. They will chose those that will cost them the least to educate. So at-risk students, special needs students are most likely never to be accepted into private schools.
- Still a lot of unknowns - What happens if a student leaves the private school within the school year, what happens to the money? Do public schools that are already underfunded have to absorb that cost?
What do we want?
- We need fully funded Public Schools!
- Teacher need pay raises!
- Retired teachers deserve an increase on their pension.
And we need these things for our communities more than we need to subsidize private schools that don't have to be accountable for any of our tax dollars.
What can you do?
Contact your legislator and the House Public Education Committee.
Go here to find your legislator: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home
Also call all these Legislators on the Public Education Committee:
Chair-Brad Buckley 512-463-0684 brad.buckley@house.texas.gov
VChair-Alma Allen 512-463-0744 alma.allen@house.texas.gov
Rep Steve Allison 512-463-0686 steve.allison@house.texas.gov
Rep Charles Cunningham 512-463-0520 charles.cunningham@house.texas.gov
Rep Harold Dutton Jr 512-463-0510 harold.dutton@house.texas.gov
Rep Cody Harris 512-463-0730 cody.harris@house.texas.gov
Rep Brian Harrison 512-463-0516 brian.harrison@house.texas.gov
Rep Cole Hefner 512-463-0271 cole.hefner@house.texas.gov
Rep Gina Hinojosa 512-463-0668 gina.hinojosa@house.texas.gov
Rep Ken King 512-463-0736 ken.king@house.texas.gov
Rep Oscar Longoria 512-463-0645 oscar.longoria@house.texas.gov
Rep Matt Schaefer 512-463-0584 matt.schaefer@house.texas.gov
Rep James Talarico 512-463-0821 james.talarico@house.texas.gov
Tell them to vote NO on these bills.
HB 619
HB 4969
Here's a script you can use to call.
Hi I'm a taxpayer in Texas and I want my tax dollars to go toward public schools, not private schools. I know there's a House Education Committee going on right now that have a whole host of bills on school vouchers. I don't support school vouchers, and I hope Rep X stands with public schools.
References:
Arizona - The school voucher tax drain is on, and you won't believe who's snagging the money
Texas:
School Choice is just a ploy to defund public ed
Dumb and Dumber: Texas Republicans' plan for public education
Dallas Morning News: Voucher bill would subsidize taxpayer funded bias against kids with special needs: