Back at the end of March the Texas State Senate Education Committee voted in favor of school vouchers.
From Education Week
A voucher plan offering families public money to send their children to private and religious schools is headed to the full Texas Senate.
Sen. Larry Taylor's bill would create state-subsidized education saving accounts for parents while offering tax credits to businesses that sponsor private schooling via donations.
The issue has long roiled the Legislature, with the Republican-led Senate backing so-called "school choice" but such plans stalling in the GOP-controlled House. There, many lawmakers worry about harming public schools that are the lifeblood of the small communities they represent.
...The House probably will defeat the bill, though, like it has past voucher measures.
And as they predicted, it failed big in the House-103-44 today.
According to a piece in January in the Dallas Morning News this was supposed to be the year for success. Gov. Abbot was fully “on board”, attending the annual school choice rally in Austin where thousands were expected back in January.
“The momentum has really been growing over the last 10 years,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a political consultant who is organizing the event. “The biggest change in the last year is that the governor is on board, fully supportive and will be speaking at the rally.”
[...]
And even though, “Opponents see any attempt to funnel money from public schools as an attack ”, this is most definitely the year for vouchers in Texas.
But the political climate nationally for vouchers has never been more favorable. President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a vocal supporter of school choice, having founded a national group that pushes for vouchers.
(added emphasis)
[...]
So what happened here?
Earlier this month, superintendents and trustees from 60 Dallas-area school districts held a joint news conference urging lawmakers to keep public funds in public schools. Taking money away will only hurt the state’s most vulnerable children, who often can’t take advantage of options, even with assistance, they said.
Education leaders have banded together in other parts of the state as well to voice similar opposition. They say Texas already has choice within the public school system, including charter schools and specialized campuses.
For example, students can transfer out of low-performing campuses into better public schools under the state’s Public Education Grant program.
Charles Luke, a former superintendent now coordinating dozens of groups across Texas for the Coalition for Public Schools, said vouchers or similar programs like education savings accounts would siphon billions of dollars away from public classrooms instead of using that money to improve them.
The plan was for education savings accounts so somehow that makes it better than previous plans -
Stephanie Matthews, a senior policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation..., insists that education savings accounts are fundamentally different from vouchers.
“Instead of the money going directly to a school, they work more like a health savings account — a restricted-use debit card that goes straight into the hands of parents,” she said.
So, though this was supposed to be the golden opportunity, voucher supporters lost big in the Texas State House today.
...103-44 vote came during the House's larger budget debate and could kill a sweeping "school choice" bill approved by the state Senate last week.
Republicans control both chambers but while many senators see vouchers as a civil rights issue that helps poor children leave failing public schools, the House has repeatedly defeated any proposal that could hurt funding for traditional classrooms.
House Democrats opposing vouchers typically team with Republicans from rural communities, where schools are top employers as well as social centers offering football and other popular activities.
Anticipating opposition, the Senate voucher bill exempted communities with fewer than 285,000 residents. But overwhelming House opposition didn't wavier.
The presence of Betsy De Vos as the country’s new Education Secretary and her major drive for vouchers made no difference in Texas today.
Friday, Apr 7, 2017 · 7:54:47 PM +00:00 · peagreen
Thank you to Catte Nappe for posting the link to an article yesterday in the Texas Tribune -Texas Lt Gov Dan Patrick asked for a House vote on school choice. He got it. Well worth the read, but I want to highlight some of it-
Top House education official Dan Huberty has said private school choice is dead in the House. Representatives showed they overwhelmingly support that sentiment, in a 103-44 budget amendment vote.
House Public Education Chairman Dan Huberty, R-Houston, has said a private school choice bill would not make it through his committee, drawing criticism from SB 3 supporters. Asked if it was dead to him as an issue, Huberty said, “I believe so, yes.” He voted for the amendment blocking money to the tuition subsidy programs.
“Quote unquote absolutely not,” said Rep. J.D. Sheffield, R-Gatesville, when asked whether the changes to SB 3 carving out his counties from participating would change his vote on the bill. “Just because they sweetened the deal to pull in some people doesn’t mean it’s a good deal.”
In late March, lobbying group Texans for Education Opportunity used an online campaign to generate thousands of letters to 29 state representatives lobbying them to back education savings accounts, one of the subsidy programs in SB 3. Though the group claimed the letters were credible, the letters stirred up suspicion after no representative could find a constituent who remembered adding their name to that correspondence.
Of the 29 representatives targeted in the campaign, 26 voted Thursday to block money from funding "private school choice" programs.
These folks know that, as was pointed out in one of the articles in the original diary, that they already have “choice”. And they know positively that this will take money directly out of their local schools and Texas public schools in general. And as was pointed out in a conversation I just had with my temporary Texan resident family member, they know that the money that gets sucked out of the public schools has to get made up somehow and that will mean even higher property taxes and/or damage to the heart of their communities- their public schools.