Parents in Texas got disgusted 15 years ago when the Legislature almost passed a voucher law. They organized the Texas Parent PAC, which is a highly effective voice on behalf of public schools and more than five million students.
The website of Texas Parent PAC has a list of the endorsed candidates, both Democrats and Republicans.
Their guiding principles are a model for parents, grandparents, and civic activists in other states.
I recently heard from Dinah Miller, co-founder and co-chair, who explained the PAC’s origins. She wrote:
Texas Parent PAC formed in 2005 after taxpayer-funded private school vouchers failed to pass the Texas House by only one vote. Five PTA moms called a press conference during PTA Summer Seminar in Austin and announced we were forming a political action committee to elect better talent to the Texas House who would oppose vouchers and support public schools. We recruited Diane Patrick from Arlington who had local and state school board experience to run against hostile Texas House Public Education Committee Chair Kent Grusendorf who had been in office 20 years. We beat Grusendorf in the primary along with others and then knocked off another hostile education committee member in the general election. Those races put us on the map.
From our website: Texas Parent PAC is a bipartisan political action committee for parents, grandparents, parents-to-be, and anyone who supports high quality public education. The PAC has a track record of success, helping to elect over 63 current members of the Texas Legislature, and defeat 23 incumbents who were hostile to public education.
Endorsed candidates reflect traditional mainstream American values that honor and support children and their families, quality public education, strong communities, unlimited opportunities, and maximum citizen participation in our democracy. All endorsed candidates support the Texas Parent PAC Guiding Principles.
Fifteen years later, our volunteers are still fundraising for our endorsed bipartisan candidates for the November 3, 2020 election. Our website is www.txparentpac.com
Sincerely, Your Fan,
Dinah Miller
Co-chair and Co-founder
Texas Parent PAC
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The law is clear: In order to be eligible for federal charter grants, charter schools must not be “affiliated with a sectarian school or religious institution.”
But Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said earlier this week that she will no longer enforce this prohibition. Religious organizations should feel free to apply for federal money to open charter schools, she said, and a recent Supreme Court ruling is on her side.”
Say hello to religious charter schools! They’ll be indistinguishable from private schools except they’ll be publicly funded, which of course was always the goal.
There’s a raging pandemic that has closed or harmed every public school and public school student in the country and yet the sole focus of ed reform is expanding charters and vouchers. They simply perform no work at all on behalf of public schools or public school students.
If we continue to hire people in government who are opposed to public schools, we will continue to get nothing for public schools or public school students. Hire out of the ed reform echo chamber and this is what you get- Betsy DeVos and a huge group of public employees who add no value at all to 90% of schools and students in the country. They accomplish nothing for public school students.
DeVos thinks she is above laws and court orders. She has been able to ignore them without consequence. She runs the DOE like her own personal fiefdom.
it has always felt as if she also runs Trump: she pushes her agenda, he follows along
It is a little known fact that Houston is the most diverse city in the country. Texas is changing from demographic shifts and lots of new people moving in. This grassroots effort on the part of parents has been able to block vouchers that would have sent young people to assorted schools with subpar academics, and the young people are better off for it. Vouchers are worthless education policy.
People should have the choice of a religious school (on their own dime) or to homeschool their children but everyone has the responsibility to support and finance universal public education for all children k-12. I have always opposed voucherism because it would destroy, ultimately, the teaching profession. Two of my children were teachers in charter schools (which they chose to get teaching experience) and they were lied to and exploited. Promised bonuses were not paid and withheld. The average salaries were much lower than in most public schools. Of course, there was no tenure either. The benefits were inferior. Many charter schools exploit young teachers and then dismiss them to replace them with other inexperienced teachers who are cheaper. I have never heard of a charter school hiring a 10 or 15 or 20-year veteran and paying full salary. If teaching is not a stable career, financially, then many people will leave the profession and not chose to spend the money to become certified. It is much more difficult and expensive to become certified in most states and more difficult in most states and very expensive to get certified in multiple subject areas (such as Math/Foreign Language/English/Social Studies).
I agree, Richard!