First thing this morning I posted the story about Texas State Senator Don Huffines debating middle-schoolers about vouchers. I thought they were in grades 7-12, but they were actually grades 7-8.
I just received a copy of the tape. Huffines berates the students for challenging him. He is rude and condescending.
This man is a disgrace to his district. He should be laughed out of his office. Or voted out, whichever happens first. The students are far better informed than he is.
This is the best part of the exchange:
“Critics of the voucher program Huffines is pushing say the amount of the vouchers will not be large enough to actually help students attend some costly schools that will be benefiting from taxpayer dollars. One student specifically asked that question, with more grace and decorum than her adult senator could muster up.
“The student asked, “Excuse me Senator, I don’t mean to offend you but you are speaking on behalf of the students, and as a student of public education I disagree with this completely. I’ve gone to a private school before…with these vouchers, what are you going to get — $5000 a year? The majority of these private schools are $5000 a semester. How are lower income families supposed to pay for the rest of the school year?” Huffines, with a very combative and condescending tone answers, “Oh, so it doesn’t pay for all their education. It doesn’t pay for all their education, does it? The $5000 won’t pay for it, right? So you’re saying since we’re not giving them enough money to pay for all their education, screw ’em they can’t go to private school! Do you want me to give them $15,000? Is that what you want? So they can all go to Hockaday or St. Mark’s? That’s the most selfish thing I’ve ever heard.”
I propose a debate between Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the middle school students of Richardson ISD. I would pay to see that!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If we give the politicians vouchers will they go away and leave public schools alone?
Maybe make a deal with them. They can hand out as many vouchers as they want and then focus all their attention on private schools.
No one would miss any of them. 99% of the public schools in Texas wouldn’t even notice if this guy never showed up for work again.
When all our politicians are standing up and applauding vouchers tonight remember that not one of them has offered anything to the public schools 90% of kids attend.
Nothing. That’s the sum total of their contributions to public education so far this year.
Oh, well. Maybe next cycle, right?
Georgia proposes increasing funding for vouchers:
https://gbpi.org/2017/ballooning-tax-credit-private-school-scholarships/
Nothing for public schools.
This is deliberate. These people are destroying existing public schools- schools that are full of kids. The kids in public schools are just collateral damage to ed reformers -road kill while they reach the Holy Grail of complete privatization.
Can we hope that the current political moment will be forcing more and more legislators like Huffines out into the open to show their true colors — and to then face constituent payback?
Huffines was wrong about the tuition for parochial schools in El Paso. The tuition for Loretta Academy for middle/high school is $7,210 or pre-K 3 through 5 is $6,910. There are other fees on top of the tuition. So how many economically disadvantaged students are going to go to this school?
We have remember that private schools DO NOT have to take every student that walks up to their doors. Private schools DO NOT have to take students who are special needs students medially or physically, have discipline problems in public schools, etc. Private schools DO NOT furnish transportation for students to and from their homes. And, private schools CAN drop a student anytime they feel a student is not meeting their academic standards.
Public schools HAVE TO accept any student that walks in the doors regardless of their special needs, discipline problems, lack of money, and will furnish transportation to and from schools, etc.
Huffines does not even talk about what public school offers verse a private school. Huffines does not have a clue about what vouchers will do negatively to this country. He lives in a world of the wealthy who do not give a damn about the rest of us.
He says “businesses pay 62% of property taxes,” implying that business leaders, not citizen taxpayers, should have the authority to decide what happens to tax dollars, because it is their money.
That’s a pretty far cry from government of, by, and for the people. Government of, by, and for wealthy business interests. This guy should be voted out, more likely he will ascend to higher office with that attitude.
He failed to mention that when the businesses pay 62% of property taxes that these taxes are in-turn passed on to the general public who purchase all the goods and services from the businesses. So, in the long run, the general public is paying the taxes for the businesses as well as the taxes on the general public’s personal property. He needs to lay out all the facts — not just those that suit his purposes and narrow vision of the world around him.
According to the Texas government site, the vast majority of tax revenue is from sales tax: 65%.
But the alcohol, cigarette, motor vehicle sales and rental taxes are also paid by the citizens.
https://comptroller.texas.gov/transparency/revenue/watch/all-funds/
Let’s face it, Huffpuff doesn’t know what he is talking about. Just read the last quote in Diane’s post. He sounds as comprehensive as Orange Finger-Marmalade Mussolini.
I bet he never realized that there is a such an obvious flaw in the whole voucher idea: private schools are more expensive than public schools, and most people in public schools cannot pay the difference—especially the supposed target group. I bet he assumed, everybody can come up with the $5-10K per year difference, so that would be a nonissue.
Who elects these people?
Maybe Huffpuff (haha) didn’t realize the “flaw” but I’m not so sure that those who came up with the voucher plan did not realize it. Many of the people who stand to benefit from vouchers are precisely those who passed the laws and can afford to pay the difference.
By keeping the value of the voucher at less than the cost of private school (even by a small margin), they can greatly limit the total amount that is spent on vouchers and still get money for themselves and their campaign donors to send their own children to private schools.
Reminds me of Alan Greenspan’s comment that he had found a “flaw” in his hands-off free(for all) market theory that assumed CEO’s would never cheat their clients or shareholders.
Of course, that never even crossed Greenspan’s mind until after the crash.
Yes, of course.
These people are not idiots, but they sure seem to think the rest of us are.
And maybe they are right. After all, we elect these people.
Yes…of course.
Then there’s the other plus for Betsy: can’t afford to make up the difference? Well…there’s always the parochial schools. God will provide, there.
At one point Huffpuff also states that citizens’ state tax dollars make up only a small percentage of tax revenue and businesses contribute the vast majority of the tax revenue. Maybe somebody can look up Texas, but in TN (no state income tax as in TX), here are the numbers
Total tax revenue Jan 2016: $1 billion.
Of this from Business: $6 million.
That’s less than 1% (in fact it’s exactly half of a % if I use the exact numbers). Just the tax from Tobacco sales is 3 times more than from business. From gas: 8 times more than from business.
OK, so I now see an item which is paid by businesses: Franchise tax. But that is still 20% of the total tax revenue—the vast majority of which (75%) is sales tax. And we know who pays that.
No business or corporation ever pays any taxes. Only people, the final consumer, pay taxes. When a corporation sells a good or service, the cost of the taxes charged by governments to the business, is concealed in the cost of the purchase price.
True!! Thanks for the comment
This ELECTED official needs to be ousted the next time around. No dignity.
I’ve been telling all my friends who will listen about DeVos’ evangelical side. None of them knew. Not one.
Then I mention what the student in Texas asked about how far $5K will get you in terms of attending a good private school.
Then I tell them about the cost of parochial schools.
It’s easy to connect the dots once the blueprint is laid out in front of you.
We should call Betsy “Silver Spoon” DeVos what she is: a christo-fascist.
These folks have been at it since the 70s in response to those heathen whites and uppity blacks trying to get a little more of the economic and cultural share of the common goods pie. Weyrich, Falwell, Robertson, and all the hard core xtian fundamentalists made a plan and have been working it. That plan will culminate in Pence ascending to the throne when the Salmon Swamp Monster is deposed.
Salmon Swamp Monster.
Excellent.
Salmon as in color not the regal fish. I wouldn’t want to insult the fish.
Salmon Swamp Monster.
Excellent.
The Crying Creamsicle
Here is the proposed price of EDAP, Educational Donation to Affluent Parents (previously called vouchers), in Tennessee
Voucher-like proposal could take $71 million of public school funding from all Tennessee districts
…
A 71 million-a-year proposal to allow public dollars to go toward private education services could reshape schools across the state, offering low-income and affluent parents alike unprecedented school choice.
Rep. Roger Kane introduced a bill on Tuesday that would allow any parent to use up to $7,000 of public school funding toward private schools, tutoring or other educational services. Called an Empowerment Scholarship Account, the proposal would be similar to a program that went into effect this year for special education students, but far more sweeping. All of Tennessee’s 1 million public school students would be eligible to participate, though the program would be capped at 9,600.
http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/tn/2017/02/28/voucher-like-proposal-could-take-71-million-of-public-school-funding-from-all-tennessee-districts/
Finally poor kids’ parents can afford to send their kids to the $21K per year Hutchison or St George schools. Since they get the generous $7K from the public school system, they just have to come up with the remaining $14K per year per child. That’s only $1200 a month per child. Piece of cake.
https://www.hutchisonschool.org/Page/Admissions/Tuition–Financial-Aid
Click to access TuitionANDFees_2017-18.pdf
This guy’s attitude is that the underlings should be happy with gruel.
The “good stuff” is for the people in charge and their kids.
And kneel down before the alter of business profit, who’s taxes foot the bill.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
He should resign.
I hope th seventh graders at Richardson ISD will invite Secretary DeVos to debate vouchers with them. She has prepared for 30 years. Do you think she is up to the challenge?
She’s afraid. That would mean public schools are being successful. It doesn’t support her mission.