You know about the camel’s nose under the tent? That’s the game that Texas Republicans are playing in an effort to establish a foothold for vouchers. They have copied this tactic from other states. It goes like this: We don’t want vouchers for everyone; we want them just for this very small, very needy, very deserving group of children. If they get that bill passed, within a year or two, another group is added, then another, then another, until vouchers are available for everyone.
Just weeks ago, the Texas House of Representatives, firmly in the hands of Republicans, defeated the Senate’s voucher bill. It was widely assumed that vouchers were dead for this year. But, no, Senate Republicans added a voucher program only for children with disabilities to an important school finance proposal. Its advocates choose to ignore the fact that children with disabilities are protected by federal law in public schools, but not in private schools. They also ignore the fact that private schools for children with disabilities are far more expensive than the voucher they will offer.
The Senate’s version of the bill does not not yet have a legislative fiscal note. The Center for Public Policy Priorities estimates that it could mean about $8,300 for students to use with about $450 going back to the district.
With no income qualification cutoffs attached, the group estimates that Texas schools could lose about $37 million annually after the first year of ESAs if just 1 percent of eligible students used them.
Supporters of public education were happy about the school finance proposal, but they had to backtrack on their support when they saw that the Senate had added vouchers to the bill. For the public school supporters, this is a poison pill. Given the strong opposition to vouchers in the House, there is a good chance that the Senate voucher provision will not survive.
The members of the House must decide if they want the camel’s nose to enter the tent, knowing what will come next.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The camel keeps getting his nose under the tent(hedge fund)
RIGHT! It’s about money, not educating our young.
And SEGREGATION, too. Sickening
The tactic of putting something desirable for public school supporters in the same bill that does serious damage to public education is becoming a major legislative strategy.
A variant in Ohio promised to eliminate the Common Core but also would force schools to adopt a “competency-based education” (CBE) model for all subjects and for graduation. CBE also means big sales for hard and software vendors in order to enable online everything and non-stop testing.
I hope this sly incursion goes down in flames. Special education vouchers will short change students and remove their federal protections. These students do better under the guidance of a qualified teachers. Parents of special needs students need to realize this “voucher” is a downgrade and a way for the state to unload its responsibility to these students.
Students with disabilities, who happen to be a very diverse group, also serve as the low fruit that can be easily picked to encourage the mindset that it is perfectly acceptable to segregate kids who are different, returning to the days when kids with disabilities were unseen, isolated and warehoused in separate schools “with their own kind” (if they were provided any education at all.)
Vouchers for students with disabilities means rolling back all the gains that have been made to give children with special needs equal educational opportunity, such as including them in their community’s public schools, providing them access to the same curriculum as the general population, with any necessary supports to help them find success, as well as giving them exposure to and opportunities to establish relationships with typically developing peer role models.
“returning to the days when kids with disabilities were unseen, isolated and warehoused in separate schools “with their own kind”
And that is barbaric.
Fortunately, my rural poverty district ($8,000/student) has an excellent inclusion program-or should I say just normal placement for all students with support for those who need it. We host the local regional Sped olympics every year and there are programs at each school in which students partner with each other so that those with special needs are included in all activities.
Again, anything less is barbaric.
Yes, “barbaric” is an apt term to describe the people who denegrate our most vulnerable populations of children and treat them as if they were less than human. It describes the haters, like Trump and his fans, who believe that calling people what they want to be called is “politically correct” and unacceptable.
In countries where they don’t take into consideration people’s dignity and avoid using negative terms, such as Russia, the field of Special Education does not really exist. Parents are encouraged to institutionalize their kids with disabiities from a young age and those deemed uneducable may be left to live in a bed-ridden state. The field that deals with them, which often employs uneducated workers, is called “Defectology.”
Talk about “barbaric!”
I pressed the like (not that anyone else can see it) but it’s hard to “like” what you describe. I didn’t realize that about Russia. I had thought the old Soviet Union had a more enlightened view on those with disabilities for at one time it was known as a “leading edge” place to study disabilities. I guess a better statement on what you have written is “well said”. And Thanks!!
Thank YOU, Duane!
Homeless Educator,
I visited Moscow in 1990 and was startled to hear the Deputy Minister of Education refer to special education as Defectology
Diane, A university that I was affiliated with in the early 90s was very alarmed by the Russian characterization of Defectology and sent delegations of Special Ed faculty to Russian universities to address this matter. They discussed with Russian university faculty our differing viewpoints on disabilities and laws that recognize the rights of children with special needs to a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, as did a number of international groups. In Russia, similar legislation was ultimately enacted, but without much teeth, since changing viewpoints and stigmas that are entrenched is another matter, so kids with disabilities there are still more likely to be institutionalized than educated in classrooms with typically developing peers in their neighborhood schools.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutionalization_of_children_with_disabilities_in_Russia
(Russian perceptions and policies related to this issue impacted other communist countries as well, in the eastern European bloc, such as Yugoslavia, and in central Asian republics, like Tajikistan.)
Huntsville TX Sam Houston State has just announced that they are getting in the $$$ Charter School Business. May the ghost of Ella Flagg Young preserve us. SHSU will open 8 charter schools in Houston Metro 2017. Gold in them thar hills even though Metro Houston is sans hills.
The deformers would hate John Dewey.
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. – John Dewey.
Dewey’s quote reminds me of when people talk about the “real world” vs school, and what are the students going to do when they get out in the “real world”.
Duh! Part of The “real world” for students is their schooling experience. This is nothing outside of it for them. And there is nothing inherently wrong with that schooling realm. It is very “real” to the students.
Now maybe if those who use that term were to substitute adult for real, I would probably concur. Unfortunately that adult world is a lot less than satisfactory for many who live it.
As a child, being the youngest in the family, I always wanted to “grow up” and do all the things that everyone older than me did. Now, I’d like to regress to that time and live life with a “get out of the adult world” attitude. But alas, that can’t be!
This is just the kind of tactic I expected from Lt. Dan and his minions. Remember that when the house struck a fatal blow a couple of weeks ago, Lt. Dan was very quiet. This only meant he was planning a sneak attack, and here it comes. Lt. Dan needs to resign from his bully pulpit.
Lt. Dan Patrick needs a challenger in the next election and a defeat by voters
Yes, that is exactly what needs to happen.
I wrote these articles about a month ago.
https://davidrtayloreducation.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/i-want-to-be-governor-of-the-state-of-texas-part-1/
https://davidrtayloreducation.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/i-want-to-be-governor-of-the-state-of-texas-part-2/
https://davidrtayloreducation.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/i-want-to-be-governor-of-the-state-of-texas-part-3/