Texas Governor Greg Abbott is determined to pass voucher legislation if he is re-elected. He has pushed for vouchers repeatedly and been defeated by a coalition of urban Democrats and rural Republicans. Our friends, the Pastors for Texas Children, have been champions of public schools, knowing that vouchers would undermine public schools in rural and suburban Texas. Governor Abbott, as usual, is pandering to the far-right extremists in his party who want to privatize everything.
The Texas Monthly describes Abbott’s sleazy tactics:
Undermining public schools has been a winning strategy for governors in several states. But for many rural, conservative communities in Texas, such schools are the only game in town.
By Bekah McNeel
At a July campaign event in Fort Stockton, Governor Greg Abbott played what has proven to be a winning card for Republicans across the country. “Parents,” he said, “should not be forced to send their child to a government-mandated school that teaches critical race theory, or is forcing their child to wear a face mask against their parents’ desire, or is forcing them to attend a school that isn’t safe.”
Actually, Abbott long ago outlawed mask mandates, and he and the Republican Legislature have heavily regulated what can be taught about race in Texas schools. But touting the progress of his agenda is less compelling than making a bogeyman of public schools altogether—telling parents that they deserve more control over what, where, and how their children learn. It’s a strategy that has well served Republican politicians such as Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
The buzz phrase “parental control” can cover a lot of ground, from oversight over classroom lessons and library books to school choice, and it’s a concept that most Republican voters support. But Abbott has lately taken parental control a giant step further by promoting school vouchers—government funds that would allow families to send their kids to public or private schools, including religious institutions and homeschooling arrangements. Supporters depict vouchers as the acme of parents’ control over their children’s education. But critics, including many conservative Texans, worry that they will inevitably drain resources from public schools, which in many small communities are the only schools available.
What most call “vouchers” can actually be several different things: tax credits for tuition or homeschooling supplies, access to a government savings account or scholarship that can be used for private school tuition, or a reimbursement for a set amount of educational expenses. Abbott has not committed to a specific kind of program, only to the idea that parents’ tax dollars should be able to pay for private school tuition.
These subsidies—often between $4,000 and $8,000 a year—don’t cover the full annual tuition rates of most private schools, which average between $9,000 and $11,000 in Texas, leading many critics to describe them as gifts to those who can already afford some level of tuition. The neediest students, they argue—those most likely to be in struggling schools—are still left with a considerable bill if they choose to participate.
“It looks like voucher programs in the past have always been about subsidizing affluent to wealthy folks who want private school for their kids,” said Charles Luke, codirector of Pastors for Texas Children. His group has always opposed vouchers, not only on the basis of the potential cost to public schools, but also on the grounds of separating church and state. Luke worries about government interference with religious or church-affiliated schools. “Government interference isn’t good for the church,” he said.
Where the money comes from and what strings are attached will be the devil in the details of bills soon to be filed for the 2023 Legislature, especially as Republicans vie to cut property taxes as well. Texas pays for public schools on a per-pupil basis, so every student lost represents a loss of revenue. School-voucher proponents say that state money should follow students to whatever public or private schools their parents choose. But superintendents argue that when a student leaves a public school for a private one, the district’s costs—for everything from classroom teachers to bus drivers—don’t decline proportionately.
Superintendents and elected representatives from rural areas—many of whom are Republicans—fear that the state would fund vouchers by reducing funding for public schools in places where such schools serve as community hubs, providing meeting spaces, sports competitions, and social services like school nutrition programs and health screenings. Places like Palestine, Texas.
A Republican governor attacking teachers?
What else is new?
With DeSantis, Abbott is also behind the recent kidnapping and trafficking of
migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
These two cowardly bullies always go after people that they perceive to be powerless to fight back.
The immigrants were lured into the planes with false ptonises, ie, fraudulently.
Says Tallahassee-based immigration attorney Elizabeth Ricci :
“An enticement like that, regardless of whether you sign a waiver, is fraud and that is part of the definition of human trafficking, I think that everybody on those planes has a
case to legalize as a direct result of being transported by the governor.”
DeSantis is now claiming the immigrants got on the plane “voluntarily”.
I wonder if he learned that argument in law school (at Harvard)
False promises
Or maybe he learned his “argumentation” methods as an undergrad at Yale,cwhere that other pillar of honesty , Extreme Court Justass Brett K. may have picked up his propensity to tell tales?
And where “Numbskull and Boneheads” George W. Bush may have picked up his , as well.
Although Dumbya also went to Harvard, so it’s difficult to isolate the source of the dishonesty.
DeSantis is a reckless, inhumane bully.
Apparently he got the brilliant idea to send the immigrants north from Tucker Carlson who suggested it on Fox News.
If DeSantis is the sort of person Harvard Law school is accepting and graduating, I’d say they either have very low standards or no standards at all.
What an embarrassment.
When asked about the fact that DeSantis did not inform officials in Martha’s Vineyard about the immigrants they were sending , the spokesperson for DeSantis (Jeremy Redfern) (nitwittingly) commented on Twitter
“Do the cartels that smuggle humans call Florida or Texas before illegal immigrants wash up on our shores or cross over the border? No”
The cartels don’t call when they traffick humans, so why would DeSantis?
Makes logical sense.
I have been told that DeSantis is smarter than Trump (and it might be true), but the same obviously can not be said for Redfern.
I just hope Ron keeps Redfern on as a spokesman when he runs for President.
greg aBUTT is also a bully. aBUTT (another it, like 45–cannot own the words human being). Additionally, I believe aBUTT is a twisted & bitter it (I’m sure there are some psychologists & psychiatrists who read this blog & could make apt comments.) Couldn’t even get a BUTT to Uvalde to meet w/community, given the survivors some comfort. (Although that’s probably would only have made them sadder & angrier.) instead, it finger-points at Chicago violence (&, yes, it is a horrific situation, but completely different than what transpired–& why it did–in Uvalde, as well as other TX schools & communities). & it’s response to Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s nationally broadcast response (a strong, well-deserved tongue lashing) is to send, w/o prior notice, busloads of immigrants. We cannot help but feel deeply for them: what a shock the harsh Chicago winter will be to them (NY, MA & D.C., as well). Ironic that the 1st Lady of TX is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants &, yet, nothing is said.
& the name DeINSANEtis just speaks for itself.
The proper response by the northern states is precisely the one they have been given: to welcome them and help them get settled in a new life.
Show them that not everyone in the United States is a racist ahole who just wants to be rid of them.
Meant to post this comment on an early post/thread where this was discussed:
& I have enough criticism left for the neo-lib DINO 44 who ruined public ed. & saved Wall St. at the expense of every working class, low-income & poverty-stricken American, yet was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize (for what?!), & is–wow!–well on his way to an EGOT (having just won an Emmy). The press just can’t stop drooling over him (the unveiling of the portraits, the YouTube of O talking about his meeting w/the Queen, etc.)
Perhaps the Os could offer (at least some rooms, maybe even a wing…or the pool guest house?) their $11.1 million Martha’s Vineyard waterfront property for immigrant housing? Gee, I bet they could house at least 4 families there (if not more). Reportedly, during Covid lockdown, one of the daughters was given an entire wing of the house to reside in, Not only that, but the Os just finished building their newest home (they own, what, 4 now?) in Hawaii (teardown of existing home–property for/ worth $8+ million on waterfront, building a home even w/the protestations of Hawaiian environmentalists, as per building purportedly will cause erosion in that area).* So, maybe they could just live THERE?
*&, no, these stories are NOT from Fox News…NEVER watch it.
Don’t know about all of you, but found the O presidency underwhelming at best, a horror at worst. &–goes w/o saying–haven’t pre-ordered Michelle’s new book. Won’t even take it out from our local library.
&, please–all Texans & residents of FL who are reading this–work like CRAZY to get Beto & Charlie elected & GOTV!