Dan Patrick is the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, a powerful position in the state. He used to be a rightwing radio talk show host, a little Rush Limbaugh. Now he’s in a position to do real damage, not just blow off steam. He recently told the superintendents of rural schools that the state couldn’t afford to give them any new money, although not long ago Governor Greg Abbott bragged about a $30 billion surplus and about cutting property taxes.
Chris Tomlinson, opinion writer for The Houston Chronicle, eviscerated Dan Patrick’s homegrown bull in this article.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has laid out his plan for dismantling public schools, even if it means failing to produce a workforce that will keep Texas’ economy going.
The man who calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third exercises an iron fist over the Texas Senate. He recently told the Texas Association of Rural Schools & Texas Association of Midsize Schools not to expect a significant increase in state funding, which has been unchanged since 2019 despite rampant inflation.
Instead, Patrick has promised to divert taxpayer money to private, mostly Christian schools backed by his billionaire benefactors.
Texas Republicans are heading into the 89thLegislature in honey-badger mode, heedlessly pursuing ideological goals regardless of public opinion. Because just like the honey badger that has become an Internet meme, Patrick “don’t care.”
“We’re not underfunding you in our view,” Patrick told school superintendents on Dec. 6, my colleague Jeremy Wallace reported in his newsletter. “We are funding you the most we can.”
Correction: it’s the most he’s willing to do.
The state provides a basic allotment of $6,160 per student, which is $4,000 less than the national average. School districts are slashing budgets and laying off staff due to inflation. Advocates have asked for another $1,000 per student to keep providing essential services.
“I’m just being honest with you; there is no way we can increase the student allotment by $1,000,” Patrick said.
That’s a lie. The state left $30 billion unspent in 2023 when Patrick refused to increase school funding until lawmakers approved taxpayer funding for religious private schools. An extra $1,000 per student would cost $14 billion, well within the budget.
Patrick frequently claims he supports public schools, but actions speak louder than words. He criticizes teachers, prioritizes tax cuts and praises religious education, falling back on a clichéd conservative playbook.
Step One: Underfund and hamstring a government service, in this case, public schools, until it starts falling apart. Step Two: Blame underpaid, under-resourced public servants for the failure and proclaim only the private sector can help. Step Three: Send taxpayer money to your cronies to provide the service, with a significant markup, and make the public pay more for it.
The biggest campaign donors to Texas’s Republican leaders in recent years have loudly demanded an end to public education as we know it. They believe government-run schools indoctrinate students with the wrong ideas about justice, equality and tolerance. They want private schools to teach their values with taxpayer subsidies.
Oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Ferris Wilks have spent tens of millions backing Christian nationalist activists and candidates to pass a school voucher bill. Patrick is one of the largest beneficiaries of their largesse and has backed taxpayer money for Christian schools since he was a senator.
A Pennsylvania billionaire who hates public schools, Jeff Yass, gave Gov. Greg Abbott $6 million, the largest campaign donation in state history, to punish rural Republican lawmakers who opposed school vouchers in 2023. Most of those lawmakers either retired or lost their seats in the GOP primary.
Abbott and Patrick say they have the votes necessary to pass a school voucher bill next year. Past promises to boost funding for public schools now appear off the table.
Public schools are much more than a benefit for parents; they create Texas’s workforce. Future success at work is directly tied to quality pre-kindergarten and good schools.
Private schools do not face the same regulation or scrutiny as public schools. Private schools are free to teach whatever the sponsoring group wants outside of a few minimum requirements. Private school students are not required to take the state’s standardized STAAR Test.
Polls show most Texans support public schools and want the state to spend more. But with a handful of donors writing multimillion-dollar checks, Patrick has entered the honey-badger stage of one-party rule.
Most Texans and major corporations think women should have more reproductive rights. Patrick don’t care.
Most Texans support legalized gambling to boost local economies. Patrick don’t care.
Most Texans support legalizing marijuana. Patrick don’t care; he wants to ban the $4 billion-a-year hemp industry.
Republicans have controlled every statewide office for 30 years. At the state and national level, conservatives control every branch of government. The GOP is feeling strong, like they honey badger.
Patrick wants Texas and the United States to be a Christian nation and Texas laws to reflect his interpretation of the Bible. Sabotaging public schools is a key step to fulfilling that dream.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Patrick wants to use public schools to indoctrinate young people into Christianity. While the majority of Texans identify as Christian, there are many others that are non-Christian in the state as well. Extremist Christians know that religious belief and support are on the decline among young people, but public schools were created to create an educated populace without any interference from religious groups. Religion is the role of churches, temples, and families, not public schools. If the state wants to prepare the young people for the careers of tomorrow, it needs to focus on academics and stop pandering to the wishes of fanatical billionaires. Well-funded public schools will prepare young people more efficiently and effectively than any privatized religious schools.
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Dan Patrick and other pols like him couldn’t care less about Christianity, as if he and they even knew what that would mean — he is simply pandering to whatever special interest group is craven enoughy to hire him.
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It’s all about power and imposing one way of believing on people. Patrick and his kind worship a petty, vengeful deity created in their image.
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Dan Patrick is not Christian.
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Nor is Abbott
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The regressive xtian nationalist theocrats believe that they have a “mandate”, whether from their non-existent god, in other words from nothing, or whether from the supposed tRump mandate which like the first is pure nothing of the sort.
All it takes is for supposedly good people to ignore the xtian theocrats and it-an xtian theocracy will come to pass. But heaven forbid and condemnation in hell in allegedly disparaging xtianity.
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In history, the Christian sectarian groups were mostly concerned that one of their Christian rivals might teach their children the “wrong Christianity.” Protestant nativists particularly distrusted Catholics way up into the Twentieth Century. Ironically, most of my neighbors distrusted John Kennedy more for his being a Catholic than they disliked him for his predatory behavior toward women when they learned of that behavior some years after the assassination.
Today Christians find themselves in a declining minority for whatever reason, and people like Patrick are scared to death. They see the world sinking into immorality. Their reaction is to mandate their own point of view rather than present their point of view as an argument to persuade. I call that the desire for fascism, dictating values. This took place largely because Jerry Falwell and the moral majority created a space for the political power of religion.
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Yep. This upcoming session looks bleak for public school supporters. We will continue to knock on legislators’ doors to present our arguments and facts. If they don’t listen, it’s on them, but we will continue to fight the good fight.
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