Inside the rural Texas resistance to the GOP’s private school choice plan

[essentialsaltes]

Tennessee, but voucher related.

TN school voucher bill dead for the year: 'I am extremely disappointed,' governor says​

The school choice legislation, a longtime priority for Lee, stumbled out of the gate over vast differences between dueling Senate and House versions, in addition to significant pushback from local public school stakeholders across the state.

Dozens of school boards — many in conservative parts of the state — and other local officials, along with major teachers groups, opposed the bill.

“90% of Tennessee’s students are educated in public schools, and today is a great day for them and their parents," Tennessee Education Association President Tanya Coats said in a statement.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Until this year, Senate District 31 had long been held by Republican Kel Seliger, whose steadfast opposition to vouchers helped turn him into a target from ultraconservative political action committees like Defend Texas Liberty and the now-defunct Empower Texans. Both PACs drew the vast majority of their funding from the families of Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, a pair of billionaire oil and fracking magnates who’ve expressed the view that government and education should be guided by biblical values.

“They set out to make an example of me,” Seliger said.

Former Far-Right Hard-Liner Says Billionaires Are Using School Board Races to Sow Distrust in Public Education​

The largesse from billionaires Tim Dunn and brothers Farris and Dan Wilks has made its way into local politics across Texas. Courtney Gore, a Republican school board member in Granbury, says it’s part of their strategy to build support for vouchers.​

When Courtney Gore ran for a seat on her local school board in 2021, she warned about a movement to indoctrinate children with “leftist” ideology. After 2 1/2 years on the board, Gore said she believes a much different scheme is unfolding: an effort by wealthy conservative donors to undermine public education in Texas and install a voucher system in which public money flows to private and religious schools.

Gore broke from the group shortly after taking office in January 2022, when she concluded that the materials she had warned about on the campaign trail were not present in Granbury schools.

She claims the men and other leaders of the far-right faction in Hood County, home to Granbury, dismissed her findings. They continued to pummel the district over books and curriculum, supported school board candidates who sought to remove a growing number of titles from library shelves, and worked to derail three bond elections that would have funded new and renovated buildings for the overcrowded district.

 

[camille70]

Arizona, but voucher related.

School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.

www.propublica.org

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.​

 

[essentialsaltes]

Other red states with rural populations have resisted school choice in public referenda, even as they went for Trump.

Ballot measures to expand the "school choice" agenda "lost in three states in the November election, including in two that went strongly for Trump, Kentucky and Nebraska. The results suggest a divide between Republican lawmakers and voters, many of whom have said in opinion surveys that they are generally dissatisfied with what they view as a 'woke' agenda in public education [propaganda] but still like their own children’s local schools, [actual experience]" said the report.

School voucher schemes, said Indiana University education policy professor Christopher Lubienski, “are popular with politicians. But voters tend to push back pretty hard.” One key reason is that a core constituency of Republicans, that being more rural areas, often don't have the population or resources to support a network of private schools.

--

As for Texas itself, Governor Abbott has successfully primaried rural Republican legislators who thwarted his plans in the past.

Texas Legislature will approve school vouchers and boost public education funds next year, Abbott says​

Last year, House lawmakers voted 84-63 to strip from a massive education funding bill a provision to establish education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that would have offered parents tax dollars to pay for their child’s private schooling and other educational expenses. Twenty-one Republicans, most of whom represented rural school districts, joined all House Democrats to oppose the legislation over fears that such a proposal would undercut the funding public schools rely upon.

Abbott vowed to use the March primary election cycle to campaign against the rural Republicans who helped block his plan. He did so with the support of people like Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass

Abbott’s reluctance to fully fund public education last legislative session — even with a record $32 billion budget surplus — caused many public school districts to enter this school year with multimillion-dollar deficit budgets while also tussling with rising costs of living

School voucher programs across the country, however, do not always accomplish what their proponents describe. While the country’s first voucher programs launched in the late 20th century with the goal of helping vulnerable students, many of the children who benefit from some of the more expansive programs today come from wealthier families who already pay for private school tuition. Meanwhile, families who reside in poor communities often do not use vouchers.

Give to the rich and do nothing for the poor! We will see this in action on the national stage soon, when I feel certain the extension of the Trump tax cuts [which benefit the rich a lot and the poor very little] will be job #1 on the Congressional agenda.

 

[Nithavela]

Other red states with rural populations have resisted school choice in public referenda, even as they went for Trump.

Ballot measures to expand the "school choice" agenda "lost in three states in the November election, including in two that went strongly for Trump, Kentucky and Nebraska. The results suggest a divide between Republican lawmakers and voters, many of whom have said in opinion surveys that they are generally dissatisfied with what they view as a 'woke' agenda in public education [propaganda] but still like their own children’s local schools, [actual experience]" said the report.

School voucher schemes, said Indiana University education policy professor Christopher Lubienski, “are popular with politicians. But voters tend to push back pretty hard.” One key reason is that a core constituency of Republicans, that being more rural areas, often don't have the population or resources to support a network of private schools.

--

As for Texas itself, Governor Abbott has successfully primaried rural Republican legislators who thwarted his plans in the past.

Texas Legislature will approve school vouchers and boost public education funds next year, Abbott says​

Last year, House lawmakers voted 84-63 to strip from a massive education funding bill a provision to establish education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that would have offered parents tax dollars to pay for their child’s private schooling and other educational expenses. Twenty-one Republicans, most of whom represented rural school districts, joined all House Democrats to oppose the legislation over fears that such a proposal would undercut the funding public schools rely upon.

Abbott vowed to use the March primary election cycle to campaign against the rural Republicans who helped block his plan. He did so with the support of people like Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass

Abbott’s reluctance to fully fund public education last legislative session — even with a record $32 billion budget surplus — caused many public school districts to enter this school year with multimillion-dollar deficit budgets while also tussling with rising costs of living

School voucher programs across the country, however, do not always accomplish what their proponents describe. While the country’s first voucher programs launched in the late 20th century with the goal of helping vulnerable students, many of the children who benefit from some of the more expansive programs today come from wealthier families who already pay for private school tuition. Meanwhile, families who reside in poor communities often do not use vouchers.

Give to the rich and do nothing for the poor! We will see this in action on the national stage soon, when I feel certain the extension of the Trump tax cuts [which benefit the rich a lot and the poor very little] will be job #1 on the Congressional agenda.

I dont think they should complain. They voted for the MAGA experience, now they're getting it just like the rest of the USA.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

It never ceases to amaze me how hard people will work to ensure that people remain as underserved as possible when it comes to education. But an uneducated populace is a submissive, easily controlled populace, so there you go.

 

[DaisyDay]

Other red states with rural populations have resisted school choice in public referenda, even as they went for Trump.

Ballot measures to expand the "school choice" agenda "lost in three states in the November election, including in two that went strongly for Trump, Kentucky and Nebraska. The results suggest a divide between Republican lawmakers and voters, many of whom have said in opinion surveys that they are generally dissatisfied with what they view as a 'woke' agenda in public education [propaganda] but still like their own children’s local schools, [actual experience]" said the report.

School voucher schemes, said Indiana University education policy professor Christopher Lubienski, “are popular with politicians. But voters tend to push back pretty hard.” One key reason is that a core constituency of Republicans, that being more rural areas, often don't have the population or resources to support a network of private schools.

--

As for Texas itself, Governor Abbott has successfully primaried rural Republican legislators who thwarted his plans in the past.

Texas Legislature will approve school vouchers and boost public education funds next year, Abbott says​

Last year, House lawmakers voted 84-63 to strip from a massive education funding bill a provision to establish education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that would have offered parents tax dollars to pay for their child’s private schooling and other educational expenses. Twenty-one Republicans, most of whom represented rural school districts, joined all House Democrats to oppose the legislation over fears that such a proposal would undercut the funding public schools rely upon.

Abbott vowed to use the March primary election cycle to campaign against the rural Republicans who helped block his plan. He did so with the support of people like Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass

Abbott’s reluctance to fully fund public education last legislative session — even with a record $32 billion budget surplus — caused many public school districts to enter this school year with multimillion-dollar deficit budgets while also tussling with rising costs of living

School voucher programs across the country, however, do not always accomplish what their proponents describe. While the country’s first voucher programs launched in the late 20th century with the goal of helping vulnerable students, many of the children who benefit from some of the more expansive programs today come from wealthier families who already pay for private school tuition. Meanwhile, families who reside in poor communities often do not use vouchers.

Give to the rich and do nothing for the poor! We will see this in action on the national stage soon, when I feel certain the extension of the Trump tax cuts [which benefit the rich a lot and the poor very little] will be job #1 on the Congressional agenda.

I find it ironic that the same people who cry over foreign aid being given to non-Americans also don’t seem to want aid given to actual Americans. Public education is a net benefit. Lunch programs also benefit little Americans.

 

[RileyG]

But I support public schools. Like public roads and public health. The taxes are being spent according to my wishes for the public good -- the general welfare of We The People.

Right, they cut the athletic program or merge with another district, just as people in the article said.

I think nationwide, many small towns are dying out, so many are forced to merge and cut programs, at least where I live, anyway.

 

[RileyG]

I don't want my tax money to go to private schools or homeschooling parents. Where's my say?


What, by force of law? That's not happening.

I completely understand what you’re saying and it’s 100% valid.

I remember hearing years ago that those who homeschooled have better social skills and have better critical thinking skills than those went to public school.

I have no idea if it’s actually true or not.

I’m just rambling.