School Voucher Fight Hits Home

Locals Cheer & Oppose Plan During the Governor’s Visit

Texas Governor Greg Abbott spoke to a large crowd in Giddings Tuesday about his push for parental choice in education.

Abbott wants the Texas Legislature to approve a package of bills that would provide parents in Texas who opt-out of public schools with an Education Savings Account. The State would provide $8,000 in taxpayer money per student. Parents could use that money to pay for tuition at private schools or other education expenses, such as textbooks or tutoring.

Organizers called the event a “Parent Empowerment Night.” It took place at Immanuel Lutheran School in Giddings.

“There is a standard that has existed for a long time, and the standard is this: Mom and Dad are in charge,” Abbott said. “It doesn’t matter when you lived, or where you live. Mom and Dad are in charge of their kids.”

Abbott said the proposal is not aimed at harming public schools.

“I went to public schools my entire life,” Abbott said. “If I could do it all over again, I would not change it at all. Public schools were the right schools for me. Many of our public schools are outstanding. They’re doing an excellent job for the state.”

Abbott said Texas ranks No. 1 in the number of National Blue Ribbon Schools in the nation. He praised Texas’ high school graduation rate, which ranks among the top in the nation. He took credit for authorizing more funding for public schools and public school teacher pay raises than any governor in Texas history.

“Per pupil funding is at an all-time high,” Abbott said. “In this session we’re working on right now, we’re adding billions of more dollars for public education and more teacher pay raises. We support our public schools in the great State of Texas. With all that said, we all know something that applies in schools or anything else in life – more money does not always lead to better results.”

Abbott mentioned teachers who have left public schools because administrators wouldn’t let them say the Pledge of Allegiance in class.

“We’re not going to use taxpayer dollars to teach kids to hate America,” Abbott said.

“During the time of COVID, parents began to see what kids are being taught in school,” Abbott added. “It was way different than what you and I were taught in school. It’s this stuff called ‘wokeism’ – the sexualization of young children and the radical woke agenda. It’s just wrong for schools to be pushing that onto our kids. Our schools are for education, not indoctrination.”

Abbott addressed concerns that funding for private schools would take away funding for public schools or that it would lead to the end of high school football in Texas.

“More than half the states in the United States of America already have some form of school choice,” Abbott said. “In those states, it has not defunded public schools or affected football programs.”

He also pointed to Texas charter schools. Abbott said the same arguments made against his school choice proposal were also made when the state created charter schools 25 years ago.

“People said this was going to destroy public schools and destroy football in Texas,” Abbott said. “All the same arguments that were made today were made 25 years ago. Let me tell you how that has worked out. Since I was governor, in just the past eight years, the number of children attending charter schools has doubled. It has increased a lot. But during the same time, we have increased funding for public education more than it’s ever been.”

Abbott said the increase in charter school attendance has not defunded public schools.

“All public schools would continue to be fully funded for every student in those schools,” Abbott said.

The crowd was largely supportive of Abbott. They gave him several standing ovations. But not everyone agreed with the education savings account idea. A small group of protesters held signs across the street from Immanuel Lutheran School. Mariah Holton, one of the protesters, pointed out some inconsistencies in statements made at the event Tuesday night. She mentioned Mandy Drogin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who spoke after Abbott Tuesday night and quoted figures from the TEA which said only 19 percent of students were on grade level in Texas. Holton contrasted that with Abbott’s praise for the success of public schools under his watch.

“Are we doing great or is it 19 percent? What is it?” Holton said.

“He was talking out of two sides of his mouth,” said Destiny Heckman, a homeschool mother who opposed Abbott’s proposal.

Dr. Jeff Harvey, superintendent of Fayetteville I.S.D., attended the event and spoke with Abbott for several minutes afterwards. Harvey said he believes the current proposal is unfair since kids leaving public schools would get more money than the state allots to each student in public schools.

“The current plan right now, Senate Bill 8, is giving $8,000 students who are leaving public schools,” Harvey said. “Yet the base allotment (per student) for public education is $6,160. So how is that equitable?”

Harvey said Abbott told him that the bill is still in the early stages and some of the provisions could change. Harvey said he’s not afraid of competition at Fayetteville I.S.D.

“At Fayetteville I.S.D., a third of our population is transfer students,” Harvey said. “Parents do have a choice in Fayette County.”

However, Harvey raised concerns about accountability at private schools.

“I’m not a fan of vouchers because they miss out on accountability,” Harvey said. “How are these people going to be graded? Are these (private) schools going to be ranked A through F? They’re not going to be. But our public schools are.

“We’re not afraid of competition, we just want to play on the same field,” he added.