Here’s some basic arithmetic for you: The proposed school voucher bill approved tonight in the Texas Senate is cruel in at least five fundamental ways.
First, it stacks the deck against public education, the bedrock of our democratic society. This has been the goal of Gov. Greg Abbott and his billionaire backers all along. They seek to undermine public education by starving it of funding.
Mark Wingfield
It has been six years since the funding formula for public schools in Texas has been adjusted. And not because the money isn’t there; it is. Abbott has held the funds hostage in an attempt to force his will. Thus far, it hasn’t worked. But this year he’s likely to get his way, due to reason No. 2 — this is cruel.
Second, the governor has cleared out legislators from his own party simply to get his way on this one issue. Let’s say he’s obsessed.
Abbott and his allies led primary fights in key rural districts where otherwise very conservative Republicans held office but refused to go along with the school vouchers scam. They refused because public schools are the lifeblood of their communities.
“Abbott has held the funds hostage in an attempt to force his will.”
This is cruel not only to these elected officials but also to the communities they serve, which Abbott doesn’t give a good goddamn about. Which leads to reason No. 3.
Third, this legislation will create even greater disparities in access to education across Texas. Consider that most rural communities do not have private schools available and cannot sustain private schools. Thus, the bill favors urban areas over rural areas from the get-go.
But that’s not all. The bill favors wealthy families over lower-income families — including favoring families that already send their kids to private schools anyway. Research in other states with voucher programs has documented the reality that the greatest beneficiaries of publicly funded vouchers are families already choosing private schools over public schools.
And do not forget that private schools can accept or reject whichever students they choose but public schools are required to serve all students. That’s not a fair playing field.
Fourth, public schools in Texas are living with an unfunded mandate that private schools will remain exempt from. That is the demand of the Legislature that public schools spend millions of dollars — without state assistance — to provide armed guards at every school in a state where the same legislators refuse to restrict access to weapons of mass destruction. And that feeds into point five.
Fifth, this year’s bill — unlike previous rejected iterations — gives more money per pupil to private schools than to public schools. That is not a typo; you read it right. And it is astoundingly cruel.
Under current provisions of the Senate Bill 2, a megafund would be created to pay families $10,000 a year per student in public dollars to fund their children’s tuition at an accredited private school and other expenses such as textbooks, transportation and therapy. The bill would provide $11,500 per student for children with disabilities. It also would offer $2,000 a year per student for home-schooling families.
These funds would be distributed through state-managed education savings accounts, which is why advocates swear this is not a “voucher bill” but an “education savings account bill.”
To-ma-to, tom-ato. Let’s call the whole thing off.
“The state allocation per pupil to public schools remains at $6,160 — nearly $4,000 less than funds given to private school vouchers.”
Meanwhile, the state allocation per pupil to public schools remains at $6,160 — nearly $4,000 less than funds given to private school vouchers. Previously rejected versions of voucher bills in Texas would have unlocked more money for public schools at the same time. But not this one.
If you don’t believe this is all about destabilizing public education, please think some more.
And why would Abbott and his cronies want to do that? For the same reason Donald Trump is tearing up the federal government. They want to indoctrinate rather than educate. They want control.
Remember that Texas is a state with a heavy Republican majority in the Legislature due only to gerrymandering. If the electoral playing field were level, the governor and the billionaires would not be able to get away with this. And that in itself is another cruelty.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves and Why Churches Need to Talk About Sexuality.
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