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

[essentialsaltes]

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

Backed by a surge of campaign spending from far-right Christian megadonors, Republicans in Texas and nationwide are pushing legislation that would siphon money from public education under the banner of “parents’ rights.” These plans, commonly known as vouchers, would give parents the money the state would have spent educating their children in public schools — between $8,000 and $10,000 per child per year in Texas — and allow them to put it toward homeschooling expenses, private school tuition or college savings accounts.

Officials in communities like Robert Lee, which has a population of about 1,000, warn these policies will chip away at already razor-thin public school budgets. With only 250 students — about 18 children per grade — even a slight drop in enrollment and funding can force rural schools like Robert Lee to make hard decisions, Hood said.

“We don’t have the same economy of scale as larger districts,” [Superintendent Hood] said, which is one reason he obtained a commercial driver’s license to serve as a substitute bus driver. “If we lose five or 10 students, that’s a teacher salary. But we can’t afford to have one less teacher, so now we’re cutting academic programs, we’re cutting sports, we’re cutting the things that this community relies on.”

“Nobody opposes school choice, but that’s not really what we’re talking about,” Hood said. “It’s all in how you ask the question. If you ask people in this community if they support sending their tax dollars to private schools with no accountability and no standards, they’re going to tell you they’re against that.”

[The closest private school is 30 miles away.]

For many years, an unlikely coalition of rural Republican lawmakers and urban Democrats formed a wall against private school vouchers in the Texas Legislature. But political spending by conservative Christian megadonors has helped chip away at opposition within the Texas GOP — including in the state Senate district that represents Robert Lee.

[The new state senator] Sparks also sits on the board of trustees at Midland Classical Academy, a private Christian school founded by [oil billionaire donor] Dunn, whose family donated $200,000 to Sparks’ campaign.

The freshman senator’s district includes 91 public school systems stretching from the Texas panhandle to the oil-rich Permian Basin; all but six of them are small rural districts with no local private school options, an NBC News analysis found.

On his private Christian school road tour, [Governor] Abbott has pitched school choice as a way of empowering parents to protect their children from a “woke agenda” he says is being pushed by some public school educators.

Such allegations sound fanciful to many in Robert Lee, where both the town and the school district are unapologetically named in honor of the famous Confederate general’s military service in Texas prior to the Civil War.

 

[hislegacy]

From the link:

These plans, commonly known as vouchers, would give parents the money the state would have spent educating their children in public schools — between $8,000 and $10,000 per child per year in Texas — and allow them to put it toward homeschooling expenses, private school tuition or college savings accounts.​

​

hmmm... giving taxpayers a say in where their tax money is spent and protecting your children at the same time - don't see a down side to it. The obscure reference to smaller towns is simply fixed - have the 250 sets of parents keep their children where they are.

 

[essentialsaltes]

hmmm... giving taxpayers a say in where their tax money is spent

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

The obscure reference to smaller towns is simply fixed - have the 250 sets of parents keep their children where they are.

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

 

[Larniavc]

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

Backed by a surge of campaign spending from far-right Christian megadonors, Republicans in Texas and nationwide are pushing legislation that would siphon money from public education under the banner of “parents’ rights.” These plans, commonly known as vouchers, would give parents the money the state would have spent educating their children in public schools — between $8,000 and $10,000 per child per year in Texas — and allow them to put it toward homeschooling expenses, private school tuition or college savings accounts.

Officials in communities like Robert Lee, which has a population of about 1,000, warn these policies will chip away at already razor-thin public school budgets. With only 250 students — about 18 children per grade — even a slight drop in enrollment and funding can force rural schools like Robert Lee to make hard decisions, Hood said.

“We don’t have the same economy of scale as larger districts,” [Superintendent Hood] said, which is one reason he obtained a commercial driver’s license to serve as a substitute bus driver. “If we lose five or 10 students, that’s a teacher salary. But we can’t afford to have one less teacher, so now we’re cutting academic programs, we’re cutting sports, we’re cutting the things that this community relies on.”

“Nobody opposes school choice, but that’s not really what we’re talking about,” Hood said. “It’s all in how you ask the question. If you ask people in this community if they support sending their tax dollars to private schools with no accountability and no standards, they’re going to tell you they’re against that.”

[The closest private school is 30 miles away.]

For many years, an unlikely coalition of rural Republican lawmakers and urban Democrats formed a wall against private school vouchers in the Texas Legislature. But political spending by conservative Christian megadonors has helped chip away at opposition within the Texas GOP — including in the state Senate district that represents Robert Lee.

[The new state senator] Sparks also sits on the board of trustees at Midland Classical Academy, a private Christian school founded by [oil billionaire donor] Dunn, whose family donated $200,000 to Sparks’ campaign.

The freshman senator’s district includes 91 public school systems stretching from the Texas panhandle to the oil-rich Permian Basin; all but six of them are small rural districts with no local private school options, an NBC News analysis found.

On his private Christian school road tour, [Governor] Abbott has pitched school choice as a way of empowering parents to protect their children from a “woke agenda” he says is being pushed by some public school educators.

Such allegations sound fanciful to many in Robert Lee, where both the town and the school district are unapologetically named in honor of the famous Confederate general’s military service in Texas prior to the Civil War.

Typically this type of shenanigans is to funnel money into Christian based education.

Blatant social engineering.

 

[hislegacy]

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

your say is where you send your children. If you do not have children - your say is exactly the same as right now.

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

no - by choice - if they find value in their current system - the choose to stay. - if the school looses funding, they restructure - they adapt.

 

[hislegacy]

Typically this type of shenanigans is to funnel money into Christian based education.

One person shenanigan is another individuals freedom to not have their children exposed to things they do not want them exposed to.

Sort of like atheist parents do not want their children indoctrinated into a religion. And that is their right.

Blatant social engineering.

Hmmm.... the progressive left is introducing social constructs the parents do not support - that would be blatant social engineering - would it not?

 

[essentialsaltes]

your say is where you send your children. If you do not have children - your say is exactly the same as right now.

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.

if the school looses funding, they restructure - they adapt.

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

 

[hislegacy]

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.

and they will still be getting tax money. It's not a mass exodus.

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

Joining another district - inconvenient, but doable - again much ado.

 

[essentialsaltes]

and they will still be getting tax money. It's not a mass exodus.

Right, you've either conceded the point or missed it. Either is fine with me.

 

[hislegacy]

Right, you've either conceded the point or missed it. Either is fine with me.

Right - it is feigned outrage from the left - what else is new?

BTW - the rural Texans are deep red area's and they have voted in the politicians who are attempting to make the change -

That means the politicians are reflecting the will of the people who elected them

 

[essentialsaltes]

Right - it is feigned outrage from the left - what else is new?

BTW - the rural Texans are deep red area's

The rural Texans are expressing their concerns, not 'the left'.

and they have voted in the politicians who are attempting to make the change -

That means the politicians are reflecting the will of the people who elected them

Or the will of the billionaire Christian nationalists funding them to oust the long-time Republican senator who opposed vouchers.

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.

 

[HTacianas]

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

Backed by a surge of campaign spending from far-right Christian megadonors, Republicans in Texas and nationwide are pushing legislation that would siphon money from public education under the banner of “parents’ rights.” These plans, commonly known as vouchers, would give parents the money the state would have spent educating their children in public schools — between $8,000 and $10,000 per child per year in Texas — and allow them to put it toward homeschooling expenses, private school tuition or college savings accounts.

Officials in communities like Robert Lee, which has a population of about 1,000, warn these policies will chip away at already razor-thin public school budgets. With only 250 students — about 18 children per grade — even a slight drop in enrollment and funding can force rural schools like Robert Lee to make hard decisions, Hood said.

“We don’t have the same economy of scale as larger districts,” [Superintendent Hood] said, which is one reason he obtained a commercial driver’s license to serve as a substitute bus driver. “If we lose five or 10 students, that’s a teacher salary. But we can’t afford to have one less teacher, so now we’re cutting academic programs, we’re cutting sports, we’re cutting the things that this community relies on.”

“Nobody opposes school choice, but that’s not really what we’re talking about,” Hood said. “It’s all in how you ask the question. If you ask people in this community if they support sending their tax dollars to private schools with no accountability and no standards, they’re going to tell you they’re against that.”

[The closest private school is 30 miles away.]

For many years, an unlikely coalition of rural Republican lawmakers and urban Democrats formed a wall against private school vouchers in the Texas Legislature. But political spending by conservative Christian megadonors has helped chip away at opposition within the Texas GOP — including in the state Senate district that represents Robert Lee.

[The new state senator] Sparks also sits on the board of trustees at Midland Classical Academy, a private Christian school founded by [oil billionaire donor] Dunn, whose family donated $200,000 to Sparks’ campaign.

The freshman senator’s district includes 91 public school systems stretching from the Texas panhandle to the oil-rich Permian Basin; all but six of them are small rural districts with no local private school options, an NBC News analysis found.

On his private Christian school road tour, [Governor] Abbott has pitched school choice as a way of empowering parents to protect their children from a “woke agenda” he says is being pushed by some public school educators.

Such allegations sound fanciful to many in Robert Lee, where both the town and the school district are unapologetically named in honor of the famous Confederate general’s military service in Texas prior to the Civil War.

If there are no private school options in that district how then are they to lose students to private schools?

 

[Fantine]

Typically this type of shenanigans is to funnel money into Christian based education.

Blatant social engineering.

In Arkansas, Huckabee Sanders applauded "no more indoctrination!"

But the purpose of religious schools is indoctrination, and the religious right in particular promotes what Jesus wouldn't do combined with pseudo science and whitewashed history.

 

[essentialsaltes]

If there are no private school options in that district how then are they to lose students to private schools?

Because Texas public schools are funded with a mix of local tax revenue and state dollars — with state money distributed on a per-student basis — rural districts could see their funding cut in two ways: either as a result of losing local students directly to vouchers [via homeschooling for instance], or as a result of the overall pot of state funds being diluted to cover private and homeschooling expenses of students in far-away cities and suburbs, leaving less per-student funding for every district.

 

[Pommer]

Right - it is feigned outrage from the left - what else is new?

BTW - the rural Texans are deep red area's and they have voted in the politicians who are attempting to make the change -

That means the politicians are reflecting the will of the people who elected them

When a child leaves the school system that they are in, the money that that school system used to receive to educate them, leaves. How is this a “good thing” for a very small school district?

 

[FenderTL5]

Voucher programs (and the like) are nothing more than a covert way of privatizing education. It's killing public schools and shifting funds to for-profit companies.
What happens when the underfunded public school finally closes and the GOP decides to cut spending in the voucher program?


Seen elsewhere:
I don't like the city park.
I want to join a country club so my kids won't have to play with "those" kids. Plus the swingset needs repair.
Oh and the city park needs to pay my membership.

 

[hislegacy]

When a child leaves the school system that they are in, the money that that school system used to receive to educate them, leaves. How is this a “good thing” for a very small school district?

never said it was....

 

[hislegacy]

Voucher programs (and the like) are nothing more than a covert way of privatizing education.

Negative, there is no statistical information to support the presumption.
Tax payers are not getting what perceive value for their money, so are finding venues that offer a better quality of education.

Do you know what school system consistently has the highest rating academically? The Catholics

It's killing public schools and shifting funds to for-profit companies.

What's killing schools - if there are any being killed - is the so called educators who are practicing social engineering instead of academic excellence. Johnny can't read, but he can learn to be called Susan.

What happens when the underfunded public school finally closes and the GOP decides to cut spending in the voucher program?

Strawman - never been suggested and the supposition is the produce of imagination

I don't like the city park.
I want to join a country club so my kids won't have to play with "those" kids. Plus the swingset needs repair.
Oh and the city park needs to pay my membership.

Ridiculous - there is a difference between parents wanting solid education without the social engineering and a broken swing.

 

[hislegacy]

Because Texas public schools are funded with a mix of local tax revenue and state dollars — with state money distributed on a per-student basis — rural districts could see their funding cut in two ways: either as a result of losing local students directly to vouchers [via homeschooling for instance], or as a result of the overall pot of state funds being diluted to cover private and homeschooling expenses of students in far-away cities and suburbs, leaving less per-student funding for every district.

and then again possibly not.

 

[Fantine]

Texas officials must be crazy not to have seen what vouchers did in neighboring New Orleans.

Louisiana voucher students did worse at new schools, study says

Bobby Jindal at New Orleans school

www.nola.com

When the private school results tanked too low Louisiana told the private schools to improve by rejecting low-performing applicants (something public schools can't do.)