In 2017, I put together a Change.org for healthcare for retired and active educators. It garnered 186k signatures resulting in news agencies and lawmakers who reached out for meetings and interviews. 

The petition was taken to the special session in August.

Successfully, we, the 186k petitioners, were heard and the funds of $212 million were released to TRS to decrease premiums and deductibles. 

Presently, we are once again finding public education under fire. Our lawmakers are attempting to pass School Choice aka vouchers. 

As a third generation Texas public school educator, my grandmother, mother, and myself, collectively have over 100 dedicated years of service to educating Texas citizens. I am committed to fighting against those who want to destroy public education.  

The current school deficit number should alarm everyone. Our elected officials need to fix the mess they’ve made out of our Texas schools, not create a system to destroy it even further by creating an even larger division between the haves and have nots. 

Abbott, our governor, has failed to raise the basic allotment since 2019. He withheld 4 BILLION dollars last year leaving districts in the red.

Think about the astronomical cost of living increase over the last six years. There’s no way public education can survive on funding levels of 2019. 

When increases are proposed, they are always tied to vouchers which will inherently bankrupt public education as well as TRS (teacher retirement system). This means no retirement or another option would be to raise the magic number again to 100 (age plus years of service). Yep, educators will never be able to retire in Texas. 

If there are fewer students, then there are fewer educators paying into a system. Today’s educators pay yesterday’s retirees. If only a fraction are employed due to the decrease in enrollment, they CANNOT sustain the current pension program. It’s simple math. The well will dry up. 

Vouchers are NOT an attempt to have parent choice. Vouchers are aimed to allow schools the choice. Private schools have applications, interviews, and criteria. A committee decides whether or not a child “fits in” at its school, hence SCHOOL CHOICE. 

With almost 60% of our students attending rural districts, what other choices are available to them? But, the district will receive less funds due to the way the bill is written  

Vouchers are a way to bankrupt public education and our retirement system. Period. 

90% of the state’s budget is spent on Healthcare, Public Education, and Transportation (road-building, railroads, and aviation services). If legislators destroy public education, then that frees up $93 billion a year! It’s always about money at the government level. It’s never about the citizens, unfortunately. 

So many facets of education will be affected if vouchers pass. 

1. Class sizes will increase.
2. Positions will be eliminated.
3. This will create an even larger division in social class.
4. Countless positions will not be filled.
5. CTE programs will be eliminated. It has already begun (welding, Ag science, automotive classes, basically career and technical education courses).
6. Indefinite salary freezes are expected across the state. 
7. District contributions of monthly healthcare contributions will be eliminated or reduced. 
8. TRS would potentially bankrupt. 
9. School campuses will close.
10. UIL funding will be decreased. This could most definitely DISSOLVE school sports and art programs like dance, band, theater, and cheer altogether. As a result club, select, and competition teams outside of school will be the only opportunity for our youth to participate. Can’t afford it? Sorry- Can’t Pay, No Play. 

If an influx of students take their $10,000 to private schools, the private schools will need more buildings and teachers which means they will have to increase their tuition to pay for it. It would be a wash, and those students holding their $10,000 vouchers will be $10,000 short again with the tuition increase. 

Private schools are private for a reason. Private means small, exclusive, personalized, and just by definition “something you don’t want to share.” 

Private schools don’t want to grow because then they’ll just turn into public school sizes. That is completely opposite of their environment. 

Private schools will merely cap their enrollment to keep out those they presently do not serve (special education, 504, those needing dyslexia services, those needing extra tutoring, those requiring behavioral health support).

71% of private schools in Texas are religious based, yet they don’t accept everyone, nor do they serve everyone like public schools. Do private schools really want all students applying? Have parents of private schools thought about this? 

When you accept government funds, then how private have you become? 

Instead of trying to fix the brokenness in public education, the solution is vouchers. The government has destroyed public education with all of its House Bills and Senate Bills. 

Circulating rebuttals:

"My child currently attends private school. I’d like that voucher."

"My child is currently homeschooled. I’d like that voucher."

All citizens pay school taxes whether they have children or not or whether they're 22 or 62. The tax is not for their individual child or grandchildren or if they have no children; it’s for the pot of democracy. If parents choose a different path like private or homeschool, then they do not get their school tax back.  

If a person has one child and another has six, does the parent of six have to pay more taxes to receive their $60,000 vouchers?

If others have zero children, can they get a credit? Why do individuals have to pay school taxes if they do not have children in school? 

Let me be clear. I am NOT against private schools. I AM against destroying public education.  Education is a key part of a sovereign country’s power. If that is taken away, what is left is an illiterate society. 

Leave our children and our educators alone!