An Anti-Voucher Resource For Educators & Coaches
The Texas High School Coaches Association OPPOSES Vouchers for the following reasons, stated clearly in their support of the Herrero amendment:
“Public tax dollars should NOT go to private education entities with no financial or academic state accountability requirements.
-Public tax dollars should go to schools that are accountable to taxpayers.
-Vouchers are an unproven scheme that have shown failing results where they have been implemented.
-Vouchers take much-needed money from local neighborhood schools and tend to help only students whose parents can already afford private schools.
-Vouchers give private schools, not parents, the right to choose.”
The Texas Association of School Boards OPPOSES Vouchers:
“Vouchers give private schools — not parents — the right to choose
As state lawmakers convene in Austin, education savings accounts (aka vouchers) continue to be a hot topic. Vouchers would send taxpayer dollars to private schools that are not accountable to taxpayers while picking and choosing the students they admit. In states that have voucher programs, the majority of students who received a voucher were already enrolled in private school. Now's the time to act to protect your schools. Take a moment to send a message to your lawmakers, letting them know that vouchers are bad for Texas.”
Other Educational Organizations OPPOSED to Vouchers:
Texas AFT (American Federation of Teachers)
-”One of our union’s perennial priorities is fighting efforts to privatize our public education system, whether through the expansion of charter schools or new voucher schemes…don’t be fooled by the euphemism of “school choice.”
-Private school vouchers, sometimes called “savings accounts,” drain taxpayer money from already underfunded public schools.
-Private schools are not accountable to the public via an elected board.
-Private schools are not required to adhere to federal or state education standards, such as special education laws.
-Private schools do not serve all comers as public schools must do and can choose to reject any students for any reason. Vouchers only act as a subsidy for the wealthy who are already sending their students to private schools.
-We already have “school choice” in our public schools, through magnet schools, fine arts academies, college-preparatory and early-college high schools, Montessori education, dual-language campuses, and community schools — as well as a full-range of programs and services to support the needs of our increasingly diverse students.”
ATPE (Association of Texas Professional Educators)
-“We are grateful to those representatives who listened to the thousands of educators who contacted them this week to explain how allowing taxpayer dollars to be spent without accountability will hurt Texas children,” ATPE Executive Director Shannon Holmes said. “We know they are facing enormous political pressure to vote the other way.”
“We are also thankful for the 13 senators who voted with the families and educators who have proudly chosen Texas public schools,” Holmes said. “This battle is far from over, but today’s results in the House show what we have long known: Texas public schools are the backbones of our communities, whether urban, suburban or rural, and we have lawmakers with the backbones to protect those public schools.”
TASA (Texas Association of School Administrators)
-Executive Directors’ Blog
”School choice is not parent choice. Too often we see charter schools that do not serve all children. In those cases, it is the school that does the choosing, not the parents. There are some charters that are mission-driven and strive to serve all children, and they should be commended; but many have become profit factories that serve only children who are easy and cheap to educate. They are underrepresented by children in special education, those experiencing poverty, and children with behavioral and emotional needs.
-Vouchers erode our democracy. Local community schools have elected leaders who are required to live in the district, be accountable to all taxpayers, provide full transparency and have accountability…private schools are far removed from the electorate. Vouchers will tax everyone, but the average Texan will have no say on how their tax dollars are spent, what curriculum is used, whether certified teachers are hired, or what programs are offered…it is ironic to me that while we are talking about giving parents more rights, we are actually inhibiting their rights by funding schools that can pick and choose whom to serve and how they serve without any input from the public. And for those of us who do not have school-aged children anymore, we will be taxed but have no representation in these schools. Taxation without representation runs decidedly counter to American values.
Article 7, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution, says “The general diffusion of knowledge, being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.” The American dream cannot be outsourced to private schools and profiteers. If our state and nation are going to continue to thrive, we must not abandon our public schools and our democracy.”
-Voucher Talking Points:
“Texas public schools are struggling to recover from the pandemic, which resulted in the need for additional funding to combat learning loss and provide wrap-around services. Schools are also grappling with unprecedented staffing shortages.
Vouchers have been shown to decrease, not increase, student academic achievement. Despite claims that school voucher programs lead to gains in student success, there has been no credible research to suggest that vouchers improve academic performance. According to a report by the Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan policy institute, the use of school vouchers is equivalent to missing out on more than one-third of a year of classroom learning. Vouchers allow public funds to be spent without any Accountability.
Texas public schools are held to rigorous accountability standards, so lawmakers should not allow public, taxpayer dollars to be spent at private or religious schools that do not have to meet the same standards. Private schools do not have to report student achievement data to the state, and they do not have to meet the same standards for hiring teachers.
Houston Federation of Teachers
"[Texas lawmakers] are continuing to rob the public schools and send money to private charters and are trying to privatize our schools," Jackie Anderson, President of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said. "They are starving us to death, and then they wonder why we don't meet certain accountability standards."
Texas Association of Rural Schools
-NBC Reports: “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.”
TARS President Aaron Hood: “We don’t have the same economy of scale as larger districts,” he 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.”
Coalition for Public Schools
-”Voucher bills simply divert public funds away from neighborhood public schools to private institutions or companies and are objectionable for a number of reasons. Historically in the United States of America, public funds have been used for the common good and when they are appropriated to inure to the benefit of private citizens it is deemed as immoral and inappropriate.”
“School districts, what they have to do if they lose a student, [is] be smart about how they allocate their resources and maybe that’s one less fourth grade teacher,” Steve Lecholop, a TEA deputy commissioner, said in a call with a parent that was secretly recorded.
Brookings Voucher Scheme Studies
(Washington DC, Louisiana, Indiana, Idaho)
“Four recent studies, four different programs, different research approaches, but the same general finding—using vouchers to attend private schools leads to lower math scores and, in one study, lower reading scores too.
Some previous studies showed positive outcomes for older students such as higher graduation rates and higher college-going rates.12 Citing these and other studies, Greene has argued that test scores should be downplayed because they are weakly correlated with adult outcomes such as college-going and earnings.13
This argument begs the question about how large correlations should be to be considered as indicators of adult outcomes, and it also discounts recent research showing that test scores improvements related to effective teachers were correlated with gains in adult labor-market outcomes.14 This research suggests being very cautious when presented with evidence about public programs producing negative effects on test scores. Researchers need to consider ways to measure other outcomes that are meaningful in the debate, such as by designing studies with long follow-up periods to enable future research on high school graduation, college-going, and labor-market outcomes. It means waiting longer for answers, but the value of knowing the answers is clear.”
My Letter to my own state Senator, Senator Sparks:
Senator Sparks,
I write today as one of millions of passionate educators. We are angry not just because of near universal opposition to voucher schemes among public educators and coaches, but angry that there seems to be on your part either a grievous misunderstanding or a callous disregard for what so-called "school choice" really means for public education.
Vouchers (by whatever misnomer) would be devastating to small and rural districts, including my own. Highland Park ISD has less than 800 students enrolled. We have been losing enrollment since Covid, and our story in that respect is not unique. We are struggling to keep teachers and staff employed; staff and programs badly needed by our kids are going away already.
There is a reason that big metro liberals and rural conservatives have been united in opposition to vouchers, as they will cause public education to lose more students and more money, possibly sending some small community public schools over the precipice.
I would like to know why you choose to ignore teachers, coaches and administrators throughout your district and the state. These are just a few of the organizations who you are voting AGAINST:
-Texas High School Coaches Association
-Association of Texas Professional Educators
-Texas Association of School Administrators
-Coalition of Public Schools
-Pastors for Children
-Texas Association of Rural Schools
I could go on, you get the idea. All of these organizations are vehemently against vouchers, and thus against your votes.
The evidence shows that vouchers do not improve student performance, and that they cause massive deficits for already struggling public schools (where 90% of kids are). Evidence from other states also show most money merely subsidizing kids already enrolled in private schools (80% in AZ, 75% in WI, 90% in NH).
Your votes send a clear message, one that is in lock step with a governor content to tour the state (while hiding from public schools) lying about public education and insulting us as "educrats."
That message is that you don't have any interest in defending our public schools in a manner consistent with the spirit of Article VII of the Texas Constitution, that you are happy to ignore the voices of conservative and liberal teachers alike, all so that the very few can be subsidized while the public suffers.
This district deserves better.
I hope you have the courage to defend your vote. I'll be waiting.
Regards,
Sam J. Smeaton, MA
Educator/Defensive Coordinator
Amarillo Highland Park High School
