Texas Public Education vs. Abbott
Our governor paid another visit to Amarillo this week, and I could not pass up the opportunity to demonstrate publicly and make my voice heard by some people that don't want to hear it.
Abbott was endorsing another pro-voucher candidate for Texas House, who is replacing the retiring Four Price, a Republican who always held steadfast in his support of public schools (another bad retirement for us, especially in light of John Smithee's sad capitulation to Abbott's anti-education agenda this past session). The Governor spoke at Blue Sky, home of some of the best burgers in the Panhandle. The event was closed to the public, but a group of protestors enthusiastically demonstrated outside. I held the sign you see below, while others were there on behalf of women's rights, inaction on gun violence, and LGBTQ rights.
It was peaceful, and the local police were supportive of our Constitutional right to demonstrate. We got a shocking number of honks of approval, thumbs up, and fist pumps from drivers and passers by. Even had one conservative attendee of Abbott's speech tell us that despite her support for Abbott, she had reservations about vouchers, and appreciated us coming to speak up. There were also of course middle fingers, f-bombs, and insults lobbed at us, as well as some calls for us to "move to another state." Oh, and one "I'm a teacher and I support vouchers" type. Some variation of Stockholm Syndrome I reckon.
Beyond simply the voucher issue, this Governor and his supporters in the Texas Legislature are exactly what my sign indicates; enemies of public schools. Why? Let's list a few of the most obvious reasons.
-Texas ranks 42nd in per pupil spending in the United States, even as so many school districts, including my own, are in desperate financial straights.
-Abbott's response in the wake of Uvalde, as those precious children's remains were being cleaned from the walls, classrooms, and halls, lacked any semblance of human empathy (he attended a fundraiser the night of the massacre, and when he did arrive in Uvalde, he told us "it could have been worse.")
-Abbott and Republicans refuse to raise public school teacher and staff salaries without attaching vouchers, holding our schools hostage to his own crony-driven scam.
-Abbott and the Republicans have supported measures like SB 4, which discourages kids from engaging in civic or electoral engagements, and threatens teachers who say anything that the government erroneously deems to be "Critical Race Theory" or "biased," and discourages teachers in social studies from engaging in discussions with students on current events, all by the standards of an extremist right wing legislature.
-Abbott has continually slandered Texas teachers as "Educrats" and "Indoctrinators," despite a solid majority of teachers in Texas being conservative, and the conservative government of Texas being the ones who create and set curriculum.
-Abbott's government smeared the American American Library Association, and pulled Texas out of the organization.
All this while he touts this massive budget surplus Texas is enjoying. What we do with that money is a moral and ethical choice. Abbott could use it on things like public education or public health. Instead he uses it for political stunts and to terrorize people at the border, while opposing comprehensive border policy reform.
If you want the detailed evidence and literature on Abbott's immoral and debunked voucher push, see my previous post here.
As far as increasing funding goes, we can take the evidence a step further, though. Duke University's Jason Baron has published an excellent, thorough study of the impacts of committing to increases in public school funding, and what sorts of increases have verifiably led to better outcomes for schools, students, and teachers, namely in Wisconsin (a state that enjoys a Governor who is deeply committed to supporting public schools...what a pipe dream).
When spent wisely, increased per pupil funding can literally save schools. It can, and HAS, increased academic performance and raised teacher pay and morale. We could do this tomorrow. The reason we don't is that OUR LEADERSHIP IS NOT INTERESTED IN DOING SO. They are interested in the Orwellian misnomer of "School Choice," which is nothing more than subsidizing the few at the cost of the many, as has been show again and again. We already have school choice. As I keep saying, my own school is nearly 40% transfer students. Abbott and his sycophants don't want public schools to succeed. This is an intentional thing. They know what they are doing and wrapping it in slogans and lies.
In sum, I will not be silent or timid in my defense of public education. Our system of free public education for all is one of our nation's greatest achievements, and I will not tiptoe around telling the truth about a state government and Governor hell-bent on further defunding and destroying schools that are already in a fragile state.
I call on all educators, from all parts of the political spectrum, to join in this fight. Our schools are under attack.
Pick a side.
