This is a long article but worth the read for its clear explanations of why liberals and conservatives oppose vouchers. Just swap out Kansas for Texas. “Most Democrats, teachers, and public school supporters disagree. They have many arguments, but the unifying theme is that vouchers would bleed money from the state’s chronically underfunded public education system, weakening it and leaving schools more segregated by class, race, and disability. Many rural Republicans – the backbone of the Texas Republican Party – share this concern. They also oppose vouchers because to get any benefit out of the program there must...
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SCR 1611, eliminating Supreme Court appointments, clears legislature
Voting for the constitutional amendment to force the election of our Supreme Court Justices was a vote against public education. The courts have been absolutely essential in protecting public education funding in our state, and legislators cannot have been ignorant of that. It was not a vote to give the people a voice-it was a vote to allow our justices to be bought by dark money interests that oppose public education. And the courts are supposed to be the one branch of government that does not respond to the will of the people but protects rights under the...
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Leave a Comment SB 87 Update
We are watching the legislature and hope you are, too. For the second day in a row SB 87 (voucher expansion-tax credit “scholarship”) was passed over. We have been told it’s because they don’t have the votes to pass it. That should be good news, but we’re also hearing that it’s going to conference committee where they’ll attempt to stick it into some bill they need to pass. We are sick and tired of this ridiculousness. If it gets combined with something or used as a bargaining chip for special education funding, our legislators should vote it down...
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Leave a Comment Staggering impact on JoCo schools from inadequate state SPED funding
This story is out of Johnson County, but applies to districts across the state. Underfunding SPED is real and hurts all students. “In their letter, the superintendents acknowledged that last year the Legislature moved closer to the statutory requirement. Still, the three school districts said they’d transferred a combined $230.3 million out of general fund accounts to cover special education funding shortfalls in the past three school years alone… “Additionally, the school districts called out how the Legislature was “stripping” funds from other programs tied to public education, including Career and Technical Education student transportation and initiatives that...
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