TSTA, AFT applauds House members who stood up for public schools with anti-voucher vote.
Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina issued the following statement:
TSTA applauds the House members, Democrats and Republicans, who stood up for their public schools today by voting to strip a costly voucher provision from House Bill 1. This should be a clear signal to Gov. Abbott to end his efforts to bully these legislators into doing something they clearly don’t want to do – spend tax dollars on unregulated private schools when their neighborhood public schools, the centers of their local communities – are underfunded.
But if Abbott continues to pander to wealthy school privatization campaign donors, we will continue to fight. Texas public schools and Texas taxpayers cannot afford voucher schemes that within a few years would divert billions of tax dollars to private schools and ultimately destroy public education.
Texas AFT President Zeph Capo commented today on the Texas House’s decisive 84-63 vote to strip the voucher from House Bill 1:
“The only good voucher bill is a dead one. I’m glad to see the Texas Legislature has finally delivered. I’m heartened that the House stripped the voucher from HB 1, and I am grateful to Rep. John Raney for authoring the amendment to do so. A majority of Texans continue to believe vouchers that take away from our public schools is bad policy, and we agree with them.
“If the governor would like to truly empower parents, I hope he turns his persistence and attention to supporting and funding the public schools that educate their children every day.”
