School voucher talk getting a serious push in Texas budget talks

[Blake]

"... Both chambers set aside $1 billion in their initial spending plans for education savings accounts, a voucher-like policy that would let families use state funds to cover the cost of private school tuition and other education-related expenses. That amount is double what was on the table two years ago and is a sign that supporters are emboldened after recent electoral gains in the House, the chamber that has thwarted past voucher proposals.

The chambers also aligned on putting $6.5 billion toward what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s office described as maintaining “current border security operations.."

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/22/texas-budget-school-vouchers-teacher-raises-border-security/

In what ways can we blow our surplus?

[ChumpDumper]

"c:lolver the c:lolst"

[Winehole23]

Texas Republicans have underfunded public education for a generation, now they want to fix problems they caused by socializing the cost of private school, mainly for people who can already afford it.

The beauty part is that private schools and charters are not accountable to the state whatsoever for academic performance, and the schools themselves are free to discriminate against students, e.g., there's no requirement to reasonably accommodate disabled or mentally challenged applicants.

[Blake]

Tax dollars to schools that have science teachers teaching that the earth is a few thousand years old.

[Blake]

Texas Republicans have underfunded public education for a generation, now they want to fix problems they caused by socializing the cost of private school, mainly for people who can already afford it.

The beauty part is that private schools and charters are not accountable to the state whatsoever for academic performance, and the schools themselves are free to discriminate against students, e.g., there's no requirement to reasonably accommodate disabled or mentally challenged applicants.

The raise they're proposing for teachers is still beyond pitiful. Especially in the rural areas.

[Blake]

Texas Republicans have underfunded public education for a generation, now they want to fix problems they caused by socializing the cost of private school, mainly for people who can already afford it.

The beauty part is that private schools and charters are not accountable to the state whatsoever for academic performance, and the schools themselves are free to discriminate against students, e.g., there's no requirement to reasonably accommodate disabled or mentally challenged applicants.


....Most of Texas’ school voucher applications come from white families and children who previously attended a private school or home-school.

The Texas comptroller’s office, which manages the program, released preliminary data before applications for families interested in vouchers closed Tuesday night. The program will allow them to use taxpayer funds to pay for private school or home-schooling costs.

Of the 256,700 Texans who applied as of late March, 45% are white, 23% are Hispanic and 11% are Black. Low-income families make up 36% of applicants — defined as a family of four earning $66,000 or less per year....


https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/01/texas-voucher-applications-demographics/

So we're paying other parents' rich kids to learn about how God created the earth. Neat.

[Winehole23]

State control of curriculum and speech seems to be somewhat more prevalent recently.

The official bias in favor of one religion and the animus against others stands out.

[Blake]

State control of curriculum and speech seems to be somewhat more prevalent recently.

The official bias in favor of one religion and the animus against others stands out.

I would have figured maybe 20 years ago that by the year 2026 the one religion under God bias in Texas would have decreased, not increased.

[Winehole23]

welfare for families whose children have never been to public school



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:whp6dt3lwwwsixynjvokx5wl/bafkreihe3gb3qvdhfuvqh6mzcvkykp6x4klpfybih7l5ho56r zx4o7yuq4https://www.cbpp.org/blog/as-budgets-tighten-some-state-lawmakers-reconsider-costly-private-school-vouchers

[Winehole23]

Texas falls in the same range as the above states -- vouchers mostly help people who don't send their kids to public school


Meanwhile, how does the voucher program—which was sold as a tool to allow low-income families to get their kids out of the state’s failing woke indoctrination facilities, known as public schools, and into predominantly Christian private schools—appear to be sizing up with its mission?


It’s certainly succeeded in getting more applications than the $1 billion that the state has initially appropriated can cover, which is about 90,000 spots. Applications had been submitted for about 275,000 students as of late March. But just 25 percent of those—about 60,000—were for students currently enrolled in public schools, according to state comptroller data. (That, per the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, amounts to about 1 percent of the state’s 5.5 million public school students.)


To be clear, that means the vast majority of the students who are applying for vouchers are already enrolled in private schools, being homeschooled, or entering school for the first time
https://www.texasobserver.org/school-vouchers-discrimination-brouhaha-abbott/

[Winehole23]

also, given how much applications outstrip the budget allotment, Texas is following states like Arizona into a budget debacle by doing school vouchers

[Blake]

also, given how much applications outstrip the budget allotment, Texas is following states like Arizona into a budget debacle by doing school vouchers

Morons running this state. Maybe later than sooner, I'm seeing a slippery slope at some point into state income tax.

[Winehole23]

Morons running this state. Maybe later than sooner, I'm seeing a slippery slope at some point into state income tax.maybe later rather than sooner, Democrats will take over in Texas and defund this bullshit

[Winehole23]

Trump pitching the whole world into an inflationary recession by starting a dumb war could do it