Some Texas public school leaders take a different tone on vouchers; advocates hold firm

From Texas Public Radio:

Even before Gov. Greg Abbott officially secured the votes he needs to pass vouchers when state lawmakers reconvene in January, the superintendent of San Antonio’s largest school district had already decided his district couldn’t afford to take a hard line against them.

“I believe that going into this legislative session, it’s going to be really important to articulate what it is that we are for — more so than what it is we are opposed to,” John Craft told trustees for the Northside Independent School District during a board discussion in October.

“I think that the approach that we have taken historically — just very much not only a ‘no,’ but ‘no way’ — is very dangerous at this point,” Craft said. “Let’s prioritize taking care of funding, taking care of public education.”

But Northside AFT, the union that represents the district’s teachers and support staff, believes that’s the wrong move.

“We adamantly disagree with that sentiment, and [we] believe that it’s actually dangerous to cave and say that we must somehow support a voucher system, which would absolutely decimate public education funding across Texas,” said Melina Espiritu-Azocar, the union’s president.

When the Texas Legislature reconvenes for the 2025 legislative session, a top priority for the state’s Republican leadership will be to pass a school voucher-like program.

The last time lawmakers met, many school superintendents were against any measure that would divert public funds toward private education. Now, some say they’ll prioritize a school funding increase over fighting vouchers.

Some public education advocates, though, still believe the fight is worth having.

“What the governor did, as we all know, is he primaried his own Republican Party in order to get what he wanted. And so here we are, and it’s clear that the governor has the numbers that he needs in order to get what he wants, and that is, quite honestly, shameful,” Espiritu-Azocar said. “However, now is not the time to cave and not fight that good fight.”

She points out most Texans — more than 90% — send their kids to public schools.

“They want fully funded, good public education systems; for their kids to be productive and get quality public education,” Espiritu-Azocar said.

In a recent interview with TPR, John Craft said talking about vouchers muddies the waters at a time when Northside’s message needs to be focused on funding public schools.

Texas lawmakers haven’t increased school funding since 2019, despite a big jump in costs due to inflation.

“I don’t want school funding to be at the detriment of this whole notion of a voucher program, because, like I said, a lot of states have implemented it,” Craft said. “I’ll argue I haven’t really seen tremendous gains or benefits. But again, you know, if this is going to happen, OK, just make sure that there’s accountability and control mechanisms in place.”

During the last Texas legislative session, Abbott said he wouldn’t sign a bill giving more money to public schools unless it also came with vouchers.

Craft said he doesn’t want that to happen again. “The conversation just couldn’t garner any traction because it was so polarized in and around vouchers / ESAs and so as a result, you’ve got 75% plus districts across the state of Texas that are operating, as is Northside, pretty significant deficit budgets, and it’s just not sustainable,” he said.

And Craft isn’t the only district leader taking a different approach this session.

“I think the tone compared to two years ago is much more desperate with regard to financial status,” said Brian Woods, deputy executive director of advocacy at the Texas Association of School Administrators.

Woods was also Northside’s previous superintendent.

“Two years ago, there was a segment of schools in our state that could afford to say we’re going to be anti-voucher no matter what. That group is smaller now,” Woods said. “We’re two years down the road, inflation has continued to impact our schools, and schools are really struggling to pay their people adequately, and to do all the things that all of us do in our personal budgets: to turn the lights on in the buildings and to put fuel in the buses and the vehicles.”

Woods said increasing funding for the state’s public schools is TASA’s top legislative priority, as it is “frankly for every school group that I’m aware of.”

“Funding is clearly the top priority. Being anti-voucher is not the top priority,” Woods said. “When asked, we’re going to still say we do not believe that vouchers is good public policy.”

Still, multiple Texas advocacy groups are keeping a firm stance, including Raise Your Hand Texas and the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA).

“Our starting message is that we oppose private school voucher programs, period,” said Chloe Latham Sikes, deputy director of policy at IDRA.

IDRA was started in San Antonio more than 50 years ago to advocate for equitable school funding. Latham Sikes said strong, equitable funding for public schools has always been their top priority, and that’s a big part of why IDRA opposes programs that give public dollars to private schools.

“We know the immense funding burden that they can place on public school budgets and the state public education budget,” Latham Sikes said.

Still, both public school advocates and administrators, agree: if Texas is going to have vouchers, then they should have guardrails.

“Whatever moves forward we’ll be a part of, to make sure that students and parents and Texas still has transparency, students’ rights are secured, [and] that there are equity components in place, just as we would with any type of legislation that we have concerns about,” Latham Sikes said.

Northside ISD’s official stance is that there shouldn’t be vouchers without academic and financial accountability.

“The last thing we want is, again, a system that is not sustainable from a funding standpoint, but much less, is not an optimal situation for students to learn and to become successful citizens,” Craft said.

Woods said TASA will also advocate for safeguards on any voucher measures.

“There ought to be tight accountability on how any money like that is spent to avoid some of the mistakes that we’ve seen very frequently and recently in in other states.” Woods said. “In my opinion, there would need to be a way to prevent the majority of people who took advantage of the funds being those who could already afford to send their children to private schools.”

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