Texas Democrats look to flip state House seats by attacking school choice
By
Breccan F. Thies
June 13, 2024 6:38 pm
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Democrats in Texas are looking to flip state House seats by running against Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) school voucher program and other Republican education priorities.
Members of the state Democratic Party spoke last week about the Republican reforms at their convention in El Paso, where many in attendance criticized using taxpayer dollars to fund the ability for Texas students to attend private schools.
The plan to run on education comes after Abbott successfully primaried several mostly rural Republicans who opposed the voucher program due to concerns that allowing education money to follow students could take funding from schools that are often the largest employers in small towns susceptible to fluctuation in population following the boom-bust cycle of the energy sector.
Proponents of school choice, however, argue that parents, not the government, should be the primary decision-makers when it comes to the education of their children. Highlighted by school closures during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the revelation that schools were teaching children left-wing ideologies such as critical race theory and queer theory, those in support of school choice say parents need to be afforded the opportunity to remove their children from public schools and send them elsewhere.
Rural Republicans and Democrats have normally worked together on these kinds of initiatives, and some believe voucher programs can add to teacher shortages and budget deficits because of how the monetary allocation is restructured.
Democrats believe if they flip three seats, they will have enough to defeat the voucher program.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3042165/texas-democrats-flip-state-house-seats-school-choice/
