Michael Karlis
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about school vouchers at St. Mary's Magdalene Catholic School on San Antonio's West Side on Thursday.
However, that legislation, Senate Bill 8, appears — at least for now — stuck in the Texas House of Representatives. It's likely to face an uphill battle due to continued resistance from rural Republicans and coalitions of public school district, experts have warned.
Abbott's nearly half-hour talk was a mix of conservative fear-mongering, Texas exceptionalism and misleading educational statistics. Appearing agitated at several points, he delivered much of the speech in a raised voice, addressing a packed and stifling-hot gymnasium.
"One thing I've learned as I've traveled across the state of Texas is parents are angry about the fact that school curriculum is getting away from that reading, writing, math and science and teaching things like the woke, leftist radical agenda," Abbott said, his voice rising almost to a shout. "It gets away from the fundamentals. Let me tell you, schools are for education, not indoctrination."
At one point, Abbott relayed a story about private-school principal who left public education because a history teacher at her old school taught children to "disrespect the flag."
"She loved being a public school teacher, except one thing after another happened that caused her to leave being a public school teacher," the governor said. "But she said that the straw that broke the camel's back was when she saw a history teacher teaching children to disrespect the flag of the United States of America."
The crowd responded with gasps.
The Current was unable to verify Abbott's story independently. The governor didn't identify the private-school principal nor did he mention the name or location of her old school. Neither did he explain how the students were taught to disrespect the flag.
During the talk, Abbott drew on the notion of Texas exceptionalism to explain why the time is now for the state to embrace "school choice."
Critics have attacked the governor's use of "school choice" to describe his voucher plan, arguing that many parents, especially rural ones, won't have a choice about which private schools to send their children. Education experts have also warned that the program will slash funding for public school districts across the state.
"In Texas, when we seek to achieve goals, we seek only one thing: it's to be No. 1," Abbott said. "If you think we're seeking to be anything other than No. 1, then you're not a Texan."
However, Texas currently ranks No. 38 when it comes to public school education, according to a study conducted by the homeschooling resource agency Schoolaroo.
Abbott assured the crowd that similar voucher programs, including one in Florida, have proven fruitful and boosted students' test scores. However, critics maintain the numbers tell a different story.
States that have enacted large-scale voucher programs, including Florida, Louisiana and Arizona, rank among the ten worst school systems in the nation, according to the Schoolaroo analysis.
Michigan State University education policy professor Joshua Cowen, who spent years studying vouchers across the country, recently told the Current that Louisiana's school voucher program resulted is a loss of learning on par with that caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Coming soon: SA Current Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting San Antonio stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
