Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and Attorney General Paxton all support giving public tax funds to private schools. Call them vouchers, charter schools, school choice, education savings accounts, ESAs: the results are the same. Less money for public schools and more money for private schools without accountability. Governor Abbott succeeded in campaigning against Republicans who defied him on school vouchers and now says he has the votes he needs to pass a bill. The only way we have left to counter spending public tax money on private schools is to threaten to vote against our local legislators who vote for vouchers in this legislature. We will communicate this disapproval by signing this petition and sending it to our legislators.
Please sign our petition against using Texas taxpayers’ funds for private schools.
- 158 out of 254 Texas counties have no private school option
- Texas ranks 43rd in the nation for school funding
- The total per-student funding in Texas is $4,000 below the national average already
Is Private education better than public education? Other states have implemented vouchers - has education improved?
Research has shown the following:
- In each of seven states that used public funds on voucher programs, voucher increased dramatically from 2008 to 2019, with the growth in vouchers spending in Georgia reached 883%
- Florida Policy Institute reported that the diversion of state school aid to vouchers had reached an estimated $1.3 billion
The following data is from https://pfps.org/research/
- Private school vouchers don’t improve student achievement
- Private school voucher programs lack accountability
- Private school vouchers don’t help students with disabilities
- Private school vouchers don’t protect against discrimination
- Private school vouchers exacerbate segregation
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION
I do NOT support any action by the State of Texas to provide financial assistance to a private school, academy, or institution for pre-school or K-12 education. I will not vote for re-election of any legislator who votes for public funding of private education.