1/ 🚨 School Choice is legal discrimination by design. This is not an exaggeration but a concerning reality via the architects of school choice policy. Let's delve into the specifics. 👇 🧵
#SchoolChoice
#txlege
Vouchers have nothing to do with saving kids trapped in failing public schools. AZ has 61,689 students enrolled in their voucher program thus far. Of those, only 462 previously attended a school rated a D or F. That's 0.7% of AZ's voucher recipients.
The vast majority of the
Texas - Betsy DeVos is a billionaire from Michigan who wants to end public schools everywhere. Her primary lobbyist is Corey DeAngelis. This is where the voucher legislation is coming from. Vouchers are not grass roots.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@GregAbbott_TX
@Toth_4_Texas
@wcjames63
@piper4missouri
Suggesting
#SchoolChoice
is competition exposes a fundamental misunderstanding of what vouchers are and how the voucher system is designed.
Competition exists when two groups compete under the same rules, where neither is disadvantaged or advantaged.
Vouchers create a
Comparing private school vouchers to Pell Grants and similar programs is a gross misrepresentation. Pell Grants extend a regulated, transparent aid to low-income students eyeing higher education, while vouchers funnel public funds into a black hole of unregulated private K-12
@GovAbbott
Slapping the label "school choice" and "parental empowerment" on voucher programs is a smokescreen. The only choice made is by private schools playing God on who's worthy. Advocates shout "parents know best," yet turn a blind eye when private schools overrule parents without a
Voucher supporters love to use the food stamps analogy. It's a false analogy.
The correct analogy is any grocery store that accepts food stamps cannot discriminate against who they accept - they must take everyone on an equal basis or not participate in the program.
Unions can fund associations in Texas, but that still doesn't change the fact that teachers cannot strike legally. Anyone who argues Texas has teachers unions is ignorant. Full stop.
It's astounding how many politicians, like
@Toth_4_Texas
@BriscoeCain
@brianeharrison
@mayes_middleton
are all bent out of shape about school choice now that lobbyists are lining their pockets but these same politicians can't point to any time prior to the lobbyists 💲💲💲 where
@GovAbbott
Nearly every poll/survey either directly or implicitly asks people if they supported parents or guardians choosing the school of their choice for their kids. The actual legislation is nothing of the sort. The legislation gives 100% of the choice to the private schools. The
@GregAbbott_TX
For planning purposes can you let us know if Special Session
#5
will start in December, or will you wait until January because
#SchoolChoice
is not passing?
#txlege
The long game to funding the Texas Voucher Scam:
1) Require school districts to overtax their local citizens so the legislature can recapture billions of 💲💲💲💲
2) not understanding recapture, local citizens become disgruntled over the high taxes and in turn despise public
@LtGovTX
Take a moment to actually read the legislation and you will see that the legislation goes out of its way to remove parental rights and transfer those rights to the private schools. In fact, parents retain far more rights in public schools than in private schools under this
@Toth_4_Texas
Stuck in failed schools? The lege passed law in 1995 that entitles a transfer to any kid in a failed public school. What about the charter school system established in 1995? Churches have been able to open charter schools for nearly three decades. That blows a hole in the
@GregAbbott_TX
Earthquake at the ballot box? You/yours could have put it on the ballot Tuesday, but you know it's not popular as evidenced by your choice to try your chances at 4 special sessions because you know voucher have never survived a public vote. Anywhere. Ever.
Texas - Betsy DeVos is a billionaire from Michigan who wants to end public schools everywhere. Her primary lobbyist is Corey DeAngelis. This is where the voucher legislation is coming from. Vouchers are not grass roots.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@GregAbbott_TX
@Toth_4_Texas
@mayes_middleton
Against parents' God given right? Are you kidding me? Vouchers don't give parents any rights - your voucher policy removes rights from parents and hands over those rights to the private schools. Please tell me how parents' rights expand under vouchers vs the rights parents have
Texas - Betsy DeVos is a billionaire from Michigan who wants to end public schools everywhere. Her primary lobbyist is Corey DeAngelis. This is where the voucher legislation is coming from. Vouchers are not grass roots.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@GregAbbott_TX
@Toth_4_Texas
@brianeharrison
@CBS11
Put it to a public vote and let's see. You won't even suggest it because your handler knows vouchers have never survived a public vote anywhere. Ever.
@GovAbbott
Your voucher policy allows private schools to reject kids against the parents' wishes. It's Schools' Choice, school choice. Your words contradict your policy.
@GregAbbott_TX
Are you requiring private schools accept any and all voucher applicants? That is, are you actually going to place the choice in the parents' hands, or are you pushing School's Choice in which the private schools can reject any family for any reason?
@GovAbbott
School's Choice, not School Choice.
Private school empowerment, not parent empowerment.
No parent is free to choose under your voucher policy because your vouchers give all of the power to the private schools.
Why do you think parents know best when it comes to public
@Toth_4_Texas
Good Faith? Your voucher bill has nothing to do with saving poor kids trapped in failing schools. Look to AZ where only 0.7% of their vouchers when to kids in failing public schools. The vast majority of vouchers go to kids already attending the private school of their choice.
@GregAbbott_TX
Empowering parents with the power to choose would be a good start! But parents don't have an actual choice in these voucher schemes. It's schools' choice - the schools get all of the power to choose.
It's strange to me how you try to sell vouchers as "parent empowerment" and
@GregAbbott_TX
Wat happens when the parents choose the best school for their kids, but the school doesn't choose them? See the problem with your policy?
Texas - Betsy DeVos is a billionaire from Michigan who wants to end public schools everywhere. Her primary lobbyist is Corey DeAngelis. This is where the voucher legislation is coming from. Vouchers are not grass roots.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@GregAbbott_TX
@Toth_4_Texas
@Toth_4_Texas
"Parents get to choose" and "trust parents to choose what's best" are the glaring contradictions embedded in the Autonomy Clause in all of the voucher legislation you are trying to pass: The private schools retain the right to reject any kid for any reason or no reason at all.
@McguffeyLaine
@ML_Buchanan
"Parents get to choose" and "trust parents to what's best" are the glaring contradictions embedded in the Autonomy Clause in all of the voucher legislation: The private schools retain the right to reject any kid for any reason or no reason at all.
It's the private schools
What's the deal with all of the talk about school choice inserting competition, which will solve all of public schools' problems? If that were true charter schools would have had a noticeable impact. They didn't.
@TroyMooney
It's nothing to do with saving kids trapped in failing public schools. It's a wealth transfer to prop up churches.
AZ has 61,689 students enrolled in their voucher program thus far. Of those, only 462 previously attended a school rated a D or F. That's 0.7% of AZ's voucher
How could Texas possibly make a voucher program for private schools worse?
Answer: Expand the allowed use of the money and call it an Education Savings Account.
Look no further than FL or AZ where such programs recently passed. Taxpayers there are now paying for things like
The twisting of logic is astounding. The vast majority of vouchers go to wealthy families who already attend private schools. Imagine handing out food stamps to shoppers as they are leaving the grocery store with a full basket of food and then claiming every opposition to food
@GovAbbott
Ahh your Education Freedom in which private schools are free to cherry pick the kids they want while receiving free state money and remaining free from any public oversight, transparency, or accountability. Freedom Indeed.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@brianeharrison
Anti-parent, anti-student? Are you kidding me? It cuts out vouchers and concentrates its purpose on funding the schools open to all kids and families.
Spend some time to actually read the bill and you would understand that vouchers don't give parents any rights - this voucher
This👇 Anyone who questions the intent of the framers of the 1876 Article 7 of the Texas Constitution should spend time reading the debates of the 1875 Texas Constitutional Convention. Private schools were alive and dominant by that point in Texas, with much of the conversation
The very reasons government became “entangled” in education in the USA is because a) no one was educating those who could not pay their own way or had donations, and b) those who wanted an educated populace won out over those who only wanted an educated ruling class. I
@GregAbbott_TX
Taken from your voucher bill. You continue to allow private schools to discriminate in admissions. No curriculum standards and no hiring standards required for private schools either. Not to mention there's no requirement to serve disabled students. It's wild that you require
@brianeharrison
Read the polls and understand the meaning of the wording. The polls and the legislation are incongruent. Texans don't want this. If anyone actually believed 60%+ of Texas supported this then they would put it to a public vote. We just had one such vote. Rs could have easily
@GregAbbott_TX
You are empowering private schools by allowing them to maintain their ability to reject any children. Parents have no power under the policy you are pushing. Your voucher system is School's Choice, not
#SchoolChoice
@GovAbbott
Are you requiring private schools accept any and all voucher applicants? That is, are you actually going to place the choice in the parents' hands, or are you pushing School's Choice in which the private schools can reject any family for any reason?
@JeppsI
That's the point. Texas has had school choice in which the funding follows the student since 1995. It's already there, but the private schools want the money with no strings attached. Why have strings for public schools, but not private schools?
@BriscoeCain
@merry_ghouled
Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius. Why would the authors limit the constitution if that wasn't their intent? They could have just written "schools" as all encompassing instead of "public free schools," which would support your position.
The fact that they used restrictive
@GregAbbott_TX
Parents matter you say? Interesting that your legislation includes the Autonomy Clause that empowers private schools to veto parents. You are saying one thing, but your legislation is very different. That's why so many label it a scam. It's not empowering parents. It's
HB 1 is nothing to do about trusting the parents. Just look at the Autonomy Clause supporters are including.
The picture below is directly taken from the voucher bill. It goes out of its way to allow private schools to discriminate in admissions as seen in green below. Thought
This man is a scam artist. Against parents' God given right? Are you kidding me? Vouchers don't give parents any rights - his voucher policy removes rights from parents and hands over those rights to the private schools.
Please tell me how parents' rights expand under vouchers
@Toth_4_Texas
@TexasAFT
The vast majority were in failed schools? In FL's universal program just 13% of kids came from public schools. This money is going to kids already enrolled in private schools when the money could go to public schools that serve all.
Texas - Betsy DeVos is a billionaire from Michigan who wants to end public schools everywhere. Her primary lobbyist is Corey DeAngelis. This is where the voucher legislation is coming from. Vouchers are not grass roots.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@GregAbbott_TX
@Toth_4_Texas
Texas - Betsy DeVos is a billionaire from Michigan who wants to end public schools everywhere. Her primary lobbyist is Corey DeAngelis. This is where the voucher legislation is coming from. Vouchers are not grass roots.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@GregAbbott_TX
@Toth_4_Texas
Close your eyes and think back through history and find a time in which Republicans wanted to both expand government while also increasing spending with limited to no public accountability, oversight, or transparency.
Having trouble finding such a policy?
Through history such a
@JeppsI
It's hard to look bad when the private schools can cherry pick their students. But it turns out that the private schools are worse at academic outcomes than the public schools when these voucher programs scale.
@nathancunneen
@jamestalarico
Nathan - walk us though how many low-income kids have been saved by vouchers in states that have universal programs. It looks like single digits percentages, if that, to me.
The scam is that most of the money goes to kids already enrolled in private schools while you and your
@Tea4gunsSC2
@GregAbbott_TX
Nobody is forcing private schools to accept the vouchers. Public money requires public access, public accountability, public transparency, and public oversight to protect the tax payer and ensure the program benefits the public. Private schools can't have it both ways. Either
@Chader6777666
Just imagine how all of those people without kids must feel.... it's not your money. It's tax money. If really believe it's your money then don't pay tax and just keep it.
The private schools want public money without any strings attached. Why should public schools have one set
6/ History tells a different tale. Legal discrimination plagued the U.S. for generations. It took a Civil War, government intervention, and civil rights laws to mend the wrongs market forces failed to correct for hundreds of years. ⚖️🎭
#HistoricalEvidence
#FactsMatter
I love this chart for its implementation of misleading data representation. The delta between the two is a little less than 1.5% per year - much less impressive than the absolute numbers presented over a nearly 50 year timeframe.
Since the 1969-1970 school year, public
Dear Wisconsin. School vouchers do 3 things, and 3 things only. Funnel public taxpayer funds for religious indoctrination, line the pockets of billionaires, and fail.
@mjcatc
Correct - Pell Grants extend a regulated, transparent aid to low-income students eyeing higher education, while vouchers funnel public funds into a black hole of unregulated private K-12 schools. The stark lack of public accountability is appalling. It's about keeping public
4/ Corey DeAngelis, a Senior Fellow at AFC, champions AFC’s School Choice policies. Yet, he never addresses a stark contradiction: the choice rests solely with private schools, not parents. That’s because Corey believes tax dollars should be used for legal discrimination.🎙️🔄👇
5/ In a concerning article, Corey argues legal discrimination, even racial, can be good for schools. His theory: market forces will weed out racist schools eventually, so government regulation and oversight is unnecessary. 📉🏫
#LegalDiscrimination
@WishSteve1
@Toth_4_Texas
The state legislature morphed public schools into what they are today. The same Rs that are complaining about the system created this system. They have the power to fix it, but they won't. It's not what special interest wants.
Stop pretending vouchers are about saving kids in failing public schools when the vast majority of the money goes to wealthy families who already attend the school of their choice and virtually none of the money goes to kids in failing public schools.
2/ The American Federation of Children (AFC) provides model legislation to states, including TX, for voucher policy. AFC’s Autonomy Clause ensures private schools can reject any kid for any reason & shields private schools from governmental oversight. 📜🚫
#AFC
#VoucherPrograms
7/ Despite history, Corey & AFC promote legal discrimination in schools. That’s the basis of their model policy. It's alarming to see lobbyists backing a platform that undermines equality & social cohesion, particularly with public tax dollars. 👥🚨
#LegalDiscrimination
This guy devotes so much time to practicing the false choice fallacy. You can see an example of his unrelenting, repetitive use of false dichotomies below. He's really just nonstop with them. He totally ignores the obvious third option that people might simply just oppose flaws
This is “school choice evangelist” Corey DeAngelis who spends his time attacking teachers and schools—he wants this article to be buried, but we need to keep it alive. This is who they are…this is what they want.
Texas, this is for you. Stand up. Talk back. Say no to vouchers.
3/ This Autonomy Clause is why critics relabel it School’s Choice since private schools cherry-pick students under this policy. Parents? They're left with no real say in this equation. 🏫👨👩👧👦
#ParentsChoice
#SchoolsChoice
This is the most disturbing aspect of vouchers. Look around. Everywhere else they start as limited programs they expand. That's the strategy. They are a Trojan House. Accept at your peril.👇👇👇
There is no such thing as a “limited” voucher.
All new vouchers move inevitably toward universal plans.
Why?
Because their rich pushers—
@BetsyDeVos
@KochIndustries
@timdunntexas
—want to destroy
#txed
!
Their bought off
#txlege
members fund vouchers more each session.
Say NO!
@whitney4tx
@Toth_4_Texas
The amount of time, money, and effort that was spent on failed vouchers could have been spent on improving public schools. But it wasn't because that's not where the special interest money is. Stew on that for a while.
Texas - Betsy DeVos is a billionaire from Michigan who wants to end public schools everywhere. Her primary lobbyist is Corey DeAngelis. This is where the voucher legislation is coming from. Vouchers are not grass roots.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@GregAbbott_TX
@Toth_4_Texas
@KellyRasti
I've seen a similar dynamic in AZ. It's crazy that would happen in TX, especially when so many pushing for vouchers also are adamantly opposed to public entities, like school districts, lobbying with tax payer dollars. Another huge contradiction from the voucher base.
@brianeharrison
Slapping the labels "education freedom," "school choice," and "parental empowerment" on voucher programs is a smokescreen. The only choice made is by private schools playing God on who's worthy. Advocates shout "parents know best," yet turn a blind eye when private schools
Established in 1990, Wisconsin is one of the most established "School Choice" programs in the USA. They have had 33 years to refine and perfect parental choice. So how's it going 33 years later?
Texas - don't fall for this scam.
#txlege
#SchoolChoice
@rab_ag
Exactly. If legislators are going to argue that the freedoms afforded private schools contribute to their success then they need to try affording similar freedoms to the public schools before diverting money. It's telling to see so many politicians, especially on the Ed
@GovAbbott
Your "school choice" HB 1 does nothing of the sort. The bill has nothing to do with putting parents in charge - quite the opposite in fact. Just look at the Autonomy Clause you are including.
The picture below is directly taken from the voucher bill. It goes out of its way to
@TroyMooney
Unfortunately, no. Imagine if Republicans took a step back and considered a policy from Democrats that handed taxpayer dollars over to private citizens to spend at private organizations with the defining characteristics of zero public accountability, transparency, and oversight.
@SisterK4PE
I get your point. The point the video is making is that Texas set a path for private organizations, including churches, to set up and operate schools with state funds in 1995. Thank you for your comment!
@piper4missouri
@DeAngelisCorey
Corey loves to present 🍎 as 🍊. Private schools have a very narrow mission in who they serve and are able to cherry pick the best/least expensive students to educate. They routinely ask for donations outside of their formal reported costs and they often prescreen parents based
Spoken like he has no idea what he's talking about. What guarantee does that poor single mom have that any school would accept her kid? If accepted, how would she transport the kid to and from school? Who would feed the kid?
Choice has existed in Texas since 1995. Private
@BriscoeCain
Mostly for the contradictions and overall poor policy design. Your answers imply parents know what's best for their kids, but that's not what the legislation you passed supports. It's a glaring contradiction embedded in the Autonomy Clause in the voucher legislation you
9/ The discourse on legal discrimination in schools is far from over. It's pivotal that we continue to scrutinize policies and advocate for an inclusive educational environment. 🌏✊
#EducationForAll
#InclusiveEducation
Texas has an inefficient education system as a result of years of accumulating mission creep, largely the result of government mandates. This is a violation of the Texas constitution. The system deserves a comprehensive assessment/overhaul. Case in point: there's broad bipartisan
Vouchers are Abbott's pork barrel spending. Vouchers can't possibly stand on their own (they failed multiple times recently and over the years) so he's starved public education funding and now inserting vouchers in the school funding legislation as his only hope to pass vouchers
Special Session 4? Why not just separate the bills that contain the funding for educator salaries, safety, etc from vouchers/ESAs? Why did/does state leadership need the use a "carrot" 🥕 of educator raises and school safety for vouchers/ESAs? Why not separate the bills and let
@mcuban
@dougstafford
@VivekGRamaswamy
@DeAngelisCorey
's voucher programs have zero to do with providing opportunities to the disadvantaged. His policies enable private schools to discriminate. It's a veiled attempt to fund struggling religious schools while requiring no public accountability or transparency.
@RossSchumann
@GovAbbott
Just because you don't like the facts doesn't make it false.
Can the parents absolutely select the participating school of their choice for their children under this program? Absolutely not.
Is there any pathway to compulsory acceptance/equal access for voucher kids at
@DeAngelisCorey
First, Texas has had school choice since 1995. Hard to believe you are unaware of this fact, but perhaps you should educate yourself on the topic.
Next, freeing poor kids trapped in failing government schools is not the goal of the carbon copied voucher legislation you and the