Burnt Orange Report

Perry Pushes for Vouchers

By Andrew Dobbs

Sometimes I wonder if I'm walking in a nightmare that I am unable to awake from. From a president who lies about the grounds for war and then kicks up a shitstorm that leads to the deaths of nearly 700 American soldiers to a Speaker of the State House spending illegal money virtually in the open to a gerrymandered congressional map that suggests that I have something in common with somone living in a colonia 250 miles away it just seems absurd that this is indeed reality. Add to that list the fact that Rick Perry has suggested he'd like to see a voucher plan today:

Perry also indicated he would like to see a school voucher plan emerge from the special session.

"I'd like to have seen it four sessions ago," Perry said. "I don't have a problem with that, never have."

Lawmakers have not explicitly said a voucher bill is in the works, but voucher opponents — who contend vouchers would take money away from public schools and divert it to private schools — have warned such legislation could be in the offing.

Perry previously has said he favors a voucher pilot program. On Wednesday, he called it a "public school choice" pilot program, but didn't elaborate on how it would work.

I never have been able to wrap my head around how taking money out of failing public schools will improve their performance. It is kinda like whenever you see a parent slapping their toddler to keep them from crying- seems to kind of exacerbate the very problem you are trying to fix. Now I know what my right-wing brothers and sisters would say: "more money doesn't mean a better education." Funny, you never hear them use that same logic- more money doesn't mean better- when it comes to military or prison spending.

The fact of the matter is that millions of school children in this state are studying under incompetent teachers because the only people drawn to a profession with substandard pay and abysmal benefits are people who either just have a charitable heart (the majority of teachers, in my opinion) or who can't do anything else. When we have crumbling facilities and lacking resources the former get burned out and the latter end up ruining kids education. Paying better salaries to attract better candidates for the job and investing in the necessary facilities and resources will improve education. Vouchers strike a death blow to these efforts.

The plan has little to no chance of passing- a minimum of 50 Dems and about 30 Repugs are opposed to vouchers. Still, with the right kind of pressure or the wrong kind of election outcomes in November we could be looking at the end of public education as we know it in Texas in just a few years. It might sound a little outlandish, but thats how things in nightmares appear usually. I just hope the voters here in Texas wake up before they are taken advantage of again.