House Reaffirms Strong Opposition to Vouchers in Texas with Overwhelming Vote

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 17, 2009

Tonight the Texas House of Representatives voted 122-22 to bar any public funding for private school vouchers in Texas. TFN President Kathy Miller released the following statement:

“We saw schemes to drain money from public schools to pay for vouchers divide this Legislature for more than a decade. Just four years ago, the voucher lobby came within a handful of votes of passing such a scheme in the House. Now we’ve seen Texas House members overwhelmingly reject vouchers for two straight sessions, and we commend them for it.

The message is clear: vouchers are about as popular in Texas as a panicked skunk at a church picnic. Now our lawmakers should focus on providing the resources our neighborhood schools need to provide a quality public education for all Texas schoolchildren.”