Public dollars should stay with public schools. Students deserve a well-funded, honest public education.
Texas Freedom Network (TFN) fights for a robust and equitable public school system in which students have access to everything they need to learn and thrive — no matter who they are, what they believe, or where they come from.
More than 5.5 million students attend Texas public schools. Unfortunately, right-wing extremists relentlessly attack public education by pushing private school voucher schemes and attempting to force their single-minded political agenda and religious views into classrooms.
PUSHING VOUCHER SCHEMES
Far-right legislators are hellbent on passing private school vouchers. They call them by many names – “education savings accounts” or “ESAs” – but they are vouchers that steal taxpayer dollars from public schools to subsidize tuition at unregulated private and religious schools.
BANNING BOOKS & CENSORING CURRICULA
Efforts to censor classroom lessons and ban books are rampant across Texas. Many of the most frequently banned books are about the experiences of people of color and LGBTQIA+ people. Extremists also want to bring conservative propaganda machine PragerU to schools.
Texas Freedom Network mobilizes at the Capitol, at the State Board of Education (SBOE), and in local school districts to ensure that the students in our public schools come first — not politicians’ personal views.
TFN fights for students at the State Board of Education (SBOE), which oversees public school curricula. We also conduct groundbreaking research into what is (and isn’t) taught on subjects like sex education, evolution, climate change, and religion.
In the Community
TFN’s Teach the Truth campaign opposes book-banning efforts in local public schools and libraries because students deserve a truthful education and access to books that reflect the diversity of our classrooms, state, and country.
Hundreds of public education advocates showed up at the Texas Capitol yesterday to reject vouchers as the Texas House Public Education Committee heard public testimony on House Bill 3, legislation that would establish a school voucher program.
Texas lawmakers today advanced Senate Bill 10, also known as the Ten Commandments bill, out of committee. This legislation would require that every public school classroom display a poster of the Ten Commandments that’s visible from “anywhere in the classroom.”
Texas lawmakers today advanced Senate Bill 11 out of committee. This legislation would mandate daily prayer in publics schools and Bible reading in Texas public schools.
The Lege Lowdown is a monthly newsletter from Texas Freedom Network, where we’ll break down key bills in our issue areas: public education, religious freedom, LGBTQIA+ equality, reproductive rights + big happenings in immigration and voting rights.
Hundreds of public education advocates showed up at the Texas Capitol yesterday to reject vouchers as the Texas House Public Education Committee heard public testimony on House Bill 3, legislation that would establish a school voucher program.
Texas lawmakers today advanced Senate Bill 10, also known as the Ten Commandments bill, out of committee. This legislation would require that every public school classroom display a poster of the Ten Commandments that’s visible from “anywhere in the classroom.”
Texas lawmakers today advanced Senate Bill 11 out of committee. This legislation would mandate daily prayer in publics schools and Bible reading in Texas public schools.
The Lege Lowdown is a monthly newsletter from Texas Freedom Network, where we’ll break down key bills in our issue areas: public education, religious freedom, LGBTQIA+ equality, reproductive rights + big happenings in immigration and voting rights.
