The 86th session of the Texas Legislature is history. Lawmakers left town on Monday following a session that, generally speaking, had fewer of the culture war fights we've come to expect. You can attribute that to elections, and it seems the results of last November have elected officials worried about their fates at the ballot box in November of 2020. Still, on certain issues — like abortion — lawmakers seem all-too willing to continue to pass extremist laws based on lies at the expense of Texas women. Here's our overview of what came of this session on the issues we followed. Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 22, 2017
Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller has the following statement on the preliminary approval of House Bill 21 by the Texas Senate. HB 21 was originally a school finance bill but became a voucher bill when it was amended in the Senate. The Texas House of Representatives must still approve the Senate’s version of the bill before it can become law. Miller’s statement:
“The Senate vote on HB 21 is a reflection of Dan Patrick’s anti-education agenda. The version of the bill approved in the House had the backing of teacher groups and public education advocates and could provide much needed additional funding to our chronically underfunded neighborhood public schools. But now that Patrick’s Senate has mangled it, HB 21 is no longer about school finance. Now it is simply a voucher scheme that hands public dollars, with zero accountability, to private schools. With one bill, the Senate both abandoned its responsibility to fully fund education and voted to take away even more money from our schools. Even by Dan Patrick standards, this has to be one of the most shameful and cynical votes taken in the Senate in recent memory.”
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The Texas Freedom Network is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization of… Read More
A marathon session in the Texas House on that chamber's version of the state budget ended in the wee hours of this morning with a big victory in our fight against school voucher schemes but distressing actions in the continuing war on women's reproductive health care. Read More
In just the second day of the 2017 Texas legislative session, far-right lawmakers are already demonstrating their contempt for LGBT people and public schools. Read More
Opponents of private school vouchers delivered a strong message to Texas House Public Education Committee members at a public hearing on Monday: stop trying to use tax dollars to subsidize private and religious schools at the expense of our neighborhood public schools. Read More