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 religious and community leaders who support religious freedom, individual liberties and public education.
