The Lege Lowdown: Vouchers, vouchers, vouchers!

Howdy, y’all! We bet you’ve noticed—but the 89th Texas Legislative session began on January 14, and whoooo-wheeee have we already seen some Texas-sized shenanigans and downright foolishness from the rodeo clowns (formally known as right-wing legislators) who think they run Texas. Bless their hearts!

A lot has happened under the Capitol dome since January 14. Like Republican Representative Dustin Burrows being elected as House Speaker and bucking decades of tradition by blocking Democrats from acting as Chairs on any House committees. What admirable respect for democracy!

It’s easy to get overwhelmed, but don’t get bucked off the horse yet! We’re here to lasso it all together for you in this first installment of The Lege Lowdown, a monthly newsletter from Texas Freedom Network. You can expect an overview of key bills we’re focusing on related to our issue areas: public education, religious freedom, LGBTQIA+ equality, and reproductive rights + any big happenings in immigration and voting rights. The Lege Lowdown will mainly center on bills currently moving through the legislative process, not just filed.

Saddle up, hold on tight, and remember: The people united can never be divided. This is our Texas. 

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The bill would establish a voucher that equals 85% of the estimated statewide average for per-student funding in public schools. Considering Texas ranks 44th in the nation for per-student funding, according to our friends at Texas AFT, it’s hard to imagine how this voucher would benefit families who can’t already afford private school tuition. We do know the bill would steal even more money from public schools!

The bill would establish “an education savings account program,” AKA voucher program. The $10,000 voucher proposed in the bill is unlikely to cover the full cost of most private schools in Texas. Families would also enter a “lottery” to receive the voucher. Studies in other states with vouchers have shown that 75% of the students receiving a school voucher were already enrolled in private schools—it’s clear this legislation is meant to serve wealthy families already sending their children to private schools.

This legislation would ban books by forcing vendors to “rate books for sexually explicit content,” create an unnecessary “catalog” of library materials, and require school districts to establish “library advisory councils” that could easily be infiltrated by bad actors seeking to censor materials about LGBTQIA+, Black, and Brown people. All library material purchases would have to be approved by this advisory board. Parents already have the right to choose what their kids read in school—this bill is book banning, plain and simple.

This bill takes aim at DEI initiatives and “instruction” in K-12 public schools. While most Texas public schools do not have DEI offices, this bill features “Don’t Say Gay” language banning instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity, effectively erasing LGBTQIA+ Texans from public school curriculums and classrooms. It’s worth noting that during his State of the State, Gov. Abbott threatened to fire “on the spot” any teachers who affirm their LGBTQIA+ students.

The bill proposes an amendment to the Texas Education Code requiring school district employees to obtain written parental consent before conducting psychological or psychiatric examinations, tests, or treatments on students. The legislation weaponizes “parental rights” to keep students from taking mental health and emotional well-being surveys or receiving mental health support in our public schools. The most vulnerable students in our schools, including LGBTQIA+ kids who may not have affirming homes, will miss out on vital mental health resources and interventions as a result.

This bill would require that every public school classroom display a poster of the Ten Commandments that’s visible from “anywhere in the classroom.” This is a clear violation of Texas students’ religious freedom and blatantly places one religion over all others, continuing the religious right’s obsession with injecting their personal agendas into our public school classrooms.

This bill, which establishes “prayer time” in schools, is a solution in search of a problem. Students and school employees already have and exercise the constitutionally protected right to pray and to read the Bible or other religious texts while at school. Rather than trying to fuel the culture wars, lawmakers should focus on providing the state’s schools with the resources they need to ensure students get a quality education.

The bill proposes a requirement for parental written consent before a student can receive human sexuality instruction in Texas public schools. Texas already has an opt-in requirement for sex-ed classes, which are abstinence-first and do not have to be comprehensive or medically accurate. We’re also the only state with an opt-in policy for abuse prevention education, which includes child abuse, dating violence, and sex trafficking. The bill “clarifies” the current policy by defining that parents must give “written consent” that cannot be combined with any other notifications, and parents must receive the consent request at least 14 days before the class. This bill is yet another mechanism to keep Texas students from receiving the accurate, honest sex education they need and deserve.

We’ll be back next month to give you The Lege Lowdown, but until then, make sure you’re following Texas Freedom Network on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to stay informed on how you can take action for your fellow Texans!

Texas Rising is building the power of young people of color to develop as leaders and organize around voting rights, immigration, climate justice, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, and LGBTQIA+ equality.

Just Texas is building a grassroots movement of progressive people of faith and faith leaders from diverse religious traditions to speak publicly and politically in support of reproductive freedom, including the right to abortion, and LGBTQIA+ equality for all Texans.