SPECIAL SESSION in TEXAS STATE LEGISLATURE - JULY 2017
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There have been numerous factors
that have brought this case to the senate floor in the Texas Legislature. The
Texas Republican Party has been long proponents of the “School Choice” Ideal.
Which would allow parents to select their children’s school and not depend on
their zoning, additionally the could use a voucher to send their child to the
school of their choice. This bill is not a full “school choice" bill, but
rather a school choice bill only for children with disabilities. Some feel this bill will help give them the
ability to seek out the best education for their children. While others feel
that this bill will ultimately damage our current public education system.
State Education Chairman Larry
Taylor and co-author of the bill said that "A lot of those kids are very
very bright. They just need a little bit more help."(Swaby). The estimate
is that SB 2 would give about 6,000 students scholarships of up to $10,000 so
they can attend private schools. The problem is that though the bill is said to
help disabled children. It would actually end up harming the entire public-school
system and there is not a lot of weight on the idea that this bill would even
do what it proposes. The actual picture is much grimmer. As the session has
gone one there have been multiple activist that have voiced a strong opposition
to this bill, which have come in the many types of individuals. The most moving
of these displays was done by a 17 year old girl by the name of Abigail Tassin.
Who said “"I want to be with everyone else," she said. "Help my
teachers be able to help me better."(Swaby). She ask the legislators not to pass
the bill and urged them to focus on improving the current system.
The fact is that the private school
sector is not held to the same standards as public schools. By providing the
parents with the tax credit scholarship for their child does nothing to focus
on helping those children and moves towards a scary idea of “school vouchers”
which can have a detrimental effect on public school.
A very clear statement as to what
this bill is actually proposing was disclosed by a lobbyist for the Association
of Texas Professional Educators said “One of the biggest philosophical problems
we have with this bill is that it changes the mentality from 'Let's fix the
problems that we have' ... to saying, 'Well, now we've provided you with this
out,” (Swaby)
* Swaby, A. (2017,
July 24). Senate Approves Bill That Would Subsidize Private School Tuition. The
Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 26, 2017, from
https://www.texastribune.org/2017/07/24/texas-senate-public-education-bills
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