Senator Files Tax Credit Scholarship Bill
Controversial legislation that would provide scholarships for students to attend private schools through a business tax credit has finally found a home.
State Sen. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, filed a bill Monday that would enact a program like the one state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst touted at a widely covered December news conference at an Austin Catholic school. At the time, Patrick, who as chairman of the Senate’s Education Committee has championed expanding school choice in the state, indicated he would carry the legislation himself.
With the Friday bill filing deadline looming, whether Patrick still ...
Comments (19)
Thomas Combs via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Then why have public schools in the first place?
Kathy Fritz Fritz via Texas Tribune on Facebook
And then they can trash the new school too!!! Have that happening with section 8 housing popping up all over Fort Bend. Fix their schools and their no account parents, send the anchors back to wherever with their illegal parents and a whole lot of school problems will be fixed. Sick of your PC stuff. This is TX and we need conservatives at the helm.
Sergio Jaramillo via Texas Tribune on Facebook
more croneyism from the right to shift profits rather than addressing why those schools are failing (i.e. actual education reform)
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This is a really, really bad idea. Free Public Education is in the Texas Constitution. This is a scheme to divert money to religious schools WITH NO ACCOUNTABILITY WHATSOEVER TO TAXPAYERS.
Sonora Hartley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm a disabled, economically disadvantaged senior citizen with no school aged children. As I do not use the public school system will I get a tax credit, too?
Texas Parents Union via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Thank you Senator Paxton for filing this bill to provide needy families with school choice!
Shawn AndMichelle Wehmeyer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How about restoring funding to public schools, as well as eliminating the money sucking Pearson tests, so that all children have access to quality public education! Two years ago there was no money for education, but their was money for creating a new test, and now there is no money for public education, but there is money to hand out to private schools!?! Do people realize this would open the door for every child currently in private schools to become eligible for public funding? How is this fiscally conservative? Notice there are no guarantees that privates schools will accept these students or that the scholarships will cover tuition in full. In addition what happened to accountability? Will this mean public and charter schools will be writing checks to Pearson and reducing children to test scores in order to compete?
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Scheming to the bitter end are the GOP and their corporate masters. With a few Dems helping them along the way.
Proud Texan
Why should a company get a state tax credit for donating money for a voucher and not a tax credit for donating money to a church, battered women's shelter, or many many other worthy causes? This is called social investments and is bad public policy to pick winners and losers.
They can donate money today and get a federal tax credit, why does the state need to add more slop to the trough for corporate welfare?
Mack Green
At what grade average would these "educationally disadvantaged" students in an "unacceptable" school be given state money to desert the public school? D average? C average? B average? If the school is unacceptable one could argue that ALL the students are disadvantaged and could therefore use state money flee to a non-profit school.
Since only a "certified nonprofit" receives this money, aside from religious based schools, what other schools fit the bill for nonprofits? Would someone certify a home school for state money?
Is the point of this bill use taxpayer money to fund religious based schools and defy church/state division either though voucher or tax/insurance rebates?
The state has a constitutional mandate to ensure young Texans are properly educated in a manner not influenced by ANYBODY's religion. Private school have their own mandates...fine, just don't ask me or the state to pay for them.
Dinah Miller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Don't be fooled by the name Texas Parents Union. Not Texans, not parents, not a union.
Matt Prewett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@Dinah, my name is Matt Prewett. I founded Texas Parents Union. I was born in Texas. I attended Texas public schools K-12 (Commerce ISD and then Tyler ISD). I have two boys (10 years old and 4 years old.) The "union" can be debated, but I am definitely a Texan and a parent.
Debra Uetz via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There is no such thing as "free public education." There is also no such thing as "nonprofit colleges." All forms of education is paid for, whether it comes from taxes or charitable donations. Parents should have choices; and education must have competition in order to improve.
Edd_Doerr
Vouchers, tuition tax credits and all their variations areb attacks on religious freedom and public education, and violate the letter and spirit of at least
Edd_Doerr
Vouchers, tuition tax credits and their variations are attacks on religious liberty and the public schools. They also violate the letter and spirit of at least 3 sections of the Texas constitution. Opponents of these attacks on religious freedom and public education should find useful my article "The Great School Voucher Fraud" downloadable at arlinc.org
Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Carol Morgan
Sounds like Eddie Lucio chickened out after he got a lot of flac from his constituents. I don't even know why he brought up the possibility that he would file a bill like this. He knows better than this.
On the other R's: They are not doing this because they care about kids. Good God! They're doing it to open up education for a profit to all their campaign contributors.
But of course, they think that Texas voters are too ignorant to see through their rhetoric.
That should make everyone mad.
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
The margins tax has failed from the beginning to generate sufficient cash to adequately fund the public schools. Since its original passage, they have increased the exemptions and made the situation worse. Now they want to make it worse, by giving tax credits in favor of an unaccountable entity to fund parochial education. People need to start paying attention and get these morons out of office. Dan Patrick is an idiot.
Rhonda Warmack Houston
Providing scholarships so a student may attend a private, Catholic school that would make a difference sounds positive, but with attending a school which will have textbooks written by Barbara Cargill, that will introduce the idea that creation is similar to Real science is which the rest of the techological world knows the difference and then, have another experience throughout the whole week of religion which Catholic schools will have, those students will be more inclined to need those scholarships after they leave these schools. To compete with the Real world, a student must learn how to question the information they are being told, feel free to ask the right questions to get the right answers to succeed, but these students won't be able to do so, because what these scholarships and private schools are actually providing is 'learning to be led' and to compete in the real world, which isn't encouraged within these schools. Taxpayers' money should be used in the remaining public schools in Texas, not those within the private. I would be interested in knowing if there is an actual result of a study that could calculate how many of these private, scholarshiped, creation orientated students actually were able to succeed out in the world, by asking the hard questions and were able to compete with those from the international world, such as China and Japan to get their job. (Texas taxpayer, mother, grandmother, Vietnam veteran)
Rhonda Warmack Houston
At all levels of govenment, All Republicans want to VOUCHER PROGRAM everthing. This readers, is the future of our whole country, if YOU ALLOW IT. I've informed the Texas Senate that if after they confirmed Ms Barbara Cargill, who was Gov Perry's political scholactic nominee, they could look forward to seeing me and my lawyer, if I Saw or READ any Creation messaging within my legal guardians' school books comparing the two, that they could count on seeing me and my lawyer within their offices for a volation of my legal guardian's rights concerning Separation of Church and State, which is so noted within the Consitution. I let these lawmakers know too, that I don't make 'threats', but 'promises' in regards to any visits to their offices, in regards if I found any Creation comparisons to Real Science. This is my responsibility to uphold these Constitutional rights so my legal guardian's rights allow so she in the end, will to be able to compete internationally for a job down the road and be able to support herself....you notice that everything is economic and that's where the Republicans and the Rich will tople the middle class, while attempting to keep the poor led by them. I am not from Texas and am aware of the political game that is being played and I choose NOT to play by their rules, but by those that have already been set up by the Founding Fathers.