Texas Governor Abbott has had enough of his school-choice bills being swatted town. Now, he’s ready for war.
Last year, when around two dozen lawmakers opposed his school voucher bill, he decided to take things into his own hands by handpicking opponents for each of the GOP defiers that didn’t support his bill and flooding those opponents with financial campaign support.
New campaign finance reports show just how expensive the Texas GOP’s ongoing civil war has gotten, with political interest groups such as Texans For Lawsuit Reform doling out more than $6 million in the last month to a mix of incumbents and PACs; and a small group of voucher supporters, state leaders and far-right megadonors separately injecting at least another $8 million into the primaries
Abbott also showed that there were no limits to the lengths he would go personally to support the pro-school voucher picks.
The Abbott campaign is projected to spend some $11 million during the primary races, including $4 million on the runoffs alone, Carney said. That’s a massive jump from the $500,000 he would typically spend for primaries, he said.
The efforts paid off and seven incumbents were knocked off in the March primaries with a handful more facing the heat in runoffs this month. Abbott says they are 2 away from the needed 76-person majority to pass their voucher program.
“We are now at 74 votes in favor of school choice in the state of Texas. Which is good, but 74 does not equal 76,” Abbott said, referring to the number of votes he needs to pass the bill into law. “We need two more votes.”
Abbott’s relentless stance undoubtedly has been influenced by the growing tensions among parents over childhood education. The Supreme Court in Maryland struck down a parent group’s appeal on Monday that challenged the authority of the school to meddle in a child’s gender ideology without parent inclusion or consent.
A Dallas independent school district recently published transgender resources including an online chat support group and even offered free chest-binders to those who “cannot afford one or safely obtain one”.
These decisions, funded by taxpayer dollars, cause outrage among parents who wish to have the choice over what their children are taught. The school voucher program would offer assistance for parents to choose schools that align better with their families. Texas would be one of 18 other states, as well as Washington D.C. that offer some form of education savings or voucher credit.
Ten states passed or expanded their state legislature on education choice in 2023 alone. The left should see these growing numbers as signals that American families want freedom from the invasive agendas being pushed on our children. Texas, the second largest state, seems close to joining the education freedom movement.
