See the video posted on dallasnews.com showing a group headed to Austin to participate in a rally for vouchers.
Several private school parents said they need public funding so they don't have to skimp on other things to cover education costs. Public school parents at the rally said vouchers could help their children bail out of bad schools and transfer to a private school.
"Our income is not enough to cover the costs of private school," said Dallas resident Ezequiel Cortez, who has three children. "But we pay the taxes. It's our money. We have to have the choice."
Public school advocates argue that vouchers would deprive public schools of necessary funding and make it harder to meet increasingly tough academic standards. Public schools need more money, not less, they argue.
Opponents of vouchers are concerned that vouchers would deprive public education of much needed money and make meeting high academic standards more difficult.
The Texas Federation of Teachers and a raft of other professional associations built around public schools argue that a voucher program would hurt them, their schools and their students, and could become the first step in a larger plan to privatize public education.
Two voucher-related bills have been filed during this legislative session – one for the idea of letting some students pay for private education with state dollars, and one against it.
FOR: A bill filed by Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, would establish a pilot voucher program among qualifying students in the state's six largest districts. That would include both the Dallas and Fort Worth districts. The students would be entitled to take an amount equal to the per-pupil funding in that school district to the accredited private school of their choice. A similar bill made it as far as the House floor in prior legislative sessions.
AGAINST: A bill filed by Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, seeks a constitutional amendment "prohibiting the authorization or funding of an elementary or secondary education voucher program."
One has to ask why so many people consider private schools the answer to any problem with education. I have known teachers who taught in both public and private schools during their careers. Did they suddenly change when they went from one building to the next? Were they better teachers when they taught in a private school? I don't think so.