Texas: The Issue Is - Rep. James Talarico discusses continued battle over school vouchers
A fourth special session ends with no teacher pay increases, no new school funding, and no school vouchers, which is what Texas Governor Greg Abbott wanted.
FOX 4’s Steven Dial spoke with Texas House Democrat James Talarico, who is a former teacher, about whether this was a win for the Democratic Party or Texans.
Rep. Talarico: It's not about school choice. In fact, it's the school's choice because the school can deny admission to any kid they want. It's not about educational freedom because most kids are going to have access to it. And it's not about parental rights because parents give up rights when they go to a private school. That's why I call this a scam.
Dial: You mentioned unpopular when it comes to vouchers, or education freedom is what the governor is calling it. A lot of polls have showed that people polled supported, Republicans and Democrats. So why do you think a majority in the House, just the House, not Senate, is opposed to this?
Rep. Talarico: Some of these wealthy special interests that are pushing voucher scams have funded their own polls, which ask people a generic question like, do you support school choice? You know, you're going to get a lot of people who say yes to that question. I also support school choice. We have school choice here in the state of Texas. We have public charter schools. We have magnets. We have early college high schools. We have all kinds of school choice. But when you ask Texans, do they support taking taxpayer dollars out of public schools and sending them to unaccountable private schools for the wealthy few, the overwhelming majority say they don't support that.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blamed House Speaker Dade Phelan for what he called dysfunction in the legislature when it comes to education funding, school vouchers and other issues.
"The leadership at the top has been an absolute failure for the people of Texas," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. "This guy is just flat out impossible to work with. Won’t answer a phone call, wont answer a text."
Texas House adjourns fourth special session — leaving vouchers, school safety and elections bills unfinished
The latest casualties were Senate Bill 5, which would spend $800 million on school safety measures through 2025, and Senate Bill 6, which would change the timeline of a trial after an election contest is filed by a citizen or group.
Dial: Do you think the speaker is the problem in this education fight?
Rep. Talarico: There is only one culprit in this education fight, and that is the governor of this state. It's not the House's fault. It's not the Senate's fault. The reason we don't have any school funding after starting the year with a $33 billion budget surplus is because of Greg Abbott. He promised to veto any school funding that was brought to his desk if it didn't include this unpopular voucher scheme, so he doomed it from the start. And I think Texans of all political parties need to call the governor and tell him to finally support funding for our neighborhood public schools.
Dial: Do you agree that the social media trash talking should end and both men should get in a room and make a deal and see what happens?
Rep. Talarico: There is a fight between the people of this state who want to fully fund public education and a governor who doesn't believe in public schools. That is the central problem here. There's infighting between the House and the Senate, that's for sure. But the primary problem is that the governor doesn't want to fully fund our public schools and instead wants to send our tax dollars to unaccountable private schools. And by tying those two things together, he sabotaged funding for our public schools. That's what the voters of this state need to understand clearly.
Dial: Do you think anything will change in a fifth session as it pertains to education?
Rep. Talarico: There's nothing conservative about starting a new entitlement that's going to balloon in future years. There's nothing conservative about giving our tax dollars to unaccountable private institutions. They don't have to follow any rules. So I think there is a growing movement in the state, Republicans and Democrats, standing up to say, stop all this, this political gamesmanship, stop with these corrupt scams. Let's just fully fund our neighborhood schools that are going to benefit all of us.