School Choice Helps Everyone
What to know: Opponents of parent empowerment are relying on rural Republicans in Texas to block any meaningful bills.
The TPPF take: Empowering parents to make the key decisions about their children’s education benefits everyone involved.
“Florida’s experience shows that parent empowerment benefits everyone—even rural areas,” says TPPF’s Roy Maynard. “So far, 24 studies show that choice and competition benefit local public schools. Competition moves schools to innovate and improve, as districts become more attuned to what parents and students want.”
For more on parent empowerment, click here.
Whose Money?
What to know: Mainstream media coverage of the Texas Legislature is too predictable. One radio station laments, for example, that the proposed budgets for the next biennium leave “billions of available funds on the table.”
The TPPF take: Let’s be clear: Excess revenues from taxpayers aren’t “available funds” to be left on the table. Those dollars belong back in the pockets of everyday Texans.
“As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in his inauguration speech, the Legislature ‘will use that budget surplus to provide the largest property tax cut in Texas history,’” says TPPF’s Greg Sindelar. “Why? Because, as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said, ‘it’s your money.’”
For more on the Legislature, click here.
Dazed and Confused
What to know: The University of Texas at Austin’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies are “vague and politicized,” a new report shows.
The TPPF take: This began when the administration caved to the demands of radical students in 2016.
“The university created a massive and bloated bureaucracy of so-called ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ programs that now permeate every aspect of university life, dividing students based on phony critical race and gender theories,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester.
For more on DEI policies, click here.