Abbott/Vouchers

[friscopaint]

If this were true then every single public school would 100% love a voucher program even if the parents got back 100% of the school tax. Right?
So why do they fight the mere mention of voucher and always have?

My tax bill would easily cover a kid in school and coupled with every house on our road, rural, 12 houses and no school aged kids all older and I'm not talking cheap properties according to appraisal district......I'm with you, anytime vouchers come up ISD employees light the torches......our superintendent posted we need a new governor over the vouchers........private schools have to be expensive because they aren't getting the massive cash flow our public school is via taxes.......I'll vote against anything involving public schools, all they do is cry poverty and want more......I've learned my lesson......oh come on, it's for the kids........

[Philip-TX]

So, for all the people who do not have kids in school, where would their money go? Do they get to choose? I don't disagree with vouchers; I think competition breeds greatness. But I do think they should spell out where the money will go and not just a blanket statement about following the kid.

Lots of questions. I want to agree with the vouchers too.

But it is a government thing so....

"If you like your teacher you can keep your teacher" comes to mind.

[tvc184]

Or like previous comment stated have to have good grades and take a test. Good schools keep getting gooder, bad schools get badder. Gonna be really interesting how it all shakes out. I still support it though, also think with no school age kids there should be no school taxes.

That would be a significant pay raise for me.

I have been paying school taxes for about 40 years and have never had a child.

I wonder if they would refund my many thousands of dollars…..

[BowhunterB]

What about the parents that are already senduing thier kids to private school and still have to pay outrageous school taxes. That seems to be the real issue of where this is coming from. If you live in a major city or just outside of one and want your kids in some type of college prep school / private school due to the local ISD having a bad track record and still paying local ISD tax makes no sense. HISD is a perfect example of why something is needed. The state took over and that Dr Miles guy has slashed the budget big time. These school districts have become big government and have no budget and when they need money thye just propose another bond and then another bond. The average person always votes in favor the bond because no one reads and looks down the road and because the "kids need it" which is garbage.

I have paid property taxes for 15 +years while sending my daughter to private school. I know it's a personal choice, but it would have nice to get something back, 50 or even 25%. That money could go toward buying technology resources, etc. for the schools. Whenever our kids go to a public school for games or anything they are amazed at the facilities. It's hard to reconcile hearing stories from teachers about kids who don't do want to do anything, or stories about teachers who don't care, when you have kids and parents who do work hard but struggle to pay for school or schools that can't afford the resources a public school has.

[dustoffer]

I had been against the voucher thing as I felt it would collapse our public school systems and leave it even worse than now for the remaining kids. I have a friend who has been "whispering in my ear" and now I am reading Hostages No More by Betsy DeVos, Pres Trump's Sec of Education. I guess I am still undecided but she sure uses facts and not emotional arguments.

And, what will be the criteria? Will all parents, even those making 7-figures get vouchers?

[Aetheling]

How many on here complaining about the system enjoyed a free k-12 education courtesy of the tax payers? I don’t know what the answer is but seems hypocritical.

[friscopaint]

How many on here complaining about the system enjoyed a free k-12 education courtesy of the tax payers? I don’t know what the answer is but seems hypocritical.

I did but it was an actual educational system then and it wan't "free".....nothing paid with tax dollars is

[Shane]

I had been against the voucher thing as I felt it would collapse our public school systems and leave it even worse than now for the remaining kids. I have a friend who has been "whispering in my ear" and now I am reading Hostages No More by Betsy DeVos, Pres Trump's Sec of Education. I guess I am still undecided but she sure uses facts and not emotional arguments.

And, what will be the criteria? Will all parents, even those making 7-figures get vouchers?

People making 7 figures are paying most of the taxes. If they don't get vouchers for their kids, it'd be totally wrong.

[Big Lee]

If there was a bill that allowed people to opt out of school tax that would be great. If you don't have a kid in Public Education. You get to keep that money.

[WItoTX]

How many on here complaining about the system enjoyed a free k-12 education courtesy of the tax payers? I don’t know what the answer is but seems hypocritical.

Definitely not free. Less expensive, yes. But not free.

I send a lot of money/supplies/support directly to my kids teachers. Skip the school, and make it clear to the teacher, if she ever needs anything, email me, and I will gladly help any way I can.

Teachers love that, they help your kids more, everyone wins. Learn the system, then beat the system.

[Playa]

For those that support the concept of vouchers, what are the perceived issues that it will resolve?

[Aetheling]

Definitely not free. Less expensive, yes. But not free.

I send a lot of money/supplies/support directly to my kids teachers. Skip the school, and make it clear to the teacher, if she ever needs anything, email me, and I will gladly help any way I can.

Teachers love that, they help your kids more, everyone wins. Learn the system, then beat the system.

I mean to the individual. As a child you get a K-12 and no bill at the end unlike college. It was paid for by people in your community paying taxes to the local ISD. I think a lot of on this thread think their tax dollars alone pay for their kids education. As Shane stated above think 7 figure income (not revenue). I am completely onboard with the notion certain ISDs are crap holes and should be reformed but the Governor is all talk. He said DEI is illegal and the ones doing it before still are with zero consequences.

If an individual thinks after receiving an education they did not pay for they should be able to opt out of the system because they have no children to me seems very hypocritical. They also don’t seem to understand it was people in the very same group paying taxes to fund their education.

I have a great idea. If you want out of the system pay back the cost of you and your spouse’s education plus interest.

Texas spends 13.7k USD per student per year. K-12 thats 178k USD. If you have 2 kids thats 356k USD. 3 kids you are over half a million dollars. Im not sure many people have looked at their property tax percentage that goes to the local ISD and compared the data. Unless you are in the very top percentiles of wage earners you got way more than you put in.

[donpablo]

What if instead of suggesting vouchers, we suggested the state completely funded education and refused any federal funds so that we could tell the feds to stay completely out of our business when making education decisions? It would mean a big cut in funding but would be worth it. We should also get some type of tax credit for Texas citizens for not taking those federal funds.

I know no one wants to suggest cutting funding but it’s true that many districts throw money away on technology as well as on packing the administration building. Whenever we hear, “The federal government is threatening to pull funding unless…” we could just laugh at the other states as the person in the White House pulls their strings.

Finally, although it’s off topic, I feel it’s important to put this out there. The STAAR test gets a bad rap every time someone says, “They’re just teaching kids to pass the test.” But 9.5 times out of 10 they’re doing so by teaching the content. A fly on the wall will tell you the level of rigor in a tested subject is higher than the level in a non-tested subject. There are exceptions of course when the non-tested subject is being taught by a rockstar teacher but those are rare.

[Coyote Canyon]

I don’t understand. If the state is going to support the voucher program and support public schools , how will all of this be funded if the state also cuts property taxes. This plan cannot support itself.

[cehorn]

I mean to the individual. As a child you get a K-12 and no bill at the end unlike college. It was paid for by people in your community paying taxes to the local ISD. I think a lot of on this thread think their tax dollars alone pay for their kids education. As Shane stated above think 7 figure income (not revenue). I am completely onboard with the notion certain ISDs are crap holes and should be reformed but the Governor is all talk. He said DEI is illegal and the ones doing it before still are with zero consequences.

If an individual thinks after receiving an education they did not pay for they should be able to opt out of the system because they have no children to me seems very hypocritical. They also don’t seem to understand it was people in the very same group paying taxes to fund their education.

I have a great idea. If you want out of the system pay back the cost of you and your spouse’s education plus interest.

Texas spends 13.7k USD per student per year. K-12 thats 178k USD. If you have 2 kids thats 356k USD. 3 kids you are over half a million dollars. Im not sure many people have looked at their property tax percentage that goes to the local ISD and compared the data. Unless you are in the very top percentiles of wage earners you got way more than you put in.

I agree with a lot of this. For me the big rub is that $13.7 per year used to pay for reading, writing and arithmetic. Now it pays for pride week parties (see this week at Austin ISD), DEI as you stated, bathrooms with litter boxes, gay **** in libraries and other bull**** liberal policies. I would love to take my $13.7 per year per kid away from the public indoctrination system and pay a private school to teach my kid the way we used to be taught and the way China is still teaching their kids. But as stated before, I am against public school to public school vouchers as it will only bring all schools down to the level of school kids would supposedly leave.