I've been saying all along - why is Abbott for this? Who benefits from this? Maybe the educational providers have been donating to his campaign? This creates a new bureaucracy - another opportunity for waste, fraud, and abuse. How will Hegar determine who are the approved "vendors/education providers"? What internal controls will be in place? Parents wanting their student to attend private school and use those funds to help pay a portion will be subjecting their students and the school to strings attached, no? Private schools will not want to comply as is their right, however, will this end up with students' families suing the private schools because they can't get admitted? What about parents who homeschool and don't educate their children? Will they get $8K to spend on themselves or whatever they want? Texas wants to throw $5B at education, --what kind of results are they really expecting from supposed "school choice"? Seems like this will line the pockets of a select few and not really help improve student outcomes and expand government bloat/spending.
There is a link in the article that outlines some of that. Horace Mann and others has no desire for God in the classroom. They set out to educate the perfect rational citizen free from the myths of organized religion.
OK, I see it, but Mann was not an atheist. He was a Unitarian, which some might also just call a deist. There’s no reference to it in the quote other than education should not be advancing sectarian ends, which is another way of saying it should not be teaching any particular political or religious ideology.
Your are right, but Unitarians do not worship God. So it's results in the same thing. I admit I could have more texts at hand on this. But obviously the public policies and laws today are all designed to keep God out of the classroom, no matter the history. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Bill, I'm very confused by your take on your third point. The bill essentially requires the comptroller to assess (based on specific criteria) that a given provider is an actual provider of those services. I can understand wanting it to be more or less restrictive in its criteria, but you seem to be arguing that there should be no verification of the providers at all? If so, that would seem to leave no way to verify whether a "tuition" payment to a private school is actually going to a private school or to a drug cartel. If I'm misunderstanding your point, let me know.
Also, you talk about how the diversity of curricula in homeschools and private schools makes it impossible for the comptroller to administer the program. Since multiple other states do this already successfully, I'm trying to figure out exactly what you mean. Do you feel other states that do this are not successful?
I'd be interested in understanding your thoughts on these points
Thanks for the comment, Jeremy. You make some good points. The first thing is that the families of perhaps a million students are currently doing just fine making decisions about curricula and education providers without the assistance of the Texas government. I am sure that more could join them in doing the same. Another point I made in the post; the federal government allows parents and adults who use ESA's and HSA's to make these decisions on their own without preapproval. Why can't Texas do the same? When I taught in private school, I used resources from dozens of sources. I am certain that not all of them will be get preapproved by Hegar and Co. I do not know how other states are doing, but there comes a point that we have to decide if we want the government to run our lives, or if we want to manage them. In contrast to what is happening with DOGE in DC, the Texas government is rapidly expanding in both size and scope. The November election was supposed to move us away from that. I'd just like to see school choice in Texas that is cheaper, more accessible, and less intrusive than the current plan.
The senate plan is how to kill school choice by allowing school choice.
I've been saying all along - why is Abbott for this? Who benefits from this? Maybe the educational providers have been donating to his campaign? This creates a new bureaucracy - another opportunity for waste, fraud, and abuse. How will Hegar determine who are the approved "vendors/education providers"? What internal controls will be in place? Parents wanting their student to attend private school and use those funds to help pay a portion will be subjecting their students and the school to strings attached, no? Private schools will not want to comply as is their right, however, will this end up with students' families suing the private schools because they can't get admitted? What about parents who homeschool and don't educate their children? Will they get $8K to spend on themselves or whatever they want? Texas wants to throw $5B at education, --what kind of results are they really expecting from supposed "school choice"? Seems like this will line the pockets of a select few and not really help improve student outcomes and expand government bloat/spending.
On what do you base this comment?
"From its inception in the early 1800s, public education was designed to take God and parents out of the classroom."
There is a link in the article that outlines some of that. Horace Mann and others has no desire for God in the classroom. They set out to educate the perfect rational citizen free from the myths of organized religion.
OK, I see it, but Mann was not an atheist. He was a Unitarian, which some might also just call a deist. There’s no reference to it in the quote other than education should not be advancing sectarian ends, which is another way of saying it should not be teaching any particular political or religious ideology.
Your are right, but Unitarians do not worship God. So it's results in the same thing. I admit I could have more texts at hand on this. But obviously the public policies and laws today are all designed to keep God out of the classroom, no matter the history. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Bill, I'm very confused by your take on your third point. The bill essentially requires the comptroller to assess (based on specific criteria) that a given provider is an actual provider of those services. I can understand wanting it to be more or less restrictive in its criteria, but you seem to be arguing that there should be no verification of the providers at all? If so, that would seem to leave no way to verify whether a "tuition" payment to a private school is actually going to a private school or to a drug cartel. If I'm misunderstanding your point, let me know.
Also, you talk about how the diversity of curricula in homeschools and private schools makes it impossible for the comptroller to administer the program. Since multiple other states do this already successfully, I'm trying to figure out exactly what you mean. Do you feel other states that do this are not successful?
I'd be interested in understanding your thoughts on these points
Thanks for the comment, Jeremy. You make some good points. The first thing is that the families of perhaps a million students are currently doing just fine making decisions about curricula and education providers without the assistance of the Texas government. I am sure that more could join them in doing the same. Another point I made in the post; the federal government allows parents and adults who use ESA's and HSA's to make these decisions on their own without preapproval. Why can't Texas do the same? When I taught in private school, I used resources from dozens of sources. I am certain that not all of them will be get preapproved by Hegar and Co. I do not know how other states are doing, but there comes a point that we have to decide if we want the government to run our lives, or if we want to manage them. In contrast to what is happening with DOGE in DC, the Texas government is rapidly expanding in both size and scope. The November election was supposed to move us away from that. I'd just like to see school choice in Texas that is cheaper, more accessible, and less intrusive than the current plan.