Republicans Full of Bad Ideas

 A couple of weeks ago I wrote about some of the issues that school vouchers will cause if passed by the Texas legislature. That kind of ill-conceived law isn’t limited to education, nor to Texas. Unfortunately, Republicans in state legislatures around the country have some other bad ideas they’re filing bills on the recently.

In the Texas legislature, Republican State Representative Carrie Isaac, filed House Bill 2390, which would prohibit counties from putting a polling place at a college or university. This would seem to be a response to the 14% rise in registered voters among young people ages 18-24 over the last four years.

According to Common Cause Texas Voting Rights Program Manager Katya Ehresman, “We know young people who vote soon after turning 18 are far more likely than others to become lifelong, habitual voters. Texas Republicans seem determined to keep that from happening, despite the fact that Texas perpetually ranks at or near the bottom among all states when it comes to participating in elections.

Texas has the fastest growing population in the nation, largely led by young voters of color, and some politicians clearly see this as a threat. This bill is an unabashed attempt to manipulate the outcome of elections by suppressing the voices of our increasingly young and diverse electorate.”

Last week two Idaho lawmakers introduced HB 154 which would charge those who administer mRNA vaccines with a misdemeanor. The bill sponsored by Sen. Tammy Nichols and Rep. Judy Boyle says "A person may not provide or administer a vaccine developed using messenger ribonucleic acid technology for use in an individual or any other mammal in this state." Nichols said the bill is specifically about the two COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna.

In Florida, Republicans have instituted book bans in public schools and universities. 176 books have been removed from classrooms in Duval County, Florida, think Jacksonville. They were removed in the last year because of new laws passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. ABC News reports that upwards of 1 million books are now under review in Duval County alone. Among the books under review are titles on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and "Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz. All these books are under investigation because of The "Stop W.O.K.E." Act, the Parental Rights in Education law, and House Bill 1467. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act makes the odd claim that teachers are teaching white kids that they're inherently evil racists and Black students that they're morally superior to their white counterparts. In reality Republicans just don’t want their grandchildren to learn that their grandparents were screaming death threats at six year old Ruby Bridges when she walked up the steps of the formerly all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans and had to be guarded by Deputy U.S Marshals.

Child labor law violations in the US increased 37% in fiscal year 2022 and the Department of Labor reported the problem has been going on since 2015. In 2022 688 children were found to be working in hazardous conditions. The Republican solution is to push to roll back protections against child labor. In Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota, Republican legislators introduced bills to extend the hours 14 and 15 year-olds would be allowed to work and some bills would expand the types of jobs children would be permitted to do as part of approved training programs, extend allowable work hours, and exempt employers from liability if these young workers are sickened, injured or killed on the job.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 23, 2023

School Vouchers Again!

 Back in 2017, then Speaker of the House, Joe Strauss told conference of school board members from across Texas in San Antonio “Somebody is going to pay for public education, it’s either going to come from the state or it’s going to from local property taxes. If we want real property tax reform we need real reform of school finance.” He explained that the way to improve public education and reduce property taxes is to increase state funding for education but legislation to offer state money for private school tuition is wrongheaded and counterproductive.

Gov. Abbott has claimed that “We can fully fund public schools while also giving parents a choice about which school is right for their child … giving them the choice to send their children to any public school, charter school or private school with state funding following the student.” If that were true then why have Republicans failed to fully fund public education in Texas for decades? The state portion of public education funding has been falling for well over a decade and is now about 45% of the funds needed for every child in public schools to get the limited education available. Texas K-12 public schools continue to suffer from high class sizes and under-paid teachers.

There are more than 342,000 children currently attending private schools in Texas so if the current $6160 per student amount is provided to those students then in order to continue that funding for children attending public schools the state must increase the education budget by $2.1 billion. Where will that money come from? That’s on top of the amount needed to provide the higher level of state funding needed to enable schools boards to reduce the property tax rates they have had to charge in order to adequately fund schools across the state.

In most of the state there are few if any non-sectarian private schools so if you’re not a member of one of the pre-dominant faiths in your area your children either won’t have the option to go to a private school or you’ll have to accept that they’re being indoctrinated in a faith other than your own. The real issue though is that taxpayer funding of religious schools is a direct violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The First Amendments state in part that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. The 14th Amendment extends the same constitutional protections to state actions as well. In fact the 14th Amendment is what prevents the states from doing all the things that the federal government is prohibited from doing in the rest of the constitution such as search and seizure of your property without a warrant and the right to a trial by a jury of your peers. The Supreme Court long ago ruled against state funds supplementing teacher salaries at religious schools and that’s exactly what Gov. Abbott is advocating.

What Abbott is really advocating for is essentially subsidizing wealthier people sending their kids to elitist schools while making it tougher on everyone else.

Taxpayer dollars going to private schools is an attack on transparent, accountable governance, as private schools are largely unregulated and not required to hold public meetings, have boards elected by taxpayers, or publicly disclose spending or other records the way public schools must.

Republican voters might still be alright with their taxes going to Lutheran, Baptist, or Catholic schools but what about a fundamentalist Islamic school?

Call Representative John Kuempel’s office at (830) 379-8732 and tell him to vote no on vouchers.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 8, 2023