To the editor;
The state Senate’s last-minute ploy to force a voucher bill on the Texas House and on Texas taxpayers is another attack on public education, educators and students. Pairing an expensive voucher bill with a so-called teacher “pay raise” is an insult to educators because the money that would go toward pay increases would be minimal, the scraps left over from a $33 billion budget surplus.
The proposed Senate substitute for House Bill 100 would increase the basic allotment per student by only $50, hundreds of dollars less than school finance experts say is necessary to meet the inflationary costs that have eroded school district budgets since the last school finance law was enacted in 2019.
This is nothing more than a desperate effort by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Senate majority to deceive teachers, worsen the budget plight of school districts and enrich private schools.
Ovidia Molina, president
Texas State Teachers Association