The ATPE Governmental Relations team recaps the past week’s education news, legislative and election updates, and regulatory developments.

• House Democrats hold unofficial hearing on Houston ISD takeover
• New study finds Texas teachers spend more personal funds on school supplies than colleagues in other states
• New voucher study muddies waters with incongruous results about Texans’ views on the issue

HISD: Texas House Democrats held a press conference and unofficial hearing Tuesday in Houston to discuss the Houston ISD takeover. Rep. Alma Allen (D–Houston) said the meeting was organized because repeated requests for an official hearing in the House Public Education Committee have not been granted by the committee’s chairman, Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Salado). The community was invited to give testimony on the takeover and its impact on teachers, students, parents, and the community at large. Lawmakers promised to do everything within their power to assist with the issues presented to them during the hearing, including teachers being fired for sitting too long at their desks, students in special education and Section 504 programs not receiving their accommodations, massive turnover throughout the district, and intimidation from administration toward employees who spoke out. HISD Superintendent Mike Miles did not attend the meeting but sent a representative. 

SCHOOL SUPPLIES: A July 2024 study by the company CouponBirds found that Texas teachers spend an average of $1,396 of their own money each year on school supplies—an amount higher than that of educators in any other state. Nationwide, teachers spend an average of $915 in personal funds on school supplies, with 93% of respondents reporting they use their own funds to provide classroom supplies. The survey included 2,500 teachers, with 50 from each state. CouponBirds also surveyed parents on their own back-to-school spending.

VOUCHERS: You may have seen headlines this week about a new study from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University regarding Texans’ views on vouchers. The study, which ATPE Governmental Relations is analyzing in depth, contains highly incongruous results, notably that survey respondents say they support vouchers yet have serious concerns about the inherent qualities of vouchers (i.e., a lack of separation between church and state and the flowing of public tax dollars to private entities). That doesn’t make sense. Still, the study prompted The Dallas Morning News editorial board to say: "We are not in favor of the plan Abbott is pushing to make education savings accounts an option for every Texan with school-age children. But we do favor a limited, means-tested program for parents of children in failing schools. It isn’t fair to ask those parents to wait for more funding or better teachers or whatever reforms might someday come along." This is a common but misguided line of thinking that equates “private” with “quality” and ignores the high tuition costs of elite private schools—tuitions far greater than any voucher proposed thus far. As seen in other states that have enacted voucher programs, subpar private options with tuitions matching or close to the amount of the voucher will pop up, providing a substantially inferior education to that provided the students who choose to stay in public schools. We do agree with The Dallas Morning News that it isn’t fair to ask those parents to wait for more funding or better teachers. That is why Texans should demand that their elected officials provide these things now with the resources already at the state’s disposal. A policy that relies on writing off whole segments of our communities because we give them a false choice to simply leave if they are unhappy with an inadequate level of resources is not the answer. Look for more next week from ATPE’s Teach the Vote on the polling that prompted the editorial.