Early voting for the March primary is underway through March 1, and campaigns are in full gear, with volunteers knocking on doors, texts and robocalls being sent, and mailer after mailer being delivered to registered voters in an effort to gain donations and votes. With so much propaganda flooding into homes, it is hard for voters to know what information is reputable and trustworthy and what is not. And this election cycle—as promised by Gov. Greg Abbott (R)—much of this propaganda relates to a candidate’s stance on private school vouchers. This has brought new players into the Texas election landscape, and below we take a look at four of the newer groups behind many of the mailers attacking anti-voucher candidates on their public education record. 

But first: A look at ATPE 

Before we delve into these organizations, let’s talk about our own. ATPE is a voluntary membership organization. Nearly all the association’s resources come from member dues dollars, and our members are almost exclusively Texas educators. They come from every corner of Texas and from a wide variety of political, social and economic backgrounds.  

In addition to the membership organization, ATPE has two political arms: the ATPE Political Action Committee (ATPE-PAC), which solicits contributions from ATPE members, employees, and their families only, and ATPE Direct, a “super PAC.” ATPE-PAC does not receive contributions from a small set of wealthy donors—rather, our PAC (which is modest in the grand schemes of PACs) is voluntarily funded by public educators, who, as you know, are not getting rich from their public education salaries. ATPE-PAC makes contributions to officeholders and candidates who support our public education priorities as defined in our member-written-and-approved ATPE Legislative Program. 

ATPE Direct differs from ATPE-PAC in two ways: One, ATPE Direct can be funded with corporate dollars, not just donations, and two, ATPE Direct does not make contributions to candidates or officeholders. Any super PAC spending must not occur in coordination with any candidate. ATPE Direct funds campaign signs, radio ads, digital ads, and more publicizing educator support for public education-friendly candidates. 

ATPE members—all Texas educators—provide oversight and direction to the association. The ATPE Board of Directors is made up of five volunteer state officers elected by the ATPE House of Delegates (HOD) and 20 volunteer directors elected by members from their respective region. The HOD convenes annually and comprises of hundreds of educators from across the state. In addition to electing state officers, the HOD considers the report of the ATPE Legislative Committee, which also comprises volunteer members appointed by the elected ATPE state president. The Legislative Committee drafts the ATPE Legislative Program annually. The draft program is presented to the ATPE Board, which can offer recommendations to the HOD on the committee’s draft. The HOD ultimately decides whether to adopt, amend, or reject each committee recommendation for the legislative program, and the statements in that program guide the positions ATPE’s professional lobbyists take at the State Capitol. 

In addition, five members of the ATPE Legislative Committee serve as the members, or governing body, of ATPE-PAC, offering guidance on contributions and fundraising. 

That’s a lot about ATPE, but it’s good info to compare and contrast with these other organizations. In short, ATPE is Texas-based and funded and governed by Texas public educators. 

The organizations filling your mailbox 

The election cycle we’re seeing unprecedented attention on the House races of pro-public education incumbents—those who voted against private school vouchers—originating from two sources: the governor himself, as covered in this blog post, and four super PACs. Unlike ATPE Direct, however, the following super PACs are not affiliated with a professional association for public educators. 

• The American Federation for Children (AFC)-Victory Fund is affiliated with the American Federation for Children (AFC) and its Texas arm, the Texas Federation for Children. AFC was founded by former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who is investing her personal fortune into promoting private school vouchers. AFC-VF is funded almost exclusively by the likes of DeVos—a small group of ultra-wealthy idealogues who are primarily from out of state. Despite its misleading name, AFC is not a membership organization, and its employees have spent much of the past two years working with Abbott and other pro-voucher organizations to either undermine or co-opt support for public education and educators. AFC-VF is responsible for many of the recent factually dubious mailers being sent against pro-public education state representatives who voted in November to strip private school vouchers from the final school finance bill of the 88th Legislature (a vote referred to as “the Raney Amendment” because it was offered by Rep. John Raney [R–Bryan]). These mailers falsely claim that those who voted for the Raney Amendment voted to kill funding for public schools as well as pay raises for teachers. In fact, the Raney Amendment was limited to stripping voucher language from the school finance bill (House Bill [HB] 1), leaving its funding and teacher pay language intact. Following passage of the Raney Amendment, the bill’s author, House Public Education Chairman Brad Buckley (R–Salado), pulled HB 1 from further consideration, likely at the direction of the governor. 

• School Freedom Fund (SFF) is another pro-voucher super PAC affiliated with the national anti-tax organization Club for Growth. The group has spent $1.15 million this cycle on TV ads in eight Texas House districts (1, 11, 18, 55, 58, 60, 62, and 121) targeting pro-public school candidates. The group is primarily funded by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass, who has also donated substantial funds to AFC and made a $6 million campaign contribution to Abbott in December. (Reportedly, that contribution was the largest campaign contribution in Texas history.)  

• The Family Empowerment Coalition (FEC) is a new PAC formed in Texas specifically to oppose pro-public education candidates in the 2024 election. FEC PAC was founded by mega-donors Doug Deason—a major Abbott backer—and Leo Linback, a well-known pro-voucher advocate, as well as former state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. The PAC has a small donor base primarily consisting of Deason; Linbeck; Deason’s father, Darwin; Stacy Hock, a conservative philanthropist known for donating to pro-voucher groups; and Aquinas Companies, for which Linbeck is founder, president, and CEO. FEC PAC has been endorsing opponents of pro-public education legislators, as well as sending mailers to voters attacking incumbents for “working against schools, teachers, parents, and kids.” When polling suggested that message was not gaining significant traction, FEC PAC switched to making false claims about their opponents’ records on border issues.  

• Texans United for a Conservative Majority (TUCM) is the latest incarnation of a longtime infamous player in Texas politics. West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks are famous for founding several organizations: Empower Texans, Defend Texas Liberty, and Texas Scorecard. This fall, the Defend Texas Liberty PAC became embroiled in controversy following a meeting between a high-level PAC staffer, former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, and a known white supremacist/Nazi. Following this bad publicity, Dunn and Wilks invested $2 million into TUCM to target pro-public education incumbents such as Rep. Justin Holland (R–Rockwall) in HD 33 and Rep. Steve Allison (R–San Antonio) in HD 121. Dunn and Wilks are the only two donors to this PAC according to its recently filed campaign finance report—and despite its small donor base, the PAC has over $1 million in cash on hand. (Read more about Dunn’s and Wilks’ activities in previous election cycles in these 2022 Teach the Vote posts on campaign finance: Part 1 and Part 2. This March 2024 Texas Monthly cover story on Dunn is also informative, as is this CNN documentary on Wilks.) 

As you receive election mail, read the fine print on the bottom. The postcards will say “Political Advertising Paid for by (Name).” Now you’ll recognize some of these organizations’ names and understand the people behind them—who are most certainly not public educators who understand what it takes to educate the more than 5.4 million public schoolchildren of Texas.