March 26, 2015

Several vouchers are bills are being heard by the Senate Education Committee today. These include Senate Bill 4, SB 276 and SB 642. As the state’s largest educator group, the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) strongly opposes these proposed voucher bills that would take money away from the majority of Texas children served by public education and hand it to private institutions.

“Vouchers divert taxpayer dollars to private schools that do not face the same accountability standards required of public schools,” ATPE Executive Director Gary Godsey said. “Two of the biggest fallacies regarding vouchers are that they provide choice and improve opportunities for children from low-income families. However, the choice that really matters is the choice made by private schools regarding whether to admit a student. Vouchers do little to help the poor because they often do not cover the full cost of tuition, fees, uniforms, books and transportation.”

When adjusted for inflation and student growth, the state of Texas is spending less per pupil than it did in 2006. With the current school funding lawsuit making its way through the courts, now is not the time to divert more money from already underfunded public schools.

For more information on these voucher bills, visit: http://www.teachthevote.org/news/2015/03/24/senate-committee-to-hear-voucher-bills-thisthursday/

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The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) has been a strong voice for Texas educators since 1980. It is the leading educators’ association in Texas with more than 100,000 members statewide. With its strong collaborative philosophy, ATPE speaks for classroom teachers, administrators, future, retired and paraeducators and works to create better opportunities for 5 million public schoolchildren. ATPE is the voice of Texas public school education.