At the April regular board meeting, RISD trustees voted to approve a resolution opposing proposed Texas legislation that would create a savings account – or any similar voucher proposals – with taxpayer dollars for parents to use to pay for education outside of public school.
The resolution explains that no financial, academic, or safety accountability measures are included with the proposals. The proposals would create a costly entitlement program with no way to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent as intended while those dollars could help public schools meet rising costs due to years of inflation.
“The message needs to be strong that we need Austin to fully fund public education so we can meet the demands we have post COVID and amid current inflationary pressures,” Superintendent Tabitha Branum said. “We don’t need the state to create an entitlement program that we know we cannot sustain.”
RISD Government Affairs Liaison Liz Morse emphasized that since school districts had not received an increase in funding since 2019 and current school finance proposals do not provide enough funding to make up for inflation and lost buying power over those four years, the state should not use tax dollars to create another education system until public schools are fully funded.
Trustee Eric Eager commented that any money diverted from public education will ultimately “hurt kids and drain funds and limit our ability to give all teachers a much-needed salary increase.”
Trustee Chris Poteet shared an anecdote about the unique challenges public schools face when it comes to educating special needs students in pre-K. Click here to watch the board discussion.
Click here to view the board’s legislative priorities.
Click here to read The Case for Prioritizing Public Education Funding. (en español)
