AUSTIN, Texas - Raise Your Hand Texas is a non-partisan nonprofit organization supporting public policy solutions that invest in Texas’ 5.4 million public school students.
On its website the group says it envisions a world-class public school system that fuels a brighter public future for all Texans.
“Our statewide advocacy team works in communities throughout the state to raise the voices of parents, teachers, community leaders, business owners, and students who care about the future of public education,” the website states.
“Our advocacy work and your voices, alongside current research, inform the policy recommendations we make to Texas lawmakers.”
Michelle Smith, executive director of RYHT, wishes Gov. Greg Abbott would take on board some of the group’s policy recommendations. Specifically, adding public school finance to the call of the current special session.
Abbott has said he will not add public school finance to the call unless and until the Legislature has passed education savings accounts, which are otherwise known as vouchers. RYHT opposes vouchers.
In an in-depth audio interview, the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service asked Smith about her group’s wishes for the special session and to analyze the current situation at the state Capitol. The Senate has passed a school voucher bill. The House has not and wants school finance added to the call.
“Right now, we’re almost two weeks into the special session. There are a number of items on the call for this third special. The only education item so far is education savings accounts, which we refer to as vouchers. And the governor has intentionally not added school finance to the call,” Smith explained.
“And, I think it was late last week, he (Abbott) mentioned specifically to people that he was not going to add school finance to the call until vouchers are passed. And so it puts the Legislature in a really hard situation.”
Asked why it is important for school finance to be added to the call, Smith said: “We had some school finance bills that came up during the regular legislative session. With the exception of a little bit of school safety, those did not pass. And so we're in a situation where there's approximately $5 billion sitting there unappropriated from the regular session. That's just kind of in limbo right now. They need to take up a school finance bill. Otherwise there isn't going to be any significant funding from the 2023 legislative session.”
Smith said the way the Texas school finance system is set up, the money for school districts doesn't increase unless the Legislature specifically says so.
“There's not an inflationary index. So, for example, inflation has been so high since 2019. Just to keep up with the 2019 numbers, they'd have to put in an additional $16 billion just to keep up with inflation. So we're starting to see school districts dip into their fund balance.”
Smith said school districts are having to make “really difficult staffing decisions” because they do not have as much buying power as they once had.
"And so school districts are making tough decisions. They built budgets that they didn't want to build, but they don't have any other choice and so they're really needing information from the Legislature about how much more money they're going to have moving forward.”
Asked where RYHT stands on school vouchers, Smith said:
“Raise Your Hand has always strongly opposed to school vouchers. There is not an example anywhere across the nation of a school voucher program that has greatly benefited students. And Texas is the last conservative, southern, state that doesn't have a voucher program. There are a lot of national groups that have their eye on Texas right now and have pumped a lot of political pressure and political money into Texas to try to check that box, to force Texas to have a voucher.”
Smith said RYHT has been a leader in opposing school vouchers.
“We will continue to oppose this issue because we know it's not good for kids. It doesn't have accountability measures. It doesn't have financial transparency. It's not showing the academic returns that we would want for students. And a lot of times those kids, within a couple of years, end up back in the public school system underserved and school districts actually have to remediate some of those kids’ learning because of the last time due to the voucher program.”
Here is the audio interview with Smith:
