{"id":2267262,"date":"2024-06-13T19:04:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T23:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-democrats-look-to-flip-state-house-seats-by-attacking-school-choice\/"},"modified":"2024-06-13T19:08:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T23:08:45","slug":"texas-democrats-look-to-flip-state-house-seats-by-attacking-school-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-democrats-look-to-flip-state-house-seats-by-attacking-school-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Democrats aim to gain state House seats by opposing school choice initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-democrats-look-to-flip-state-house-seats-by-attacking-school-choice%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2267262&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In Texas, Democrats are strategizing\u2064 to win state House seats by opposing Governor Greg Abbott\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/queer-middle-school-in-phoenix-will-be-funded-by-taxpayer-vouchers\/\" title=\"Phoenix to fund 'queer' middle school with taxpayer vouchers.\">school voucher \u200dprogram<\/a>, which supports using taxpayer money for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-education-lesson-from-covid-lockdowns-school-choice-is-imperative-for-every-child\/\" title=\"The Education Lesson from COVID Lockdowns: School Choice Is Imperative for Every Child\">private school tuition<\/a>. This pivot to education-focused campaigning occurred after notable\u200c disputes within the Republican party, particularly from rural Republicans who fear such programs can harm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cdc-director-schools-are-safe-places-for-kids-during-pandemic\/\" title=\"CDC Director: Schools Are Safe Places for Kids During Pandemic\">public schools<\/a> which are central to their communities.\u2062 The plan outlined by the Democrats involves targeting\u2063 this program among other Republican-led education \u200binitiatives concerning \u200cthe control and content of school curricula, emphasizing parental choice over governmental regulation in educational matters. Opponents of the voucher program are particularly concerned about it exacerbating teacher shortages and straining budgets due to reallocating funds. Democrats believe that gaining just three\u200c more seats\u200d in \u200dthe Texas House\u2062 could enable them to\u200b block the voucher scheme and protect public schools.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Democrats in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/texas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Texas<\/a> are looking to flip state House seats by running against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/greg-abbott\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s<\/a> (R-TX) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/section\/policy\/education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>school<\/a> voucher program and other Republican education priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the state Democratic Party spoke last week about the Republican reforms at their convention in El Paso, where many in attendance criticized using taxpayer dollars to fund the ability for Texas students to attend private schools.<\/p>\n<p>The plan to run on education comes after Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2905964\/republicans-who-blocked-school-texas-legislature\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>successfully primaried<\/a> several mostly rural Republicans who opposed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-josh-shapiro-backs-out-of-bipartisan-school-voucher-program-to-please-democrats\/\" title=\"Gov. Josh Shapiro withdraws support for bipartisan school voucher program to appease Democrats.\">voucher program due<\/a> to concerns that allowing education money to follow students could take funding from schools that are often the largest employers in small towns susceptible to fluctuation in population following the boom-bust cycle of the energy sector. <\/p>\n<p>Proponents of school choice, however, argue that parents, not the government, should be the primary decision-makers when it comes to the education of their children. Highlighted by school closures during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the revelation that schools were teaching children left-wing ideologies such as critical race theory and queer theory, those in support of school choice say parents need to be afforded the opportunity to remove their children from public schools and send them elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Rural Republicans and Democrats have normally worked together on these kinds of initiatives, and some believe voucher programs can add to teacher shortages and budget deficits because of how the monetary allocation is restructured.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats believe if they flip three seats, they will have enough to defeat the voucher program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to elect about three more Democrats to the Texas House to defeat vouchers and defend our neighborhood public schools,\u201d Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2024\/06\/13\/texas-democrats-house-election-vouchers-public-education\/#:~:text=Texas%20Democrats%20are%20zeroing%20in,Abbott's%20signature%20school%20voucher%20policy.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>according<\/a> to the <em>Texas Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>One of the districts being targeted is that of Republican state Rep. John Lujan, who represents an area won by former Democratic Rep. Robert \u201cBeto\u201d O\u2019Rourke when he challenged Abbott for governor in 2022. Last year, one school district in the area had to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressnews.com\/news\/education\/article\/harlandale-school-closure-17862170.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>close<\/a> four <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/seattle-school-board-may-close-around-20-elementary-schools-to-address-104m-deficit\/\" title=\"Seattle School Board considers shutting down approximately 20 elementary schools due to a 4M deficit\">elementary schools due<\/a> to budget matters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe financial crisis schools are facing is due to massive budget deficits, and that\u2019s the inevitable result of elected officials like John Lujan who have been choosing to toe the line with their party rather than stand up for their community,\u201d Kristian Carranza, who opposes school choice and is running against Lujan, told the <em>Tribune<\/em>. She added that \u201cthe No. 1 issue at the door is public education and the voucher fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Texas Republicans have responded by saying anti-voucher Democrats are simply doing the bidding of teachers\u2019 unions, who were a large reason for COVID-19 shutdowns.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesman for Abbott, said \u201cwhen it comes to education, parents matter, and families deserve the ability to choose the best education opportunities for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Democrats want to make their opposition to parental empowerment a central theme of their campaign, good luck,\u201d he continued, adding they are \u201cfighting for teacher unions and their self-serving agenda, instead of the Texans they claim to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Democrats aim to capture state House seats by opposing Governor Greg Abbott&#8217;s school voucher initiative and other GOP education policies. At their El Paso convention, party members criticized Republican plans, particularly the use of taxpayer money for private education, signaling a key campaign issue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2267263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/AP24144662436554-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/AP24144662436554-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2267262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2267263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2267262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2267262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2267262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}