A D.C.- based organization is launching a campaign to support Texas Republicans who voted for school vouchers. However, the campaign does not mention anything about vouchers or the candidate’s party.
According to a report by KERA News, The American Federation for Children, a pro-vouchers organization, began to send mailers supporting Republican candidates just weeks before the November election. The mailers, obtained by Kera, praise the candidates as “champion[s] for children” who “fought for Texas teachers, parents and children.”
These mailers could have been intended to “sway persuadable Democrats and independents, and that would speak to a certain strategy,” according to Southern Methodist University political scientist Matthew Wilson.
The mailers focus on education and highlight the candidate’s record on the issue. For example, one about Rep. Angie Chen Button of Richarson highlighted the Republican “voted for higher pay for teachers, more money for schools, and higher quality schools.”
She did vote for a package that contained the proposals and a voucher-like program. When all Democrats and 21 Republicans voted to strip the voucher-like program from the package, the bill died.
Despite many school districts facing huge shortfalls because the state funding has remained stagnant since 2019, Abbott has said he would not sign any measure giving schools more funding without a voucher program attached to it.
Many critics argue a voucher program would further defund public schools, especially in rural areas. However, Button said she voted for the measure because it was “complementary to the school system.”
Zeph Capo, president of the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers criticized the mailers for not mentioning the Republicans’ support for vouchers.
“Is anyone surprised that they would flat out lie in writing?” he said. “I’m certainly not.”
He also pointed out that AFC founder, Betsy DeVos of Michigan, was education secretary in the Trump administration and that billionaire Jeff Yass from Pennsylvania has given $10 million to Abbott in two years to support vouchers.
“What the hell does somebody from Michigan or Pennsylvania have business telling us how to run our policies and run our school systems in the state of Texas?” he asked. “You know, go deal with their own states.”
Button’s Democratic opponent, Averie Bishop also criticized the mailers.
“It is terrible that constituents are going to receive these pieces of mail and not understand the importance and weight of this school voucher conflict that we’re experiencing here in Texas,” she said.
AFC has poured millions in Texas to advocate for vouchers or support Republicans who have vouchers as a priority in their agenda. According to an investigation by Open Secrets, AFC spent $2 million in Republican primaries opposing six GOP incumbents who voted against Gov. Greg Abbott’s voucher-like program. All six incumbents lost their primary.
