Out-of-state billionaires are hoping to swing some competitive Texas House races to pass vouchers, but you would never know it from the mailers they are sending out.
Quorum Report’s Scott Braddock reports that mailers sent to constituents of Reps. Caroline Harris of Williamson County and Angie Chen Button of Richardson by the American Federation of Children completely omit the fact they were sent on behalf of a pro-school voucher organization. Instead, they emphasize how Harris and Button support “higher pay for teachers, more money for schools, and higher quality schools for children.”
This is ironic considering that many school districts are struggling financially at the moment due to Governor Greg Abbott withholding any increase in funding until he gets his way on school vouchers. His plan to institute misnamed education savings accounts died in the House last year when rural Republicans teamed with Democrats to defeat it.
Their opposition is mirrored in their constituents. Over a hundred people gave testimony about the effect of using taxpayer dollars to fund tuition to private schools, most of which are wealthy Christian learning academies in urban and suburban districts. Not one person identifying as being from a rural area supported the idea.
The obfuscation of the mailers helps hide another inconvenient fact for Texas Republicans that much of the funding for this war on public schools comes from outside the state. American Federation for Children was founded by Betsy DeVos, former Secretary for Education during the Trump Administration. During her tenure, she helped launch a nationwide push for school vouchers that has consistently funneled money into the hands of wealthy religious institutions at the expense of public schools.
Joining her in the funding is Jeff Yass, the Pennsylvania billionaire trader. Pushing vouchers has been his primary political goal over the last election cycle, and he is the largest single donor to Governor Greg Abbott’s war chest.
“It won’t be long before we will yearn for the days of our homegrown West Texas lunatic billionaires around here,” said a seasoned GOP operative to Braddock, talking about the school voucher campaign cash from out of state.
Abbott has already declared victory in the 2025 legislative session for his voucher plan. Enough of his hand-picked Republican primary challengers succeeded in ousting incumbents that he has a narrow majority of pro-voucher Republicans heading into next January.
However, there is still the general election to win. The fact that American Federation for Children is pumping money into Williamson and Richardson Counties shows that they might not be as sure of their success as they were following the primaries.
One factor is the ascension of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic Presidential ticket. Her nomination has brought a wave of enthusiasm for the Democrats that could spill into the state races and benefit candidates down the chain.
Meanwhile, voucher proponents are doing their best to hide their intention to completely change the way Texas schools work, a move that has consistently drained struggling schools in the rest of the country already.
