Tuesday, November 20, 2012

State Sen. Dan Patrick Supports School Choice Bill Again in 2013 Texas Legislature

From Big Jolly Politics (David Jennings):

Support Sen. Dan Patrick’s quest for school choice

If Sen. Dan Patrick wasn’t already the target of the left in Texas, his advocacy for allowing parents and students to have more choices in public education will certainly put him in the crosshairs. Thankfully, he has Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on his side but this will still be a hard battle to win. Hopefully, facts will win the day and the ultimate fate of school choice will not hinge on emotions. In that light, here are a couple of resources from pro-school-choice groups.
The first is a policy paper from the Orthodox Union, an educational, outreach and social service organization which serves the North American Jewish community. This is the group that sponsored the Rally for Tuition Affordability that Sen. Dan Patrick spoke at last week. They passed out copies of their Orthodox Union Position Paper on Government Aid to Jewish Day Schools, which includes a short section on why they support choice, a discussion of the constitutionality of school choice, and a few specific policies that they support. A quick outline of the paper:
  • Reasons to support:
    • Economic fairness
    • Benefits the educational system by adding competition
    • Social justice
  • Constitutionality
    • Federal
    • State
    • Tax incentives and constitutional issues
  • Specific Policies Supported
    • Security Grants
    • Reimbursement for Government-imposed mandates
    • Special education services
    • In-Kind support (healthcare, textbooks, technology)
    • Free transportation for all students
    • Energy efficiency rebates and grants
    • Tuition Tax Credits
    • Tax credits for donations to scholarship organizations
    • Education vouchers

read the rest of the article here: http://blog.chron.com/bigjolly/2012/11/support-sen-dan-patricks-quest-for-school-choice/

2 comments:

  1. David,

    Thanks for all of your newsletters. They help me summarize all that is happening in Austin.

    Regarding proposed Texas school vouchers…..
    #1:
    I AM OPPOSED TO PUBLIC FUNDING OF PRIVATE K-12 CAMPUSES, FROM THE STATE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
    http://89erpride.com/2012/11/questions-and-concerns-on-private-school-vouchers/#more-104

    #2:
    The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America has Socialist/Communist goals. One only needs to read the article you mention in your blog:
    http://advocacy.ou.org/2012/orthodox-union-position-paper-on-government-aid-to-jewish-day-schools/ . Here’s just one cut & paste:

    "Social Justice"...."The Orthodox Union supports government policies that support school choice on the basis of social justice principles. The Jewish commitment to social justice leads to broad Jewish support for state subsidies for a basket of basic necessities including food (ie: food stamps), housing (ie: Section 8 vouchers) and medical care (ie: Medicare, Medicaid and other aspects of the ACA) through programs that allow the recipient to select the products or services most suitable to them – and spend state funds to purchase them. In the view of the Orthodox Union, education is as critical a basic necessity as any of these and thus warrants state support in a form that also allows the recipient to use the funds in a format which best addresses his or her needs."

    I’m sure Sen. Dan Patrick has good intentions but this paper by the OU should shed light on the goals of many who are pushing for “equality” in educational opportunities.

    Best regards,
    Barbara Harless

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  2. I am a fan of some kind of school choice, but I had no idea about what the Orthodox Union was about. Doesn't sound good... thanks for the insight!

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