Today is the Day!
Friend,
Today is the day. Victory is within reach. Education Freedom is on the horizon. It’s a great day to be a Texan!
All your hard work fighting in the trenches for the nearly 6 million Texas children culminates today as the Legislature convenes to finish what we started. Education Savings Accounts, for every child who needs access to a better education.
For decades, Texas parents’ pleas for a better education for their children have fallen on deaf ears. The educrats and teachers’ unions wrongly thought we would fatigue if they just drowned us out with propaganda funded by a bottomless pit of your tax dollars, then they shifted to spreading lies and fear—accusing us of being “domestic terrorists,” “drug addicts and alcoholics” or without the “capacity to make decisions for our kids.”
But, mom and dad, we locked arms and fought together, for our children and the millions of children left to flail in a system that doesn’t serve them. Because we stood together and had the audacity to question the status quo, that prioritizes lining the pockets of Educrat Profiteers with billions in taxpayer money, while simultaneously blocking our children from the education that is best for them.
We all know that giving parents transparency into their child’s education, the respect parents deserve as the top decision maker for their kids and the choice and control over their child’s education works across the country. Parents want what’s best for their child and providing that choice to parents in Florida, Arizona, Indiana and other states has taken these states’ education systems to the top of the national rankings.
Unions and Educrats know that if school choice passes this special session, they’ve lost their taxpayer funded gravy train, and most importantly, lost control of your children. Because not “if” but “when” it passes, they know the rest of Texas parents will be exposed to the reality we’ve been preaching; that parents, students, and yes, even public schools, stand to benefit from ESAs.
It’s clear as day, y’all. Opposition has lost the policy argument; they’ve lost the court of public opinion; and they’re even losing the support of lawmakers they’ve relied on to keep killing legislation that allows parents to customize their child’s education to fit their unique needs.
They say that the only enemy more dangerous than one with unlimited resources is one with nothing to lose, so the unions, school boards, and educrats are pulling out all the stops to make you feel trapped and devoid of hope. They want you to feel like your voice doesn’t matter—that school choice was dead before this special session even started.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret your opponents don’t want you to know. Governor Abbott hears you—and he’s made it clear he is ready to do whatever it takes to make sure the Legislature hears you, too. In his words, “Mom and dad are in charge!"
Winston Churchill once said “It was the nation and the race dwelling all-round the globe that had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.”
Moms and Dads—now is the time to give it everything we’ve got and make our voices heard. I’ve spent the better part of the year crisscrossing the great state of Texas with our Governor, talking to parents, community leaders, and students, and I can assure you Governor Abbott is giving this everything he’s got. But he needs the heart of the lion, and that’s you – moms and dads roaring with no plans to back down.
As our lawmakers make their way to their desks in the capitol to fight the single most important battle of their time, the Parent Empowerment Coalition has assembled all the intellectual ammunition you need to be successful on txparentsmatter.com. We created this resource for y’all to be the most prepared advocates for parental control and choice for your child’s education, all the way down to providing tools to directly contact your legislators.
Let’s finish what we started!
Mandy Drogin
Texas Public Policy Foundation