John Raney is one of the legislators who stood up to Greg Abbott’s voucher demands in Texas.
In November, during the fourth called special session, I offered an amendment to strike education savings accounts, also known as vouchers, from House Bill 1, the education bill. My amendment passed on a vote of 84-63. I am proud of the voucher stance 20 of my Republican colleagues and I took despite the intense pressure from our own political party. We stood strong and voted our districts.
I am by no means a public education expert, but I believe in my heart that using taxpayer dollars to fund an entitlement program is not conservative and is bad public policy.
Under the voucher provision of House Bill 1, the actual biennial cost to the state’s next biennium would have been as high as $7.3 billion just to provide $10,500 for each current private school student and $1,000 to each current homeschool student. Having served four terms on the House Committee on Appropriations, I can assure you, if ever vouchers pass, the Legislature will have no choice but to raise taxes. We can also kiss goodbye the notion of a reduction or elimination of school property taxes.
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