Initiative Council Trying To Backdoor School Vouchers

Is the Texas High School Completion and Success Initiative Council trying to backdoor school vouchers into the landscape of public school education in Texas? It would appear that such an attempt was made, but has now been nixed (although the door may not be completely shut on the idea):

A special state committee on high school dropouts on Tuesday appeared to nix the idea of a private school voucher program for those students, but left open the possibility of the state contracting with private firms to help dropouts complete their education.

Before adopting its long-range plan to reduce the dropout rate and improve the college and workforce readiness of high school graduates in Texas, the nine-member state panel reacted to widespread criticism from education groups that it was opening the door to a limited voucher program.

Of course, as the Dallas Morning News noted in the story above, the Council couldn’t constitutionally do this without the Legislature’s approval anyway. And, we know that’s very doubtful.

Of course, that the Council didn’t specifically shut the door on vouchers 100 percent is bad news:

The Texas Freedom Network, which has fought school vouchers, said after Tuesday’s meeting that the council erred by not specifically ruling out vouchers as an option for student dropouts.

“They left the door open for the [education] commissioner to use a bureaucratic process to sneak through a voucher scheme that the Legislature won’t pass and parents don’t want,” said Kathy Miller of the freedom network.

Leave it to voucher advocates to try and find an opening any place they can.

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