Texas Observer highlights AIM activism in reporting on political showdown over education
October 11, 2023
ABBOTT DEMANDS VOUCHERS—OR ELSE
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has called lawmakers back to a special legislative session starting this coming Monday, October 9. His message to them: Pass school vouchers—or else.
“There’s an easy way to get it done, and there’s a hard way,” Abbott said during a September 19 tele-town hall. “If we do not win in that first special session, we will have another special special session and we’ll come back again. And then if we don’t win that time … We will have everything teed up in a way where we will be giving voters in a primary a choice.”
From bullying legislators to “co-opting” churches and religious services, Abbott “wants to force a voucher at all costs,” said Patty Quinzi, legislative director of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. Pulling the purse strings of Abbott’s voucher campaign are a handful of billionaires who have invested millions to weaponize far-right culture war propaganda to fund what the governor has branded as “school choice” for parents.
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On Saturday, public school advocates will hold a “Boot Vouchers Rally” in front of the state capitol at noon.
Meanwhile, voucher proponents like the national group Accuracy in Media, whose president Adam Guillette founded the Florida chapter of the Koch brothers Americans for Prosperity, are already making good on Abbott’s threats to go after Republican representatives who have not espoused support for universal vouchers.