On May 17, 1954, the unanimous ruling of Brown v. Board of Education marked a civil rights milestone when it deemed the race-based separation of children in public schools unconstitutional. “Separate but equal” was no more. But even before Brown v. Board overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, “separate but equal” was a fallacy, and everyone in the South knew it.
As a Black child in the 1950s, I attended five different Black public schools in Texas, and it didn’t take me long to face the hard reality of my schooling — the state didn’t care about people who looked like me.
The level of disregard the Texas government had toward Black segregated public schools was tangible. It was in the worn pages of the secondhand textbooks we touched and the dilapidated halls we walked through each day. My teachers at the segregated schools were trained under the same unequal system that plagued my education, and the learning gaps became even more pronounced when I attended my first integrated school in 1962.
San Marcos High School was a rude awakening. I went from being at the top of my class in those Black schools to just trying to stay in the class at San Marcos. My previous education couldn’t compare to a school that had been better funded and systemically favored for decades.
It is because of my experience that I am adamantly opposed to school vouchers. Vouchers will worsen the wealth gaps that already exist in Texas schools. Following Brown v. Board of Education, lawmakers first spoke about vouchers and set up voucher programs that were used to close down public school systems altogether, rather than desegregate. Vouchers have always been a tool to dismantle educational equity and reinstate segregation. If that sounds outlandish, just take a look at how school vouchers have been previously used.
Edgewood Independent School District’s experience with private school vouchers is a saddening example of a perfectly good school system that had its funding and resources stolen from it under the guise of ‘school choice.’ In 1993, an increase to Edgewood’s budget through the “Robin Hood” decision allowed the district to hire new teachers and buy high-quality materials, vastly improving the district. When school vouchers were introduced to Edgewood, all of that changed. Edgewood’s voucher system cost more than $75 million in its first seven years and led to a 15% drop in enrollment. The district was left to make up for the loss of its funding — an appalling demonstration of the state’s exacerbation of inequitable education systems.
Today, Gov. Greg Abbott is focusing on the narrative of “parent empowerment.” But I have to ask, what is empowering about a voucher program that only the middle or upper class can afford? What is empowering about putting public tax dollars toward a limited, unregulated, private education that is open to so few?
The original version of Senate Bill 8, currently being considered by state legislators, centered around education savings accounts made up of state funds for Texas families to use toward private education. The latest version of the bill significantly restricts eligibility and the governor has threatened to veto it and call legislators back for special sessions if they don’t “expand the scope of school choice.”
Vouchers don’t belong in Texas, and we should not be discussing anything that will result in our tax dollars leaving our already underfunded public schools.
While we have a teacher shortage, a weakening education system and children falling through the cracks, it is an egregious thought to subsidize private schools for the wealthy instead of focusing on funding public education. If we truly want to ensure equitable education, our public schools should be the singular focus. We need a significant increase in the basic allotment, wraparound services like tutoring and counseling, and other supports that would strengthen those schools and make them safe, welcoming, high-quality learning environments for all children, not just a few.
Vouchers will drain funding from public schools. We’ve already seen it happen in Texas with Edgewood ISD and in other states. We will once again have two separate but unequal systems. While they may not be divided on the basis of race alone, the consequences will be the same. The system will favor the people whose financial wealth allows them to thrive and use vouchers as an easy coupon. Meanwhile, the people who can’t afford such luxuries are left behind in the underfunded public schools to suffer. It’s a reality I’ve lived and one I never want another Texas child to suffer through.
