Whatever the political gimmick, Gov. Abbott doesn’t listen to educators
Gov. Greg Abbott trotted out another campaign gimmick this week. This one is called the Texas Classroom Commission.
The governor said the commission, also endorsed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Speaker Dustin Burrows, “will bring together exemplary public school educators to identify innovative solutions that help students succeed, improve the learning environment in classrooms and strengthen our schools.”
Wow. What a load of empty rhetoric.
If Abbott really listened to educators, he wouldn’t have spent most of his time as governor chronically underfunding public schools. And he wouldn’t have rammed through the new voucher law that soon will be diverting billions of tax dollars from public to private schools.
Yes, Abbott and his legislative allies added several billion dollars to the public education budget last year, and they like to brag about it. But it was the first noticeable increase in six years, wasn’t even enough to cover inflationary losses and many school districts are still closing schools and taking other steps to deal with deficits.
The Texas Classroom Commission is a political gimmick that Abbott believes is necessary because he is facing a reelection challenge from a real public school advocate. State Rep. Gina Hinojosa has been fighting for more school funding for years and, if elected, will deliver. She listens to educators and will continue listening to educators. Unlike Abbott, she also respects educators.
Abbott has appointed education study groups before. In 2022, the last year he was on the ballot, he created the Teacher Vacancy Task Force. That study produced House Bill 1605, which the Legislature enacted in 2023.
That law opened the door to Commissioner Mike Morath and the Texas Education Agency creating the controversial, but optional Bluebonnet Curriculum with its numerous biblical passages that don’t belong in public schools. That same law also called for mandatory classroom reading lists that the State Board of Education approved last month. These lists also include biblical stories proposed by TEA.
Both the Bluebonnet Curriculum and the reading lists have created controversy over putting religion into public schools. But they have done nothing to address one of the biggest concerns of educators — more funding for Texas’ deficit-plagued public schools.
Teachers and other educators are an afterthought for Abbott, people to court during campaign season, then ignore.
