East Texas superintendents, board members question school voucher plan

TYLER — Area superintendents and school board members gathered Wednesday in Tyler to share their thoughts on the school voucher plan being discussed at the state capitol. That’s according to a Tyler ISD news release. “East Texas, particularly in Smith County, has always enjoyed a special and cordial relationship among the different school options that have existed successfully over the past 50+ years,” Tyler ISD Superintendent Dr. Marty Crawford said. “Educational independence and relationships already exist as a foundation for daily life. And yet, instead of building upon those partnerships, we see attacks at that collaboration when competitive teacher salaries in alignment with other professions should be the focus of any statewide political campaign tour.”

Tyler ISD Board President Wade Washmon spoke on behalf of the Board, sharing his thoughts. “The state government is offering to use public dollars to outright fund Christian schools through vouchers,” Washmon said. “How does that work? Sounds like a conflict of interest. If that’s an option, why not just allow Tyler ISD to have a Christian choice school that is measured by the same educational standards as all other public schools?” Also offering comments were superintendents from the Arp, Bullard, Chapel Hill, Lindale, and Whitehouse, ISDs.

According to our news partner KETK, Gov. Greg Abbott is fully backing school choice this year and will be in Tyler Thursday to attend a parent empowerment night at Grace Community School. Click this link for more details on that event. “We must reform curriculum, get kids back to the basics of learning and we must empower parents to be more involved in the education of their children,” Abbott said at a similar event in Corpus Christi.