Texas: Trouble is Rep. Martinez Fischer Talks About School Choice Vouchers

Austin, Texas – This week on “Texas: The Trouble Is,” the debate about school vouchers continues at the Texas State Capitol.

The idea has gone by various names, including school choice and parental rights, and was recently renamed “Education Savings Accounts” by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during his speech to the state.

Rep. Trey Martinez Fisher (D-San Antonio), chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, thinks it’s a bad idea, no matter the name, and not a way to fix what he believes is a flawed education funding formula. Fischer sits down at the negotiating table with FOX 7 Austin’s Rudy Kosky.

READ MORE: Gov. Abbott responds to criticism of school voucher program

TREY MARTINEZ FISCHER: The governor has ideas that he wants to privatize schools and get these vouchers, it will only take money from our schools. By my count, we don’t have much. We are in the red when it comes to public funding for education. So, I will give you a good example. Two years ago, we fully agreed on $47 billion for public schools. And this time for this budget, that figure is now 38 billion. We are just emerging from the pandemic. We have crazy inflation. Eggs are $6 a dozen, and we’re taking $9 billion out of public education and claiming to fund it entirely. It doesn’t suit me. This does not apply to the people I represent. And so, before we start talking about any scams or schemes to take money out of our public schools, I want to make sure that we are actually doing the right thing with our teachers, our children and our families and making investments to fully fund public education.

RUDI KOSKI: Why can’t parents use their taxes and invest in the school they want their children to go to?

TREY MARTINEZ FISCHER: Well, I don’t hear talk about not having a car. Give me back my money for anything you spend on roads or, hey, you know, by the way, I don’t go to parks. I don’t like parks. Just give me back my money. We don’t do menu budgeting in Texas. We are all for one Texas, one community, one state. We are big. 254 counties, 31 million people. We can’t write a budget that takes into account wants and needs and individual elements that people think are worth investing in. We invest in our entire state.

READ MORE: School voucher debate continues in Texas

RUDI KOSKI: The state was sued a few years ago over an education funding formula and is still trying to get money for schools. So now is not the time to talk about vouchers.

TREY MARTINEZ FISCHER: You and I have been here for a long time. We were here when $5.4 billion left the school system. And some say that this money never returned in full. After the pandemic, we did not invest real resources in education. So listen, let’s face it, I’m not going to have a debate about taking more money out of schools when we have an approved budget that has already taken $9 billion out of it.

RUDI KOSKI: When you say fully funded, what does that mean?

TREY MARTINEZ FISCHER: Certainly. I think that — I think we look across the country and see what the average cost of educating people in this country is. I think Texas is at the bottom. Right. So I think we need to look at our core spending and adjust those dollars for inflation. But we still use the same metrics to invest in our schools. In our business, we wouldn’t do that. We certainly wouldn’t do that by investing in our home. Our most valuable quality is the desire to work, to be pragmatic, to roll up our sleeves and to be realistic. But this session, more than any other, we have a seat at the table, and we have a few extra chairs.

READ MORE: Texas AFT Reveals Legislative Priorities to Retain Teachers, Help Students

RUDI KOSKI: IAs far as the Democratic Party’s reaction to the state of the state, you seemed to open the door to some voucher negotiations. Is there room for some give and take?

TREY MARTINEZ FISCHER: I’ll say it. I would say there is nothing to talk about until we find our schools, until we have commitment from our public schools. I said this too. We have $59 billion in our checking and savings account. And I swear on my life, if these great ideas are so great, why would the governor decide to deduct this money from an existing obligation when we have new revenues that are left out? So for me, it tells me it’s more about vouchers and savings accounts, it’s more about potential harm to schools. And I think when it comes down to it, we have to be on our guard all the time and we need to know those details. And our work is quite fundamental. And you walk around this building, schoolchildren, they don’t have a lobbyist here. They have no particular interest, you know, knocking on our doors. We are their voice. And we are here to do our job.