THE DESTRUCTION OF TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Texas public schools are under attack by far-right activists and wealthy donors who have bought many Texas legislators, including Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott. They aim to channel public school funding to charter schools, preferably evangelical, faith-based ones. For the past few years, those with this agenda have been disrupting school board meetings and running candidates to serve on those boards who share their beliefs. They are also actively calling for banning books about anything not agreeing with their extreme religious-based, conservative agenda (race, sexual orientation, etc.) Millions of dollars are poured into these supposedly "non-partisan" elections.

One of the main reasons I moved from Llano County to Austin was the movement to ban books from Llano County's public libraries. This same group,  leaders of the Llano County Republican Party, caused a significant disturbance in trying to oust the Horseshoe Bay Property Owners Association Board on which I served. They objected to our implementation of the Governor's guidelines on dealing with the pandemic, but more importantly, they didn't want a Democrat to serve on the non-partisan POA board. 

After learning that several church members asked the minister of the non-denominational church I belonged to why I was a member since I was an 'evil' Democrat, I had enough of living in a toxic environment. Before I moved, one of the church board members sent me a text with a picture of two boys engaging in oral sex. She wanted to know if that's the kind of book I wanted in our libraries. Of course, my response was that I wondered if she and her buddies were getting off on the picture. I also reported her to the police for sending unsolicited pornographic images. Unfortunately, she wasn't charged because the pictures were illustrations, not photos. Too bad.

I'm not entirely innocent, as I raised money for ads in local newspapers against book banning. I also raised money for the school board campaign of someone running against a candidate who supported Charter Schools and book banning. She won the race, but her opponent was appointed to the school board when she moved across the state.

This month's Texas Monthly issue contains an excellent and well-researched article by Mimi Swartz entitled "The Campaign to Sabotage Public School" about the movement against Texas public schools and the disruption to school districts, teachers, and school boards by people who do not have our children's or our schools' best interests. When you have people second-guessing what you're teaching and have to endure angry parents daily, plus worry about someone armed with an automatic weapon entering your classroom, it's no wonder they are leaving. 

Rural school districts will suffer the most if public school funding is transferred to Charter schools. Charter schools have no oversight, which means their brand of education will be highly suspect.

We will all suffer in the long run. Book banning and the takeover of public institutions are the beginning of the end of our democracy.



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