> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Vouchers are expected to pass through the Senate on Wednesday - URL: https://bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io/vouchers-are-expected-to-pass-through/ - Published: 2025-02-05T01:19:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-07T22:48:19.000Z - Description: Don't just sit there, DO something. - Author: Sara Cress - Tags: Newsletter, #Migrated-1794091451356, #Import 2026-11-07 22:47 In the depths of another hell summer in Texas last year, I started leaning into gratitude and looking for beauty in the world around me as a daily practice. I think it’s important for everyone to try this and see what sticks, because we are in the midst of horrors we can’t really grasp. The full picture has yet to be revealed, but we’re panicked already. And as an expert in panic, let me assure you that it’s not sustainable. ![Do you have that photo of the crying kitten in bed that looks like its watching something/texting on a phone? I tried looking... – @cursedcatimages on Tumblr](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/51/6d51d957-e70d-452f-8661-3823af319edd/content/images/2026/11/34a9b2f1-5f0f-48b8-9e47-69822e38e445_540x406-jpeg-1.jpg) Live look at me, every damn day. So, every newsletter I will end with whatever I’m grateful for that day. Just a little something to get you through, and if you want to add your own in the comments, that’s just fine with me. --- School vouchers will be discussed on Wednesday in the Senate, so I’ll be watching the livestream tomorrow at noon when they reconvene. My state Senator Molly Cook breaks down why she is voting no: Meanwhile, Republicans are pretty lockstep with the governor this year after he spooked them all by getting 11 of their anti-voucher peers in the House replaced by pro-voucher toadies. From the [Texas Tribune today](https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/04/abbott-power-texas-governor/?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io): > The state’s Legislature – which has been dominated by Republicans for 22 years – has been mostly supportive of Abbott in the past, backing him on his priority issues like immigration, barring cities from cutting police budgets and cutting property taxes. > > But after Abbott followed through on his threat of targeting Republicans who crossed him on school vouchers, the little resistance there was to Abbott from GOP members in the legislative branch is all but gone. > > Rep. [Tom Oliverson](https://www.texastribune.org/directory/tom-oliverson/?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io), a Cypress Republican who leads the House GOP Caucus, said its members are in near perfect alignment with the governor. > > “The caucus is relatively, uniformly pro-governor,” he said. Yeah, no shit. Republicans across the country have learned their lesson: you don’t cross the billionaire(s) in charge. --- So, what can you do at this point? Here is a useful script for calling your state Senator to ask for changes to the bill (who is your state Senator? Find out here: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home): [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/51/6d51d957-e70d-452f-8661-3823af319edd/content/images/2026/11/dbff7db8-eb54-4104-8bc7-287e8ff8f94d_800x1000-jpeg.jpg)](https://bsky.app/profile/howdypolitics.bsky.social/post/3lhf2p76yf22h?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io) When it passes the Senate, it’s time to take to every megaphone you have at your disposal. Your social channels. Your text chains. Your neighborhood forums. This isn’t over — the House still needs to approve the bill, the details of which still negotiable — and it’s time you talk to everyone you know about what is happening. From the [Texas Observer](https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-defund-demonize-privatize-public-schools/?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io): > The dance goes like this. Step one: Withhold much-needed public school funding for students and teachers. Through a regular session and four special sessions in 2023, lawmakers failed to pass additional public school funding. Now, school districts are left with budget shortfalls due to federal COVID-19 relief dollars drying up, unfunded state mandates, and fluctuating enrollment that results in less funding. > > Step two: Pass policies that restrict students’ access to enriching curricula and impose unfunded mandates, while characterizing public schools as “failing.” Over the past 15 years, lawmakers cut giant holes in education budgets (from which we still haven’t recovered), [**reduced the rigor of college readiness coursework**](http://www.idra.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Ready-Texas-A-Study-of-the-Implementation-of-HB5-in-Texas-and-Implications-for-College-Readiness-by-IDRA-May-2018.pdf?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io) that students needed to graduate, and [**passed censorship policies**](https://www.idra.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/What-Texas-Classroom-Censorship-Law-Means-for-Students-and-Schools-IDRA-2022.pdf?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io) that restrict students’ reading and learning opportunities. > > Step three: Make deals with well-funded special interest groups to divert public education dollars to private institutions without public oversight and against public outcry. Hundreds of parents, grandparents, students, and other community members showed up to testify in front of lawmakers against private school vouchers throughout the 2023 legislative sessions—and again just last week in the Texas Senate. About 90 percent of Texas students attend public schools. Private school vouchers in other states often go to students who already attended private schools, meaning they become subsidies for families who had already decided to pay for private school, at the expense of public schools that must serve all students. For example, [**in Arkansas**](https://arkansasadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/EFA-Transparency-Report.pdf?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io), 95 percent of voucher recipients never attended public school before receiving a voucher. After [**Florida expanded its voucher program**](https://www.cfpublic.org/education/2023-09-14/florida-policy-institute-school-voucher-data-step-up-for-students?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io) in 2023, only 13 percent of new participants had previously attended a public school, and 44 percent of new participants came from families that earned more than $120,000 for a household of four or did not submit income. School vouchers are absolute bullshit policy. Period. --- So what’s good today? You gotta love Rep. Lauren Simmons introducing a resolution to honor hometown hero Beyoncé on her Grammy wins last weekend. Click for the video of her speech. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/51/6d51d957-e70d-452f-8661-3823af319edd/content/images/2026/11/a485239f-e3bb-4e4c-8946-ec66aa8eefb5_579x463.png)](https://x.com/madkisonews/status/1886890900040900829?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io) Listen, Beyoncé wouldn’t be who she is today without Texas public schools and growing up in our vibrant, diverse, shared city. Asking the Texas legislature to acknowledge that is worth doing. --- Three Good Things: 1. I saw a friend today who I haven’t seen in probably 20+ years. I gave him an old digital piano I don’t need. His teenage son is in a band and the keyboard player has been playing on a small keyboard. Well, now she has a giant ‘90s monster that was given to me a few years ago by a guy teaching banjo lessons in a repair shop. I told him I’d lost my family’s piano during Hurricane Harvey and during our next (and last, I’m afraid) lesson, he hoisted this giant old thing and told me to open my car trunk. Anyway, music and charity go on and on forever and the piano will continue to play. 2. This [Evil MoPac Venn diagram](https://bsky.app/profile/evilmopacatx.bsky.social?ref=bayou-city-sludge.ghost.io) made me laugh: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/51/6d51d957-e70d-452f-8661-3823af319edd/content/images/2026/11/166b6213-49dc-4b2a-bd58-fe99fd955023_505x499-jpeg.jpg) 1. Our neighbor Sharon trapped one of the stray male cats who has been catting around our house and got him fixed today! She said she wasn’t even planning on it today, but he was being so friendly this morning that she said, “you’re going in today, sir” and did the dang thing. You gotta seize every moment, friends. Thanks for reading Bayou City Sludge! This post is public so feel free to share it.