February 19, 2020

Do Teachers’ Unions Put Kids First?

In President Trump’s recent State of the Union speech, he encouraged Congress to support Senator Ted Cruz’s educational choice legislation that would give children and parents more options for education.

Wouldn’t more options for families to educate their kids be best for children?

While it may seem like an obvious proposition, in the space of one week I saw two examples that made me question whether or not teachers’ unions really prioritize children as they claim.

A news outlet that reported on Senator Cruz’s legislation had two interesting quotes that drew my attention. One was, of course, a comment from our organization, “The Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) also supports the legislation, stating, ‘Senator Cruz has always been a champion for homeschooling and education freedom. His Education Freedom Scholarship plan would empower families to partner with private businesses to get funding for their child’s education. It’s hard to see why anyone would oppose something so common-sense.’”

The other comment was from a lobbyist for a Texas teachers’ union in which he said, “I think most legislators in Texas have gotten the message that parents don’t want a dollar-off coupon to a private school across town. They want their neighborhood schools to be the best they can be, and that means giving resources to schools so they can be the best they can be.”

However, polls show a strong majority of support in Texas for educational choice measures. The teachers’ union’s comment also implies that more funding leads to better schools. But, if the measurement is student performance, schools do not improve with more funding.

The Houston Federation of Teachers, another teachers’ union, has filed a lawsuit to prevent the Texas Education Agency from taking over a failing school in need of help. The union is opposing the state representative in the area because he supported the legislation making that possible.

When asked about the issue, State Representative Dutton said, “I stand by it totally. I just couldn’t in good faith sit there and do nothing while these students linger in the education toilet. HISD, like most school districts, could have taken the opportunity to fix the schools. That’s what could have happened and should have happened, but didn’t happen.”

“When people ask me, is it going to be better if the state takes over, I tell them, I don’t know,” Dutton said. “But what I do know is this: if they stay where they are, we’re going to get more of what we’ve been getting, and we can’t have that anymore.”

Sounds like State Representative Dutton is the one who cares about children and the Houston Federation of Teachers is just a union who cares about power. We need officials who will stand up to unions and do what’s best for children and families.

THSC works tirelessly, Keeping Texas Families Free. Won’t you join us and assist us in ensuring families across the state are free to educate their children as they see fit?

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February 5, 2020

Elect Good Judges To Prevent CPS Abuse

As we continue to pray for the Pardo family and healing from the very traumatic taking of their 4-year-old special needs son, Drake, we are all asking the same question: “How do we prevent this kind of CPS abuse of innocent children and families?”

THSC has been working on legislation that would address CPS abuse of children and families for years and we are working to bring that back to the Texas Legislature the next time it’s in session.

However, a big part of the problem that results in CPS abuse of children and families resides in the Texas Judiciary. While CPS officials abused the Pardo family by violating the law as they admitted under oath, it was judges in Kaufman County that allowed it to happen.

Judge Michael Chitty presided over the adversary hearing two weeks after Drake was removed. At this hearing, CPS was required to present evidence of abuse or neglect to support the taking of the child. The law requires that the child be returned if the evidence is not sufficient.

In spite of the lack of evidence, Judge Chitty supported CPS’ request to keep Drake in their custody for up to a year. The Supreme Court of Texas later reversed Judge Chitty’s order and forced CPS to return Drake to his family because they did not prove he was in danger.

The job of a judge is to render justice after hearing the facts based on the law. Too many judges simply ignore the law and allow CPS full control.

In the final hearing, Judge Gray, the second judge involved in the case, stated that the only reason she was dismissing the case was because CPS was asking her to do so. This is indicative of the problem that families in Texas face. Too many judges who campaign on upholding the law simply acquiesce to all CPS requests in spite of the law.

In Texas, we elect our judges and it is critical to our efforts to defend the children and families of Texas to make sure we elect judges who will follow the law and not simply grant CPS every request.

Make sure you are registered to vote! Please sign up for THSC emails related to our upcoming endorsements of Texas judges … and help us continue Keeping Texas Families Free!

Read the rest of The Family Freedom Caller, including Tim’s Weekly Tweets