False Choice

BY MICHAEL KARLIS

Last week, Senate Bill 8, a proposal that would let Lone Star State families use taxpayer money to send their kids to private school, made it out of the Texas Senate’s Education Committee, clearing it for a vote by the full body.

Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has crisscrossed the state in recent weeks isell the idea that the bill — which faces a far rockier road in the House — would let Texas parents choose how to best educate their kids.

However, education experts said Abbott’s promises are misleading at best. SB 8 will likely lead to lower test scores, a deterioration of public schools and a rise in non-accredited private ones, they argue.

For all of the Republican governor’s suggestions that middle-class and lower-income Texans would be able to afford elite educations for their kids, critics say that’s far from the truth.

Few additional San Antonio families would be able to send their kids off to Central Catholic High School, for example, experts said, noting that instead they’re far more likely to end up at ill-equipped and underfunded campuses that pop up in the wake of the bill’s passage.

“It’s not the elite private schools that are doing really well and have endowments and are propped up by a Catholic Church diocese or wealthy alumni and have waiting lists,” said Michigan State University education policy professor Joshua Cowen, who’s spent years studying vouchers across the country. “Those are not the schools that participate in school voucher programs. They don’t want anything to do with it.”

If passed, SB 8 would provide parents who pull their children out of public school an $8,000 annual check, known as an “educational savings account.” That money could fund tuition at a private school or help cover homeschooling expenses. Families with kids already enrolled in private school or being homeschooled won’t be eligible.

Advocates for SB 8 argue that vouchers will increase the competitiveness of Texas’ public schools, forcing them to cut what conservatives characterize as bloated school district bureaucracies.

However, Cowen warns he program being pushed by Abbott would slash funding for existing public schools fwhile failing to deliver on the school choice that voucher advocates trumpet.

While San Antonio boasts elite private campuses, including Keystone Private School, Texas Military Institute and the aforementioned Central Catholic, Cowen said most residents who tap into the program wouldn’t be able to send their children to any of them.

Instead, if Senate Bill 8 passes, the state is likely to see a gold rush of what Cowen describes as “subprime” or “pop-up” private schools — campuses run out of church basements or established by nonprofits to make money on the side.

Cutting corners

After Wisconsin passed its “school choice” program in 2013, around 120 pop-up private schools appeared — some almost out of thin air — to accept parents’ vouchers. The average shelf life of those campuses was four years, according to Cowen’s research. Some 40% of all private schools in Wisconsin have closed since the state launched its program.

Many of the pop-ups were never accredited, Cowen said. Further, since a large share were set up as money-making ventures, many drastically slashed services to stay open.

“[Every] dollar that gets spent is a dollar out of [the school operator’s] wallet,” he added. “And so, the incentive is to try and save every penny and to cut corners.”

The state of Texas spent, on average, $9,900 per student on education during its 2022 fiscal year, according to the Education Data Initiative. If a private school sets its tuition at $8,000 — the maximum amount of a voucher under SB 8 — that enterprise would be spending less money per student than what public districts already spend.

Combine that lower spending with an incentive to cut corners, and the quality of that education declines considerably, according to Cowen.

What’s more, in states with voucher programs — including Ohio, Indiana and Louisiana — test scores fell dramatically after the measures’ passage, largely due to the substandard education offered by pop-up schools, according to the professor.

“Those impacts on test scores in Louisiana and Ohio had roughly twice the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic did to test scores and about the same size of what Hurricane Katrina did to test scores in Louisiana,” Cowen said.

Harming rural districts

Just as voucher programs tend to diminish education outcomes for participating students, they also pose serious risks students who remain in public schools, especially those in rural districts.

Parents who sent their children to a substandard pop-up school are likely to find the district they left is now struggling financially because public education money was drained to fund vouchers, said Aaron Hood, superintendent of Robert Lee ISD and president of the Texas Association of Rural Schools Districts.

Further, those returning students are likely to bring the baggage of their time at a substandard pop-up back to the public campus.

“Let’s say they’re gone for three-quarters of the school year, but they’re having trouble at their new school — let’s say for behavioral problems — and that school says, ‘We’re no longer taking you,’” Hood hypothesized. “They’re fixing to be wrapped back into the school district that’s mandated to take them back, and that public school is going to be held accountable for their testing scores — and they weren’t even being taught in that school district.”

Hood isn’t alone in his concerns about the financial drain SB 8 would have on the state’s many rural districts. Rural Republicans in the Texas House have spoken loudly and decisively against vouchers.

Most rural Texans live around 20 miles from the nearest private school, meaning even if vouchers pass, they’re not left with many options beyond a public campus. Many parents in those areas recognize that, if vouchers pass, their tax dollars would end up subsidizing the private educations of children who live miles away, Hood said.

Despite Abbott’s effort to paint vouchers as a win for conservative Tex- ans, many rural Republicans oppose the idea. A similar school voucher bill rammed through the Texas Senate in 2017 failed miserably once it reached the House.

The governor’s voucher push also comes amid growing evidence of similar programs failure in other states. So, why is it among his top priorities this legislative session?

Why Now?

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson blames the Republican zeitgeist.

Republican Glenn Youngkin’s surprise victory during Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign energized Republican strategists around the notion that they could win on a platform of fighting “wokeism” in schools. Such parental grievances were exacerbated by school lockdowns and mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think Republicans and conservatives generally saw Youngkin be able to use these education issues to win the governorship in Virginia,” Jillson said. “And a bunch of other Republicans running for statewide offices saw the effectiveness of these parental rights educational opportunity issues and decided to use them themselves, particularly in Florida and Texas.”

Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential contender, signed into law one of the nation’s largest private school voucher expansions. Similar to what’s being proposed in Texas, that measure would award families who pull their kids out of public schools roughly $8,500.

GOP strategists view the passage of voucher bills as ammunition for winning statewide and even national elections, according to Jillson.

“Someone like DeSantis would run for president on their successes in reforming public schools in their state and empowering parents knowing that at least conservative voters liked the idea,” he said.

But Jillson added that Republicans’ fixation with vouchers has more to do with partisan victories than ensuring real educational improvements for parents and students.

“All these school voucher programs talk about parents empowerment,” education scholar Cowen said. “But they ignore the idea that it’s the schools getting the money and making the decision about who they select.”

Notice Of Proposed Action On Application For Conversion Of Base Irrigation Groundwater To Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater

The General Manager of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (“EAA”) proposes to grant applications to convert Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater under § 711.342(c) of the EAA’s Rules. A copy of the applications, the technical summaries, the General Manager’s proposed actions, and the proposed amended regular permits are available for public inspection at the EAA’s offices at 900 E. Quincy Street, San Antonio, Texas Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Electronic copies may also be obtained by request to Jennifer Wong-Esparza at jesparza@edwardsaquifer.org or (210) 222-2204.

The General Manager proposes to approve the following applications to convert Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater under § 711.342(c) of the EAA’s Rules:

LGI Homes - Texas, LLC – Filed application on September 12, 2022. The application seeks to convert 82.146 acre-feet of Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater based on the development of the Historically Irrigated Acres (HIA).

Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust – Filed application on January 31, 2023. The application seeks to convert 18.326 acre-feet of Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater based on the development of the Historically Irrigated Acres (HIA).

The applicants or any other Edwards Aquifer permit holder may file a written request for a contested case hearing on the proposed action with the EAA by no later than May 5, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. in accordance with § 707.603 of the EAA’s Rules. The EAA’s Board of Directors will consider approval of the applications and issuance of the proposed amended regular permits within 60 days of publication of this notice unless a request for contested case hearing is timely filed. If no timely requests for contested case hearing are filed, the applications will be presented to the EAA’s Board on the date of the hearing for final action.

This notice is issued pursuant to § 707.525 of the EAA’s Rules.

ISSUED THIS 5th DAY OF APRIL, 2023

THU | 04.06SUN | 02.25

Art

‘AMY CUTLER: PAST, PRESENT, PROGRESS’

Amy Cutler is known for her surreal paintings, prints and drawings of women engaged in mysterious and magical tasks. However, this exhibition from the New York artist centers on a piece that serves as a three-dimensional representation of what she usually conveys through paper — a multimedia installation of a room with patterned wallpaper, with a knot of hundreds of feet of human and synthetic hair in the middle. Called Fossa, the installation contains textiles and objects wrapped within the hair “hive.” What’s more, some 800 feet of braided hair will hang from the ceiling throughout the space. Viewers are provided headphones through which they can hear breathy clips of audio drawn from intimate conversations. Made in collaboration with musician Emily Wells and hair stylist Adriana Papaleo, Fossa is an auditory, visual and tactile experience. Also featured in the exhibition is Cutler’s drawing of the same name, acquired by Ruby City earlier this year. The illustration shows a collection of tree trunks entwined with lengths of hair and features women engaged in various tasks within platforms inside the trunks. In addition to the pieces in Ruby City’s collection, “Past, Present, Progress” also features loaned works from two other series by the artist. Free, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursday-Sunday, April 6-February 25, 2024, Studio, Ruby City, 111 Camp St., (210) 227-8400, rubycity.org. — Dalia Gulca

FRI | 04.07 -

SUN | 04.08

SPECIAL EVENT STOMP

STOMP’s exciting and loud eight-person percussion ensemble is known for being anything but traditional. Trash cans, brooms, newspapers and even toilet plungers have their place both on the stage and in the setlist, where everyday items — including objects that many consider garbage — are used to create captivating rhythms and entirely unique music pieces. It’s a performance that both starts and ends with a bang — and includes plenty more banging in between. The STOMP company had its last New York East Village show in January after a famed 29-year run, but the touring troupe is far from done. San Antonio is one of more than a dozen stops across the Northeastern and Southern U.S. this spring for STOMP, whose performances have prevailed as an international phenomenon. $27.60-$79.50, 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org.— Dana Nichols

SUN | 04.09

SPORTS BRAHMAS VS. ROUGHNECKS

The XFL’s Brahmas will return home for a battle for the Lone Star State as they take on the Houston Roughnecks. The San Antonio team has struggled in its inaugural season, racking up a lackluster 2-5 record so far. However, things could be looking up for the semi-pro football team after a decisive victory against the Arlington Renegades in Week 6. A win against the No. 1 seed Roughnecks could give the Brahmas the boost they need to make a playoff run. $20 and up, 2 p.m., Alamodome, 100 Montana St., (210) 207-3663, alamodome.com. — Michael Karlis

Reminder:

Although live events have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Check with venues to make sure scheduled events are still happening, and please follow all health and safety guidelines.

FRI | 04.14

FILM ENCANTO

The 2021 animated film Encanto tells the story of Colombian family the Madrigals, all of whom possess mystical powers gifted to them by the magic of their home, the Casita — that is, everyone except 15-year-old Mirabel. However, when Mirabel finds out members of her family are losing their magic, she sets out to discover what’s happening and save the day. The movie will be screened on a 32-foot LED video wall as part of the Tobin Center’s H-E-B Cinema on Will’s Plaza series. Full concessions and bar will be available at the event. Attendees may bring their own lawn chairs and blankets or make use of available seating. Free, 8 p.m., Will Naylor Smith River Walk Plaza, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — DG

FRI | 04.14SUN | 04.16

Theater Chicago

One of Broadway’s longest-running musicals, Chicago tells the story of two rival vaudeville performers, starlet Velma Kelly and chorus girl Roxie Hart. When Velma and Roxie are each arrested for murdering their romantic partners, they must trade in their shimmery leotards and hotel rooms for prison uniforms and neighboring cells at the Cook County Jail. It’s bad enough that Velma and Roxie have been torn away from their glamorous showbiz lifestyles, but tensions rise further when the two develop a seething dislike for one another. Things eventually look up for Roxie when she learns that one of the prison guards, Matron “Mama” Morton, has connections to local media. Mama begins accepting bribes from Roxie in exchange for press coverage to bolster her eventual vaudeville comeback, but Velma is also in on the action, creating an all-out media circus. A showstopping lineup of musical numbers, including the Broadway classic “All That Jazz,” combines with energetic choreography and a dramatic storyline to make Chicago a humorous and thought-provoking account of the crime and corruption underlying celebrity during the Roaring ’20s. $35 and up, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com.— Caroline Wolff

FRI | 04.14 -

SUN | 04.16

SPECIAL EVENT

Ghoulish Book Fest

Max Booth III and Lori Michelle’s indie horror press Ghoulish Books is living up to its name with its frighteningly fast growth. After a success- ful Kickstarter, the press opened a horror bookstore and launched a new literary magazine. Booth and Michelle are now back with the second annual Ghoulish Book Fest, a weekend celebrating literary horror with vendors, panels and guest authors and artists. This year’s guests of honor include V. Castro, a Mexican American author from San Antonio known for her novels Mestiza Blood and The Queen of the Cicadas; Johnny Compton, an Alamo City-based author who recently published his debut novel The Spite House; and Trevor Henderson, a Canadian writer and illustrator known for creating iconic creatures such as Siren Head. $75, 1-9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, Historic Hermann Sons Building, 525 S. St. Mary’s St., ghoulishbookfest.com.

— Christianna Davies

FRI | 04.14 -

SUN | 04.16

Special Event Poteet Strawberry Festival

The Poteet Strawberry festival is back for its 76th year, drawing visitors to the small town south of San Antonio for carnival rides, live music and a smorgasbord of strawberry products. The festival is a celebration of Poteet’s home-grown strawberries, a crop endangered by recent drought conditions across the state. Aside from enjoying berries by the handful, guests can try goods ranging from artisan jams to baked treats. This year’s live entertainment includes Conjunto Cats, Gary Hobbs, Giovannie & The Hired Guns, David Lee Garza, Kolby Cooper, Velvet, Kevin Fowler and more. The fruit-themed celebration has grown tremendously from its humble beginnings in downtown Poteet in 1948. The event now draws more than 100,000 guests annually, funding some 30 scholarships for local students and providing income for local strawberry farmers. Tickets are available online for $10-$20 per person or at the gate for $15-$25 per person. Weekend passes run $45. $10-$45, 6 p.m.-midnight Friday, 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday, Poteet Festival Grounds, 9199 N. State Highway 16, Poteet, (830) 276-3323, strawberryfestival.com. — Macks Cook

FRI | 04.14SUN | 04.16

Special Event Fiesta Fitfest

Created by San Antonio Sports, the annual Fiesta FitFest celebrates fitness, fun and, obviously, Fiesta. Held the weekend before the kickoff to San Antonio’s annual citywide party, the event lets participants engage in fitness-related training and activities ranging from line-dancing classes to Orangetheory workouts. The weekend’s highlight is the L’Étape San Antonio by Tour de France, a cycling race in which Tour de France experts have designed a course enabling amateur cyclists to experience the feel of the famed sporting event. Riders can participate in courses that range from 10 miles to 100 miles. While many of the weekend’s events are free and require no reservation, L’Étape San Antonio, the Boots & Brews Beer Mile and the SATX 5K and 10K are reservation-only and include entry fees.

SAT | 04.15

SPECIAL EVENT

San Antonio Book Festival

The city’s premier annual literary event will draw 100 authors, both emerging and established, to the Alamo City for presentations, panel discussions, book sales and signings. The Only Good Indians author Stephen Graham Jones will be in attendance to promote his new thriller Don’t Fear the Reaper, while Rebecca Makkai, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, will highlight her literary mystery I Have Some Questions for You, and Matthew Desmond, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted, will discuss his new nonfiction book Poverty, By America. Longtime festival participant and San Antonio literary treasure Sandra Cisneros will be back with a new collection of poems, Woman Without Shame / Mujer Sin Vergüenza. Kids’ theater performances, a technology area and interactive art and play stations will provide family entertainment to festivalgoers, and food trucks will be on hand to offer sustenance. Free, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Central Library and UTSA Southwest Campus, 600 Soledad St. and 300 Augusta St., (210) 750-8951, sabookfestival.org. — CD

APRIL 20, 2023

4 – 10 PM

Travis Park

Fiesta® San Antonio #VivaFiestaSA2023 fiestasanantonio.org

April 20 - 30