When state lawmakers return to work in Austin next month, supporters of the public education system will have new allies on their side: the business lobby.
Although it bills itself as a business paradise, Texas currently ranks among the bottom 10 U.S. states in the amount it spends per student on education – lagging behind the national average of $4,000 per student. according to the nonprofit Raise Your Hand Texas.
The state has not increased this per-pupil spending figure, known as the Texas base allocation, since 2019.
As this dynamic begins to pose a growing threat to their future workforce, business leaders across the state are gearing up to try to change it.
“The majority of our production talent is from this region – particularly the area near the plant – which means most of our team members are products of the Bexar County ISDs and surrounding areas” , said San Antonio-based Toyota Motor Manufacturing. Texas President Susann Kazunas said during a recent forum hosted by the nonprofit Bexar County Education Coalition (BCEC), which advocates for public policy on behalf of the county’s school districts.
“As a business community, we all know that quality requires intentional investment,” she said. “This is what our public school system needs more than ever, and it’s why we are all gathered here today, because we have a stake in what happens in the classrooms of Bexar County.”
Last session, the Texas legislature seemed likely to make a major investment in the public education system, until Governor Greg Abbott’s last-minute insistence that a school voucher program be tied to public school funding derailed that prospect.
As a result, Bexar County school districts, including those around Toyota’s manufacturing plant on the South Side, closed campuses, licensed staff, reduced summer programs And slow down major infrastructure projects in their efforts to save money.
At the BCEC forum at the McNay Art Museum this month, leaders of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Metro SA Chamber, South Texas Business Partnership and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce all said that the system was reaching a breaking point. And brandished lobbying agendas calling on the State to remedy the situation.
“We are not naive enough to believe that public education is not currently under attack in the state of Texas,” said Brett Finley, president and CEO of the Metro SA Chamber (formerly the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce). “Please consider the chambers here in town, the four of us included, as extensions for all of you and your advocacy efforts during this upcoming Texas legislative session.”
“It’s going to be one hell of a fight.”
A realistic agenda
The conversation was notably absent of any mention of education savings accountsor school vouchers, which many public school advocates have considered the greatest threat to their future.
The concept would allow parents to take taxpayer money out of public schools and spend it on other education-related expenses, like private school tuition, and has become a top priority for Abbottwho spent millions last year elect new legislators who agree with them on this problem.
Against this backdrop, business groups that lobby on various issues say they need to be able to work with everyone in Austin and need to stay focused on goals they see as achievable.
Instead of drawing a line in the sand on school vouchers – as BCEC and other public school advocates have done – a study of local business groups’ lobbying programs says they are focusing on “full funding” of public schools to support a strong workforce.
The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce And The Greater San Antonio Chamber also took note of what they would like to see if a voucher program were actually approved, saying school systems receiving taxpayer dollars should be held to the same accountability standards.
“I think the the governor has the right to vote on (school vouchers)“, said Mario Barrera, president of the Grand Chamber of Commerce, in an interview. “The ESAs will be with us. The question simply becomes: in what format? What type of responsibility or measures will be attached to it? »
“I think we, as a four-chamber and as a San Antonio business community, are really focused on increasing funding for public schools and increasing teacher salaries,” he said. he added.
Although some public school advocates disagreed with the idea that vouchers were inevitable, educators at the event were nonetheless grateful for the new allies.
State Republican leaders largely framed last year’s public education debate as conservatives fighting for school choice on behalf of parents, against Democrats and a handful of Republican defectors opposing it on behalf of the teachers union.
This year, they won’t be able to make that point.
“I look at this room and say, ‘You know, this is happening here,'” Gary Bates, superintendent of the Fort Sam Houston Independent School District, said at the forum. “Everyone under this roof may have differences of opinion, but what unites us is the education of all of our students, of all of our children. »
The business case for schools
Kazunas’ keynote speech at the event hinted at the type of argument business leaders will make at the state capitol this year — although she noted after the event that Toyota will not did not plan to lobby lawmakers directly on the issue.
Like most companies considering locating in San Antonio, Kazunas said, Toyota Motor Corporation knew the education system could be a problem.
The area around the company’s Southside manufacturing plant, where Tundra and Tacoma trucks and Sequoia SUVs are built, is considered economically disadvantaged and has some of the lowest educational attainment levels in the county.
To help create the talent pipeline needed to staff a 3,700-employee plant where 80% of positions require only a basic skills assessment, Kazunas said that over the past two decades, about 75% of the 50 Millions of dollars that Toyota invested in community programs were for direct grants to school districts around their factory, STEM education, workforce development initiatives and other programs related to education.
“We are building the workforce of tomorrow,” Kazunas said.
After investing heavily in such partnerships, business leaders want to see the state deliver on its own commitment to public education — not take money out of public schools to support another education system that doesn’t. does not have the same standards of responsibility and is not required to educate. all the children.
Without mentioning the fight against school vouchers, Kazunas encouraged event attendees to support their local chambers and BCEC in their fight.
“I think I can speak for most of us when I say that as a parent you want your children to be able to contribute to society and grow up to have valuable, productive lives of their own,” said Kazunas. “…Do you know which institution is best positioned to prepare these students for success? The public education system.
Disclosure: In his professional capacity as an attorney, Mario Barrera provided legal advice to the San Antonio Report.