Dennis Bonnen, former Speaker of the Texas House and fierce opponent of the far-right push for school vouchers, has joined the Goldwater Institute, sources say. The Goldwater Institute has been a relentless force for school vouchers for years.
“School choice” continues to be a rallying cry for Texas conservatives who claim that public schools are teaching inappropriate lessons and want to use taxpayer funds to send their children to private, usually religious, schools. This is in spite of the fact that Texas parents already have the option to send their child to a different school if it doesn’t meet their child’s needs. The fight is wrapped up in the current backlash to teaching students about the role of white supremacy in history, the importance of the labor movement, and acknowledging LGBT people in social studies and literature. Governor Greg Abbott recently embarked on a statewide tour to promote his version of a voucher program, an Education Savings Account.
In 2019, Bonnen was a consistent opponent of similar pushes. Bonnen had expressed some pro-voucher sentiments in 2013, but by the time he became House Speaker had become a regular no vote. At the time, Bonnen had the funds to stand against the swell of money from the likes of oil moguls Farris Wilks and Tim Dunn, who have poured campaign contributions into the fight for vouchers.