On a Thursday evening in March, parents and community leaders inside Grace Community School erupted into applause as Gov. Greg Abbott demanded the Texas Legislature protect parents’ rights.
Outside the school — one of the largest private Christian schools in East Texas — Abbott’s visit elicited jeers. More than a dozen public school advocates and parents held signs in protest and offered a pro-public-school message to any passersby who would listen.
“We’re out here protesting Gov. Abbott because he’s trying to take away money from our public schools and give them to these private Christian schools, and I don’t think that’s right,” Cody Grace, a public school parent and former Democratic nominee for the Texas House, said in a video posted to Twitter during the protest he helped organize.