Above is a Twitter exchange between Mike Collier, Democratic Candidate for Lieutenant Governor of the State of Texas. He is a supporter of public education and will fight for public education, the education of all children.

Mr. Cruz then attacked Mr. Colliers position on school vouchers. Nowhere in his statement does Mr. Collier say anything about students of color in his statement, but rather is fighting for all students.

Mr. Cruz: “I want to trap them in failing schools and deny them the scholarships they need”. Mr. Cruz of course doesn’t know what he is talking about. In 1995, Texas created the Public Education Grant (PEG). In 1995, the Texas Legislature created the Public Education Grant (PEG) program (TEC §§29.201–29.205). The PEG program permits a parent whose child attends a school on the PEG List to request a transfer to another school within their home district or to a school in a different district.

This means for the uninformed Mr. Cruz, that parents have had the choice to move their kids to different schools for 27 years….yes 27 years Mr. Cruz.

Mr. Cruz: “I want to keep private schools for rich kids”. This is laughable. If there is a school voucher program existed, then that voucher would likely be approximately $10,000. This sounds like a lot until you try to enroll your child in a private school and they inform you that the annual cost of attending is $20,000 or more. On the other hand, the voucher would become a subsidy to those that can already afford to send their child to a private school.

Mr. Cruz: “Because I care more about $$ from teachers union bosses than helping those kids”. Once again you are wrong. First there are no teacher unions in Texas, its against that law, since Texas is a “Right to Work State”.

Once again Mr. Cruz misses the mark by sharing incorrect information and half-truth. Cruz just needs to get on a plane to Cancun and stay there. He is not doing anything for the people of Texas.

David R .Taylor, Retired Educator