VanDeaver, Darby Called Out Over Illegal Immigrant School Choice Issue
Shine Also Aboard the Rhetorical Bandwagon
Gov. Greg Abbott’s calling out of two Texas House representatives – Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, and Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston - is revealing a rhetorical bandwagon that even local Rep. Hugh Shine, R-Temple, has hitched a ride on.
With always loving a good government Monkey See, Monkey Do story, this one couldn’t be ignored. Especially when these three candidates’ rationalization of opposing school choice appears to ignore Plyler v. Doe, a political reality that has been in place for 40+ years.
The talking point
A recent campaign mailer from Rep. Hugh Shine, R-Temple, contained the following:
Under the bill, illegal immigrants would be eligible to receive a voucher. We have fought tirelessly to secure our border and I can’t support legislation that encourages people to enter our country illegally with promises of benefits paid for with your tax dollars.
Shine is one of the 21 Republicans who joined Democrats during the recent legislature’s fourth special session to support an amendment stripping education savings accounts (ESAs) from an education funding bill. He faces three challengers in the upcoming primary, including Hillary Hickland, an Abbott-endorsed candidate who supports school choice.
Shine’s inclusion of illegal immigration as justification for his vote against the education funding bill gained new significance when The Dallas Express reported on Gov. Abbott recently calling out anti-school choice incumbent VanDeaver.
With this legal decision, Texas education funds began benefitting illegal immigrant children. That was 1982 and it’s a status that continues today. These three representatives’ school choice vote in no way impacted that reality.
VanDeaver has a campaign video in which he reminds that border security is more than about walls, “it’s also about stopping the incentives that encourage illegal crossings in the first place.”
He goes on to state how last year he “stopped a bill that would have handed out school vouchers - your tax dollars - to illegal immigrants.”
Abbott responded on X. After calling VanDeaver a “fraud,” the governor noted that “every session he served in the Texas House he voted to use your taxpayer dollars to provide free education for illegal immigrants at your local public schools.”
He also stated that VanDeaver “knowingly misleads his own voters to try to protect the teacher unions.”
The representative has a lengthy 33-year history with education, having received a doctorate in educational administration and serving as the superintendent of New Boston ISD until 2014 when he was first elected to represent House District 1. Last election cycle, he enjoyed the support of the Texas State Teachers Association.
Representatives with histories of strong public education industry support are not uncommon – especially within the 21 who voted to strip ESAs from the latest education funding bill.
But VanDeaver wasn’t the first to use this stance. In a recent campaign video, Darby also speaks of how our border “is in crisis” calling the situation in part “driven by the free handouts offered to illegal immigrants.”
He further states:
That’s why I stopped the recent school voucher scheme. It would have provided vouchers - $10,000 each – to illegal aliens with your tax dollars.
Abbott once more used X this time calling Darby a “liar” and again noting how with each session in which the legislator served, “he voted to use your taxpayer dollars to provide free education for illegal immigrants at your local public schools.”
The governor continued saying that Darby “repeatedly votes like a Democrat” and now “adds lying to his résumé.” He concludes that Darby is “out of touch.”
With regard to Darby, parent and school choice advocate Josh Posey described his school choice position to Texas Scorecard calling it “baffling”:
Representative Darby’s position on education savings accounts is nothing short of heart-wrenching for countless households across the state. It’s baffling that he fails to recognize the transformative potential of education savings accounts, which put the power in the hands of students and parents while cutting out the likes of Rep. Darby who wants to play king over them.
The article further reveals how Posey believes “Darby may be ‘prioritizing his Austin-based donors’ over his voters.”
His affiliations with organizations like TASB [Texas Association of School Boards] and his acceptance of left-leaning financial support raise concerns about whose interests he truly serves. Perhaps it’s time for Rep. Darby to come back to the Republican party and to refocus on representing the will of the people, what’s best for children, and the future of Texas.”
Education freedom is an imperative for a strong Texas. That’s what the governor and numerous Texas legislative candidates are arguing. The time for politicians indulging in their authoritarian impulses and bureaucratic loyalties is gone.
What to know
That three candidates (and probably more) are using this talking point speaks to the Monkey See, Monkey Do nature of politics. Their opponents are (or likely will) refute this factually inaccurate position. That’s the “play the hand you’re dealt” nature of politics.
What’s important for voters to know is that a 1982 Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe, “held, in a 5–4 decision, that states such as Texas could not charge tuition to undocumented children for free public K–12 education or prevent them from enrolling in public schools in districts where they resided.”
With this legal decision, Texas education funds began benefitting illegal immigrant children. That was 1982 and it’s a status that continues today. These three representatives’ school choice vote in no way impacted that reality.
In other words, while their votes stopped students’ benefitting from taxpayer dollars enabling an optimization of learning experiences due to deficiencies in their public education environments, today’s Texas taxpayer dollars continue being spent on Texas students – whether they are legal residents or not.
Tangentially, it’s also been asked how allowing taxpayer dollars to potentially fund private schools is conservative? The answer is simple. Call it education freedom, parental empowerment or taxpayer accountability. More than 30 states have found workable models for educational savings accounts and other school choice options. Likely Texas can manage.
Perhaps the better question? How is subverting maximized student learning by diverting taxpayer dollars to support of a failing monopolistic education system not the antithesis of conservatism?
Education freedom is an imperative for a strong Texas. That’s what the governor and numerous Texas legislative candidates are arguing. The time for politicians indulging in their authoritarian impulses and bureaucratic loyalties is gone. It’s time for Texas families to be put first.
Early voting starts Tuesday, Feb. 20. Election Day is Tuesday, March 5. Vote!
Lou Ann Anderson is a writer, former radio producer and current podcaster at Political Pursuits. Her tenure as Watchdog Wire–Texas editor involved covering state news and coordinating the site’s citizen journalist network. As a past Policy Analyst with Americans for Prosperity–Texas, Lou Ann wrote and spoke on a variety of issues including the growing issue of probate abuse in which wills, trusts, guardianships and powers of attorney are used to loot assets from intended heirs or beneficiaries. She holds a degree from the University of North Texas in Denton.