Brian and Joy Roberts are not public school advocates. The co-founders of the Grayson County Conservatives, based in the deep-red county on the state border with Oklahoma, do not liken themselves to other conservatives in Texas who have long fought school voucher proposals to protect rural public schools. They are organizing against Governor Greg Abbott’s school voucher plan because they see themselves as the true champions of school choice.
“True school choice already exists without government intrusion,” they wrote in a March 13 letter to state representatives on behalf of the Grayson County Conservatives, a largely online activist group, urging them to vote against the voucher legislation. The current voucher proposal “introduces government control over private education,” “erodes educational autonomy,” and promotes the “expansion of bureaucracy,” the letter added. Since the letter was published in mid-March, a motley crew of more than 40 conservative groups, 100 activists, and eight homeschool co-ops have signed on. Two-thousand more Texans also added their names, according to Joy Roberts.
The letter also quotes Allen West, the Dallas County GOP chair and former Abbott gubernatorial challenger, who has publicly come out against the voucher proposal: “Let’s not do the same old political thing, rushing to get something passed and then watching politicians pat themselves on the back. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and if we do not clearly define what the measures of effectiveness are, we will just continue sinking the ship of education.”
