By Robert Bortins
School choice legislation, which proposes making public education funds available for private education, has gained traction with appealing slogans like “fund students, not systems” and promises of parental choice. Proponents argue that parents should be able to use “the money that belongs to them” to choose the best education for their children, offering hope to those dissatisfied with the public education system. However, catchy slogans do not make good policy.
On February 25, 2024, Texas Governor Abbott posted on X, “The UN can go pound sand.” Meanwhile, he and the Texas Republicans are embracing the UN’s plan for education, which is the public takeover of private education. What do I mean? Governor Abbott has been meeting with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Inclusive Policy Lab expert Corey DeAngelis to promote school choice. So, it begs the question, does Governor Abbott think the UN should “go pound sand?” Or does he believe the UN should influence and shape the education future for Texas families?
UNESCO’s goal is to ensure that all governments “see all institutions, students, and teachers as part of a single system. Standards, information, incentives and accountability should help governments protect, respect and fulfill the right to education of all, without turning their eyes away from privilege or exploitation.” In other words, UNESCO thinks the government needs to be able to control all education options to advance their globalist DEI agenda. The only way to accomplish this is to get public dollars into private institutions.
Have we forgotten the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Biden-Harris Administration’s forced vaccination plan? While it was ruled unconstitutional for private enterprises, hospitals that take Medicaid and Medicare payments were forced to follow the mandatory vaccination plan. Why? Because the government was paying the bills. Lisa Logan, a parent and education researcher, wrote, “In essence, this campaign in concert with the school choice movement is a power grab to allow governments to regulate far more in the private education sphere than they’ve been able to in the past, including enforcement of their equity and inclusion initiatives.”
Dr. James Lindsay, a leading researcher on communist and woke ideology, opposes “school choice.” He wrote that the inevitable outcome will be schools run by Amazon, Walmart, Microsoft, Blackrock, and others who will promote Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and will perpetually data-mine your children. Part of his assessment posted on X against school choice; “Does the school choice lobby benefit from improving public schools? It doesn’t. How does it benefit from school choice? Oh. It has something ready to go to make [loads] of money off it.”
The students are just a pass-through entity for the money to get into the hands of those financially benefiting from school choice. One of the biggest benefactors is a company called Class Wallet. It is a privately held company, so we can only speculate on who owns it. However, what we don’t have to speculate on is how much they will benefit financially. They have been tapped to manage fund distribution in multiple states. A typical credit card company takes 3% of a transaction. It is reasonable to assume that they will be taking 5-10% of all “school choice” fees. That means that in a state with one billion dollars flooding towards school choice, Class Wallet could make 50 to 100 million dollars a year.
The rich will get richer, while the illusion of choice allows the UN to take hold of your child’s education and data. Follow the money. The money doesn’t follow the child; it flows into the providers’ pockets. This crony scheme will continue to unfold where the wealthy behind our failing school systems make a quick buck at the expense of children who are trapped and suffer under this destructive funding model. It’s time for parents, voters, and all concerned Texans to tell these cronies to “go pound sand.”