Lonnie Palmer is a former math and science teacher, school principal, assistant superintendent for secondary instruction, school superintendent.
The cost of education is about to go up in Texas
by Lonnie Palmer
Educator and author of The Politics of Education K-12
(April 21, 2025) – Three things will result from the school voucher system on tap for approval by the legislature in Texas, and No. 1 on the list is a tuition increase in the state’s private and religious schools.
Why? Because whenever the government offers support for purchases of any kind (think electric cars, subway tickets, medical interventions, etc.), providers automatically build that support into their pricing structure. Private and religious schools are no different. The same thing happened in Arizona when they introduced “empowerment scholarship accounts,” or ESAs. Private and religious schools raised tuition in some cases more than 20 percent. Read more.
Never having considered a career in education before the Vietnam War interrupted his plans to obtain a Ph.D. in physics, the author’s approach to education was different from many of the teachers, administrators and school board members he came in contact with — and in some cases clashed with — during his tenure.
The other two results have to do with student performance. When it comes to K-12 education, Texas is one of the lowest performing states in the United States (41 out of 50 states in test results and is 42nd in per pupil spending), which is why they say they support vouchers. However, no data exists anywhere supporting state-funded school vouchers to improve test results for students.
Vouchers, supporters say, will help low income students, but the plan is to distribute $10,000 vouchers per student per year, which is less than the average cost of private and religious schools, ensuring parents of students from poverty won’t be able to afford the tuition. The taxpayer money will go to parents of students already attending private and religious schools, as it did in Arizona. Read more.
In fact, vouchers will result in no change in school performance (the second of the three results, which is no result).
The No. 3 result of Texas’ school voucher program is public schools will be left with a higher percentage of struggling students in public schools. And that will only hurt schools already struggling with a higher percentage of students who receive free and reduced lunch. Read more.
That’s the Politics of Education K-12.
The author of The Politics Of Education K-12 taught math and science and became principal and later superintendent of schools in New York State.
Never having considered a career in education before the Vietnam War interrupted his plans to obtain a Ph.D. in physics, Palmer’s approach to education was different from many of the teachers, administrators and school board members he came in contact with — and in some cases clashed with — during his tenure.
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