Chloe Latham Sikes is deputy director of policy at the Intercultural Development Research Association, a San Antonio-based nonprofit that seeks to strengthen public education.
Texas state lawmakers have gaveled in and started stepping to the tune of well-funded efforts to pass private school vouchers and undercut public schools. It’s a tired tune that state leaders sang throughout 2023’s lengthy legislative season, though it lacked the backup vocals of thousands of Texas families. Now, with a chorus of new legislators in office, the volume is a bit louder under the dome, but lawmakers still risk stepping on millions of public school students and their families. State leaders and many lawmakers have frolicked with billionaires in what we at the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) call the “Texas Three-Step” to defund, demonize, and privatize public schools.
