Editor’s note: This commentary from former U.S. secretary of education Betsy Devos appeared Friday on the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
For decades, Texas and Florida have competed over which state will lead the nation in measures such as individual liberty, economic freedom, new jobs created and the number of people moving to their state.
Texas has often gotten the better of the battle, but there is one arena where the Sunshine State is leaving the Lone Star State in the dust: educational freedom.
In Florida, about 41% of K-12 students, about 1.2 million kids, use an education choice program to learn somewhere other than their government-assigned schools. State leaders have made it easy for students to attend a public school district other than the one in which they live.
Texas has made it hard. Florida has the largest virtual education program in the nation, while Texas has one of the smallest. Florida provides financial aid for 178,675 students to attend private schools, a number that grows every year. No child in Texas has this option.
Texas’ students felt this pain acutely during the pandemic, as many districts shut down and left students and families scrambling. Add in concerns about how public schools are handling issues such as teachings on race and sex, and it’s even more remarkable Texas continues to leave government, not parents, in control of education.
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