FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2025
CONTACT: Nicole Hill, press@texasaft.org
ICYMI: Educator argues vouchers won’t help her most vulnerable students
Parents and educators joined State Rep. James Talarico for a statewide TV interview.
AUSTIN, Texas – Yesterday, Nexstar television stations across the state aired a special broadcast, “Texas Education: Funding the Future,” focused on proposed private school voucher scam legislation ahead of a much-anticipated House floor debate tomorrow, April 16.
One of the anti-voucher panelists was Central Texas educator Bree Rolfe, a member of Texas AFT and our local affiliate, Education Austin. After 17 years as a classroom teacher, Bree now continues her career as an educator with Austin ISD’s Project HELP initiative, which provides wraparound services and support to students who are housing insecure, homeless, or in foster care. During the interview, Bree shared grave concerns that the proposed voucher program won’t help her students and their families. Instead, it will very likely jeopardize programs like hers, which support the most vulnerable students in the state.
VIDEO: Watch Bree’s interview with Rep. Talarico and local parents at 13:03
Bree Rolfe shares the educator perspective:
“I serve students experiencing homelessness and in foster care. My biggest opposition is that my students I serve now will never benefit from this bill. People keep saying “parent choice, parent choice,” and that’s great. Parents have choices already, but what about the students whose parents can’t make choices for them or who don’t even have enough money to put food on the table? In our public schools, I currently work out of a wonderful middle school where we work with social workers and support staff. When you take money from public schools, we lose all of our wraparound services and support for our most vulnerable students.
“I’ve been a public educator in Texas for 17 years. I’ve worked in two different districts, and I have seen how public schools can be a place of magic and transformation for the most vulnerable students. I have had the gift of watching that transformation. Most Texans do not want this bill — [it’s] bipartisan, there are people on both sides who don’t want it – and if you fully fund our public schools, we can do great things. We haven’t had a basic allotment increase since 2019. This budget surplus is them taking money from our public schools. They need to put it back in the community so we can have community schools that thrive and become places that are safe and nourishing for our students.”
Watch the full special here: KXAN/Nexstar: Ahead of pivotal vote, Texas leaders share unfiltered thoughts on future of education [Interview by Daniel Marin; article by Adam Schwager and Andrew Schnitker – 4/14/2025]
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Texas AFT represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8-million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.