Thread by @joshcowenMSU

A🧵 on why the #KYed ruling last week against #schoolvouchers tax credit scheme matters @NPEaction @Network4pubEd @PV4PS @BadassTeachersA @edvoters

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First: a win’s a win. It’s good to see #schoolvouchers stopped anywhere. The push to privatize is so relentless, so well-funded by such a narrow swath of backers, it can feel like swinging in the dark against it.

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But more concretely: the KY Court found that #schoolvouchers tax credit shell game was a budget commitment even though it’s not a direct appropriation. Reducing revenue by $10 is the same as spending $10.

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That provides a new vehicle for other state courts to recognize that obvious mathematical reality elsewhere: tax credits are #schoolvouchers.

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I’ve heard some public #education defenders point out correctly that the KY court relied on a narrow item in its constitution: a direct prohibition against spending other than common #schools.

And other states have other less stark versions so we can’t count on those.

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While true from a technical legal standpoint I think that misses the political importance of a Court affirming what in any other policy realm is self-evidently true #schoolfinance #schoolchoice

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Also key is in #KYed like in #AZed and in the #MichEd #PAed #TXEd #OklaEd proposals, these are narrow interest groups pushing #schoolvouchers from out of state, often through less usual means…

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In KY the legis had to override #KYgov veto to even make it this far. In #miched the plan was to exploit a provision to pass without #migov signature. In #TXEd #OklaEd #PAed as in #KYed chambers are near evenly split because rural GOPers hate #schoolvouchers

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This is why DeVos #educationfreedom activists are freaking out. More than anything else, the KY ruling gives lie to any claims of #schoolvouchers “inevitability.”

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How many times have you heard the DeVos hacks and other #schoolvouchers people say “it’s happening Texas!” Or “on to Kentucky!”?

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From a political standpoint inevitability *really* matters to counting votes in a legislature. It can provide cover to vote in one direction or another.

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If #schoolvouchers are going to pass anyway, voting for or against them as a GOP rural rep for example, may be less politically determinative.

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But what the KY Court just did is send a message to all rural Republicans that #schoolvouchers aren’t inevitable.

A whip count could change or—as in this case—a Court could invalidate even in a red state!

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If you’re a #txleg or other state rural GOP legislator skeptical about #schoovouchers today, why vote against your own district for something that may not happen anyway? Worse still: why be the vote to send it forward in a close call? @TexasAFT @TXParentPAC @tasanet

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Now I for one have been arguing for months not to bank on the Court system. #schoolvouchers are bad public policy, a threat to vulnerable kids, and politically tied up with anti-#democracy forces.

That’s been my focus.

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And from Dobbs to Carson, etc nothing at the federal level has made me confident that Right-wing courts will save progressive policies.

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But—and it’s almost a truism to say, but it’s also true—#education remains a state matter. Every political and legal dynamic is different. That’s why ALEC is so tied to the #schoolvouchers movement. They need to tailor a national astroturf policy to state guardrails.

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The #KYed #schoolvouchers matters because if nothing else it breathes new life into state-based efforts to push back against national meddlers like @BetsyDeVos, using whatever state-specific political, cultural or (in this case) legal means available.

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Every state rep in every legislator who’s going to have to vote on #schoolvouchers is now—thanks to KY—going to have to say “we don’t have to bring vouchers here…do I really want to do so?”

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That’s a much steeper hill to climb for #schoolvouchers activists than vouchers are is happening, get your a$$ on board.

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@threadreaderapp please unroll