Great News on School Choice, Part I

Back in 2013, I asked readers to vote for their favorite political cartoonist.

The third-place winner was the unknown person who put together a Wizard-of-Id parody that cleverly illustrated how redistribution programs undermine the work ethic.

If I did a new version of that contest, I would include another anonymous entry.

This cartoon, which I shared when writing about anti-school choice Republican state legislators in Iowa getting rejected by voters, is one of my all-time favorites.

Especially since Iowa now has statewide school choice!

I’m recycling this cartoon because Texas voters just sent the same message, rejecting Republicans who sided with teacher unions over parents.

Haley Strack has a column in National Review about yesterday’s results.

Texas governor Greg Abbott now has enough votes in the state house to advance his ambitious school-choice agenda, after six Republican incumbents who were vocally opposed to school vouchers lost their primary runoff elections on Tuesday. …The governor’s electoral crusade for school choice came to a head this week, as eleven out of the 15 Republican challengers Abbott backed this cycle defeated House incumbents in their primaries. Abbott also worked to boot seven anti-voucher Republicans off the ballot in the state’s March Republican primaries. Voucher bills have failed in Texas, most notably, last year, when 21 House Republicans voted against expanding school choice as part of an education-funding bill. …Abbott spent an unprecedented $8 million of his own campaign funds to support pro-voucher candidates. …AFC Victory Fund’s CEO Tommy Schultz said in a statement. “[Incumbents] Justin Holland, John Kuempel, and DeWayne Burns lost the moment they chose loyalty to unions and a corrupt establishment over students.”

For those keeping score, here are some results.

Looks like the school choice revolution is still going strong.

So even though policy is moving in the wrong direction in Washington, at least some states are doing (or are about to do) some good things.

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