Republican incumbent Travis Clardy is set to face off against challenger Joanne Shofner in a race to represent District 11 in the Texas House of Representatives, with school choice featuring heavily in both contenders’ campaigns.
Clardy has served in the Texas House since 2012 as representative for District 11, which, according to the last census, has a population nearing 200,000 residents and comprises Nacogdoches, Newton, Panola, Rusk, Sabine, and Shelby counties.
While Clardy has over a decade of experience serving in the Texas House, his rejection of school choice during the 88th legislative session has become a point of contention.
Clardy voted in favor of an amendment that ended up stripping education savings accounts from an education bill. Before voting in favor of the amendment, he voiced his disapproval of school choice, saying that his constituents did not favor the “financially irresponsible” legislation.
“I listen to the people I represent,” Clardy said, per KLTV. “I don’t just punch a button based on the majority. But I think in this instance, the policy and the politics and the people I represent absolutely aligned. We want to see money invested in our children and our public education system.”
“We want to continue to support our strong rural schools. And we don’t have a problem out here with woke teachers teaching our kids [to] hate America,” he added. “That’s not what happens in rural East Texas.”
Clardy said he would be prepared to discuss the idea of taxpayer-funded school choice legislation if it does not create issues with traditional public schools.
“I’m open for innovation, but we, in the House and our rural colleagues, won’t rebel to a plan which says it will help with special needs kids, which are unique challenges to funding [for rural counties], and we need to take care of them,” said the state representative, per the Longview News-Journal.
In contrast to Clardy, Shofner has stated that she would fully support the Lone Star State adopting school choice in the future.
Shofner’s campaign website states that “parental rights and … school choice” are top priorities of hers.
“Joanne strongly believes that parents should have the right to send their kids to the school of their choice using their own taxpayer dollars,” reads the website.
Similarly, Shofner told The Dallas Express she was a “faithful supporter of individual rights and freedoms.”
“This includes supporting parents to choose the school that is best for their children while using their own tax dollars. These parents need a way out of failing schools or dangerous situations for their children,” Shofner said.
“Public education has become a monopoly. Injecting capitalism and competition into the system creates success so [everyone wins] — parents, students, and teachers,” she added. “The Texas Constitution requires us to provide education for Texas’ children, but it didn’t say what kind of education.”
Shofner’s strong pro-school choice stance has led to the endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been throwing his weight behind such candidates. He said of Shofner that she “represents the values of East Texas,” according to CBS 19.
Despite polls indicating that a majority of Texas residents support school choice, multiple school districts in District 11 have voiced opposition to the notion.
Nacogdoches ISD trustees, for instance, voted in favor of a resolution urging state legislators “to reject any diversion of public dollars to private entities in the form of education savings accounts and similar voucher schemes.”
Similarly, Carthage ISD Superintendent Jarrod Bitter has claimed that school choice would be “detrimental to the public school system.”
“Vouchers, by themselves, I think we can all agree there is nothing conservative about taking public dollars and then providing them to people with no accountability for how those dollars are spent or the outcomes associated with those dollars,” Bitter said, per The Panola Watchman.
Carthage ISD includes more than 2,600 students across five campuses located in Panola County.
Disclaimer: Shofner is a cousin to Monty J. Bennett, publisher of The Dallas Express.