Don Huffines, Texas’ comptroller, is pushing for the state’s private school voucher program to grow to $2 billion, a doubling of its current size, while more than 100,000 students remain on the waitlist and doubters question whether the initiative actually functions as intended.
Thursday’s Houston Matters, the daily talk show on 88.7FM, opened with the request as its lead story. Legislators have been asked by Huffines to put up the additional funding, though critics contend there is scant proof that vouchers are meeting their stated goals.
The broadcast starts at 9 a.m. CT. People can listen online, watch on YouTube, or take part by calling or texting 713-440-8870.
The $2 Billion Voucher Request
Huffines is proposing a doubling of the state’s existing private school voucher spending. Texas presently devotes $1 billion to the program, and his plan would increase that amount by the same figure.
More than 100,000 students sit on the program’s waitlist, and that backlog forms the basis of the comptroller’s case for growth.
The critics take a contrary view. They argue the state has failed to prove that vouchers boost student results, and they doubt that spending an additional billion dollars is warranted.
The Minimum Wage Stalemate
Houston Matters devoted the same hour to the federal minimum wage, a figure that has gone unchanged for 17 years.
The passage presented the matter as a question still hanging in the air: what has kept the wage from rising, and what might be needed to finally push it up?
Houston’s Role in the Taliban Evacuation
The show also looked back at a dramatic chapter from 2021. When the Taliban retook Afghanistan, The New York Times scrambled to evacuate the people who worked for its bureau there, along with their families.
Those evacuees ended up in Houston.
A new book has taken up the story, calling it The Last Free Women.
“Why, how, and what happened next is the subject of the new book.”
Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp came onto Houston Matters for a conversation. The two co-authors will show up at Brazos Bookstore on Friday.
The Book’s Houston Connection
The staff of the Times who worked in Afghanistan and their families were evacuated to Houston, and the book follows what happened to them once they got there.
Ahead of their Friday event at Brazos Bookstore, the co-authors were interviewed by Houston Matters.
Philip Glass at Jones Hall
Houston’s Performing Arts organization is staging a show at Jones Hall this weekend, and it centers on the full set of piano etudes composed by Philip Glass.
Jiani Wu, a current Rice University piano student and an HSPVA alum, appears on the show to both perform and discuss Glass’s music.
Jiani Wu’s Path to the Piano
Before attending Rice University, Wu went to HSPVA, which is Houston’s high school for the performing arts.
Wu remains near Houston because Rice is there, which means the concert at Jones Hall puts her close to where she trained. The performance covers the full set of Glass’s piano etudes, a large collection of pieces for any pianist.
How to Listen and Join In
The program starts streaming and broadcasting live on YouTube at 9 a.m. CT on 88.7FM, where it is also available online.
To get involved, callers may dial 713-440-8870 or send a message through the show’s email, talk@houstonmatters.org. Social media users can also reach out at @HoustonMatters.
Audio from Thursday’s show will be available after 11 a.m. CT.
On iTunes, Stitcher and other platforms, the program provides a free podcast for listeners to subscribe to.
The conversation covered a wide ground, from state policy to national history to local arts, with the voucher debate, the minimum wage question, the book talk and the Glass concert serving as markers for that range.
Source: houstonpublicmedia.org