Public schools are stuck in an ugly spot between business and government, have been for years. This is just the latest example. In many respects, we should function like a business, allowed to compete for customers and employees via various offerings and incentives to both. But our funding is so tied to the local, state and federal governments that we get beholden to them in many ways. Sadly we picked up the union influence problem in both a business and government way.
With all that said, I still think Abbot should not have said there can be no mask mandates by local governments, especially schools, for the reason that we are in a DMZ between business and government. I'm in a fortunate position that there are several districts near me and in different counties who have not mandated masks and if I don't want my kid or myself masked, we can definitely enroll her, and my wife and I can very likely get hired into those districts. Over the summer, our district announced we were open to all cities in the area, meaning now, at the other end of the spectrum, if someone really wants their kid in a mask, or wants to teach through a mask, they can come here if their district is not mandating them. That's how it should work. Schools make the decisions, and face the consequences, good or bad, not be told from above, that you can't take that option.
On top of all that, the media storm, lawsuits, rebelling against the order are all fueling the moonbat minority of California transplants out here, which could lead to more blue sympathy in Texas. We are still dealing with runaway democrat state representatives keeping us from progressing with government business, and this added chaos blows the wind towards the left, I believe.
I hold that Abbot made a poor decision, and standing by it is hurting many things. Will it swing my vote next governors race? Not likely. May it swing others? Very possibly.
