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Texas conservatives tout record-breaking school choice signups after long battle with teachers unions
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After a decades-long battle with Democrats, teacher unions, and even a few Republicans, Texas conservatives are celebrating the successful launch of what is likely to become the largest school-choice program in the country.
The Lone Star State’s school choice program, called the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, saw record-setting registrations in its first days. Within one hour of the program opening, it had already garnered 8,000 registrations. By the end of the day, it had notched 42,000 signups and three days in, it was sitting at around 62,000 signups. The program is expected to hit 100,000 by its March 17 deadline.
To Texas Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, chief administrator of the program, the program’s early success represents a win for what he called «educational freedom.»
«We figure in the State of Texas, we lead the nation in economic freedom, we might as well lead the nation in educational freedom,» he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
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The Lone Star State’s school choice program, called the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, saw record-setting registrations in its first days. (Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images; Getty Images)
School choice was a major legislative priority for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the measure establishing the program into law last May. Under the program, families will receive $10,000 per year to help pay for their child’s private school tuition or costs for home-schooling and virtual learning programs. Children with disabilities can qualify for as much as $30,000 per year.
Though showing early signs of success, getting a school choice program to pass in a state the size of Texas was not easy. As a parent himself, Hancock said he has been an advocate for school choice for the last three decades.
«We got close at times in the state of Texas, where we thought the votes were there, and then we wouldn’t get there. And frankly, a couple of years ago, before Gov. Abbott got involved, I myself was like, ‘OK, I don’t know that we’re ever going to get there,’» he admitted.
While proponents believe the measure gives parents more options by allowing them to take their children out of poor-performing public schools in favor of alternative public or private school choices, others argue it pulls financial resources from Texas’ public school students and subsidizes the private education of wealthy families.
The program saw fierce opposition from the state’s leading teachers unions, including the Texas American Federation of Teachers (Texas AFT) and the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA).
Ahead of the program launching, Texas AFT issued a statement calling it a «growing billion-dollar boondoggle.»
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Gov. Greg Abbott laughs during a bill signing in the State Capitol on April 23, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
TSTA argued that Texas could not adequately fund both its public schools and the school choice program, saying, «Our underfunded public schools need all the tax dollars that lawmakers spend on K-12 education.»
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, TSTA President Ovidia Molina vowed to «continue working to kill this expensive and discriminatory program.»
She knocked the state for «most» of the religious schools approved to participate in the program being Christian, which she said, «restrict admission or give preference to children of their own faith.» She also said that «some of these schools refuse admission to LGBTQ students.»
«These schools will use public tax dollars to discriminate against children whose families pay these tax dollars. Public schools do not discriminate. They accept every student who lives in their district, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, family income or whatever, and only public schools should receive our tax revenue,» said Molina.
Hancock, however, pushed back on the idea that the program pits public and private schools against each other. He said Texas, which operates on a constitutionally required balanced budget, was able to fund the school choice program «at the same time that we had record investment in public education and $4 billion in teacher pay, which was a record investment in going directly to paying for our teachers there within the public setting.»
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School choice was a major legislative priority for Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the measure establishing the program into law last May. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
«We want to be number one, not only in this program, but in education as a whole, both our public schools, our charter schools, and home schools, and private schools,» he explained. «We’re willing to give that investment, and we have our eyes set on it.»
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He framed the opposition to the program as attempts to maintain the status quo and eliminate competition in education.
«It’s the standard pushback, and the reality is no change, no competition, we want the system as is, we don’t want any changes to be involved in it,» he said. «Look, I’m a businessman, and I would love it if in the business I’m in that I had limited or no competition, that I have government protections, that had government funding me, that lived within all those protections. I mean, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want those protections? But that’s not good for… the students, the children.»
«What’s the best for children is competition,» he went on.
Further, he believes the huge number of signups indicates how badly needed the program is.
«I think by opening this up and then the enormous turnout we had, the record turnout we hit, that what it shows is we’re meeting the customers’ needs and the customers are Texans.»
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
texas,education,greg abbott,labor unions
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Canada’s Carney under pressure to act after synagogues shot at in latest antisemitic incidents
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Over the weekend, two Toronto synagogues were attacked by gunfire. Several days earlier, another synagogue was hit by around twenty gunshots on the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Though the three attacks caused no injuries, many in the Jewish community are demanding concrete action from Prime Minister Mark Carney — not just words of comfort that have typically followed such antisemitic incidents.
Carney took to X saying that the «antisemitic and criminal attacks violate the right of Canadian Jewish men and women to live and pray in complete safety» and «represent a serious assault on the way of life of all Canadians.»
ISRAELI MINISTER WARNS CANADA IS ‘MARCHING TOWARD THE ABYSS’ AFTER JEWISH MAN ATTACKED IN FRONT OF CHILDREN
Temple Emanu-El in Toronto, Canada was shot at on March 3, 2026. No injuries were reported. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
In the aftermath of the first synagogue attack, Israel’s National Security Council warned Israelis overseas to «maintain vigilance and adhere to safety precautions.» Among their suggestions were for Israelis to «conceal Jewish and Israeli identifiers while in public spaces,» to be aware of surroundings «in areas associated with Israel or Judaism,» and to «avoid visiting sites identified as Jewish or Israeli.»
On X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that «all eyes are on Canada: it’s time to halt the unprecedented wave of Jew-hatred that has erupted since October 7th.»
Anti-Israel demonstrators gather outside Union Station during a rally in Toronto, Ontario on Jan. 4, 2024. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Like many Western countries, Canada has seen a marked rise in annual antisemitic incidents since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The League for Human Rights B’nai Brith Canada found that there were 6,219 incidents of antisemitism in Canada in 2024. This constituted an average of 17 incidents per day, more than double the eight incidents per day calculated in 2022.
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While figures for 2025 have yet to be released, Public Safety Canada noted that from April to June 2025, «Among hate crimes targeting religion… the majority were directed at the Jewish community (69%).»
Conservative MP Roman Baber, said the behavior of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and other liberal Canadian politicians have been «adding fuel to the fire of Jew hatred in Canada.»
Baber aimed further criticism at Carney, saying, «When the Prime Minister on the campaign trail says he knows there is genocide in Gaza, he engages in Jew hatred.»
General view of Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue in Thornhill, north of Toronto, Ontario. The place of worship was one of three synagogues attacked in early March 2026.
Baber was referring to an event in April 2025 during which a heckler yelled over a bustling crowd that «there is a genocide happening in Gaza.» Carney responded, «I’m aware, that’s why we have an arms embargo.»
SKYROCKETING ANTISEMITISM IN CANADA SPARKS CONCERN FOR COUNTRY’S JEWS AHEAD OF ELECTION
Carney later said that he did not hear the heckler use the term «genocide.»
Baber noted that «when the Prime Minister recognized the Palestinian state, he rewarded the brutality of Hamas, and he did so on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.»
In his announcement, released the day prior to the Jewish holiday, Carney claimed that recognizing «the State of Palestine, led by the Palestinian Authority, empowers those who seek peaceful coexistence and the end of Hamas,» and «in no way legitimizes terrorism, nor is it any reward for it.» He also claimed recognition «in no way compromises Canada’s steadfast support for the State of Israel, its people, and their security.»
Anti-Israel protesters gather outside the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue on March 7, 2024. The place of worship was one of three synagogues shot at in the first week of March 2026. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Watchdog organization StopAntisemitism told Fox News Digital that «every day we are seeing painful reminders that antisemitism remains a real and dangerous threat. Acts of violence meant to intimidate or silence our community will not succeed. Loud and proud Jews will not allow hatred or fear to deter our Jewish way of life or our presence in the world. Not in Canada, in the United States, in Europe, and certainly not in Israel.»
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StopAntisemitism called for the perpetrators to «be punished to the fullest extent of the law so that justice is served and deterrence is clear.»
anti semitism,canada,terrorism,mark carney,israel
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Illegal immigrant’s two decades of unlawful votes expose the real ‘threat’ to democracy: Experts
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After an illegal immigrant was discovered to have been voting for more than a decade in Philadelphia, immigration experts are warning that the «system can fail» and that loss of voter confidence represents the true «serious threat» to American democracy.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said that «the most important thing is perception.»
«People have to believe that their vote counts. And so that’s, I think, a much more serious long-term threat,» said Hankinson.
«We have a perception in the United States,» he continued, «that elections were free and fair. If even the appearance of impropriety, the appearance of corruption, is bad enough to turn people off, to make people not interested in going to vote, to think, ‘Well, my vote doesn’t count anyway.’ Then that’s really what undermines democracy.»
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Mahady Sacko, a Mauritanian citizen living in the United States illegally, has fraudulently voted in every federal election dating back to 2008, federal prosecutors said. (Department of Homeland Security; Getty Images)
Earlier this week, Fox News Digital learned that Mahady Sacko, a Mauritanian citizen and illegal immigrant, allegedly voted in every federal election since 2008. He has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and charged with voter fraud in Philadelphia. This comes as congressional lawmakers fiercely debate the SAVE Act, a measure proponents say would strengthen election integrity laws.
Despite being given a removal order in 2000, Sacko, 50, registered to vote in 2005 and falsely stated on several occasions that he was a U.S. citizen, authorities allege. The voting records showed that he cast ballots in the general elections in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. In addition, he voted in the 2016 and 2020 primary elections, prosecutors said.
Hankinson said that while he believes such cases are more isolated and are not widely prevalent in the U.S., it is a «potentially big problem, and it’s one that’s very easy to fix.»
«The average Joe who does vote doesn’t think he’s setting fire to his ballot. He thinks it’s actually going to count for something. That’s what’s at risk here,» Hankinson continued, adding, «That I think is a long-term serious threat to our democracy.»
Meanwhile, Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of the election integrity research group True the Vote, told Fox News Digital that «an illegal alien allegedly voting in every presidential election since 2008 is proof the system can fail — and we have no reliable, codified way to determine how many others may be doing the same.»
«Millions could be voting illegally, but we don’t know because comprehensive voter roll audits are being fought tooth and nail, instead of being standard operating procedure,» she went on. «What’s most disturbing is how vicious the fight has become to block analyses, stop audits, and shut down even the most basic questions about eligibility and voter record maintenance.»
«That kind of resistance leaves millions of Americans with the unmistakable impression that something is very wrong in our system, and that feeling, that loss of trust, is likely the biggest impact of all.»
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Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote, warned that «millions» could be voting illegally. (SETH HERALD/AFP via Getty Images and Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
She posited that «we should treat voter rolls the way serious industries treat sensitive record management.» She suggested bringing in independent third-party auditors, setting clear state and national standards, and using real-time verification of identity, residency, and citizenship as a matter of routine.
«The data exists, the technology exists, and other sectors use it every day — what’s missing is political will to apply those same basic safeguards to our elections,» she said.
On the other hand, in a statement shared with Fox News Digital, David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), said, «We have a very good sense of the depth of the problem here» and «it is extremely rare that noncitizens get registered, and it is infinitesimally rare that they vote.»
CEIR released its latest review of noncitizen registration and voting claims last month. That review concluded, «CEIR continues to find that sweeping allegations about noncitizen registrations or voting appear to arise from misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, or outright fabrications about complex voter data.»
Becker said that President Donald Trump’s «own Department of Homeland Security has checked more than 49 million voter records, and they themselves admit that 99.98% of those records represented confirmed citizens.»
He added that «in several states that are politically aligned with President Trump, the number of alleged noncitizen voters has precipitously dropped when subjected to scrutiny.»
«We see consistently that the number of potential or confirmed noncitizens registered is very small, and those who are voting are even smaller,» he said.
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Hans von Spakovsky expressed that «every vote by an alien cancels and effectively voids the vote of a citizen.» (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
However, Hans von Spakovsky, a former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission and a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told Fox News Digital, «The point is that we have an honor system currently with most states doing absolutely nothing to verify citizenship. And we have hundreds of close elections all the time in this country where even a small number of aliens could make the difference in an election.»
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He shared information from his 2024 testimony to Congress in which he said that findings based on official registration records of thousands of aliens showed they are registered in various jurisdictions, including Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and sanctuary cities like Philadelphia and Chicago.
Despite these reports, he said, «virtually no prosecutors have expressed any interest in investigating and potentially prosecuting these aliens.»
«The indicators that it is occurring are there, and it is important to understand that every vote by an alien cancels and effectively voids the vote of a citizen,» he said.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
voting,immigration,elections,migrant crime,illegal immigrants,philadelphia
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