Josephine Lee

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Articles

Texas Observer: The Great Voucher Hoax

1 month ago | dianeravitch.net | Josephine Lee |Diane Ravitch

Josephine Lee of The Texas Observer covered the public hearings in the House of Representatives about Governor Abbott’s controversial voucher bill. The State Senate has already passed a voucher bill. Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass gave Governor Abbott $6 million to oust anti-voucher Republicans who killed previous voucher bills. Proponents of vouchers lied shamelessly about the alleged virtues of vouchers.
How Voucher Vendors Could Make Millions from ‘School Choice’ in Texas

2 months ago | texasobserver.org | Josephine Lee |Justin Miller

In August 2024, the business magazine Inc. released its annual list of the top 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the United States. At 815th, a burgeoning upstart called ClassWallet cracked the list’s top 20 percent for the third straight year. By expanding its operations managing school voucher programs for states across the country, earnings for the Florida company grew by 610 percent over the previous three years.
What Trump 2.0 Could Mean for Public Education

Dec 3, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Josephine Lee

From McCarthyism to public school desegregation to Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs, and now to another Trump administration, Diane Ravitch, a Houston native, has witnessed and written about the history of education. She served as assistant secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, before joining New York University as a research professor of education from the 1990s through 2020.
Texas’ Hotbed of Taiwanese Nationalism

Nov 25, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Josephine Lee

Dai wan wei. The sounds of the Taiwanese Hokkien language don’t resemble Mandarin Chinese, which drifts from the throat in soft wisps. Nor is Taiwanese, as it’s more simply called, like the syncopated rhythms of English, that concoction of multisyllabic consonant-and-vowel blends manipulated by the tongue and lips.
“They Bought a Legislature”: What the GOP's Gains Mean for Vouchers in Texas

Nov 7, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Josephine Lee

Since the Kingdom of Life Academy moved from its location at the Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Tyler to its own 23-acre space in town, they’ve struggled to get enough students to keep afloat, going from 10 students at the end of 2019 to 20 students this year. Its website states the campus offers a “Christ-centered education” to grades six through 10. “All education is inescapably Christian in that all truth is God’s truth.
Is University of Sydney’s Campus Culture Inclusive of Western Sydney?

Oct 15, 2024 | honisoit.com | Josephine Lee

Clubs and societies are known for being the place to make friends, share niche interests, or work on various wild projects with people you would have never met in high school.However, for Western Sydney students, they seem to be a place often far out of reach. “Sometimes it can feel hostile to Western Sydney peeps,” said Natarina Ramdhana, who commutes from Blacktown; a trip which takes 1.5 – 2 hours. “There is a cultural divide in Sydney.
Texas Is Taking Back the State Highway 288 Tollway-at a Steep Price

Oct 9, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Josephine Lee

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is set to take back ownership of the State Highway 288 tollway, one of the state’s most expensive privately built toll roads, which connects Houston to its southern suburbs.
When Will Texas Workers Finally Get Protections from Heat Exposure?

Sep 5, 2024 | tspantx.com | Josephine Lee

For more than a decade, Democratic U.S. Representative Greg Casar, an ex-Austin City Council member now representing a House district that stretches down to San Antonio, has been fighting to protect workers from extreme heat. From 2011 to 2022, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 479 workers in the United States died from heat exposure while nearly 34,000 suffered heat-related illnesses or injuries while on the job.
When Will Texas Workers Finally Get Protections from Heat Exposure?

Sep 5, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Josephine Lee

For more than a decade, Democratic U.S. Representative Greg Casar, an ex-Austin City Council member now representing a House district that stretches down to San Antonio, has been fighting to protect workers from extreme heat. From 2011 to 2022, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 479 workers in the United States died from heat exposure while nearly 34,000 suffered heat-related illnesses or injuries while on the job.
After Hurricane Beryl, Cooling Centers Were Few and Slow to Arrive for Houstonians of Color-Some Died of Heat Exposure

Aug 29, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Josephine Lee

Carol Samuel, 76, was born, raised, and educated in Third Ward, a sprawling and storied community of color in Houston. She now lives on the third floor of the Law Harrington Senior Living Center, where she and roughly half of the residents have disabilities or severe health problems. Even before Hurricane Beryl hit the city on July 8, spawning a blackout, the elevators were broken.