The issue of school choice has been front and center in a Hill Country area State House race, where a pro-school choice incumbent Republican lawmaker faces a primary challenger who has been accused of talking “out of both sides of his mouth” about school choice and other issues.
House District 19 candidate Kyle Biedermann states on his campaign website, “I support the implementation of school vouchers.” However, that language is in stark contrast to comments he made at a recent candidate forum hosted by the Lake Travis Republican Club. At that event, held on February 20, Biedermann answered a question about school choice by stating, “Vouchers are not the answer. Vouchers are the symptom, because the public education system needs to be reformed where we get the money to the classroom.”
Troxclair, on the other hand, offered unequivocal support for school vouchers. “This is a soapbox issue for me. It’s something that I deeply care about,” said Troxclair. “We have a responsibility both as taxpayers, and as Christians, and as people who care about the future of this country, to make sure that every child in our state has access to an excellent education.”
Biedermann’s comments were first reported on Twitter by Brad Johnson of The Texan.
The contrast between Biedermann and Troxclair on the education issues has drawn the attention of some elected school board members in House District 19, who take exception to Biedermann’s duplicity.
Rich Sena, a Boerne ISD school board member, said, “Ellen Troxclair voted for well-deserved teacher pay raises, additional support for school security, and an overall increase for state funding for public schools to combat inflation. I know where she stands on both school funding and school choice. At a recent event at the Kendall County Tea Party, Kyle Biedermann said that public schools have all the funding they need. But then he turned around in Lake Travis and said that schools need more funding. Which is it?”
Brian Lehne, a Fredericksburg ISD school board member, was also critical of Biedermann.
“Ellen is a straight shooter. Kyle talks out of both sides of his mouth. He tells people whatever he thinks they want to hear. We don’t always agree on every little thing, but I choose Ellen every time because I know she shares my values and she tells the truth. Ellen is very clear in her conservative convictions and has a record to prove it. People are so tired of politicians like Kyle. He has already had his chance and was absent and ineffective – all talk and no action. The Hill Country has suffered because of it.
Ellen is the real deal and has done more for us in 13 months than he ever has. Anyone who actually knows them both is voting for Ellen because they know she will show up and follow through for us” said Lehne.
Biedermann purports to be a “taxpayer champion” and a defender of the Hill Country against development, but has a record that is inconsistent with his campaign rhetoric on those issues.
In the 2019 legislative session, as a member of the Land and Resource Management Committee, Biedermann voted against an amendment to HB 1697, which was offered as a starting point to ban Municipal Utility Districts (“MUDs”), which have property taxing authority, from using taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists.
As a Land and Resource Management Committee member during two legislative sessions, Biedermann also voted for dozens of bills to create new MUDs with taxing authority that can use taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists.
Biedermann served in the Texas House from 2017-2023. He is supported by a network of organizations associated with West Texas-based billionaire political donors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. Although Biedermann’s website claims that he gets most of his political contributions from “people in our district,” nearly 70% of the funds raised by Biedermann in his campaign have come from Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC, which Dunn and Wilks fund.
Troxclair has been endorsed by an assortment of elected officials, including Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Greg Abbott, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, Congressman Chip Roy, and over a dozen local elected officials in the district. The National Rifle Association and several other prominent conservative organizations have also endorsed Troxclair.
Last month, Governor Abbott’s campaign sent Biedermann a cease and desist letter after Biedermann used Governor Abbott’s photograph in campaign materials without his authorization.
