Gov. Greg Abbott’s newest round of campaign advertising delivers a blunt message: if your property taxes are rising, blame your local government. The ads insist that cities, counties, school districts, and special districts are responsible for every dollar on a homeowner’s bill, portraying them as reckless spenders undoing the “historic tax relief” he claims to have delivered. It is a message crafted for election season, simple enough to fit into a 30‑second spot, and sharp enough to redirect frustration away from Austin.

But the reality facing rural communities tells a very different story — one that Abbott’s ads never mention. While he publicly scolds local governments for rising taxes, his own policies have already inflicted deep financial harm on the very school districts that anchor rural Texas. And his push for vouchers, which he fought for across multiple legislative sessions, has placed rural schools in a more precarious position than ever.

The governor’s voucher campaign was not a side issue; it was the defining battle of the 2023 legislative year. When rural Republicans in the Texas House refused to support vouchers, arguing that they would drain resources from their already underfunded districts, Abbott responded by withholding support from major public‑school funding legislation. Bills that would have increased the basic allotment, provided teacher raises, strengthened rural‑district support, and expanded special‑education resources were left to stall or die as the voucher fight consumed the session. The basic allotment remained frozen at $6,160 — unchanged since 2019 — even as inflation, insurance costs, utilities, transportation, and staffing expenses surged.

Rural superintendents warned repeatedly that vouchers would destabilize their districts. They explained that rural communities do not have private schools to absorb students, meaning vouchers would simply siphon money out of public schools without offering families any real alternative. They pleaded for the Legislature to increase funding, not divert it. Their warnings went unheeded.

Now, as districts struggle with budget shortfalls, staff reductions, and rising operational costs, Abbott’s ads tell voters to blame local officials for the consequences. The governor’s message ignores the fact that school districts — especially rural ones — are operating under state‑imposed constraints, state‑mandated formulas, and state‑driven appraisal pressures. It ignores the unfunded mandates that counties and cities must absorb. And it ignores the political reality that the voucher fight itself blocked the funding increases schools desperately needed.

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And Here in DeWit:t County, Abbott’s Message Points Directly at Your Local Officials — Even Though State Law Already Caps What They Can Do

When Abbott tells Texans to “blame your local government” for rising property taxes, he is pointing that finger squarely at the people who run  DeWitt County: Judge Fowler, the Commissioners Court, our tax assessor‑collector Ashley Mraz, Sheriff Bowen, County Clerk Natalie Carson, as well as any elected and appointed officials who keep the city and county functioning day to day. His ads imply that these local leaders are freely raising taxes, overspending, or ignoring the needs of taxpayers.

But Abbott’s message leaves out one critical fact: the State of Texas already imposes strict caps on how much counties, cities, and school districts can raise property tax revenue. Local politicians cannot simply raise taxes at will — even if they wanted to. Since 2019, Texas law has limited most local governments to 3.5% revenue growth per year without voter approval. School districts are capped even tighter. If a county or city exceeds the cap, the law forces an automatic election so voters can decide.

That means Judge Fowler and the Commissioners Court are already operating under one of the strictest local‑government tax caps in the country. They cannot legally raise your property taxes beyond the state‑mandated limit unless you, the voter, approve it. Abbott knows this. His Legislature passed it. Yet his ads pretend the cap does not exist.

So when Abbott tells Texans that “local governments are hiking your taxes,” he is blaming officials who are legally prohibited from doing what he accuses them of. He is shifting responsibility away from the state’s appraisal system, away from the state’s school finance formulas, and away from the voucher fight that blocked school funding — and placing it on the shoulders of local leaders who are already constrained by Austin.

And the irony is impossible to ignore: many of these same local officials publicly support Abbott, and you see them standing in photo opts beside the very lawmakers who have their foot on their necks. It raises a legitimate question about whether some of them fully understand how state‑imposed caps and mandates actually work. They allow the governor and the Legislature to make misleading claims about them without correcting the record for the public. That silence goes directly against their own self‑interest — and against the public’s interest — simply because they feel compelled to play the political game. It is baffling, and it deserves to be called out.

The Public Deserves to Know Who Helped Create This Crisis

And the public deserves to know exactly who helped put rural communities in this situation. Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Rep. A.J. Louderback both voted FOR the statewide voucher bill — a vote that directly contributed to the budget shortfalls and layoffs now hitting rural school districts. Rural superintendents warned this would happen. They said vouchers would drain money from public schools that have no private alternatives. They said rural districts would be hurt first and worst.

Kolkhorst and Louderback ignored those warnings and voted for vouchers anyway. That is not an opinion — that is their recorded vote. And voters in DeWitt County deserve to know who supported a policy that stripped resources from their schools and left local officials scrambling to manage the fallout.

Plain Talk: Silence Is a Choice

When local governments hide the truth, they don’t protect themselves — they just let the damage keep piling up. Our local officials need the backbone to tell Governor Abbott directly that they don’t appreciate being blamed for something state law won’t even allow them to do. And if they won’t stand up and say it, then they need to accept whatever fallout comes from their own constituents. Silence is a choice, and people will read it that way.

Communities like Cuero deserve honesty about why their tax bills look the way they do. They deserve leaders who will speak openly about the consequences of state policy, not quietly accept blame for problems they did not create. And they deserve a property tax system built on transparency and cooperation, not blame‑shifting and political pressure.

When local governments hide the truth, they do not protect themselves. They simply allow the damage to continue.