GOP Governor Touts Bill that Outlaws Kitty
Behavior in Schools in Rural Vouchers Ploy
Capitol Inside
March 14, 2025
Texas Governor Greg Abbott appeared to be getting desperate in a perennial school choice push when he warned on Thursday that children who dress, makes sounds and relieve themselves like cats have become a rapidly-growing problem in public education in rural areas around the state.
But the leader of the nation's second largest state assured a group of preachers that he's declaring war on "furries" with legislation that was filed that day in an attempt to keep rural public schools from being overrun by kids who wear kitten costumes, meow and use litter boxes for bodily functions.
State Rep. Stan Gerdes of Smithville gave the governor the talking point for a speech to the Texas Pastors Policy Conference when he submitted House Bill 4814 for consideration in the 2025 regular session as the F.U.R.R.I.E.S Act. This stands for Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Educational Spaces.
A second-term Republican, Gerdes sought to distinguish on social media between students whose behavior he wants to ban and those who dress up like animals as actors for drama class productions and mascots at sporting events and pep rallies.
"While school mascots, theater performances, and dress-up days remain part of school spirit, this bill ensures that students and teachers can focus on academics—not on bizarre and unhealthy disruptions," Gerdes said in a post on X. "Texas schools are for educating kids, not indulging in radical trends. Let's keep the focus where it belongs—on preparing students for success in life."
Abbott suggested that the crisis was limited to small public schools in rural areas. While the governor didn't cite any specific schools or locations where such behavior has been found, he referred to "kids in two rural school district settings" as potential culprits with the claims that he made no attempt to substantiate. Abbott argued that parents have the right to send their kids to private schools if furries have become a significant distraction to the learning environment.
"This has become so prolific," Abbott lamented.
But Abbott didn't say if he considered the F.U.R.R.I.E.S Act to be a more pressing priority than Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's attempt to change the name of the New York strip steak to the Texas strip. But the governor had not declared the Gerdes bill to be an emergency item as of Friday afternoon.
The text for HB 4814 had not been made public on the Texas Legislature's web site by noon on Friday. No one had signed on at that point as a co-sponsor of HB 4814.
The governor has claimed that he has the votes to pass a school vouchers measure in the Texas House for the first time with pledges of support from at least 76 members. That's the minimum number that it would take to keep the Gerdes bill alive in the Legislature's lower chamber.
But the school choice plan has encountered more resistance in rural areas than Abbott apparently anticipated. Anti-vouchers advocates - as a prime example - hijacked a town hall that State Rep. Cody Harris staged for a school choice pitch this month in his hometown of Palestine. Abbott has remained mum on the vouchers briefing meltdown there.
more to come ...
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