State Reps. Ryan Guillen and Terry Canales may be in the same Rio Grande Valley legislative delegation but they do not see eye to eye on school vouchers. 

State Reps. Ryan Guillen and Terry Canales may be in the same Rio Grande Valley legislative delegation but they do not see eye to eye on school vouchers. 

Both participated in a panel discussion at a recent McAllen Chamber of Commerce luncheon. 

Asked by moderator Veronica Gonzales, a vice president at UT-Rio Grande Valley, to give his view on vouchers, Guillen, R-Rio Grande City, said his district will not benefit from school vouchers. However, he said he voted for them because they may be of help in other parts of the state. 

Guillen said he did not place much stock in claims that state funding that went towards school vouchers came from a pot of money that would have gone to public education. Guillen said the state budget is big enough to have moved funds from other areas to boost public education, had legislators deemed it important enough.

Guillen also said competition among schools is good.

Canales, D-Edinburg, strongly opposed vouchers, saying charter schools are not held to the same level of scrutiny as public schools. He took issue with Guillen over funding, saying money was diverted from public education to fund charter schools.

Canales said the legislation was designed to help the rich get richer. 

Here is a video recording of the two legislators discussing vouchers: