The $27,000 Detail Hiding In James Talarico’s Public School Ad

A school featured in a recent campaign ad for James Talarico is nothing like the one where the Texas Senate candidate actually taught. 

The 30-second education-themed Spanish-language spot portrays Talarico as someone who fights to “open doors for all Texans.” While the ad features students from the poor school that Talarico taught at before launching his political career, the backdrop for the ad is a highly expensive private school in Texas. 

The school in the background of the video is the Keystone School, an elite San Antonio private school where tuition can cost parents more than $27,500 for high school and $17,000 for pre-K. On his campaign website, Talarico boasts that he taught at a school located in “one of Texas’s poorest zip codes.”

While blurred out, Keystone’s distinctive Cobra logo can be seen in the background on the gym floor and on banners as Talarico’s former students from a now-shuttered public middle school praise him for inspiring their academic pursuits. 

“It was the first time that I had an adult tell me that the world is hard and it won’t be handed to you,” one former student says while shots of Keystone’s gym can be seen in the background. 

Keystone Head of School William Handmaker told The Daily Wire that the rental of the facility by the Talarico campaign does not constitute support for the candidate. 

“Keystone is a nonpartisan, nonprofit school. While we respect the right of the community to have their political opinions, we as a school do not endorse or oppose any candidate for public office, and a facility rental does not reflect support for any candidate or party,” he said. 

Unlike the successful Keystone School, the public school where Talarico taught for several years is no longer in operation. Talarico taught language arts at San Antonio’s Rhodes Middle School, which was closed down by San Antonio Independent School District’s Board of Trustees last year. 

The closure came after the school received academically unacceptable ratings four years in a row. Talarico taught at the school from 2011 to 2013 before his time as a far-Left lawmaker in the state legislature. Commenting on the school’s closure at the time, Talarico attributed blame to a so-called “systematic attack on public education” instead of its poor academic record. 

“Rhodes Middle School means a lot to me personally, and I’m heartbroken to hear it’s going to be closing,” he said. “We’re seeing schools close all over the state of Texas — in communities in every corner of the state — because there’s been a systematic attack on public education in Texas.”

Talarico’s education platform includes attacks on school vouchers, which could help parents from failing public school districts send their children to more academically robust private schools. Talarico calls school vouchers a “scam” and said he would fight school choice programs if elected to the Senate.

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