Lawmakers head back to Austin on Tuesday, and the number one priority is said to be school choice.
DALLAS — A new legislative session begins in Austin on Tuesday.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says school vouchers are his number one priority, so much so he’s pressuring Gov. Greg Abbott to make vouchers an emergency item so the bill can be among the first the Texas Senate passes.
Voucher plans allow families to use public tax dollars on private education – tuition, uniforms, or tutoring could all qualify.
Supporters in Texas say they are pushing for education savings accounts, which they say are different than vouchers. Senators have passed them before but they’ve met their demise in the Texas House.
This session, Abbott says a school choice program “is going to pass.”
A long fight
Digging into WFAA’s archives proves this fight has been brewing in the Texas legislature for many years.
In news stories from the early 2000s, when Rick Perry was governor and Republicans first had control of the Texas House and Senate, advocates said they had enough momentum for some sort of a voucher bill to be signed into law.
Two decades have passed and it still hasn’t happened.
Gov. Abbott made school choice a priority in the 2023 regular session and in the special sessions that followed, but every attempt failed in the House.
So, ahead of the November election, Abbott campaigned against House members of his own party who had voted down voucher bills and many of those candidates lost.
He declared victory the morning after the election.
“We have more than enough members of the Texas House of Representatives elected last night to make sure that school choice is going to pass,” Abbott said at a rally at a private school in Tyler.
Abbott now says he has 79 pro-voucher state representatives, three more than the 76-vote threshold he needs.
“I 100 percent believe that there are the votes,” said Mandy Drogin, campaign director of Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Next Generation Texas.
TPPF is an influential voice lobbying lawmakers to pass school choice.
“But we’re not going to stop until Gov. Abbott’s pen signs that law,” Drogin said.
What will the bill look like?
As of the weekend before the session began, the major school voucher and school funding bills had not yet been filed.
“About 350 education policy bills have been filed, but we get about 1,000 education policy bills each session and by the end, only about 100 of those end up passing,” said Bob Popinski, senior director of policy for Raise Your Hand Texas, a non-profit organization that is advocating for full funding of public education.
March 14 is the filing deadline. That’s about 60 days into the 140-day session.
On day one, the House will elect a new speaker. Committee chairmanships will follow soon after.
Lt. Gov. Patrick has already said he’s earmarked Senate Bill 2 for a school choice bill.
The lower a bill’s number, the higher its priority.
Senate Bill 1 will be the budget.
“There’s going to be a lot of debate and discussion and compromise in the next 140 days on what a voucher program or education savings account program might look like, and only time will tell if they have the votes for that,” Raise Your Hand Texas’s Popinski said. “What I hope members returning and new members look to is the policy outcomes they want for their state.”
Popinski said other states that have passed universal voucher programs are seeing budgets balloon within a couple of years of implementing them.
“To be honest, the receipts are in, and the policy outcomes aren’t exactly what Texas really wants,” he said.
About 5.5 million students attend Texas public schools, taught by approximately 380,000 educators.
Terminology
Supporters and opponents disagree on what terms to use.
“Vouchers and education savings accounts are completely different,” said Drogin. “Education savings accounts really stormed the nation in the past six years, because they are incredibly flexible. And they allow for the education system to truly be customized for kids.”
In addition to tuition and uniforms, Drogin said ESAs can cover the cost of career and technical education, therapies and “all sorts of other aspects that go into funding a child’s education.”
“Voucher – it’s old school. It’s also been quite frankly used as a pejorative,” she said.
But Ovida Molina, president of the Texas State Teachers Association and a former middle school teacher in Alief says any version – voucher or education savings account – takes away from students.
“Trying not to say the word voucher – that’s a lie, it’s a false promise,” she said.
“When I hear the word ‘savings account,’ it’s a savings account for the rich. It’s not anything for our families that truly need it. Our families truly need public schools to be fully funded, so that our children get everything that they deserve and need.”
Funding
Since 2019, the legislature has not increased the basic allotment, which is the amount the state spends per student.
The allotment is currently $6,160.
It should be $1,200 to $1,500 higher, just to keep up with inflation, Popinski said.
He and Molina argue that schools are chronically underfunded, and lawmakers should focus on making them whole.
“Due to 20% inflation, our public schools have lost about $9.9 billion in purchasing power since 2019,” he said. “We have a long way to go to make sure our schools are just held harmless and whole for the inflationary pressures put on them. In addition to that, Texas currently underfunds our special education program by about $2 billion. So, Texas and our legislature has a lot of work to do.”
Drogin isn’t sure districts are as underfunded as they claim to be.
“Do I think more money needs to go into the classroom? Absolutely. But I’ll say the system’s been set up to steer the money out of the classrooms. We’ve got far too many lobbyists and consultants and tech vendors and things like that, that have come up with all these reasons to send money away from our teachers,” Drogin said.
She said ESAs give parents the right to choose the best path for their children, calling the current system of public schools “antiquated.”
“If you’re zoned for a great public school and you’re happy with it, that’s wonderful. That’s what we want….but if your child is not zoned for a great school and you’re unhappy with the education…a parent, regardless of their income, should have the opportunity to select a better learning environment that will prepare their children.”