Texas’ fight over spending public money on private school tuition begins in earnest next week.
Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, unveiled the first draft of a high-priority bill on Friday laying out a proposal for widespread use of education savings accounts.
Teachers, parents, advocates and others are invited to testify on the proposal Tuesday.
The 33-page bill is expected to evolve throughout the session as lawmakers hammer out details about cost, eligibility and guardrails. Education savings accounts, or ESAs, are a voucher-style plan championed by the state’s Republican leadership.
“This session, we are fully committed to passing universal, comprehensive school choice legislation, ensuring every Texas family has access to the educational opportunities they deserve,” Creighton said in a statement.
Lawmakers are floating a budget with $1 billion to pay for education savings accounts.
The proposed bill would be universal – meaning families could apply for the funds if they are entering school for the first time, homeschool or are currently enrolled in a private school.
If applications for the money exceed capacity, families could win a spot via lottery, with low-income households and children with disabilities prioritized.
Families who choose an accredited private school would receive $10,000 per year. For children with disabilities, that figure would increase to $11,500 annually.
“By passing this legislation, we will break the barriers imposed by zip codes and give all families the tools they need to provide a brighter future for their children,” Creighton said.
Private schools are not required to adhere to the same federal laws that offer protections to children with disabilities. Unlike public campuses, private ones can choose to deny admission to students, including those with special needs.
Creighton’s bill would require private schools to notify parents applying for an ESA that the campus is “not subject to federal and state laws regarding the provision of educational services to a child with a disability in the same manner as a public school.”
During previous legislative sessions, public school leaders fought vehemently against any voucher-like initiative. Many are now poised to take a different tact. Rather than coming out forcefully against the plan, they are instead focused on demanding that lawmakers first increase funding for public schools.
The Legislature hasn’t boosted the base amount of funding campuses receive per-student – $6,160 – since 2019. Many districts are now grappling with budget crunches, with several choosing to close campuses and end programs.
“I don’t want to do Groundhog Day,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said. “Rather than being against something, this is what we want to be for: We want to ensure that schools are funded.”
Creighton’s proposal includes a provision aimed at protecting against the misuse of taxpayer dollars, which has been a concern in other states.
School voucher programs have come at a steep cost in other states that adopted similar measures. Arizona faced a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which was a result of voucher spending, ProPublica reported.
Anti-voucher advocates point to the fact that many families who use public money to attend private school were already making that choice for their children. The majority of Indiana students utilizing the “Choice Scholarship” program have no record of attending an Indiana public school.
In the past, rural Republicans joined forces with House Democrats to swat down any voucherlike proposals. They remain concerned that such a program will funnel money away from the public campuses that serve the vast majority of Texas children. Rural areas often have a dearth of private options, with the public school system serving as a major employer and lifeblood of the area.
In pockets across the Panhandle and East Texas, for example, families would have to travel long distances to reach any private school. Families living in many high-poverty areas often don’t have easy access to private schools, either.
Texas public schools serve about 5.5 million students. Private schools, meanwhile, enroll about 290,000 children, according to the Texas Private Schools Association.
Another roughly 500,000 Texas children are estimated to homeschool.
Under Creighton’s bill, families could access $2,000 to spend on education expenses that aren’t tuition – such as tutoring, textbooks and transportation – which would help homeschooling families.
Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said in a statement that the Legislature appears prepared to set aside $1 billion for its effort “while continuing to underfund our public schools, where most Texas children will continue to be educated. This is simply wrong and a failure of the Legislature’s constitutional duty to adequately fund public education.”
Abbott and his allies are adamant that families deserve a way out of public schools if they don’t believe the campus is best serving their child. He and others have slammed districts for failing kids and promoting liberal ideology.
The governor has put tremendous financial and political capital into stacking the House with proponents of “school choice.” He believes he now has the votes necessary to create a universal ESA program.
The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation applauded the bill, saying it would “establish the largest day one ESA program in the nation.”
“The universal eligibility would ensure that no children are left out and every single parent will have the opportunity to make educational choices for their children,” TPPF’s Mandy Drogin said in a statement.
Dallas Morning News reporter Phil Jankowski contributed to this article.
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