Could this be the legislative session that passes school vouchers? And what does that mean for public education in Texas?
On Thursday night the State Board of Education reversed course on its position on school vouchers.
The board, which is made up of 15 independently-elected members from around the state, voted to rescind its recommendation passed late last year that stated the state legislature should reject any measures to fund private schools with public dollars.
However, after the November general election, the State Board of Education made a shift further to the right. Republicans increased their board majority with one more seat, and several of the moderate Republicans are gone. They were replaced with more right-wing conservatives.
Thursday night’s vote was 8-5 and the measure calls for the removal all the language about vouchers. The board adopted a neutral stand. It’s not supporting a voucher program, but not going to object to a state voucher program either.
This move comes on the heels of Gov. Greg Abbott announcing earlier this week his new public support for a statewide voucher program.
On Tuesday Abbott spoke at Annapolis Christian Academy in Corpus Christi where he gave a full endorsement for school choice “for every child in Texas” under the guise of an education savings account scheme. This is understood to be a full school voucher program that would give parents public dollars to spend on private school tuition or other educational expenses.
“When a school does fall short of excellence, when it strays too far from the fundamentals, or simply cannot meet the unique needs of a particular child, parents should not be helpless. They should be able to choose the education option that is best for their child. The way to do that is with ESAs Education Savings Accounts,” Abbott said.
Critics of school vouchers say it would siphon money out of traditional public schools. In past legislative sessions school vouchers have been vehemently opposed by Democrats but also Republicans in the house chamber representing rural parts of the state, where the local ISD is an important community hub, source of local pride and a major job provider.
Abbott said education savings accounts are what Texas needs to give families options.
“When a school does fall short of excellence, when it strays too far from the fundamentals or simply cannot meet the unique needs of a particular child, parents should not be helpless,” he said. “They should be able to choose the education option that is best for their child.”
In Abbott’s speech he attacked the traditional Texas public school system for the policies that were adopted during the COVID outbreak which were put in place to keep children safe during a deadly pandemic.
“During COVID and after COVID, many parents were extraordinarily frustrated about the quality of schools, about the substance of what was being taught, about mandates that stiff-armed parents away from their child’s education. Some parents were angry that their child was being forced by a school to wear a mask,” Abbott said.
“Other parents were angry that masks were not required in the school. Parents were angry that some schools were forcing their child to learn virtually. And while a parent watched their own child in their own home learn virtually, they saw that child falling further and further behind in their education. Parents were angry about some schools being closed and having no place to go other than the government mandated school,” he said.
Abbott also was critical of traditional public schools over issues related to the conservative culture war – particularly content around race, sexuality and how history is taught.
“Parents are angry today about social agendas being pushed on our kids in our schools in Texas. And that is unacceptable. And we see in schools sex content is being taught to kids in school, even in grade school in Texas. Well, let’s be clear about something. Schools are for education, not indoctrination,”.
Both of these lines of attack on traditional public schools have been seen as efforts to weather down the public’s confidence in local ISD’s and bolster the political move to pass an expanded statewide school voucher program. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Republican Party of Texas have listed school choice as a top legislative priority.
State Senator Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston filed Senate Bill 176, which appears to have the backing of the leadership. It would create an expansive statewide education saving account program that would allow parents to use state funds to pay for their children’s private school, online schooling or private tutors. The “Texas Parental Empowerment Program” would be administered by the state comptroller.
Education savings accounts give the money directly to families, sometimes in the form of a preloaded debit card and can be used for a variety of education expenses.
Under SB 176 each child could be granted about 10 thousand dollars a year which is what is estimated it costs to educate a child in the traditional public-school setting. Critics say there is too little transparency and accountability which means this is a system ripe for fraud.
The funds for the program could come from both taxpayer money and donations. House Bill 619 would give tax credits to individuals who make contributions to private school scholarship funds.
Joshua M. Cowen
To find out more about how voucher programs have been working in other states, I reached out to Joshua M. Cowen PhD, professor of education policy in the College of Education at Michigan State University.
Cowen said after studying school vouchers for two decades he is now firmly opposed to them.
Cowen writes “Vouchers are dangerous to American education. They promise an all-too-simple solution to tough problems like unequal access to high-quality schools, segregation and even school safety. In small doses, years ago, vouchers seemed like they might work, but as more states have created more and larger voucher programs, experts like me have learned enough to say that these programs on balance can severely hinder academic growth — especially for vulnerable kids.”
Pastors for Texas Children
Louis Malfaro is the associate executive director of Austin Voices for Education and Youth and a leader with Pastors for Texas Children.
Malfaro said school vouchers have an ugly history.
“They were originally called segregation vouchers. And when the US Supreme Court in 1954 decided Brown versus the Board of Education, that states could no longer operate separate and unequal school systems, many southern states and districts and counties simply refused to comply,” Malfaro said.
Malfaro said vouchers were created to get around the prohibition on segregation. Eventually this was struck down by the courts.
“Hispanic children now are a majority of the students in public schools in Texas. And when you group and all children of color, you’re looking at about two thirds of Texas students now. So, a state that has all of a sudden lost the will to invest in its public school system. As that public school system’s demographic has changed, this tracks very well with the same sort of racist unwillingness that southern states after Brown versus the Board of Education exemplified in their policy when they decided they didn’t want to integrate schools and they didn’t want to educate those children,” he said.