Texas House Speaker expects vote on school choice early next week

AUSTIN, Texas - Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said they believe the House will send both of the current education savings account bills out of committee and onto the House floor for a vote early next week.

What they're saying:

Abbott and Burrows were joined by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

In 2022, Arizona became the first state to offer universal school choice to parents.

During Tuesday's news conference, Patrick pushed back on the idea that school choice would result in underfunded public schools in the state.

"We're doing everything we can to have a robust public education system because that's where most students will go. But every parent deserves choice," Patrick said.

Senate Bill 2 passed the Senate on Feb. 5.

Abbott has long been a supporter of school choice in Texas and has spent a majority of this legislative session pushing both chambers of the state house to pass education savings accounts.

"It's time that Texas ranks number one for educating our students in this state," Abbot said. "There is a clear pathway to achieve that goal."

"We wanted to acknowledge how much Texas has taken a step forward in educating children in our state. School choice is so important for parents. It is essential for students," Abbott added.

School choice legislation failed in the House during the last legislative session and in multiple special sessions.

"We can fully fund public education and provide meaningful opportunities in competition through school choice at the same time, which is why the House has been committed to passing both SB 2 and HB 3, in tandem," Burrows said.

"It took all of eight years to pass this in our state. We were the first state to get it done. Thirteen other states have since followed suit, but no state even close to as big, as impactful and as consequential as Texas has passed it yet," said former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.

Competing Texas school choice bills

The backstory:

As it stands now, the House must consider two similar, yet different, bills to establish education savings accounts.

Both options would cost around $1 billion to implement.

"The number can only grow as large as much as the Texas Legislature decides to appropriate to it," Abbott said. "And so unless and until we get to future sessions, only then will a determination be made about whether it's going to increase or decrease."

On Tuesday, Abbot was asked about sustaining the costs of running the program and future expansions. The Legislative Budget Board has estimated the program could cost the state more than $4 billion in four years.

On Feb. 5, the Texas Senate overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 2, which would allow parents to use public tax dollars to pay for private education up to $10,000.

Senate Bill 2

Like previous bills from past sessions, the bill would create "education savings accounts" that incentivize pulling students from public school to attend private schools.

The bill would create education savings accounts from taxpayer money for families who are interested in private education over public with up to $10,000 per year per student.

Students with disabilities could get up to $11,500.

The bill would have a lottery system where 80 percent of the funds would be allocated to students who have special needs or are in low-income households.

Low-income households are defined in the bill as a total annual income that's at or below 500% of the federal poverty guidelines.

The remaining 20 percent would be open to any student based on lottery selection.

The funds could be used to pay for private school tuition, public school costs, tutors and books.

House Bill 3

House Bill 3 is similar to Senate Bill 2 in that both bills would require a $1 billion investment from the state to establish the accounts.

Under both bills, families chosen for the program would be allowed to use the funds on private school tuition, textbooks, transportation and other education expenses.

"We have 5.5 million kids in K-12 public education, with a state budget of about $84 billion. Got those numbers? 5.5 84 billion. School choice, despite the fact that it will be the largest launch of school choice in the history of the world. $1 billion for 100,000 students. I just want you to paint the picture. 5.5 million kids. 100,000. 84 billion. A billion. So anyone who says that we are undermining education, that is simply a total lie," said Patrick.

READ MORE: Texas Senate passes SB2, would allow parents to use tax funds for private schools

The bills start to move away from each other when it comes to who is considered for the accounts and how much each student would receive.

While Senate Bill 2 would add a flat $10,000 to a student's savings account, the House version sets the number at "85 percent of the estimated statewide average amount of state and local funding per student in average daily attendance for the applicable school year."

The other difference is in how the programs choose who gets a spot if more applications are received.

Arizona empowerment scholarship accounts

When Arizona passed its expansion of school vouchers, the program had been in place for several years.

At first, the program was only available to students with disabilities.

In 2022, Docey signed legislation that expanded the program to all Arizona students.

Arizona already had the most expansive education options in the nation, with public and charter schools, a tax credit system that helps pay for private schooling costs and the voucher system, technically called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.

Under the program, parents receive around 90% of the state funds that normally go to their local public school.

According to the nonprofit EdChoice, the program currently serves 83,032 students. On average, those students receive around $7,400.

A similar plan was rejected by voters in 2018.

Opponents of the 2022 expansion were unable to collect enough signatures to block the expansion by sending it to a public referendum vote.

Opposition to school vouchers

The other side:

Opponents of Texas' school voucher program have said the program wouldn't serve the students the program was designed to help. Instead, they argue that the bill forces the poorest students to compete with middle-class students for the funding.

Other opponents have argued the program would pull money from and hurt rural school districts.

"Arizona's program failed. It is budget-busting, and it is not something that I want here in Texas. Governor Abbott recently said that when teachers understand the voucher program, they will support it. And I’m here to say that we absolutely do not," said Texas teacher Taylor Carriker-Cavin.

But those who support the program, like SB2 author Sen. Brandon Creighton, say the programs in other states show that students in private schools are more likely to Black or Hispanic, as opposed to white.

In contrast to that claim, Grand Canyon Institute did a study of Arizona's school choice plan in 2022. GGI found that 45% of those who got money came from wealthy households, and 80% of the students who applied were not in a public school.

A follow-up cost analysis in Arizona was released this past June. 

EducationTexas PoliticsAustinGreg AbbottArizona