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The Texas Senate unveiled Monday its main bill to establish an education savings account program, a priority for Gov. Greg Abbott this special session.
Senate Bill 1, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would allow families access $8,000 of taxpayer money to pay for private schools and other educational expenses such as uniforms, textbooks, tutoring or transportation among other things.
In a statement, Creighton expressed his belief that empowering parents with school choice will foster competition, innovation, and ultimately guarantee that every student in Texas can discover an educational path that caters to their distinct needs. He emphasized that educating the future generation of Texans is a crucial responsibility.
The establishment and administration of these education savings accounts would be handled by the state comptroller’s office. To finance the program, the bill aims to allocate $500 million from the general revenue fund over the course of two years. Furthermore, the comptroller’s office would assume the responsibility of preventing fraud and misuse of funds, which is a significant concern for numerous legislators. Additionally, they would approve an organization to assist with application processing, as well as the approval of vendors and participating private schools.
Creighton says that the program will not siphon money away from public schools as the funding comes from general revenue, not the Foundation School Program, which is the main source of funding for the state’s K-12 public schools.
Even though critics in the Texas Legislature believe that an academic achievement exam should be mandatory for private school students under the education savings account proposal, the bill does not require it.
If this legislation is approved, nearly every student who attended a public school in the previous year would qualify to participate in the program. Additionally, any student who is prepared to join Pre-K or kindergarten would also be eligible to apply.
The bill encompasses a provision that establishes a method for determining the order of admission into the program in cases where the number of applicants exceeds the available funds. Under this formula, 40% of the available spots would be allocated to students receiving free or reduced lunch, 30% to families with incomes ranging from 185% to 500% of the federal poverty line, 20% to individuals with disabilities, and 10% to those who attended public, private, or home-school during the previous academic year.
The filing of SB 1 came hours after Creighton announced Senate Bill 2, a $5.2 billion school funding bill that would allocate most of the money to teacher raises and include a small funding increase to help schools pay their rising bills.
It is uncertain if the funding bill can progress further. In the special session, Abbott’s sole focus on education was the implementation of education savings accounts, which would enable families to use state funds for their children’s private education. According to the state constitution, only bills aligned with the governor’s agenda can be passed during special sessions. The governor has the authority to modify the agenda at any point.
According to Creighton, SB 1 and SB 2 complement each other by offering additional education choices for Texas families and increasing funding for public schools. However, during the regular session, two other proposals by Creighton, which aimed to establish an education savings account program and grant pay bonuses to teachers, were unsuccessful in the House due to disagreements regarding vouchers and methods of salary increment for educators.
In a Hail Mary play at the end of the regular session, Creighton attached his education savings account proposal — similar to the one he announced Monday — to House Bill 100, a school finance bill. That bill eventually died after House members once again stood firm against school vouchers, though the move left public schools with no new funding for teacher raises and other rising expenses.
The future of an education savings account program remained uncertain as this year’s third special session started Monday with Texas Republicans embroiled in intraparty fighting. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign because the speaker demanded he return $3 million to a major backer, the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, after The Texas Tribune reported its leader had met with a white supremacist and antisemitic activist. Patrick accused Phelan of using this weekend’s Hamas attack on Israel for political gain.
In the meantime, Texas House Democrats have once again indicated their opposition to any form of school voucher program.
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters his group is “very clear: no vouchers and no deals.”
“A voucher scam is a poison pill that will end up taking more out of our public schools than it puts in,” said Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin.
According to Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University, he is of the opinion that there is alignment between Abbott and the Senate regarding public school funding and school vouchers.
According to Jones, SB2 serves as the primary incentive for anti-voucher Republicans and a few persuadable Democrats to support school choice legislation. The arrangement is that once the legislation is on its way to the governor’s desk, Abbott will prioritize public school funding on the special session agenda. Consequently, this will enable the Senate and House to swiftly approve SB2 or a similar bill.
Disclosure: Rice University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
