AUSTIN, Texas — At the Texas State Capitol on Tuesday, Republican leaders continued their push to pass legislation allowing families to use tax dollars to help send their kids to private school. They turned to former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey for help.
Ducey joined the big three leaders at the Capitol, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, for a news conference Tuesday afternoon. Ducey signed one of the nation’s first universal education savings account (ESA) bills into law.
In Texas, the proposed ESAs in House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 2 are modeled after Arizona’s legislation. Arizona started the program for children with disabilities in 2011 and expanded it to everyone in 2022.
“School choice already exists for the wealthy. This ensures school choice for people of all means, including those of low income,” Abbott said. “We wanted to make sure that parents of low income are going to have the same opportunity that the wealthy have so that those parents are going to be able to choose a school that may be better for their child.”
Arizona’s program spends around $7,000 per student. However, both the Texas House and Senate proposals would spend around $10,000 per student.
“We were the first state to get it done, and 13 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,” Ducey said. “When Texas passes this, it changes everything for every child in this state and across the nation.”
The Senate has passed its ESA bill, which is currently sitting in the House Education Committee, waiting for a hearing. The House Education Committee is expected to vote on whether to advance its ESA bill early next week, and Burrows said they will debate it on the House floor soon after that.
Burrows said the House would pass HB 3, the ESA bill, in tandem with HB 2, a public school finance bill, because he said it is possible to “fully fund” public education while creating a school choice program.
“It’s not one or the other. It’s not either public schools or school choice. We can do both at the very same time,” Abbott said. “We’re going to fully fund public education while at the same time ensuring that parents and children are going to have the opportunity to find a school that is best for them.”
Under HB 3, students in the program would receive funding for private school tuition equal to 85% of the average state and local funding public schools receive per student. The Texas Education Agency estimated that number to be about $12,800 in the fiscal year 2023. Based on that, students in the ESA program would be eligible for a little under $10,900, possibly fluctuating as the average state and local funding per child changes.
Up to $30,000 would be given to students in special education, and HB 3 would provide up to $2,000 for homeschooling. The funding for special education can fluctuate depending on the classroom.
If the state gets more ESA applications than what it has money for, students living below the poverty line and children with disabilities would be prioritized. The House plan has a stricter tier system to determine eligibility.
The bill’s total cost is $1 billion, the same as the Senate’s ESA bill. However, the amount a student would get differs from the Senate’s plan.
Lawmakers in the Senate already passed a different ESA bill, which would allow families in the program to use at least $10,000 per child per year to pay for tuition at an accredited private school. That amount would jump to $11,500 for families of children with disabilities. SB 2 would mean more students could get an ESA, while the House would put more money into each ESA.
Of the total funding, $200 million would fund “Universal ESAs,” meaning any student could apply for that money. The other $800 million would be set aside for students with special needs or who are low-income. Senate Bill 2 defines low income as at or below 500% of the federal poverty line.
“If they’re in a school that’s a failure, they have no chance,” Patrick said. “That’s what school choice is about. It’s universal. It’s for students with disabilities, students in failing schools.”
House Bill 2 would increase the amount of money the state gives schools per student by $220.
For years, public school administrators have asked for an increase in the basic allotment as districts grapple with inflation and higher costs. While several school districts have seen budget deficits and had to make painful cuts in the past few years, the basic allotment hasn’t increased since 2019.
HB 2 would provide nearly $8 billion in new funding for public schools. It sets aside $3 billion to increase the basic allotment, the minimum funding schools get each year per student.
Under HB 2, the state’s base funding to schools would increase from $6,160 per student to $6,380. At least 40% of that increased funding would go toward teacher and employee raises. The bill also increases funding for the teacher incentive allotment to reward high-performing teachers.
“School choice, by definition, requires a choice between two things,” Burrows said. “We are committed to fully funding and having a robust public education system that is there as a good choice for many students as well.”
Arizona’s program has had a host of issues. The price tag has ballooned to $429 million, well above the projected $65 million.
“The absolute ballooning of their voucher program has caused them to have cuts in important sectors like water and community colleges and even closing public schools,” Taylor Carriker-Cavin, a fifth-grade math teacher in Austin, said.
Carriker-Cavin stood outside the news conference with a chalkboard, giving a “Voucher Math 101” presentation and pointing out issues with the Arizona program.
“The math does not add up,” she said. “My fifth-grade students would be able to look at the math for this program and see that it does not add up.”
Studies, including a recent one by The Grand Canyon Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, show that most students using the programs are from wealthy families already in private schools. There are also allegations of fraud and waste, with funds going to non-educational expenses.
“Arizona’s voucher scam has pushed their state towards a massive budget deficit, and now, Greg Abbott wants to bring that same failed blueprint to Texas,” State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) said in a statement. “Our message to Governor Abbott is clear: don’t Arizona our Texas.”
When asked about the deficit, which critics say was caused by the school choice program, Ducey said he left office in 2023 with a $2.5 billion surplus. He blamed any current budget challenges on irresponsible spending by the current Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.
Texas Republican leaders say they believe there is enough Republican support to pass an ESA bill this session. Abbott and Burrows said they are enough co-authors of HB 3 to pass the legislation, and they expect more lawmakers to vote in favor of it on the House floor.
Key differences between the House and Senate bills will have to be worked out before a proposal can reach the governor’s desk.