A voucher-style program for Texas students is a fait accompli. The state Senate is expected to its “school choice” bill today, which would then send it to the Texas House.
A coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans averted an education savings program last session. That coalition is diminished after a series of electoral losses, so now the job of the House is to shape this bill into the most reasonable version it can while addressing public school funding with equal urgency.
Gov. Greg Abbott insists on a universal voucher program for which all students are eligible, regardless of income. That is the proposal developed by the Senate: a $1 billion program that would subsidize about $10,000 per student in private school tuition and $2,000 for homeschooling. Officials expect that about 100,000 kids would benefit.
That’s about 2% of all K-12 students in Texas — more than 5.5 million children in public and private schools.
The 2025 bill stipulates that students who receive vouchers would also take an assessment, a nod to public ability that is an improvement over a previous legislative attempt. Still, the current proposal remains too expansive.
As currently contemplated, the program would use a lottery system in case demand exceeds supply. The voucher legislation, known as Senate Bill 2, lays out that 80% of the funding would be reserved for disabled students and low-income families whose children attend public schools, while the rest would be open to the rest of Texas families, including families already in private school.
The low-income threshold is too generous: up to five times the federal poverty level, according to the bill. For a family of two people, that means homes making up to $105,000 would qualify. For a family of four, the ceiling for low-income eligibility would be $160,000 in income.
Frustration with student outcomes in failing public schools and school districts is real, and a voucher program should be tailored to help those students who are trapped in bad schools and whose families can’t afford other options. They should be the focus of a means-tested voucher program in Texas.
Abbott is pressuring Republican lawmakers to give him the sweeping program he demands, but they should look with concern to the red flags in Arizona. That state ed a universal voucher program beset by budget overruns and news reports that lower-income neighborhoods use fewer vouchers than more affluent ones.
Middle- and upper-class families have school choices. Texas children from poor families have fewer, if any. They are the ones who stand to lose out on a program with few to no restrictions.
Harm will come to all of us — our families, our communities, our businesses — if lawmakers fail to treat public school funding and teacher raises with the same level of concern as they are treating school vouchers.
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