Initial plans for a private school voucher-like program and allocation of additional funds toward public schools are on their way for consideration in the House after the Senate passed two proposals on Thursday.
Both measures, Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 2 by Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) were approved on majority votes after over 14 hours of deliberation on the floor. After the legislation passed, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called for the Senate to recess until Monday afternoon.
Patrick released a written statement referring to past bids to approve “school choice” proposals that died upon getting to the House.
The lieutenant governor said he wanted to make it “abundantly clear” that the Senate was prepared to pass the chamber’s version of such legislation – Senate Bill 1 – repeatedly until the House follows suit and sends it over to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk.
This measure would create education savings accounts for families that would receive $8,000 of taxpayer money to put toward their children’s private school tuition and other related costs.
Those who oppose this voucher program do not support sending state money to private schools saying those funds could go to already underfunded public schools.
Creighton previously claimed that the plan would not take money away from these schools. However, per Senate Bill 1’s financial analysis, school districts are projected to receive less money as students leave and apply to these private schools.
According to Troy Reynolds, founder of Texans for Public Education, the voucher allotment is redirecting funds away from these districts despite the amount provided to families not meeting the average tuition – $12,000 to $13,000 – for private schools in Texas.
“The $8,000 doesn’t even get children in the door,” Reynolds said. “It also doesn’t include the price of uniforms, supplies, or transportation. How do they get to school when it is just pure tuition?”
According to Creighton, Senate Bill 2, which should be considered separately, addresses this argument by distributing $5.2 billion in state dollars to public schools for increasing the basic allotment or amount of per-student spending in a district, teacher pay raises and bonuses, and school safety measures.
However, according to media reports, Abbott said he would not approve any public school funding bills until legislation that creates “education savings accounts” passes in both chambers on Thursday while attending a Texas Public Policy Foundation event as the Senate was in session.
Although Abbott added that he was actively making progress on working with the House on a voucher-related plan they could support, many House and Senate Democrats and rural Republicans remain divided.
Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University, said Patrick and Abbott’s potential unwillingness to accept a more watered-down or limited version of voucher-like program legislation could prevent an agreement between the House and Senate.
“They (Abbott and Patrick) want a full-throated, impactful piece of voucher legislation,” Jones said. And I’m not sure if they will have the votes in the House for that.”
Debate in the Senate intensified as lawmakers who opposed the proposed education savings accounts took on several concerns, which the senators later addressed in a series of amendments attached to Senate Bill 1.
To mitigate concerns from anti-voucher senators about the financial impacts of this program on public schools, an amendment added to the bill will give school districts with less than 5,000 students $10,000 for every student that leaves to enroll in a private school through the proposed program.
Senators also approved an amendment introduced by Senator Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) to keep children of state officer holders and lawmakers from qualifying as eligible participants.
Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) challenged Gutierrez’s amendment. Still, it passed and was attached to the bill as those against the program continue their questions about which students will benefit from these funds.
An additional amendment expanded the ability of who could apply, including homeschool students in the group of public or private school students that were either already enrolled in classes or entering Pre-K or kindergarten the following year.
Despite the expansion, several senators continued to object to the proposed prioritization tiers of the program, which set aside a certain amount of spots for those that are from lower-income families or have disabilities – which pro-voucher legislators continue to claim are the student groups they are aiming to serve.
Senator José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) told Creighton instead of these tiers creating more spaces, they cap the populations that need assistance the most. Menéndez requested that this clause’s language, which reads “no more than” a certain percentage of students that qualify for free or reduced lunch, whose families’ earn below the federal income poverty line or who have disabilities be changed to “at least” to avoid any implied restrictions to these groups.
Lawmakers particularly scrutinized limitations placed on the latter group as Senate Bill 1’s text indicates that schools receiving students who are a part of the voucher-like program are not subject to federal or state laws regarding provisions for special education or disabled students.
“What you’re going to be left with these fly-by-night schools or groups that made enough money and leave, and families aren’t going to have vendors to go to,” Reynolds said. “The legit private schools that offer very expensive services for children with severe disabilities are going to be put out of business because of these places.”
Senators who are opposed to a voucher program asked if any protections would be put in place to prevent discrimination against children with disabilities, other students or schools wanting to participate such as Islamic schools.
Creighton addressed this and said that there was no part of the proposal to prevent this from occurring. However, he said private schools could have several reasons not to admit students at any given time, which include needing more capacity to admit more students.
Although Creighton said this was one of the only ways private schools could reject students, Reynolds said historically, when voucher-like programs become law, private schools increase their tuition to push lower-income students out purposely.
“I’ve always taught in Title 1 schools, and I can’t see how vouchers will help those families,” Reynolds said. “That’s the smokescreen. Legislators say ‘We’re helping the impoverished,’ when they’re not.”
Accountability and safety were the final topics discussed, especially when evaluating private school performance, where, unlike private schools, there are no requirements to take state-administered achievement tests such as the STAAR test.
Creighton told Senator Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas), who asked how the state would track if a voucher-like program would assist with academic performance, given that public schools would not use the STAAR test. Nor would a new measure enforce any testing beyond norm-referenced assessments such as the SAT or ACT.
Johnson asked why STAAR wouldn’t be used in private schools if it is used to analyze public school student progress. Creighton responded that the state’s standardized testing needs to be reevaluated as many public school students and families are against its use.
Lastly, Johnson brought up the need for private schools to enforce background checks on all their employees – a practice put in place at public schools.
Throughout Thursday’s proceedings, more than 20 amendments were taken up for consideration on Senate Bill 1 and 17 amendments to Senate Bill 2, respectively.
The Senate also passed three measures unrelated to school funding and vouchers. These included two measures aimed at increasing border security: Senate Bill 4, which enforces criminal penalties for those who are operating a stash house or human smuggling, and Senate Bill 11, which creates a state criminal penalty to cross the border illegally and authorizes Texas law enforcement to arrest and prosecute those crossing illegally at border, respectively.
Lawmakers also passed Senate Bill 7, which prohibits private employers from requiring employees and contractors in Texas to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
After passing this legislation, the Senate recessed around midnight, and it will reconvene on Monday afternoon.
The House met briefly on Thursday; shortly after that, House Speaker Dade Phelan gaveled out, also recessing until Monday.
Although Abbott mentioned he is working on a school voucher proposal with House Republicans, the chamber has not filed their version of legislation that would create an education savings account or outline distributions of state funds to public schools.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
