In a bold move by the Texas Senate Education Committee on Tuesday evening, Jan. 28, 2025, voted 9-2 to advance Senate Bill 2 (SB 2), authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, which would create an education savings account program, popularly known as “school vouchers” for students across Texas, for a full vote in the Senate. The 9-2 Republican majority on the committee pushed SB 2 forward days before Texas Governor Greg Abbott takes the stage Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, for his State of the State speech.
Gov. Abbott is expected to make SB 2 a top legislative priority in the 89th. In the 88th Legislature in 2023, Gov. Abbott, during his State of the State address, talked about how education freedom for Texans was an emergency item for the 88th Legislative Session. So this is not new to the state legislature. If Gov. Abbott makes SB 2 an emergency priority, this will allow lawmakers to pass the proposal within the first 60 days of the current legislative session, which started earlier this month.
According to James Barragán of the Texas Tribune, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick informed an audience on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, during the 89th Session Kickoff that the Senate “would pass the bill as soon as Wednesday of next week if Abbott declares it an emergency item on Sunday.” The Senate consists of 20 Republicans and 10 Democrats, in addition to the vote of the Lieutenant Governor. It seems likely that Lieutenant Governor Patrick is correct about SB 2 advancing swiftly through the Senate. SB 2 is getting out of the Senate pretty fast.
However, the lower chamber, where voucher legislation has struggled to gain traction in recent sessions, has not filed a companion bill for SB 2. Governor Abbott believes he now has enough support in the House, having endorsed several challengers in the Republican Texas House primaries to help defeat incumbents who opposed school vouchers in the last session. Out of the 15 challengers he backed, 11 won their primaries outright in March 2024 or secured victory in the primary runoff in May 2024. All 15 candidates were successful in the General Election in November 2024.
According to the text, as it was introduced, SB 2 would establish an education savings account program. This program would provide families with $10,000 per year for each student in taxpayer dollars to cover tuition at accredited private schools and additional expenses such as textbooks, transportation, and therapy. The legislation would allocate $11,500 per student for children with disabilities and at least $2,000 per year for families who choose to homeschool their children and participate in the program.
Any child who is eligible to attend or is already attending a public school can apply for the program proposed by the Senate, including those enrolled in a public school’s pre-K program. Families with children currently attending private schools are also allowed to participate. The program would use a lottery system to prioritize students from low-income households and children with disabilities in the event that the demand for the savings accounts exceeds the available funding.
Locally, the school boards and administrators of Brownfield ISD (BISD), Meadow ISD (MISD), and Wellman-Union ISD (WUISD) oppose the idea of vouchers. In Texas, average daily attendance (ADA) is a key factor used to fund public schools. While the Texas Senate has stated that the education savings accounts will come from a different fund, families who choose to send their children to private schools will result in those private schools receiving state funds. This means public schools will lose funding for each student who leaves for a private institution. If a significant number of students opt for private schools, it could lead to decreased attendance and further funding losses for the public schools.
Wellman-Union ISD Superintendent Nate Wheeler has expressed concerns about education funding, stating, “My worry is the lack of support for education funding. I have spoken with Perry, King, and Tepper, all of whom have claimed that education is not among their priorities. That is concerning, especially given the lack of progress in the 88th session.”
Funding issues have become increasingly prominent in the South Plains area and throughout the state, with 80% of Texas school districts voting for deficit budgets due to a combination of factors, including declining enrollment, inflation, and stagnant state funding. BISD is one of those districts that approved a deficit budget last July. The BISD School Board President remarked, “One problem I see happening in Austin is that nobody is discussing actual public school funding. They’re focused on vouchers but do not address public school funding.”
Opponents of school vouchers argue that private schools are not required to administer standardized tests, unlike public schools, whose students must take them. Public schools are accountable to the state for their performance, whether they succeed or fail, while private schools in Texas do not have the same level of accountability. One opponent of vouchers, Dan Jackson, whose wife has worked in public education for several decades, has previously stated, “If the legislature and the governor can’t get this across the finish line, why don’t they just put it on the ballot so all Texans can have a voice?”
People like Mayor Eric Horton of Brownfield believe there is already school choice available. “We sent our kids to smaller schools because we felt that was best for them. We weren’t denied; we weren’t asked to leave… it was simply our choice. Most school districts allow transfers, and if you live in a district that has a campus on the PEG list (Public Education Grant), you have options,” he stated.
According to the Texas Education Agency, the PEG list includes underperforming schools, which can be individual campuses within a school district or entire districts themselves. Under the PEG program, authorized by the Texas Education Code (TEC), Chapter 29, Subchapter G, §§29.201–29.205, a school district chosen by a student’s parent is entitled to accept or reject the transfer application. However, they may not use criteria that discriminate based on a student’s race, ethnicity, academic achievement, athletic abilities, language proficiency, sex, or socioeconomic status.
TownTalk Media will continue to monitor the 89th Legislature.
