(Editor’s note: Portions of this article are from the Texas Tribune.)
‘School Choice’ has been on the minds of many as the Texas Legislature convened for its 2025 session.
Governor Greg Abbott has made it clear that school choice and vouchers will be his top priority once again leaving local educators to handle the fall out.
During the 2023 session, Texas lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott could not agree on the details of a voucher program. However, this session it appears he has the GOP support to get it passed.
How are school vouchers anticipated to work? The Texas Senate’s initial school voucher proposal would give families who opt out of the state’s public schools $10,000 per child a year to help them pay for private tuition. Those with special needs would receive $11,500. Any voucher proposal is likely to go through changes before this year’s legislative session ends in June.
Currently, public schools receive a little over $6,000 to educate each child for a basic allotment.
“He’s going to do it,” Dublin Superintendent Melissa Summers said. “We just want it to be an even playing field.”
Currently, public schools are full of state mandates including STAAR testing, financial accountability, security requirements and they must accept every single child that resides within their borders.
“We have to accept [students] and educate them. Private schools do not,” Summers said. “We have to fulfill state mandates and private schools do not.”
What types of vouchers exist?
In other states, the most basic school voucher programs allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to cover some of the costs of sending their kids to a private school, which includes schools with a religious affiliation.
Meanwhile, education savings accounts are essentially state-managed bank accounts for parents who remove their children from the public education system. These accounts allow parents to utilize taxpayer money to cover private school tuition and a wide range of approved educational expenses, like private tutoring, school supplies and homeschooling costs. Texas officials have sought to implement this type of program in recent years.
With home schooling, Gov. Abbott is proposing families would receive $2,000 per student.
Currently, Dublin ISD will only accept students back into the district after home schooling if an accredited home school company is utilized.
Many school districts throughout Texas have resigned themselves to school choice, but are asking the governor to increase both basic allotment and teachers’ pay.
The basic allotment has not been adjusted since 2019 and last session’s homestead exemption for property taxes also drastically impacted school districts.
“Over ½ of the districts in Texas passed deficit budgets this year,” Summers said.
Business Manager Kassi Eads said a $10,000 per child in public school would be a game changer.
“Holding public school hostage is wrong,” she said.
Summers said Dublin ISD and other public schools need more money from the state.
With everything going up including insurance premiums districts will continue to have a difficult time making ends meet.
“This could also potentially affect the Teacher Retirement System,” Summers said. “And they don’t make enough anyway.”
Rural Republicans have historically opposed the voucher movement. Their opposition largely stems from the fact that their communities often revolve around their public schools, which serve as major employers. They see vouchers as a threat to the survival of their schools, which serve high percentages of low-income students and are already struggling financially.
Meanwhile, some homeschooling families are opposed to vouchers because they worry that receiving public funds could bring more oversight from the state and take away the autonomy they have to educate their children.