Opponents to school choice in Texas focus on potential long-term costs to taxpayers
As Texas Republicans push for taxpayer-funded education savings accounts, Democrats at the state Capitol and other opponents are raising another concern they have: the potential long-term cost of the program.
The Texas Senate has already passed its bill, SB-2, that would spend $1 billion to send students to private school. The House is working on its legislation that also has a $1 billion price tag. Under the House bill, HB-3, the state's Legislative Budget Board estimates that in 2030, the cost of the program in the Texas House bill could quadruple. The first year of these education savings accounts (ESA) will be the 2026-2027 school year. In 2028 and 2029, the estimated cost each year could grow to more than $3 billion. In 2030 alone, those costs could rise to $4 billion. The Senate's bill is estimated to cost more than $3.7 billion in 2030.
Opponents, including Bob Popinski, Sr. Director of Policy at the public education advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas told CBS News Texas this is a big concern.
"It's not the billion dollars that takes place in 2026-27," said Popinski. "It's what the analysis shows later on what this voucher bill will cost. By year five, they have this voucher bill going close to $4 billion per year. That's an $8 billion cost for a two-year state budget. Every state that has a voucher program that has expanded per student funding in public schools has gone down and that's a problem."
While the costs to taxpayers for sending students to private school are forecast to go up, they are not automatic. State Representative Brad Buckley, R-Salado and Chairman of the House Public Education Committee, told CBS News Texas that lawmakers would still have to decide how much more money they would want to spend for this program after the first year.
"None of the funding for the ESA program comes from dollars allocated to public education. It just doesn't," said Buckley. "It's general revenue that has been allocated for this purpose. But it can be used for transportation, or healthcare, or the myriads of other things that we do in state government. We want to make sure we have a process that as many folks can engage in this as possible. But we don't know how many parents will take us up on the offer. We do know there are significant numbers of families that are looking for options and this bill just seeks to provide them that option and give the parent that ultimate opportunity that really puts their child in the educational environment that fits them best."
Another opponent, State Representative John Bryant, D-Dallas, told CBS News Texas that any money that goes to education savings accounts should be spent on public schools instead.
"It's ridiculous because when we say let's stop being 44th in the nation, in the state contribution to public education, let's be 25th and spend some of those billions on public education they say 'Oh, we just can't afford to do it.' Well, we certainly can afford to do it," said Bryant. "We have plenty of money to do it. The problem is that the Republican push is toward privatizing public education."
While Democrats say public money shouldn't be spent on private schools, most Republicans say parents who pay taxes that fund schools should have a choice that includes private school.
Governor Greg Abbott, who has led the charge for the education savings accounts for more than two years has repeatedly said school choice will pass in the House this session. Speaker Dustin Burrows agrees. If and when that happens, lawmakers in the House and Senate would have to negotiate differences in their bills and vote on a compromise measure.
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