State of Texas: Other states could shape Texas education savings account plan

AUSTIN (Nexstar) – As students across Texas returned to school, House lawmakers headed to the Capitol to do some studying of their own.

A brainstorming session happened for hours Monday at the Texas Capitol so that state lawmakers could find out where to look for ideas on crafting private school subsidy legislation, a policy goal that has eluded top Republican leaders.

The Texas House of Representatives Committee on Public Education held a hearing to discuss how to move forward with possibly implementing education savings accounts (ESAs) during next year’s regular legislative session. The panel heard first from witnesses who come from some of the 13 states that now offer public dollars through ESAs to help families cover expenses from private or homeschooling.

Indiana served as the first example; Christina Kaetzel, executive director of the Indiana Education Scholarship Account Program, testified about how her state now provides up to $20,000 for students with disabilities and their siblings who fall within a certain income level. This became law in 2021, and so far 555 students received the assistance during the 2023-2024 school year.

“The ESA grant must be used on private school tuition, curriculum, services, therapies, transportation, training programs and camps and assessments,” Kaetzel told the panel Monday afternoon.

Jonathan Covey, policy director for conservative advocacy group Texas Values, said he hopes state lawmakers will think more broadly.

“We support universal school choice,” Covey said. “We also support some sort of prioritization method so that low-income and vulnerable demographics can get what they need.”

Ahead of Monday’s meeting, State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, posted on X accusing the state’s top Republican leaders of saving a $32 billion surplus to pay for a voucher-like program during next year’s session. During the hearing, she said testimony from the invited witnesses lacked much evidence to show the benefits of enacting such a program here.

“We heard no data cited, which is interesting to me because I guess we’re just abandoning making data-informed or data driven decisions when it comes to taxpayer dollars in this amount if it’s privatized,” Hinojosa said. “I think it’s really disappointing considering, again, how substantially underfunded our neighborhood public schools are and how we seem to not care about what parents want in our neighborhood public schools, and that is to fund our public schools — the only option that’s available to all kids.”

At least 80 people signed up Monday to offer comment about topics the public education committee planned to discuss. Rachael Abell, a mother of four, traveled from Grapevine to testify for the first time at the Capitol, and she said the three-hour trip was worth it so that she could argue for state leaders to shore up public schools rather than pursue any private school subsidies.

“Let’s fully fund our schools,” Abell said. “There’s a lot of things that are happening in our public schools that need extra funding to help and support and improve. I think if those schools were actually funded well that parents wouldn’t need to go elsewhere.”

Jennifer Easley, the president of the Texas Parent Teacher Association, agreed with Abell.

“We feel strongly right now that our public education system is underfunded, and we think it’s hurting children,” Easley said. “We think vouchers are a conversation that would be way down the road. We have a lot of things in our public school system that need support.”

However, the political winds may be shifting enough in Texas to raise the prospects of pushing ESAs over the finish line next year. Gov. Greg Abbott campaigned hard throughout the GOP primaries to oust several Republican incumbents who stood alongside Democrats in the Texas House last year to repeatedly block this legislation. Abbott now claims he’ll have the support he needs to finally let families use public dollars to help pay for their children’s private or homeschooling.

“We never take anything for granted,” Covey said Monday. “We always continue working until the very end — until it has the governor’s signature on it, but we’re very excited that the grassroots seem to be enthused about this idea. We’re also excited that lawmakers are sort of understanding the concept of education choice, that this is a marketplace of ideas. This is a way for students to be able to go where they dream.”

What shape the lawmakers’ plan takes may not become clear until after the November general election. The 89th regular legislative session in Texas begins on Jan. 14, 2025.

Paxton threatens lawsuit to stop State Fair gun ban

The State Fair of Texas is facing criticism from some top Republicans following their decision to prohibit firearms on the property during this fall’s annual weekslong “Celebration of Texas.”

“The safety of our fairgoers, employees, and vendors remains the Fair’s number one priority. We are committed to providing a safe and welcoming experience for every single person who attends our annual celebration of Texas,” Fair COO Jaime Navarro said. “Comparable policies are in place industry-wide, and the State Fair of Texas believes these policy additions will further enhance our existing safety and security protocols.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to sue the City of Dallas if they do not force the Fair to change course. State law prohibits firearm bans on government property. The State Fair is operated by a private entity, but they lease the land from the City of Dallas.

“Texas law clearly states that license to carry holders may not be prevented from carrying a firearm on property owned or leased by the government,” Paxton said. “The State Fair of Texas’ recent policy that infringes on (license to carry) holders’ Second Amendment rights is unlawful.”

Gun safety advocates praised the Fair’s decision, remembering the shooting that injured three people in the dining hall last year.

“The real threat to safety is an abundance of unregulated firearms in public. We need to prioritize the safety of people, and it looks like the State Fair took that into consideration with this decision,” Director of Texas Gun Sense Nicole Golden told Nexstar.

Paxton’s threat comes after a majority of Texas Republican representatives sent a letter to the Fair’s directors urging them to reverse the firearm ban, claiming gun-free zones put the public at greater risk.

“Don’t you want to be able to defend your own family? That’s what this is about,” said State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston. “Don’t you want to have that ability to defend your own family? Look, this is Texas. It’s not very Texan to walk under Big Tex and say, ‘No, the Second Amendment is not welcome here at the State Fair.'”

The Fair’s Karissa Condoianis said they “stand ready to cooperate with (the City of Dallas), as needed.”

Paxton gave the city 15 days to “fix the issue,” or he “will see them in court.”

Accountability questions remain after Uvalde shooting response records release

Recordings from the response to the Uvalde schools shooting made public after a court order are giving new context to the delayed law enforcement response. The mass shooting at Robb Elementary in May 2022 killed 19 children and two teachers. It took 77 minutes before officers confronted and killed the gunman.

One of the videos released shows the scene as officers enter the 4th grade classroom after a tactical team killed the gunman. Officers shout for EMS to help the wounded inside the room.

“Where’s the suspect?” one officer shouts, the audio captured on body camera video.

“The suspect is dead,” another officer answers.

The release also included 9-1-1 calls, including a plea for help from 10-year-old Khloie Torres calling from inside the classroom. She whispered during the call, trying to keep from being noticed by the gunman.

“Please hurry. There’s a lot of dead bodies,” Khloie told the operator. “Please get help, I don’t want to die.”

Some families of those affected by the shooting renewed their calls for accountability for the delayed law enforcement response.

Brett Cross’ nephew, Uziyah Garcia, was one of the victims.

“It’s a complete slap in the face,” Cross told the Associated Press in a phone interview. “They are spitting on our children’s memories by continuing to play buddy-buddy with the officers that were involved.”

State Senator Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, represents a district that includes Uvalde. He said families have voiced their ongoing frustrations.

“They’re all very disturbed and very disappointed,” said Gutierrez of the response to the videos.

“You’re supposed to rely on government. Government has failed the city of Uvalde and the community of Uvalde even before this horrible tragedy, and it continues to do so still,” said Gutierrez in an interview.

Gutierrez voiced his on frustrations for the lack of accountability for law enforcement leaders.

“There’s been no accountability from the Governor’s office. There’s been no request of Steve McCraw to resign,” said Gutierrez, referring to the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo and former Officer Adrian Gonzales were indicted on June 26 by a Uvalde County grand jury on multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment over their actions and failure to immediately confront the shooter. Both men pleaded not guilty. Gutierrez said he believes that more needs to be done.

“It seems to me that we’ve got a prosecutor that, yes, certainly has picked out two people to go after, but so many other cops can also be indicted, and that yet has not happened,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said he has seen images from the shooting scene that have not been released to the public. The sight of the damage to caused to the victims by the gunman’s rifle led the senator to file legislation to raise the age limit to 21 to buy an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. That legislation failed to advance last session at the Capitol.

“I don’t think that the public truly understands the damage that this kind of weapon does,” Gutierrez said, vowing to refile the legislation. “We’ve got to do something. We have to get rid of our passions about the love for this weapon and understand that we are killing our children.”

Is Texas a ‘sleeper battleground state?’ Election claim met with skepticism

Texas Democrats have long claimed the state is within reach of flipping , yet no Democrat has won statewide here in 30 years. However, a late shakeup on the top of the ticket is raising hopes this year, and one familiar leader went viral this week for arguing Texas could be more competitive than ever.

During a recent appearance on MSNBC, Beto O’Rourke said he believed Texas is a “sleeper battleground state,” citing how Kamala Harris could fire up Democrats there since she became the party’s presidential nominee. He also said elections in recent years have showed a narrowing margin between Republicans and Democrats.

For instance in 2020, O’Rourke pointed out how Joe Biden performed better than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama did in the state when he lost to former President Donald Trump by 5.6 percentage points. Clinton lost Texas in 2016 by nine percentage points, while it was 16 percentage points for Obama in 2012.

“If at a minimum, we can get Trump to play defense here because of this changing dynamic, it’s going to open up other possibilities in other states,” O’Rourke said on MSNBC, “and someday sooner than later, and maybe it’s 2024, we win Texas.”

James Henson, the director of the Texas Politics Project, said this is an increasingly common refrain that Democrats are making without much success.

“This has been the dog that hasn’t barked for a long time,” Henson said. “We hear this from Democrats most election cycles for the last several years, and this year is going to be no exception.”

He said much more would have to happen for Texas to become a true battleground.

“The state’s undoubtedly becoming more competitive between Democrats and Republicans at the presidential level,” Henson said. “Whether we’ve crossed the threshold that will attract effort, volunteers, enthusiasm, and, maybe most importantly, money, I think is still a little bit of an open question.”

On Wednesday, Republicans questioned whether O’Rourke is worth listening to still since he famously lost two statewide races — the U.S. Senate seat in 2018 and the governor’s mansion in 2022. Matt Mackowiak, the chairman for the Travis County Republican Party, said the presidential race is undoubtedly more competitive since Harris became the candidate facing Trump, but he doesn’t expect Texas to be among the small mix of states that will ultimately decide who sits in the White House next.

“As of now, I don’t think most smart people are looking at Texas and believing it will be a battleground state,” Mackowiak said Wednesday. “In the end, it’ll be the seven states that we’ve all been focused on for more than a year, and in the end, it might even be more simple than that: whoever wins Pennsylvania will likely be the next president of the United States.”

There’s not much polling available yet to see how well Harris is performing against Trump in Texas since she became the Democratic nominee. However, the Texas Politics Project and the University of Texas are working to collect new opinions from voters, and they should be able to share a look at those results in early September.

The election this November will be different for Caleb Brizuela, a 21-year-old senior studying education at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin. He finally gets to cast a ballot for president, and he said Wednesday he plans to vote for Harris.

“I think my friends are really excited about the election, simply because I have never seen them this engaged in any type of politics,” Brizuela said.

Upholding democracy is what’s motivating him most to vote in his first presidential election, he said. When the new school year starts next week, Brizuela said he plans to work on registering his fellow students to vote and organizing rides to the polls in November.

“We’re just making sure people want to come and engage in that opportunity to vote,” he said, “so that’s what we’re going to be focusing on.”

According to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office , the last day to register to vote in time for the November election is Oct. 7. The in-person early voting period begins on Oct. 21, while the last day to apply for ballot by mail is Oct. 25. Election Day is Nov. 5.

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