Texas looks to other states for ideas about private school subsidy legislation

AUSTIN (KXAN) — 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, the 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, the policy director for the 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.

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