GRA Note: Note the source - Texas issue making national news again

Texas at the School-Choice Crossroads

Texas has no school-choice program for its more than five million K-12 students, and Greg Abbott is prepared to spend political capital to change that. The Republican Governor has called the state Legislature into a 30-day special session starting Monday, and education savings accounts are a priority.

“I am hopeful that we will be able to put together a package that will allow ESAs to get passed in the first special session,” he said on a recent visit to the Journal. If it doesn’t, “I can call another one right after it, which is what my game plan is to do. I can play this game longer than they can play this game.”

By “they” he means Members of the Texas House, chiefly Republicans representing rural districts, who stonewalled efforts to pass ESAs this spring. The state Senate passed a bill to provide ESAs worth $8,000 each to most students, but the House never voted on it.

ESAs still lack enough Republican votes in the 150-Member House. Their contradictory case against ESAs is that rural students won’t benefit from school choice because they have no options beyond district schools. But they also claim that rural district schools will be devastated if students use ESAs and leave for alternative schools that don’t currently exist. If ESAs inspire new school options in the future, then rural students would benefit like those in cities and suburbs.

It’s not as if Texas public schools lack for state funds. Some $5 billion is on the line in funding for district schools if the Legislature passes the ESAs, and a chunk of that is for teacher pay raises.

Lawmakers have options to attract votes in the special session, such as passing a bill with universal eligibility that starts with a limited dollar amount in the first year. Rep. Jacey Jetton announced a bill that would provide universal ESAs but put low-income and special-needs students first in line.

Should House Members continue to balk, Gov. Abbott has another point of leverage: Primary elections next spring. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds set an example in 2022 by endorsing primary challengers to legislators who opposed school choice, and she defeated several. Iowa passed universal ESAs this year, and Gov. Abbott has suggested he might do the same.

“If we don’t win [in a special session] then I think it’s time to send this to the voters themselves to vote in the primaries,” the Governor told the Texas Public Policy Foundation, KENS5 reported. “We will have everything teed up in a way where we will be giving voters in a primary a choice. They can choose someone who supports school choice or they can support someone who is against school choice.”

A 2022 GOP primary ballot question found 88% of voters support parents’ “right to select schools, whether public or private, for their children, and the funding should follow the student.” A University of Texas at Austin poll in August found that 52% of Texas registered voters support school vouchers, ESAs, or another school choice program, including 61% who live in rural areas.

Credit to Gov. Abbott for fighting for parents and children, and making legislators show where they really stand.