In true GOP fashion, Abbott has used his trusty Republican talent for branding when touting his voucher-like plan around the state over the past many months. It’s “parental choice,” or “school choice.” He says he’s looking to give families “educational savings accounts,” not school vouchers.
It’s likely not a stretch to say the difference is because “educational savings account” hasn’t become a political lightning rod term the way “school vouchers” has over the years.
Unlike so many other bills debated in the House, this one isn’t terribly complicated. Abbott wants state money to be made available for private education. As each year of Abbott's lengthy gubernatorial term has passed, he's grown more vocal in his support of school vouchers and more critical of public schools for what he sees as a growing liberal influence over students.
Although teacher raises were discussed during the 88th session, one with a historically large surplus, raises did not come to fruition, although a small, one-time bonus was OK'd for all teachers. It’s also noteworthy that Abbott has had to scratch and claw his way through an entire session and now a special session for a program that many Republicans are in favor of, at least in some form.
Given how the GOP has had a stranglehold on Texas politics for a generation now, the population has grown accustomed to the pet causes of Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick being passed relatively easily, while items they’re not fond of, such as anything relating to cannabis, gambling or LGBTQ rights, rarely makes it beyond the basic filing stage. Complicating things for Abbott, however, is the increasingly bitter Republican civil war in Texas.
Even before the nation got a look at the battle between House Republicans who wanted to expel Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton and Senate Republicans who, almost unanimously, chose not to, Abbott and Patrick waged a more contentious battle than we had previously seen when they endorsed dueling property tax reduction plans.“Keeping Texas at the forefront of the global economy requires additional investment in our neighborhood schools, teachers, and kids — not voucher scams that defund our public schools." – State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado
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On top of that, state Republican lawmakers in rural districts have expressed their resistance to voucher programs for quite some time. Public schools are the beating hearts in small towns — where the population is only in the three, four or five digits — thanks as much to the number of people those schools employ as anything else. Take money away from those entities, and it doesn't take much for an elected official to see their days could be numbered.
There’s no such conflict in the Democratic party regarding school vouchers. Voucher programs have always been off the table, and Abbott’s education savings account program is simply another name for something that families that can already afford to pay for private schools would be most likely able to take advantage of. Senate Bill 8, which would allow for families to have an education "savings account" of $8,000 per student, passed in the Senate but failed to make it through the House during the regular session earlier this year. Though it's called a savings account, the $8,000 would actually come from state funds provided to eligible students. It's a straight-up subsidy, in other words, or a voucher.
The $8,000 amount makes it easy for opponents of voucher programs to shoot holes through the governor’s notion of providing a choice. According to the Education Data initiative, the average cost of private school tuition in Texas is a little over $10,000 per year. For families living paycheck to paycheck, by and large, even that $8,000 head start isn’t enough for them to “choose” to send a child to private school over the nearest public school.
Critics point out that $8,000 will merely serve to provide a discount to the families already equipped to pay for private school tuition. In addition, private schools need not accept just anyone who might be able to afford tuition, including students with special needs, nor are they subject to many of the same laws or regulatory standards that public schools are. All these reasons and others are why Dallas state Sen. Royce West referred to any voucher-like plan as "welfare for private schools" during a Monday press conference in Austin.
In February, State Board of Education member Aicha Daivis, who represents parts of Tarrant and Dallas Counties, took exception to the “school choice” branding voucher proponents have employed.
“It’s just a name to make it sound like it’s not as bad as it is,” she said. “There’s no way the voucher system that’s being talked about will give true choice to all parents. There’s not going to be enough money for any and all parents to take a voucher and go to private school. It won’t work like that.”
Since the governor released his agenda for the special session last week, there’s been no shortage of heat thrown his way. On Monday, the Texas Tribune reported that should Abbott be unhappy with how the special session goes, he might "go after" Republicans who did not back his plan in their upcoming primaries. It's something Paxton has already vowed to do against the Republicans who voted to impeach him last month.
State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado is opposed to Abbott's voucher plan. “Keeping Texas at the forefront of the global economy requires additional investment in our neighborhood schools, teachers, and kids — not voucher scams that defund our public schools," the representative from Mesquite wrote in an email to the Observer. "Latino students comprise the majority of kids in Texas public schools; and this attack by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor on our schools and teachers is an attack on all of us.”
Along with his voucher-like program, Abbott announced the special session would tackle further border security measures and seek to end all COVID-related restrictions. The Texas Democratic Party didn’t care much for the items the governor wants the legislature to work on this week.
“Not a single priority proposed by Greg Abbott helps ease the day-to-day lives of working Texas families,” Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “While Texas Republicans work to defund public schools and turn our southern border into a war-zone, Democrats in the Texas House will propose data-driven legislation that champions communities and addresses the shortfalls of our education and immigration system head-on — not divert funds from struggling schools and other state agencies to fund swanky private schools that are run by shady billionaires.”
Upon adjournment of Monday’s special session proceedings, Senate Democrats held a press conference with Sen. Carol Alvarado of Harris County, repeatedly referring to Abbott's plan as a "voucher scheme." State Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Democrat from Dallas, provided closing remarks at the press conference, where he echoed his colleagues' sentiment.
"This isn't about parental choice or school choice or even about facts," Johnson said, before explaining that he endorses a plan to increase the basic allotment per student, give teachers paid parental leave and base school funding on enrollment and attendance. "We're spending all our time talking about these voucher scams and not the things that actually help."
