In quick, predictable order, the bill was stripped of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), thanks to the cooperation of House Dems and the same rural House Republicans who have long vowed to reject any bill with vouchers included. This standoff between anti-voucher representatives and the governor has now come to define Texas politics in 2023 as much or more than the Ken Paxton impeachment proceedings have. And that's saying a lot, given how that summer-long soap opera snagged national headlines from May until September, when the AG was reinstated. .
For the uninitiated, HB 1, as it was originally written, would’ve allowed for increases in public school funding, while also setting aside more than $10,000 of public money for every student to use toward private school tuition and other education-related expenses, including uniforms. Historically, the basic notion of state dollars going away from public schools and into private ones has been a non-starter not only for Democrats, but for many small-town Republicans who represent districts with small populations and few options outside of the local public schools available to choose from.
On Friday afternoon, although the writing was on the wall, a number of Republicans went to the mic to highlight some of the bill’s nuances. Conservative Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park tossed a softball question to HB 1’s author, fellow conservative Rep. Brad Buckley of Killeen, when he asked a couple of questions regarding how vouchers have fared in other states.
On the surface, it was a fair line of questioning. More than 30 states have some form of voucher program or education savings account subsidy options. This year alone, several states have joined in on the action. But it’s telling that pro-voucher conservatives are resorting to this sort of hopeful alignment to boost the chances of such a controversial measure succeeding.
"... the last decade of research on traditional vouchers strongly suggests they actually lower academic achievement.” – The Brookings Institution
tweet this
The Texas Legislature, especially in the GOP-dominated era of the last two decades, has rarely had much interest in following the herd in any realm. But now is different. Consider, for instance, that nearly half of U.S. states offer legal marijuana in some form, with even more than that having decriminalized a number of weed-related offenses. Weed-friendly bills have to settle for "tiny victories" while usually suffering a quick death in Austin.
The number of states that offer sports betting is even higher, with 38 states and the District of Columbia allowing their residents to take a few chances with their money. Bills related to gambling during the regular 2023 session barely got a look, let alone a serious discussion.
And here's one more for you: every other state in the country is on one of two power grids, while Texas, of course, has its own, and thanks to regular electricity conservation warnings and a full-blown energy crisis in 2021, we know how that’s been shaking out over the past few years. Republican state lawmakers have consistently flouted the notion that what is good for another state can also be good for Texas.
As rehearsed and predictable as the exchange between Cain and Buckley was, it was also revealing. But at this point, desperation has set in, especially for Abbott, who has now called a record number of special sessions for a year when a regular session took place. As Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has repeatedly noted in recent months, the Senate has passed its own version of a voucher bill with relative ease for multiple consecutive sessions, only to see the efforts die just as easily in the House. In other words, the Emperor has no clothes, nor enough support for his pet legislation.
But what about those other states with school voucher programs? Have they been successful in helping students from poor families attend a private school they otherwise couldn't attend? Have vouchers and ESAs helped to drive improvements in grades?
States That Passed or Expanded Voucher-Like Programs in 2023
It might be hard to believe after the Republican infighting that Texas has played host to this year, but plenty of states under GOP control managed to get their school voucher goals across the finish line this year. It’s too soon to gauge whether these specific programs are successful, but based on reports, it’s easy to judge that many of the talking points used in other states are eerily familiar to observers here in Texas.Iowa is one of the states that gave vouchers a greenlight this year. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, celebrated the passage of her state’s “school choice” plan in January, telling a crowd of supporters that they would now be “funding students instead of a system.” If that sounds familiar to Texans, it’s because every pro-voucher Republican has employed that phrase, or a variation of it, numerous times over the past several years.
Along with Iowa, Texas neighbors Arkansas and Oklahoma jumped into the fray this year, as well as Ohio, Nebraska and, to no one’s surprise, Florida, among others.
States That Had Voucher-Like Programs Before This Year.
Not all voucher programs or ESAs are created equal. Some states have certain restrictions on who can enroll while others have caps on the number of students who can participate. Some states, however, have zero restrictions or caps.Regardless of the design of a given state’s program, it’s difficult to find conclusive evidence to suggest the programs are having the intended impact. According to a 2023 study by the nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization the Brookings Institution, the last decade of achievement studies have shown “negative voucher impacts.”
Citing both Louisiana and Indiana as examples, the Brookings study notes that “Part of the push for ESA vouchers comes from the lingering frustration over the pandemic-era school closures and concern over learning loss as measured by standardized tests. But on that question, the last decade of research on traditional vouchers strongly suggests they actually lower academic achievement.”
A sweeping 2019 story using reporting and research from The New Orleans Times-Picayune, NOLA.com, WVUE Fox 8 and WWNO 89.9, noted that the poor families who were intended to be the primary beneficiaries of Louisiana's voucher program, instituted in 2012, didn’t realize the benefits that were promised to them.
“Politicians promised the Louisiana Scholarship Program would offer low-income students a way out of bad public schools,” the story read. “Instead, the program steered families into low-performing private schools with little oversight.”
Perhaps more than academic achievement, voucher proponents in Texas typically make the claim that ESAs will help less-fortunate families send their kids to schools they wouldn't be able to afford without the assistance. To be fair, HB 1 was set to provide just over the average annual private school tuition in Texas of $10,000, an increase of more than $2,000 over earlier voucher bill attempts this year.
But in Arizona, the majority of the voucher money tends to go to people who were already able to afford private school tuition. A July 2023 New York Times report looked at how the Arizona voucher program has fared, and it found plenty of evidence to support the claim most voucher opponents make when it comes to who most often benefits from the public dollars.
“Statewide, families who use vouchers tend to be relatively well off. Nearly 15,000 voucher recipients resided in ZIP codes with a median household income over $100,000, according to state data from May,” the story states. "Just 6,400 or so recipients lived in ZIP codes with a median household income under $50,000. About half of students using vouchers have never been enrolled in public school — suggesting that many families were previously paying for home-schooling or private school.”
It’s the notion of ESAs allowing the rich to get richer off state funds that has Democrats and Republican voucher opponents steering clear. During an Oct. 10 press conference, when the third special session began, Dallas state Sen. Royce West echoed the sentiments of voucher opponents from across the country when he said that voucher programs are little more than “welfare for private schools.”
