March 14th, 2025

Dear Readers,

What are school vouchers, you say?

Why are they the topic of so much debate here in our great state of Texas?

Senate Bill 2, set to take effect next school year, would allow parents to use a voucher worth up to $10,000 to send their son or daughter to any public or private school they choose.

This bill would also include $11,500 to families of students with disabilities, $2,000 per year for each homeschool student, and the creation of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).

The bill is supposed to help low-income and special education students, who would receive roughly 80% of the accessible funds. The ultimate aim of this legislation is to give more students the opportunity to attend schools of their choosing, as opposed to just the school they are zoned to attend.

Obviously, there is a lot of discussion surrounding this bill.

The opposers argue that using government money to “fund” private schools not only goes against what public education stands for but also disputes the long-term viability of the program. This legislation would, in theory, take money away from public schools. The $10,000 per student would be taken from whatever school/district that student is zoned to attend. This means that if they are zoned for public school A, but they have a voucher and choose to attend private school X, those funds will be taken away from public school A and sent to private school X instead. Since many public school districts already claim to be operating in a budget deficit and constantly urge the state government for more funds, they would see this bill as an overall detriment to their operation. There is even an argument that families that already attend private schools can now use this voucher, meaning they get a discount on a school that they were already able to afford. As some say, “making the rich richer.” The assumption is that, of course, families will take advantage of these vouchers and use this money to send their students to a private school. Because obviously private schools are better, right?

Those in favor of this bill say that it’s about time more families had a say in their education. Since they are already paying taxes that are earmarked for education, it only makes sense that they get to choose how their money is used to educate their students. Parents should have more say over how and where their children are taught.

While both sides have seemingly valid claims to support them, I wonder if this legislation could cause some issues.

First, if private schools start accepting government funds, then eventually, there could be stipulations for having accepted said funds. For example, if the previously mentioned private school X started accepting vouchers, the state may say that it now has to be held to a certain standard, give the state standardized test, or teach a certain curriculum. Since the school is accepting government funds, this could all be considered “reasonable” in the eyes of future legislators.

So now, these private schools have a decision: accept government funds and essentially become just another public school, or decline school vouchers, keeping their school the way they wanted it but keeping out students who would have benefitted from the voucher system.

Secondly, this bill is aimed at “School Choice,” but what are the choices in question? While, of course, there are apparent differences in many public and private schools, they still essentially offer the same service. Clearly, some institutions are better at schooling their students than others, leading to higher grades, test scores, college admissions, etc. But school choice implies that there would be different schools to choose from, meaning a different outcome, not the same outcome through different operations.

For there to truly be school choice, there needs to be a broader view of what a school can do for a student. Apprenticeships, internships, and trade schools are just a few examples of what I mean. There needs to be more range in the choices provided.

More ways for students to learn in the way they and their family feel they should know and more opportunities to gain knowledge and skills not apart of the typical K-12 curriculum. That is what school choice should mean.

While this new bill could create some short-term fixes (or problems) to Texas’s education system, it will not fix the issue at large because it fails to address the real need: variety of education.