Gov. Abbott, top legislative leaders continue to push school choice program in Texas during rare joint news conference
It was a rare sight: Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and a Speaker of the Texas House held a joint news conference for the first time since 2019.
Abbott and the new Speaker, Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, gave an updated timetable on legislation that would spend $1 billion in taxpayer money to send students to private school through what's called an Education Savings Account, or ESA.
They said the House Public Education Committee will pass the school choice bill, HB 2, and HB 3, the public school funding bill next week and after that, the full House will pass the legislation after that.
The three Texas leaders appeared with former Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey along with a dozen Republican lawmakers.
Arizona was the first state in the U.S. to pass a universal program that provides taxpayer-funded education savings accounts. In Texas, the average student could receive $10,000 per year with disabled students receiving more money. Texas Democrats have said Arizona's program ballooned state spending and caused a budget shortfall.
But Ducey pushed back, saying that's not true, and that when he left office in 2022 the state had a budget surplus.
The questions of the cost of the ESA program in Texas come as some neighborhood public schools in North Texas have closed and school districts have passed deficit budgets and dipped into savings.
Democrats point to budget estimates by the Texas Legislative Budget Board that the cost of the school choice program could rise to $4 billion a year by 2030. But during the news conference, Abbott said the LBB estimates are based on "nothing but fiction" and that the legislature will pass what the state can afford.
"It's wrong, flat-out incorrect for anybody to suggest that number is going to grow larger in future years," Abbott said. "The number can only grow as large as much as the legislature decides to appropriate to it."
He also said the state still doesn't know how many students will apply for the program, which could be as high as 100,000 according to Patrick.
In response, State Representative Gene Wu, D-Houston, and Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus criticized Arizona's ESA program and said they don't want the program in Texas.
"These billions of dollars they're going to put into vouchers, that can go back home to save your local schools, but they're not doing that," said Wu. "Instead, they're doing what the billionaires want them to do."
Public school districts would lose money when students leave for private schools. But the Chair of the House Public Education Committee, Representative Brad Buckley, R-Salado, told CBS News Texas that under the House legislation, school districts would not lose more than 5% of their funding if student enrollment fell by more than 5% because of the ESA program.
Patrick said under the 2026-27 state budget passed by the Senate, the state will spend $84 billion on public education for about 5.5 million students, while the ESA program will cost $1 billion for about 100,000 students.
"So, if anyone says that we are undermining education, that is a total lie," Patrick said. "What we are doing in our K-12 public schools is funding them more than ever before."
If and when the Texas House passes the school choice program, lawmakers in that chamber will have to negotiate differences with Texas Senators, who have already passed their version of the bill. If both chambers agree to and approve the compromise school choice legislation and the governor signs it, the Texas Comptroller's office will have a year to set up the program and explain to the public how it will work.
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