Texas Senate debates school choice bill
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Texas State Senators debated a controversial bill that would use taxpayer money to send some students to private schools.
It's all part of Senate Bill 8, which is called Empowering Parental Rights, and school choice is a major part of the legislation.
Under the bill, $8,000 in taxpayer money would be given to certain students each year for Education Savings Accounts or ESA's.
To be eligible, students who apply and receive the grants must have attended public school 90% in the prior year unless the children were in kindergarten or pre-k.
Those in private school the year before wouldn't be eligible.
Senator Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, authored the bill. "I'll bet on Texas moms and dads to do their homework above and beyond politicians all day long to make the decisions that are best for their kids."
Senator Royce West, D-Dallas, opposes the legislation for a variety of reasons. "The accountability issue concerns me, the transparency issue concerns me also. We have school systems, public school systems that have to be accountable. We don't have transparency at all."
To help smaller school districts, those with fewer than 20,000 students would receive $10,000 for each student using ESA's for each of the first two years.
Other school districts though would lose some funding from the Foundation School Program (FSP), if their students go to private school, using the ESA's.
That concerned Senator Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio who said, "We should just hold harmless every school district with funding."
Right now, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) estimates there are 250,000 students in private school statewide.
The TEA projects the private schools could accept 25,000 new students statewide in 2025 and about 5,000 new students in 2026 to 2028.
Bishop Michael Olson of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, who represents 1.1 million Catholics in North Texas, supported the bill. "The first priority has to be the preferential option for the poor by ensuring students with the greatest academic and financial needs are prioritized."
Governor Greg Abbott has traveled across Texas to push hard for the bill to pass.
At a rally outside the Texas Capitol Tuesday, the Governor told supporters, "The solution to all of this is to empower parents to choose the school that's right for them and that's what will pass this legislative session here in Austin, Texas."
No word yet how much support it will have in the House, where school choice bills have died before.
The state estimates by 2028, the Education Savings Accounts could cost the state nearly $1 billion. That would come from general revenues, not school funds.
But with more students receiving the grants, the state expects the FSP to save nearly $335 million by 2028.
On Wednesday, CBS News Texas contacted some of the larger school districts in North Texas to see if they have any projections on how many students they could lose if this bill passes.
We did not hear back from Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco, Plano, and Arlington ISD's.
