CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) – On Super Bowl Sunday, parents, grandparents and community members packed into the sanctuary at Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church. People weren’t there to watch the game or for service, but instead to talk about a push to create "education savings accounts" in Texas.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has promised to sign such legislation during the 89th legislative session, despite his failed effort last session.
The Texas Senate easily passed Senate Bill 2 on Wednesday, a bill that would give anywhere from $2,000 to $11,500 to participating students based on disability status and whether they go to private school or learn at home.
Texas State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, was one of the panelists talking about the "school choice" legislation at the Cedar Park church. On the panel, Goodwin referenced remarks from Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, who was the only Senate Republican to not vote for SB 2.
"Really it's not choice, it's a chance," Goodwin said.
Texans look to House of Representatives as battle over education continuesMegan Cooper, an attendee with grandchildren in the Pflugerville Independent School District, said she anticipates the program will become reality in the state this year.
“If we are going to give state funds to private schools, are we going to make sure they also have to provide special education services? Are we going to make sure they also have to provide transportation?" Cooper asked. "I don’t want it to pass, but should it pass I hope that the state of Texas will respond to the need that happens actually at the public school levels. So, we are not decimating public schools."
A KXAN analysis of budget data for 58 school districts in Central Texas found most adopted deficit budgets in the 2024-25 school year. Many school district leaders have expressed fear a school choice program would further exacerbate budget shortfalls in public schools.
The legislative budget board said in its analysis of SB 2 that it "assumes 24,500 students would leave public schools for private schools in fiscal year 2027, increasing to 98,000 in fiscal year 2030."
Shinara Morrison, who supports the legislation, said she has tried public schools and charter schools, but hasn't found a program that works for her son. She hopes education savings accounts will help them try private school.
“Despite whether I have the money or not, you know, I still want to make sure that he’s well taken care of education-wise,” Morrison said. “Why not? That’s my real question. Why not, even if it’s for a trial period? Why can’t we even just try it and see, and let’s go based on the results."
James Gallagher, a volunteer at the church’s forum, said he’s most concerned about accountability for private schools and the cost on taxpayers for funding public education and education savings accounts.
“This thing could mushroom and balloon out of control. At what point do they think they have achieved enough school choice,” Gallagher asked.
SB 2 lays out a plan for if the number of applications for education savings accounts exceeds available spots. The legislation would require a lottery where 80% of the available spots would be filled by school students who are either from low-income households or who have a disability.
According to the fiscal note for SB 2, the general appropriations bill includes $1 billion in funding for an education savings account program, if one is enacted. The analysis estimated that the program could cost the state more than $4 billion by 2030, but also that it could save $805.5 million in the same time frame.
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