Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday signed a law that makes more than 5 million students worthy to use state funds for private schools, a moment of water in the conservative campaign to re -produce public education in the US.
Texas allocates $ 1bn in the first two years of the program to offer parents’ vouchers to pay for school. This is the 16th state to make all students who are eligible to receive public funds for private education.
“Now is the conclusion of a movement that has infiltrated our state and the whole country,” Abbott said at a ceremony of signing the governor’s mansion. “The day has come to power the parents to choose the school that is best for their child.”
The so -called universal school selection programs are all in states that the legislatures have been dominated by Republicans, who for many years have accused public schools of indoctrinating children with liberal ideology.
Proponents say school vouchers are preventing children’s education at the hands of the parents. Opponents say they are removing money from public schools and benefit more from wealthy children. More than 1 million US students use state money or benefits from tax credits to pay for private schools, according to Edchoice, a group of advocacy that supports vouchers. The new Texas law means all 5.3 million children in elementary and state high school are eligible for vouchers, more than any other US state. Texas has the second largest public education system in the country. Nearly 50 million students have been taught in public schools throughout the US, according to federal data. Donald Trump signed executive commands in January directing the Department of Education to prioritize federal funds for school selection programs and teach states how to use federal grants to support private and religious schools.
Trump strongly supported the Texas Bill and repeatedly encouraged lawmakers to pass it. Most Texas students now deserve up to $ 10,000 a year to attend private schools starting with the year 2026-27 school year. The law requires private school students to take a national recognized test, and annual auditing schools receiving vouchers. No more than 20% of voucher program expenditure can go to families that make 500% or more to the limit of federal poverty, which costs a household income of nearly $ 160,000 for a family with four.
Supporters have pushed for school vouchers for more than 30 years. Until this year, democratic opponents have been in contact with rural republicans who have cited concerns that funding private schools will flow funds from public districts in small towns with small private schools.
Abbott arranged for Pro-School-Choice Republicans to challenge anti-voucher Republicans in primaries in last year’s election. His efforts have helped univert 15 members of the Republican House.
“No other governor has led the school selection such as Governor Abbott,” said Jorge Borrego, the K-12 Education Policy Director of the Conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Borrego noted that Abbott also pushed the legislature to walk the public school funding. A separate bill passed by Texas House and sitting in front of the Senate will walk funds for public schools by $ 7.7BN in the next two years.
The new fund will surely be accepted, said Libby Cohen, executive director of Raise Your Hand Texas, an educational advocacy group that has long opposed the vouchers.
“But what’s important to keep in context is, for public schools to just keep inflation since 2019, they will only need $ 20bn in funding a new school,” he said.
Texas is in the 47th in the country for per-student spending, according to an annual report by the National Education Association released this week.
Texas schools are receiving funds based on how many students they have, just as common throughout the US. If public schools have lost their education to private educators because of vouchers, they will lose money, Cohen said.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers Union, said the Trump administration was “threatening to break the funds of the most need to study” by preventing federal money for schools that attract differences, equity and union efforts.
Texas law will send “billions of dollars to private schools that can choose and choose who they teach”, he said.
Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center of the Brown Center in the Brookings Institution’s education, said the push for universal voucher systems in conservative states was more concerned than Trump’s efforts to close the Department of Education.
Voucher payments rarely cover the full cost of private schools, which means that only rich families can participate, he said. “That means we will end up in a very powerful school system where those who are capable of paying differences are in a rich private system, while the public school system is left to crumble.”
In a joint statement from the Conservative Heritage Foundation Thinktank, Lindsey Burke, Director of Education Policy for Education, and Jason Bedrick said the law “empowers families to choose learning environments that align their values and work best for their children”.
