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Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday signed laws authorizing a non-public college voucher program into legislation, marking the grand finale of an oftentimes ugly battle that has largely outlined Texas politics this decade.
Senate Invoice 2 will enable households to make use of public taxpayer {dollars} to fund their kids’s training at an accredited personal college or to pay for a variety of school-related bills, like textbooks, transportation or remedy. This system will probably be one of many largest college voucher initiatives within the nation.
“Once I ran for reelection in 2022, I promised college selection for the households of Texas. Right this moment, we ship on that promise,” mentioned Abbott through the invoice’s signing earlier than lots of of applauding supporters gathered outdoors the Governor’s Mansion. “Gone are the times that households are restricted to solely the varsity assigned by authorities. The day has arrived that empowers mother and father to decide on the varsity that’s greatest for his or her little one.”
The legislation will go into impact on Sept. 1, with this system anticipated to launch in late 2026.
The legislation’s passage follows years of discord within the Legislature over college vouchers. The Democrats and rural Republicans who fought towards it argued that this system would hurt already-struggling public faculties, a serious employer for working households and a useful resource middle for a lot of Texas college students — nearly all of whom reside in low-income households.
“Keep in mind at the present time subsequent time a college closes in your neighborhood,” state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, mentioned a number of hours earlier than at a information convention with different voucher opponents. “Keep in mind at the present time subsequent time a beloved instructor quits as a result of they’ll’t help their household on their wage. Keep in mind at the present time subsequent time your native property taxes rise as a result of the state authorities shouldn’t be doing its fair proportion of faculty funding. And if recession comes and we’re compelled to make even deeper cuts to public training, bear in mind at the present time.”
High Republicans like Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have forcefully rebutted, saying mother and father wanted extra education choices for his or her kids within the face of COVID-19 well being restrictions and frustrations with public faculties’ efforts to foster a extra inclusive surroundings for all college students. They’ve insisted {that a} voucher program and the state’s public training system can coexist.
These arguments got here as voucher applications in different states have largely benefited wealthier households who already had their youngsters enrolled in personal faculties and led to disappointing educational outcomes for college students.
Right here’s a breakdown of how this system will work.
Households can obtain about $10,000 to ship their kids to personal college on taxpayers’ dime
Most taking part households will obtain an quantity equal to 85% of what public faculties get for every pupil by way of state and native funding — roughly someplace between $10,300 and $10,900 per 12 months for every little one, in accordance with a legislative finances evaluation, which included monetary projections for the subsequent 5 years.Youngsters with disabilities are eligible for a similar funding as different college students, plus as much as $30,000 in extra cash, an quantity primarily based on what the state would spend on particular training providers for that pupil in the event that they attended a public college. Residence-schoolers can obtain as much as $2,000 per 12 months.
The cash will movement to households by way of training financial savings accounts, which basically operate as state-managed financial institution accounts. In Arizona, for instance, which has a program just like the one Texas is rolling out, households could make education-related purchases by way of a web-based platform by the software program firm ClassWallet.
Texas will spend $1 billion on vouchers within the first two years, however prices may skyrocket
The state can spend not more than $1 billion on this system through the state’s subsequent two-year finances cycle, which begins Sept. 1, 2025, and ends Aug. 31, 2027.
It isn’t clear how a lot this system’s prices will rise after the spending cap expires — lawmakers will possible make that dedication in future legislative classes — however state finances consultants predict that the tab may escalate to roughly $4.8 billion by 2030.
Most households can take part, together with a number of the wealthiest Texans
Nearly any school-age little one in Texas can apply for and take part within the voucher program, together with college students already attending personal faculties. As much as 20% of this system’s preliminary $1 billion finances may movement to wealthier households who earn 500% or extra of the poverty fee — roughly $160,000 or above for a household of 4.
Households can not have their kids concurrently enrolled in this system and a public college. This system excludes college students whose mother and father can not show their little one is a U.S. citizen. Lawmakers are additionally contemplating a invoice that will bar the youngsters of any statewide elected official from signing up for this system.
If public demand for the voucher program exceeds the funding out there, it should prioritize candidates on this order:
- College students with disabilities from households with an annual revenue at or beneath 500% of the federal poverty stage, which incorporates any four-person family incomes lower than roughly $160,000
- Households at or beneath 200% of the poverty stage, which incorporates any four-person family incomes lower than roughly $64,300
- Households between 200% and 500% of the poverty stage
- Households at or above 500% of the poverty stage (restricted to twenty% of this system’s finances)
The voucher program additionally prioritizes college students exiting public faculties over youngsters already in personal ones.
The precedence system doesn’t assure entry to this system, nonetheless. The laws doesn’t require taking part faculties to vary their admissions processes, which means they’ll nonetheless deny entry to any pupil they decide doesn’t meet their requirements. Non-public faculties are additionally not required to comply with state or federal legal guidelines relating to lodging for college students with disabilities.
This system launches subsequent 12 months, however different specifics are nonetheless unclear
The voucher program will formally launch at first of the 2026-27 college 12 months.
The comptroller — the state’s chief monetary officer, who will oversee this system — has till Could 15, 2026, to determine the foundations and procedures it should comply with. Along with establishing the appliance course of for Texans who wish to enroll their kids, the finance chief will choose as much as 5 organizations that may assist Texas administer this system.
Non-public faculties can select whether or not they wish to take part. The legislation requires taking part faculties to be accredited and to have operated for no less than two years.
Taking part college students received’t must take the STAAR take a look at
Enrolled college students should take a nationally acknowledged examination of the personal college’s selecting. Non-public faculties, nonetheless, usually are not required to manage the identical standardized exams at the moment issued to public college youngsters annually — the State of Texas Assessments of Educational Readiness, or STAAR.
The state should produce an annual report that features information on members’ take a look at outcomes, satisfaction with this system, and school and profession readiness. It’s going to embrace data on how this system impacts private and non-private college enrollment. Lawmakers will even get a report yearly with demographic information on every taking part little one, together with college students’ age, intercourse, race or ethnicity and zip code.
State officers will even be required to work with a non-public auditor accountable for serving to guarantee program members comply with the legislation. The invoice directs the state to droop the accounts of individuals not in compliance with the laws’s pointers and confer with native authorities any organizations or people who use taxpayer funds fraudulently.
This text initially appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/03/texas-school-vouchers-greg-abbott-signs/. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and fascinating Texans on state politics and coverage. Be taught extra at texastribune.org.
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