AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had some conflicting messages about school vouchers this week, saying on X, “The people ‘defunding’ public schools are PARENTS choosing a better option.” But within 24 hours, he posted, “School choice doesn’t take a penny from public schools. It’s funded separately, like roads and water.”

What You Need To Know

  • The Texas House Democratic Caucus unveiled a new website last week, dontdefundmyschool.com, which it says shows how much money public school districts would lose in the first year of Abbott’s school voucher plan

  • The data is from the nonpartisan group Every Texan and is based on information from the Texas Education Agency (TEA)

  • It calculates that each public school district receives around $6,000 per student
  • The school voucher legislation proposed would create Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, that would provide parents with $10,000 per student to attend an accredited private school

The latter post was in response to Texas Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who disagrees with Abbott and argues that vouchers take money away from public schools.  

“What we will see is resources being taken out of our neighborhood schools,” said Hinojosa.

The Texas House Democratic Caucus unveiled a new website last week, dontdefundmyschool.com, which they say shows how much money public school districts would lose in the first year of Abbott’s school voucher plan.

The data is from the nonpartisan group Every Texan and is based on information from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). It calculates that each public school district receives around $6,000 per student. The legislation proposed would create Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, that would provide parents with $10,000 per student to attend an accredited private school.

In more urban areas, the financial loss caused by a voucher program might be more impactful. There are more private school options for families. A voucher program would have a different impact in rural areas.

The last time vouchers were on the table, rural House Republicans helped defeat the proposal during a special session in 2023. One of the 21 Republicans who voted against the measure at the time called vouchers an “entitlement program” that is “not sustainable.”

During the 2024 primary election, Abbott campaigned against those Republican representatives who voted against school vouchers. Abbott now says he has the votes needed to pass a school voucher bill in the Texas Legislature.

Central Texas Rep. Alan Schoolcraft — who Abbott strongly endorsed last year — represents a rural area and says he is not concerned about vouchers.

“In fact, I would say rural districts who are doing a good job have absolutely nothing to fear because the parents don’t have a lot of choice. There’s not a lot of private schools out there, so I do have a couple small districts where the parents drive a long way to get their children to another school district because they’re not satisfied. But that’s very rare,” said Schoolcraft.

According to data from Every Texan, if 1% of students in Seguin Independent School District — which is in Schoolcraft’s district — accept the vouchers, the district would lose $500,000. If 5% left, the loss grows to $3 million.

This is before the predictions of an overall drop in state funding occurred, according to opponents of a voucher program.

“If we pass vouchers, some of that money that would be earmarked for public schools is going to go to private schools. You can’t have it both ways,” said David DeMatthews, a professor of education policy at the University of Texas at Austin.

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