School voucher bills are ‘a bad deal for kids’ - Dr. Roach

The dueling school voucher plans passed by the Texas House and Senate last month are both “bad bills for kids and public schools,” Olney Independent School District Superintendent Greg Roach said.

Dr. Roach joins teachers’ unions and public school supporters in opposing the voucher plans, contending that the proposed program – whose price tag starts at $1 billion – will drain much-needed funding from the public school system.

The two bills – House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 2 – differ in how much public funding they will let families use for their children’s private schooling, which applicants would take priority and how the program accommodates students with disabilities. The two measures now go to a conference committee to iron out differences, but state leaders say that Gov. Greg Abbott now has the votes to pass a voucher plan.

Gov. Abbott has received millions of dollars in campaign donations from voucher proponents - including Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass – and has championed the plan over strong opposition from rural and Democratic lawmakers. The governor and his pro-voucher donors targeted anti-voucher lawmakers during the 2024 elections – after failing to pass a voucher plan in 2023 – and replaced most of them with pro-voucher candidates. Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, R-Denton, who replaced the now-retired Sen. Drew Springer and was endorsed by the governor, has said that he probably will support a voucher plan.

An analysis of SB 3 concluded that public schools, whose funding is based on attendance, could see their funding decline if enough students leave to participate in the program - either by attending charter or private schools or homeschooling, the Texas Tribune reported.

The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) pointed to “substantial pitfalls” of voucher programs in other states.

“A Texas voucher entitlement could easily amount to over $7 billion annually,” ATPE said in a statement. “The Legislature should prioritize funding for traditional school district, the state’s education safety net, now and into the future, oversupplemental educational pathways.”