Education leaders in the Texas Senate discussed the creation of tax-credit vouchers and private school choice options on Tuesday. It’s an issue that has pitted House education leaders against those in the Senate when it comes to public school funding vs. private school options.
Friendswood Republican Sen. Larry Taylor is the chairman of the Senate Education Committee and the author of a bill that would create a private school choice option as an alternative to public schools in Texas.
“The purpose of Senate Bill 3 is to provide Texas students and their families more educational opportunities through the creation of education savings accounts and tax-credit scholarships," Taylor explains.
Taylor’s says students wishing to transfer to a private school would be able to use these state funds to help pay for their tuition and fees. He says those students earning college credits while still in high school would also be able to use this money to help pay for college tuition.
The programs within Taylor’s bill are being funded with money that currently isn’t being used to fund public schools. But education leaders in the Texas House say some of that money is still state funds that could be used to improve local school districts rather than private schools not tied to state accountability standards.
Rep. Diego Bernal is a Democrat from San Antonio and the vice-chairman of the House Public Education Committee.
“We’ve set the stage by creating an environment where we are under funding schools and then we point to their struggles and blame it on them as opposed to ourselves and then we want to create this alternative system with vouchers and ESAs which I find to be really offensive," Bernal says.
Bernal says House education leaders are focused on reforming the state finance system that funds public schools and he doesn't see much support for a private school choice bill in the House this session.
