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Passing school choice in Texas has been a priority of Texans all over the state! Governor Greg Abbott went as far as to designate it as one of his emergency items. With the Texas Legislature in full swing, the Texas Senate has been productive in making this a reality and passed a school choice bill out of their chamber earlier this week.
Senate Bill 2 (SB 2), authored by Senator Brandon Creighton, would establish an Education Savings Account (ESA) program for 100,000 Texas students.
Texas Family Project supports this legislation but would like to see some changes made to strengthen the bill. First, we would like to see state-mandated assessments eliminated. These assessments were designed for public school accountability and should not be imposed on families choosing other options. Second, we would like this ESA opportunity to be available to all Texas families regardless of their current circumstances. Finally, legislators must ensure families who choose to educate their children outside of public schools are protected from new regulations. Families who choose to educate their children outside the public school system must retain full autonomy over their educational decisions.
Nonetheless, Texas Family Project applauds the Senate for taking action on this issue so quickly during the session and for taking a transformative step in expanding educational freedom and empowering parents with greater choice in their children’s education.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has been a leader for school choice advocacy in Texas for several years. He stated, “In addition to supporting a robust public education system, which should be the finest in the country, I support SB 2 because I strongly believe parents deserve choice in their child’s education.” We agree!
SB 2 is now in the hands of the Texas House. In the last legislative session, school choice died multiple times. Governor Abbott used the records of many state representatives against school choice and endorsed their challengers. His efforts were massively successful! Hopefully, the make-up of the House has swung to one in favor of parental choice in education.”
There are several other bills that have been filed in the Texas House to expand educational freedom. We will be watching these, and SB 2, closely in the coming weeks.