April 7, 2003
School voucher bill passes out of
House committee, headed for vote
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___AUSTIN--The House Public Education Committee has sent to the floor of the Texas House of Representatives a bill that would create a tax-funded program of educational vouchers. The vouchers would pay for public school students to attend private schools, including parochial schools, with tax dollars.
___The bill reportedly could be considered on the House floor as early as this week.
___Texas Baptists historically have opposed bills that would support private religious educationwith public funds.
HB 2465 was approved by the House Public Education Committee April 3.
___According to provisions of HB 2465, the state comptroller would issue a voucher to parents of qualifying children. That voucher could then be used to pay tuition at a participating private school. Ten percent of the money would go to the student's public school district of residence, and the remaining 90 percent would go the private school.
___Funding for the vouchers would come from state funds already earmarked for public education.
___The bill would not apply to all students, only those who attend school districts that had 40,000 or more students during the 2001-2002 school year and have a majority of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Also, students would have to be from a family with an income that is no more than double the level that qualifies for a free or reduced lunch program.
___Students also would be eligible only if they attended a public school in the district for a full semester. Home-schooled children and children who attended either a private school or a school in a non-qualifying neighboring district would not be eligible.
___The scholarship amount would equal the total state and local funding for maintenance and operations per student in the preceding school year.
___Eleven school districts with approximately 639,000 eligible students currently would fall under the parameters of the bill. However, a major constraint on the utilization of the funds would be the capacity of private schools. A Texas Education Agency report estimates only 22,800 slots would be available.
___A further limitation would be the willingness of private schools to accept the amount of the scholarship as tuition. Due to the difference in the scholarship amount and the rate of tuition at many private schools, TEA estimates only about 8,000 students would use the scholarships in 2004 and 15,000 in 2005.
___The financial fallout for public school districts is predicted to be significant, however, since they potentially could lose substantial funding but not enough students to restructure the way students are educated.
___
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