Education savings account bill carries $1 billion cost

John Litzler (right), public policy director for Texas Baptists' Christian Life Commission, testified before the Senate Committee on Education in opposition to a bill that would create a voucher-style program. (Screen grab image)

image_pdfimage_print

AUSTIN—A program that would direct public money to private schools by establishing state-funded education savings accounts could cost Texas about $1 billion by 2028, the state’s Legislative Budget Board projected.

Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick both have made “parental choice” in education a priority for the current legislative session.

The Legislative Budget Board issued a fiscal note March 22 for SB8 by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Education.

Creighton’s bill—dubbed “The Texas Parental Bill of Rights”—would grant $8,000 in state funds to any participating family who pulls their children out of public schools. The funds would go into an education savings account where they could be applied to private school tuition and approved educational costs such as uniforms and school supplies.

SB8 also would prohibit public schools from teaching content regarding sexual orientation or gender identity at all grade levels.

Violates separation of church and state

Some opponents of voucher-style bills that would channel state funds to private religious schools insisted the greatest cost would be to religious liberty in Texas.

Charles Foster Johnson

Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, said the education savings account proposal would violate the separation of church and state by taking public money to fund religious schools.

“Since when do Christians need Caesar’s help to do the will of Almighty God?” Johnson asked.

John Litzler, public policy director for Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission, likewise pointed to religious liberty concerns.


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


In his testimony before the Senate Committee on Education, Litzler pointed out education savings account funds can be applied toward the purchase of books and other instructional materials for private religious schools.

“We will literally be purchasing Qurans and Bibles with state money,” Litzler said.

Details of proposal questioned

For decades, small rural school districts consistently have opposed school voucher proposals. SB8 seeks to make the education savings account proposal more palatable to districts with an enrollment of less than 20,000 by giving a $10,000 grant for the first two school years a child in the district participates in the program.

Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, questioned why only districts with small student enrollments should benefit.

“If that is a good policy, why does it only apply to small districts?” he asked.

Creighton pointed to limited funds and emphasized his proposal is “not designed to harm public schools.”

SB8 empowers the state comptroller to establish and administer the education savings grant program, disbursing funds on a quarterly basis.

The Legislative Budget Board estimate assumes 25,000 students would leave public schools in 2025, with that number rising incrementally to about 42,000 in 2028.

Total estimated cost for providing grants is $512 million in 2025, but it would increase to $755 million in 2026 and grow to about $1 billion two years later.

‘Focus on fulfilling constitutional duty’

Litzler provided historical context, noting Texas has continued to lag behind other states in terms of what it spends per student in public schools.

“In 2015, Texas ranked 36th out of the 50 states in per pupil spending. We spent around $2,300 less per student than the national average,” he said. “By 2019, Texas dropped to 42nd out of the 50 states in per pupil spending. We now spend $4,000 less per student than the national average.

“I can’t help but think about these statistics when I see the fiscal note for SB8. The Texas Legislature should focus on fulfilling its constitutional duty to adequately fund public education prior to considering diverting any public funds to private education.”

Hearing lasts late into the night

The Legislative Budget Board issued the fiscal note the same day the Senate Education Committee conducted public hearings that lasted late into the night.

At one point in the mid-afternoon, Vice Chair Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, asked invited witnesses to make their testimony as brief as possible, because 388 citizens had signed up to testify in the public hearing.

Invited witnesses included representatives from the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops and other supporters of parochial and private schools.

“Parental choice programs provide hope for the thousands of families who need better access to personalized educational options and are currently denied access to their tax dollars for exercising this natural right,” said Bishop Michael Olson from the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth.

Some senators on the Committee on Education questioned whether private schools receiving funds through education savings accounts would be able to continue to exclude certain students—including those with special needs.

“Private schools will set their criteria, and parents will make the decision as to whether those criteria are fair or not,” Creighton said.

Cannot get around religious freedom concerns

Litzler finally was able to testify against SB8 at about 11 p.m. on March 22. He commended Creighton for including some commendable language about parental rights in his bill and for making changes to an earlier version of the legislation to limit somewhat the negative impact of education savings accounts on public schools.

“But there are just some problems ESAs can’t get around, and the largest one is religious liberty concerns,” he said.

Litzler noted his daughter will be eligible to enter kindergarten next year. State money made available through SB8 might help enable his family “to send her to a private Christian school,” he said.

But Muslim, Jewish and atheist Texans should not be compelled to provide those funds, he insisted.

“Those neighbors should not have to pay for my daughter to go learn about Jesus,” Litzler said.

Pastor: ‘Testimony I didn’t get to give’

Pastor Natalie Webb of University Baptist Church in Austin waited nine hours before she left the committee hearing without having the opportunity to testify against SB8.

However, she posted on Twitter what she called “the testimony I didn’t get to give.”

Webb, a graduate of Baylor University and its Truett Theological Seminary, tweeted SB8 “leaves most TX kids high and dry by diverting funds away from their education to subsidize the education of a small group of privileged students.”

Small rural communities that lack access to private schools, students with disabilities, students whose parents cannot provide transportation to a private school and urban students whose parents cannot afford private school tuition that exceeds what the education savings accounts would provide will “pay the price,” she tweeted.

“All of those children—whose classes will get even larger and whose school resources will get even smaller—are beloved children of God. They have the God-given right to a quality, free, public education, and SB8 would leave them behind,” Webb tweeted.

‘Tramples on religious liberty’

The education savings account proposal would threaten religious liberty by “funding doctrinal teaching” in religious schools—“whether Christian or Buddhist or Wiccan,” she tweeted.

At the same time, religious private schools that accept state funds run the risk of losing “their distinctiveness and values,” she continued.

“Instead of creating more ‘choice,’ vouchers create LESS by turning private religious schools into watered down, unaccountable arms of the state, and by taking funding away from our already under-funded public schools,” Webb tweeted.

“This legislation tramples on religious liberty and on the vast majority of our Texas children, families and communities, any way you slice it.”

While most testimony focused on SB8, the Senate Committee on Education also heard testimony of several other bills related to “parental choice” and voucher-style programs, including SB2483 by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.

The Legislative Budget Board issued a fiscal note estimating her proposal for education savings accounts would cost $4.58 billion from the general revenue fund in 2025, rising incrementally to almost $6.2 billion in 2028.


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard