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Texas’ education board reverses course on rejecting school vouchers

Gov. Abbott swears in newly elected members who pushed the State Board of Education further to the right.

Update:
This story has been updated to include Gov. Greg Abbott swearing in board members.

The Texas State Board of Education reversed course on its rejection of school vouchers amid a push from newly elected members who are moving the body further to the right.

The 15-member board approved legislative priorities a few months ago that included a repudiation of voucher-like initiatives, which can give parents public dollars to spend on private school tuition.

During a Friday meeting, the board — with new members sworn in — finalized its decision to remove the language opposing vouchers in an 8-5 vote.

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“If you want school choice, you’re not an enemy to public education,” said Republican LJ Francis, a new member representing Corpus Christi. “Parents want the ability to choose if they want to send their child to a different school.”

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Voucher-like programs are a cornerstone of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s fervent push for “parental rights” and expanded school choice.

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Abbott, who swore in board members on Friday morning, urged them to focus on boosting math and reading. He did not discuss his school choice agenda.

“One of my foremost goals this session is to make sure that I use my position to make sure that we implement strategies where for one, in education, we will get back to basics,” he said.

The board’s reversal was an immediate sign of how the recently elected members could influence its direction. The new members, who gave Republicans a stronger majority on the board, ran on platforms that leaned into red meat issues.

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Voucher opponents — who included, as of November, the Republican-controlled State Board of Education — worry it will lead to funding cuts for already under-resourced public schools, which serve the majority of Texas children.

The board’s initial set of legislative priorities called on state lawmakers to “reject all attempts to divert public dollars away from public schools in the form of vouchers,” along with similar mechanisms “that have the effect of reducing funding to public schools.”

The SBOE sets policies and standards for the state’s public schools, which educate more than 5 million students.

Its decision to come out against vouchers took place before the new contingent of conservative board members took their positions this week.

Democrat Aicha Davis, who represents Dallas, expressed frustration with the board for reopening the debate on its legislative priorities.

“What happened to that bravery and that stance for public education that happened in November?” she said. “I don’t understand how we’re here.”

Board Chair Keven Ellis said it was his decision to place the item back on the agenda.

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“There’s going to be a very rich and robust debate over this in the Legislature,” the Lufkin Republican said.

It’s not clear which school choice proposal will gain the most momentum in Texas.

This week Abbott came out in support of providing families with education savings accounts, which give state money directly to families, sometimes in the form of a preloaded debit card.

Traditional vouchers, meanwhile, often send funding straight to the private school or educational institution where a student is enrolled.

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Voucher-like initiatives historically faced an uphill battle in Texas, where they have been defeated by a coalition of urban Democrats and rural Republicans who did not want to funnel state money away from public schools.

Education advocates also raise concerns about how private schools would be accountable for state dollars, as they aren’t held to the same standards.

But education culture wars and a focus on parental rights during the ongoing pandemic may have primed the state to move toward such school choice proposals. Both Abbott and Patrick made it a priority.

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The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation applauded the State Board of Education for back-tracking its voucher opposition and supporting “parental empowerment.”

The left-leaning Texas Freedom Network, meanwhile, called the Friday vote a betrayal of the state’s millions of public school students.

“If the board won’t oppose efforts to defund and privatize neighborhood public schools that educate the vast majority of Texas students, then it has clearly lost its way,” said Carisa Lopez, the group’s political director. “It’s cowardly for this board to stay neutral when those schools are under constant political attack from fringe conspiracy theorists and even state leaders who want to defund them.”

Many local school districts also made rejecting vouchers a top legislative concern, including Dallas ISD.

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Two North Texas school boards with strong conservative majorities did not include such a call among their asks, representing a departure from previous priorities.

In Carroll and Keller school districts — where trustees were elected with the money and support of the Christian conservative wireless provider Patriot Mobile — no such request appears on their legislative priority list. Both boards had rejected voucher pushes during the 2021 legislative session.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.