Should Texas have a school voucher program?

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As part of his Parent Empowerment Tour, Gov. Greg Abott visited Brazos Christian School in Bryan on March 7, 2023, where he proposed his latest version of a school choice policy — making Texas the latest state to put forth the idea of implementing such a program.

School choice is a policy in which the state funds private or alternative education. It incentivizes private education by allowing parents to opt their children out of public schooling and instead use school vouchers to pay for private schools. But we believe that the school voucher program will hurt, not help, CSISD.

The main idea of school voucher programs is to promote the freedom to choose one’s own education pathway. But the program splits education funds between vouchers and public schools, which would have a devastating impact on school districts.

Even though Gov. Abbott has promised that funding for public education will not be reduced, CSISD and all other public school districts are ultimately funded on the basis of student attendance. Since the program encourages parents to opt out of state-funded schools, enrollment in public schools will decrease significantly. This means that taxpayer money — originally meant for public schools — will instead be spent on school vouchers, which are state-sponsored credits for private schools.

As districts try to combat funding issues, they would be forced to shut down athletic, career and technical education, dual language programs and maybe even specialeducation programs. Smaller schools may also resort to laying off teachers as they try to manage funds, resulting in a much larger teacher shortage problem. Ironically, students would not have much of a “choice” but to pursue alternative schooling options due to the lack of resources and opportunities in public education.

Additionally, public schools are held responsible for student academic achievements through STAAR testing and EOCs. But private schools and other charter schools are not required to do the same, although many go through accreditation processes. Since these schools are not held accountable by many state education laws that govern public schools, the program would lack any transparency or public accountability, even though taxpayers foot the bill for school choice programs.