Speaker Dustin Burrows assures school choice legislation will pass Texas House

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- For the first time in almost six years, the "Big 3" of Texas -- Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dustin Burrows -- held a news conference together to show their shared support in passing school choice legislation in the Lone Star State.

"If we are going to achieve our goal of being ranked the best state in America for educating our students, it starts this session by passing school choice," Abbott said to a packed room of media.

Burrows assured the Texas House would do something it has failed to do multiple times: pass an education savings account program (ESA). "We can fully fund public education and do school choice at the same time," Burrows said. He added that he expects the House proposal of the ESA and public school financing bill, HB 2 and HB 3, will pass committee next week and be debated on the House floor soon.

Not only would the bill pass the House floor, Burrows said, but it would be approved with more than the 76 votes needed. The bill currently has 76 coauthors. It would provide state dollars to parents to help them pay for home-schooling or private school tuition.

The governor enlisted the help of former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to help promote the positives of school choice legislation. Ducey helped pass universal school choice in his state in 2022. It was the first state in the country to do so.

"These kids are trapped in failing public schools and it's time to set these families free," Ducey explained. Arizona's school choice program, known as the Empowerment Scholarship Account, has no cap, meaning anyone who applies can be a part of the program.

According to the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Arizona Department of Education estimates the program will cost $864.4 million and will enroll 99,135 students by the end of the fiscal year.

'Don't Arizona my Texas'

While the state's leaders built up school choice, opponents of school choice programs took the opportunity to critique Arizona's program.

"I'm very worried that if this voucher scam passes into law it's going to bankrupt our public education system, just like it did in Arizona," State Representative James Talarico, D - Austin, said outside the Capitol steps Tuesday morning.

Arizona is going through budgetary problems and one expert said it is being compounded by the cost of the school choice program. The state legislature was able to erase the $1.4 billion deficit over the summer, but had to cut from some important programs.

Dave Wells, the research director for the Grand Canyon Institute (GCI), a nonpartisan think-tank, said the school choice program in Arizona contributed to the budget deficit, saying it added a whole new cost to the state.

"We're taking a whole bunch of children who were never going to be in a public district or charter school and now we're subsidizing them," Wells explained.

A report released by GCI over the summer last year looked at the net cost of Arizona's school choice program. The report aimed to find the costs or savings the state was taking on because of the program.

In Arizona, the state partially funds district schools and fully funds charter schools and the ESA program. The ESA program pays out 90% of what a student would make if they attended a charter school. Proponents of the program say it saves the state 10% if a child leaves a charter school to go to a private school.

But Wells and his team found that 80% of the students in the universal program were never a part of a district or charter school to begin with. They estimated that last fiscal year it cost the state a net $332 million and estimated that will grow this fiscal year to $429 million, although Wells said it may not get that high.

Wells added the program also does not appear to be helping the children that needed the most resources when it comes to education. "What these programs do is they primarily seem to elevate the needs of higher income parents over the needs of lower income parents," Wells said.

Ducey was asked by reporters about the budget deficit during the news conference at the Capitol. Ducey said the deficit happened after he left office and blamed irresponsible spending by the current legislature. Wells said the biggest contributing factor to the deficit in Arizona was due to a flat tax that lowered the tax revenue in the state. A policy passed during Ducey's tenure.

Comparing the two states

It is hard to compare what happened in Arizona and what could happen in Texas. For one, the program in Arizona is different than the proposals in the Texas legislature currently. Arizona does not put a cap on how many students can be in the program, while both Texas proposals cap the spending on the program to $1 billion.

The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) released its fiscal note on the Senate's ESA proposal and said it would cost the state nearly $4 billion by 2030. It's one of the biggest talking points from opponents of the bill who say the cost of the program will balloon over the years. Abbott was asked about that fiscal note during Tuesday's news conference and said the LBB's estimates were based on nothing but fiction.

The governor said the program will have to be appropriated every session by state lawmakers. He said the program will not automatically grow every biennium, but instead can only grow as large as the legislature will allow it.