Proponents for private school choice faced numerous bipartisan questions at Monday’s House Public Education committee meeting. Private school choice proponents made a pitch for education savings accounts (ESAs), which would put publicly funded accounts directly in the hands of taxpayers to use for various education-related expenses, including tuition at private or parochial schools, home schooling or virtual schooling.
“A universal approach to educational choice would certainly benefit the most students,” stated Randan Steinhauser, Texas adviser for EdChoice and executive director of Texans for Education Opportunity. Randan also characterized ESAs as “a very valid way to address the needs of the special-needs community." Texans for Education Opportunity, which launched in May, supports providing parents direct education funding, via loaded debit cards for example, to directly pay for “approved” education-related expenses for their children.
The private school choice proponents at yesterday’s meeting heard numerous bipartisan questions and concerns on a wide range of issues including: fairness, capacity, oversight, urban versus rural access, constitutionality, accountability, instructional settings, accreditation, current private school tuition and fee amounts, and overall reservations about public funds being directed to private schools. However, one committee member, Rep. Dwayne Bohac, stated he is a fan of all forms of schools and has previously sponsored “tax-credit program” related bills to fund school choice.
In expressing concerns about diverting public funds to private schools, Rep. Marsha Farney stated, "To me, words matter. The Constitution matters," she said. "And when people refer to state funds and the government schools, I think we should refer to the schools as the Constitution schools because that’s where it originated." Rep. Farney said she had heard school choice programs described by the Texas PTA as "the worst, most dangerous idea" proposed and that the Council for Exceptional Children reportedly has concurred.
Rep. Gonzales stated she had heard of allegations of fraud in the Florida program and asked how the state would monitor such potential problems. Gonzales’ questions about fraud prevention were answered with proposals for quarterly audits and other measures, although probably no publicly funded public education program to date has been provided sufficient resources for such a microscopic level of oversight.
Rep. Dutton asked what problems the accounts would solve. He indicated a Cincinnati study showed most of the students utilizing the programs were already in private or charter school programs and that some Florida schools refused to accept any voucher students at all.
Rep. Allen asked who would qualify for an educational savings account because she had heard homeschooled children may not. Former Rep. Grusendorf said students who were currently in public schools or not yet enrolled in school would have access to the option. Rep. Allen also stated the average tuition for private and charter school options in Houston was approximately $19 thousand a year.
Rep. Van Deaver asked if former Rep. Grusendorf supported deregulation of all the schools, even the public schools. Rep. Van Deaver also asked why they were talking mostly about K-8 and not 9- 12 to which a witness indicated school choice was more utilized and effective in K-8 grade levels.
Rep. Ken King asked what would happen if a student went to a private school and the tuition was provided up front, if the funding was returned to the public school with a constitutional obligation to take that student in the event that the student was expelled based on behavioral problems. A witness responded that cash flows could be administered so that funds could be redirected from a private school to a public school in such circumstances.
About fairness questions involving reasonable and effective accountability standards for K-12 education, Rep. Dan Huberty stated, “This is a statement, so this is not a debate: The people that are pushing this, perhaps, on the other side of the building are also not in favor of getting rid of tests for the public school children and the assessments for the public school children.” Former House Public Education Committee chairman Kent Grusendorf argued for restraint in imposing state accountability standards because this would “guarantee the failure of the [ESA] program.” He further argued that “If you empower the parents, you really have the ultimate accountability system.”
There was discussion about some private schools that may not accept vouchers because they did not want the state involved in any form or fashion in their curriculum. Following this discussion, Chair Aycock asked Laura Colangelo, Texas Private Schools Association of Texas, “If a tax credit scholarship came with a requirement for high schooler to do end-of-course exam or lower grades to do STAAR testing would this be acceptable for the association’s members or a non-starter.” Ms. Colangelo responded that students supported with scholarships in certain states have been required to take state mandated assessments and agreed that schools participating in school choice programs should be accredited.
There appeared to be general disagreement from some witnesses that parents of the estimated 400 thousand homeschooled students would welcome state mandated curriculum and other requirements. There also appeared to be abundant caution about the issues that could potentially flow from distributing funds to parents that elect to homeschool their school-aged children.
There were Texas General Appropriations Bill-related discussions and concerns about sufficient funds for private school choice programs due to the ongoing below-expectations level of tax revenues flowing into Texas treasury accounts. Independent of the day’s discussion of private school choice programs, the below-expectation revenues into the State Treasury are fueling overall concerns about sufficient Legislative appropriations for state funded programs, services and activities for the upcoming 2018-2019 biennium.
Late in the afternoon, one individual testifying for school choice programs was asked about numerous tweets referring to other witnesses as “educrats,” and one Committee member suggested that she should be more respectful of other witnesses.
After a long day of hearing pros and cons about school choice programs, Chair Aycock adjourned the committee subject to call of “probably the next chair.”
To access the October 17, 2016 recording of the House Public Education Committee Hearing on interim charges related to school choice programs in Texas, click on the link below and scroll to the archived content for the hearing.
http://www.house.state.tx.us/video-audio/committee-broadcasts/