Texas Senate:Decision Time for School Choice

The Texas Senate could really shake things up when they vote on a bill with a $1 billion dollar plan to finance private education. This bill, known as a voucher scheme, is taking the lawmakers by storm. The precise details makes it seem like the state willcreatean education savings fund for new students. This fund would generate $10, 000 for each student for private school tuition, with special education students getting a bit more, at $11, 500, and homeschooled students receiving $2, 000 for educational expenses. This fund offers tiered access. If more students apply than there is money available then a whopping 800 million dollars will go to supporting lower income families or students with special needs. These special families have toprove that their income is five times the federal poverty level or less. Now the details of this can sound complicated and its important to understand, but the income limit works out tojust under 160, 000 dollars. The remaining 200 million dollars will be allocated to families of any income level, including those who already use private education. Thebill is bound to generate controversy, with different key players having different opinions. People in the know say this education fund is quite a bit of money, and could back them up because they have plenty of it, the fund has been estimated to support 90, 000 students. Now that is a neat number but we should consider how this will impact the whole school educational landscape. The political power balance for supporting the bill will go one way in Senate, but that isn't true for the House. Why? Well, the House has its own views and its members are more likely to shoot down similar bills. They dislike the idea of diverting public funds to fund private education schools. Many representatives seem to believe that public schools are already underfunded. The debate over this bill is far from over, and it is particularly intense. A group of powerful conservatives, including the Texas Public Policy Foundation, back the bill. They insist that the current public school education has too much waste, and privatizing it would empower parents. On the other hand some groups, like public school associations, firmly oppose this idea. Their concern is that it would drain resources from public schools. They believe private schools wouldn't be held to the same standards as public schools.