Key Highlights of the New Law

• Financial Allocation: Texas is allocating $1 billion for the first two years of the program.
• Eligibility: All 5.3 million children in Texas elementary and high schools are now eligible for vouchers.
• Voucher Amount: Most texas students are eligible for up to $10,000 a year to attend private schools,beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
• Program Restrictions No more than 20% of the voucher program spending can go to families making 500% or more of the federal poverty limit, which amounts to a household income of about $160,000 for a family of four.
• Accountability Measures: The law requires private school students to take a nationally recognized standardized test, and annual audits of schools that accept vouchers.

Governor Abbott’s Outlook

During the signing ceremony at the governor’s mansion,Gov. Abbott emphasized the importance of parental choice in education:

Today is the culmination of a movement that has swept across our state and across our contry. The day has arrived that empowers parents to choose the school that’s best for their child.

Gov. Greg Abbott

The Political Context

The passage of the bill represents a major victory for Republicans, who have long advocated for school choice. These so-called universal school choice programs are primarily in states with Republican-dominated legislatures, where public schools have been accused of promoting liberal ideologies.

Gov. Abbott actively campaigned for pro-school-choice republicans, challenging anti-voucher Republicans in primaries during last year’s elections. His efforts led to the unseating of 15 incumbent Republican House members.

Support and Opposition

Advocates of school vouchers argue that thay empower parents by giving them control over their children’s education. One such group is The LIBRE Initiative, which aims to advance policies it believes will help Hispanics in Texas.Jorge Martinez, strategic director for the group, stated that LIBRE has been pushing to expand school choice to Hispanic families [[1]].

Opponents contend that vouchers drain money from public schools and primarily benefit wealthier children. Libby Cohen, executive director of Raise Yoru Hand Texas, an education advocacy group opposed to vouchers, noted the financial challenges faced by public schools:

But what’s important to keep in context is, for public schools to simply keep up with inflation since 2019, they would need just shy of $20bn in new school funding.

Libby Cohen, Executive Director of Raise Your Hand Texas

Cohen also pointed out that Texas schools are funded based on student enrollment, meaning that if students leave for private schools using vouchers, public schools will lose money.

National Implications

The Texas law has sparked national debate, with significant implications for the future of public education. According to EdChoice, an advocacy group supporting vouchers, over 1 million U.S. students already use state money or benefit from tax credits to attend private schools. The Texas law, however, dwarfs all other state programs in terms of eligibility, covering all 5.3 million children in the state’s elementary and high schools.

Jon Valant,director of the Brookings Institution’s Brown Centre on Education Policy,expressed concerns about the broader implications of universal voucher systems:

That could mean we end up with a terribly stratified school system where those who can afford to pay the difference are in a wealthy private system,while the public school system is left to crumble.

Jon Valant, Director of the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy

Conversely, Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy, and research fellow Jason bedrick from the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank, stated that the law:

Empowers families to choose the learning environments that align with their values and work best for their children.

Lindsey Burke and Jason Bedrick, The Heritage Foundation