Molina: Voucher bill reduce chances for future teacher pay raises, well-funded classrooms

Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick say they want to raise teacher pay, but, if finally enacted, SB 2, the voucher bill passed by the Senate, would make it increasingly more difficult for public school classrooms to be adequately funded and public school teachers to be adequately paid.

The Legislative Budget Board’s fiscal note on SB 2 projects that after an initial cost of about $1 billion during the 2026-27 biennium, the bill would balloon into a $7 billion tax giveaway for private schools in the 2028-29 budget period. After that, who knows how high it would soar? Meanwhile, our already underfunded public schools would see their financial problems increase – and more teachers disappear from classrooms – as they continued to educate most of Texas’ students.

The Senate bill sponsor questions the budget experts’ forecast, which is based on anticipated growth in the program. But the governor hasn’t invested a mountain of political effort in this plan to see it curtailed. If this universal voucher plan is approved this year, it will be expanded at a significant cost in the future.

Several states with existing voucher programs have within a few years dramatically increased tax funding for private schools while reducing appropriations for public education. We believe something similar will happen in Texas, considering the fiscal note on the Senate bill, the governor’s zeal for the legislation and the millions of dollars that school privatization advocates are still spending to promote vouchers.

Meanwhile, Texas teachers are paid, on average, more than $9,000 less than their national peers, and Texas spends more than $5,000 less per student than the national average, based on the National Education Association’s rankings of state-by-state education spending during the 2023-24 school year.

According to a report released two years ago by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Education Law Center, states with some of the longer records with vouchers have seen substantial increases in state funding for vouchers over the years as per-student funding for public schools has declined. The report is linked at the end of this article.

·      Florida – This state, like some other states, has multiple voucher programs, and spending on three of the oldest programs increased by 313 percent between 2008-2019, while per-pupil funding for public education was cut by 12 percent.

·      Arizona – Increased spending on voucher programs by 270 percent between 2008-2019, while reducing per-pupil funding for public education by 5.7 percent. Then, a few years ago, Arizona adopted a universal voucher program similar to SB 2, and its initial cost quickly increased.

·      Georgia – Increased spending on vouchers by 883 percent between 2009-2019, while trimming per-student spending on public schools by 1.9 percent.

·      Indiana – Increased voucher spending by 796 percent between 2012-2019 and cut per-pupil spending on public education by 1.5 percent.

·      Wisconsin – Increased spending on vouchers by 119 percent between 2008-2019, while essentially freezing per-student spending on public schools.

·      Ohio – This voucher state increased per-pupil spending on public education by 14.2 percent between 2008-2019 but increased voucher spending by 416 percent.

Anyone who thinks a similar outcome can’t occur in Texas had better think again. It can, and many educators fear it will.

The simple truth is that Texas taxpayers cannot afford two separate education systems, one public and one private. And they cannot afford to give tax subsidies to upper-income families with kids already in private school, many of whom would receive vouchers under the Senate bill.

Read more about the national voucher study here: https://pfps.org/assets/uploads/SPLC_ELC_PFPS_2023Report_Final.pdf

Read the fiscal note (all funds) on SB 2: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/fiscalnotes/html/SB00002I.htm

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Ovidia Molina, president of the Texas State Teachers Association. The column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author. 

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